Christoph Schiller

MOTION MOUNTAIN
the adventure of physics – vol.i
fall, flow and heat

www.motionmountain.net
 Christoph Schiller

Motion Mountain

The Adventure of Physics

Volume I

Fall, Flow and Heat

Edition 25.04, available as free pdf at

www.motionmountain.net
Editio vicesima quinta.

Proprietas scriptoris © Chrestophori Schiller

primo anno Olympiadis trigesimae.

Omnia proprietatis iura reservantur et vindicantur.

Imitatio prohibita sine auctoris permissione.
Non licet pecuniam expetere pro aliqua, quae
partem horum verborum continet; liber
pro omnibus semper gratuitus erat et manet.

Twenty-fifth edition.

Copyright © 2012 by Christoph Schiller,

the first year of the 30th Olympiad.

This pdf file is licensed under the Creative Commons

Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Germany
Licence, whose full text can be found on the website
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/de,
with the additional restriction that reproduction, distribution and use,
in whole or in part, in any product or service, be it
commercial or not, is not allowed without the written consent of
the copyright owner. The pdf file was and remains free for everybody
to read, store and print for personal use, and to distribute
electronically, but only in unmodified form and at no charge.
To Britta, Esther and Justus Aaron

τῷ ἐμοὶ δαὶμονι
Die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären.
PR EFAC E

“ ”
Primum movere, deinde docere.*
Antiquity

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Curiosity
about how people, animals, things, images and space move leads to many adventures.
This volume presents the best of them in the domain of everyday life.
Carefully observing everyday motion allows us to deduce six essential statements:
everyday motion is continuous, conserved, relative, reversible, mirror-invariant – and
lazy. Yes, nature is indeed lazy: in every motion, it minimizes change. This text explores
how these six results are deduced and how they fit with all those observations that seem
to contradict them.
In the structure of modern physics, shown in Figure 1, the results on everyday motion
form the major part of the starting point at the bottom. The present volume is the first of
a six-volume overview of physics. It resulted from a threefold aim I have pursued since
1990: to present motion in a way that is simple, up to date and captivating.
In order to be simple, the text focuses on concepts, while keeping mathematics to the
necessary minimum. Understanding the concepts of physics is given precedence over
using formulae in calculations. The whole text is within the reach of an undergraduate.
In order to be up to date, the text is enriched by the many gems – both theoretical and
empirical – that are scattered throughout the scientific literature.
In order to be captivating, the text tries to startle the reader as much as possible. Read-
ing a book on general physics should be like going to a magic show. We watch, we are
astonished, we do not believe our eyes, we think, and finally we understand the trick.
When we look at nature, we often have the same experience. Indeed, every page presents
at least one surprise or provocation for the reader to think about. Numerous interesting
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

challenges are proposed.

The motto of the text, die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären, a famous statement by
Hartmut von Hentig on pedagogy, translates as: ‘To fortify people, to clarify things.’ Clar-
ifying things requires courage, as changing habits of thought produces fear, often hidden
by anger. But by overcoming our fears we grow in strength. And we experience intense
and beautiful emotions. All great adventures in life allow this, and exploring motion is
one of them. Enjoy it!

Munich, 22 March 2012.

* ‘First move, then teach.’ In modern languages, the mentioned type of moving (the heart) is called motivat-
ing; both terms go back to the same Latin root.
8 preface

PHYSICS: Final, unified description of Why does motion

Describing motion motion occur? What are
with the least action principle. Adventures: understanding space, time and
motion, intense joy with quantum particles?
thinking, catching a
glimpse of bliss,
calculating
masses and
couplings.

Quantum
General relativity theory with gravity Quantum field theory
Adventures: the Adventures: bouncing Adventures: building
night sky, measu- neutrons, under- accelerators, under-
ring curved space, standing tree standing quarks, stars,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
exploring black growth. bombs and the basis of
holes and the life, matter, radiation.
universe, space How do small
and time. things move?
What are things?
How do
Classical gravity everyday, Special relativity Quantum theory
Adventures: fast and large Adventures: light, Adventures: death,
climbing, skiing, things move? magnetism, length reproduction, biology,
space travel, contraction, time chemistry, evolution,
the wonders of dilation and enjoying colours and
astronomy and E0 = mc2. art, all high-tech
geology. business, medicine.
G c h, e, k

Galilean physics, heat and electricity

Adventures: sport, music, sailing, cooking,
describing beauty and understanding its origin,
using electricity and computers,
understanding the brain and people.

F I G U R E 1 A complete map of physics: the connections are defined by the speed of light c, the
gravitational constant G, the Planck constant h, the Boltzmann constant k and the elementary charge e. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Advice for learners

In my experience, there is one learning method that never fails to transform unsuccessful
pupils into successful ones: if you read a book for study, summarize every section you
read, in your own words, aloud. If you are unable to do so, read the section again. Repeat
this until you can clearly summarize what you read in your own words, aloud. You can
do this alone in a room, or with friends, or while walking. If you do this with everything
you read, you will reduce your learning and reading time significantly.
The most inefficient learning method is to use a marker or to underline text: it wastes
time, provides false comfort and makes the text unreadable. Nobody marking text is an
efficient learner. Instead, by repeating every section in your own words, aloud, you will
 preface 9

save time and money, enjoy learning from good texts much more and hate bad texts
much less. Masters of the method can use it even while listening to a lecture, in a low
voice, thus avoiding to ever take notes.

Advice for teachers

A teacher likes pupils and enjoys his topic. A teacher likes to lead pupils into exploring
the field he chose; his or her enthousiasm for the job is the key to job satisfaction. If
you are a teacher, at the start of every lesson, picture, feel and tell yourself your own
enthousiasm for the topic of the day, and how you want to lead each of your pupils into
enjoying it as much as you do. Do this exercise consciously, before every lesson. You will
minimize trouble in your class and maximize your success.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Using this book

Text in green, as found in many marginal notes, marks a link that can be clicked in a pdf
reader. Such green links are either bibliographic references, footnotes, cross references
to other pages, challenge solutions, or pointers to websites.
Solutions and hints for challenges are given in the appendix. Challenges are classified
as research level (r), difficult (d), standard student level (s) and easy (e). Challenges of
type r, d or s for which no solution has yet been included in the book are marked (ny).

Feedback and support

This text is and will remain free to download from the internet. I would be delighted to
receive an email from you at [email protected], especially on the following issues:
Challenge 1 s — What was unclear and should be improved?
— What story, topic, riddle, picture or movie did you miss?
— What should be corrected?
In order to simplify annotations, the pdf file allows adding yellow sticker notes in Adobe
Reader.
Alternatively, you can provide feedback on www.motionmountain.net/wiki. Help on Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the specific points listed on the www.motionmountain.net/help.html web page would be

particularly welcome. All feedback will be used to improve the next edition. On behalf
of all readers, thank you in advance for your input. For a particularly useful contribution
you will be mentioned – if you want – in the acknowledgements, receive a reward, or
both.
Your donation to the charitable, tax-exempt non-profit organisation that produces,
translates and publishes this book series is welcome! For details, see the web page www.
motionmountain.net/donation.html. If you want, your name will be included in the
sponsor list. Thank you in advance for your help, on behalf of all readers across the world.
A paper edition of this book, printed on demand and delivered by mail to any ad-
dress, can be ordered at www.lulu.com/spotlight/motionmountain. But above all, enjoy
the reading!
 Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
preface
10
 Contents
15 1 Why should we care abou t motion?
Does motion exist? 16 • How should we talk about motion? 18 • What are
the types of motion? 20 • Perception, permanence and change 24 • Does
the world need states? 26 • Galilean physics in six interesting statements 28 •
Curiosities and fun challenges about motion 29 • Summary on motion 32
33 2 From motion measurement to continuit y
What is velocity? 34 • What is time? 39 • Clocks 44 • Why do clocks go
clockwise? 47 • Does time flow? 47 • What is space? 48 • Are space
and time absolute or relative? 52 • Size – why area exists, but volume does not 53 •
What is straight? 57 • A hollow Earth? 57 • Curiosities and fun challenges about

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
everyday space and time 58 • Summary about everyday space and time 70
72 3 How to describe motion – kinematics
Throwing, jumping and shooting 75 • Enjoying vectors 77 • What is rest? What
is velocity? 78 • Acceleration 80 • Objects and point particles 82 • Legs and
wheels 85 • Curiosities and fun challenges about kinematics 87 • Summary of
kinematics 89
90 4 From objects and images to conservation
Motion and contact 91 • What is mass? 92 • Momentum and mass 94 • Is
motion eternal? – Conservation of momentum 98 • More conservation – en-
ergy 101 • The cross product, or vector product 104 • Rotation and angular mo-
mentum 107 • Rolling wheels 111 • How do we walk? 112 • Curiosities and fun
challenges about conservation and rotation 113 • Summary on conservation 121
123 5 From the rotation of the earth to the rel ativit y of motion
How does the Earth rotate? 131 • Does the Earth move? 135 • Is velocity absolute?
– The theory of everyday relativity 141 • Is rotation relative? 142 • Curiosities and
fun challenges about relativity 142 • Legs or wheels? – Again 148 • Summary on
Galilean relativity 150
151 6 Motion due to gravitation
Properties of gravitation 155 • The gravitational potential 160 • The shape of the
Earth 161 • Dynamics – how do things move in various dimensions? 163 • Gravita-
tion in the sky 164 • The Moon 167 • Orbits – and conic sections 168 • Tides 172
• Can light fall? 177 • What is mass? – Again 177 • Curiosities and fun chal-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

lenges about gravitation 179 • Summary on gravitation 194

195 7 Classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion
Should one use force? Power? 195 • Forces, surfaces and conservation 198 •
Friction and motion 198 • Friction, sport, machines and predictability 200 •
Complete states – initial conditions 203 • Do surprises exist? Is the future deter-
mined? 204 • Free will 206 • Summary on predictability 207 • Predictability
and global descriptions of motion 208
213 8 Measuring change with action
The principle of least action 217 • Lagrangians and motion 220 • Why is motion
so often bounded? 222 • Curiosities and fun challenges about Lagrangians 225 •
Summary on action 228
12 contents

229 9 Motion and symmetry

Why can we think and talk about the world? 230 • Viewpoints 233 • Sym-
metries and groups 235 • Representations 235 • Symmetries, motion and Galilean
physics 238 • Reproducibility, conservation and Noether’s theorem 241 • Curiosi-
ties and fun challenges about symmetry 245 • Parity and time invariance 246 •
Summary on symmetry 246
248 10 Simple motions of extended bodies – oscillations and waves
Oscillations 248 • Resonance 251 • Waves: general and harmonic 253 • Water
waves 254 • Waves and their motion 258 • Why can we talk to each other? –
Huygens’ principle 261 • Why is music so beautiful? 263 • Is ultrasound imaging
safe for babies? 266 • Signals 267 • Solitary waves and solitons 268 • Curiosities
and fun challenges about waves and extended bodies 271 • Summary on waves
and oscillations 281

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
283 11 D o extended bodies exist? – L imits of continuit y
Mountains and fractals 283 • Can a chocolate bar last forever? 283 • The case
of Galileo Galilei 285 • How high can animals jump? 287 • Felling trees 287 •
Little hard balls 288 • The sound of silence 289 • How to count what cannot
be seen 289 • Experiencing atoms 291 • Seeing atoms 292 • Curiosities and fun
challenges about solids 294 • Summary on atoms 300
302 12 Fluids and their motion
The state of a fluid 302 • The state of a fluid 302 • Curiosities and fun challenges
about fluids 307 • What can move in nature? – Flows 316 • Summary on fluids 318
319 13 From heat to time-invariance
Temperature 319 • Thermal energy 321 • Why do balloons take up space? – The
end of continuity 324 • Brownian motion 326 • Why stones can be neither smooth
nor fractal, nor made of little hard balls 329 • Entropy 329 • Entropy from par-
ticles 332 • The minimum entropy of nature – the quantum of information 333
• Is everything made of particles? 334 • The second principle of thermody-
namics 336 • Why can’t we remember the future? 337 • Flow of entropy 338
• Do isolated systems exist? 339 • Curiosities and fun challenges about heat and
reversibility 339 • Summary on heat and time-invariance 347
348 14 Self-organization and chaos – the simplicit y of complexit y
Appearance of order 351 • Self-organization in sand 352 • Self-organization of
spheres 355 • Appearance of order 355 • The mathematics of order appearance 356
• Chaos 357 • Emergence 358 • Curiosities and fun challenges about self-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

organization 359 • Summary on self-organization and chaos 364

366 15 From the limitations of physics to the limits of motion
Research topics in classical dynamics 366 • What is contact? 367 • Precision and
accuracy 368 • Can all of nature be described in a book? 368 • Something is wrong
about our description of motion 369 • Why is measurement possible? 370 •
Is motion unlimited? 370
372 a Notation and conventions
The Latin alphabet 372 • The Greek alphabet 374 • The Hebrew alphabet and
other scripts 376 • Numbers and the Indian digits 376 • The symbols used in the
text 377 • Calendars 379 • People Names 381 • Abbreviations and eponyms or
concepts? 381
contents 13

383 b Units, measurements and constants

SI units 383 • The meaning of measurement 386 • Curiosities and fun challenges
about units 386 • Precision and accuracy of measurements 388 • Limits to preci-
sion 390 • Physical constants 390 • Useful numbers 397
398 c S ources of information on motion
403 Challenge hints and solu tions
444 Biblio graphy
474 Credits
Acknowledgements 474 • Film credits 475 • Image credits 475

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
Fall, Flow and Heat

In our quest to learn how things move,

the experience of hiking and other motion
leads us to introduce the concepts of
velocity, time, length, mass and temperature.
We learn to use them to measure change
and find that nature minimizes it.
We discover how to float in free space,
why we have legs instead of wheels,
why disorder can never be eliminated,
and why one of the most difficult open issues
in science is the flow of water through a tube.
 Chapter 1

W HY SHOULD W E C AR E AB OUT
MOTION?

“ ”
All motion is an illusion.
Zeno of Elea*

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
W
ham! The lightning striking the tree nearby violently disrupts our quiet forest
alk and causes our hearts to suddenly beat faster. In the top of the tree
e see the fire start and fade again. The gentle wind moving the leaves around
us helps to restore the calmness of the place. Nearby, the water in a small river follows
its complicated way down the valley, reflecting on its surface the ever-changing shapes
of the clouds.
Motion is everywhere: friendly and threatening, terrible and beautiful. It is fundamen-
tal to our human existence. We need motion for growing, for learning, for thinking and
for enjoying life. We use motion for walking through a forest, for listening to its noises
and for talking about all this. Like all animals, we rely on motion to get food and to
survive dangers. Like all living beings, we need motion to reproduce, to breathe and to
digest. Like all objects, motion keeps us warm.
Motion is the most fundamental observation about nature at large. It turns out that
everything that happens in the world is some type of motion. There are no exceptions.
Motion is such a basic part of our observations that even the origin of the word is lost in
the darkness of Indo-European linguistic history. The fascination of motion has always
made it a favourite object of curiosity. By the fifth century bce in ancient Greece, its
Ref. 1 study had been given a name: physics.
Motion is also important to the human condition. What can we know? Where does
the world come from? Who are we? Where do we come from? What will we do? What
should we do? What will the future bring? What is death? Where does life lead? All these
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

questions are about motion. The study of motion provides answers that are both deep
and surprising.
Ref. 2 Motion is mysterious. Though found everywhere – in the stars, in the tides, in our
eyelids – neither the ancient thinkers nor myriads of others in the 25 centuries since then
have been able to shed light on the central mystery: what is motion? We shall discover
that the standard reply, ‘motion is the change of place in time’, is inadequate. Just recently
an answer has finally been found. This is the story of the way to find it.
Motion is a part of human experience. If we imagine human experience as an island,
then destiny, symbolized by the waves of the sea, carried us to its shore. Near the centre of

* Zeno of Elea (c. 450 bce), one of the main exponents of the Eleatic school of philosophy.
 16 1 why should we care abou t motion?

Astronomy

Theory
of motion
Material sciences
Quantum
Chemistry field theory
Geosciences
Medicine Quantum
Biology theory
Motion
Electromagnetism Mountain
Relativity
Thermodynamics
Engineering
Physics

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Mechanics

Emotion Bay
Mathematics
The humanities

Social Sea

F I G U R E 2 Experience Island, with Motion Mountain and the trail to be followed.

the island an especially high mountain stands out. From its top we can see over the whole
landscape and get an impression of the relationships between all human experiences, and
in particular between the various examples of motion. This is a guide to the top of what I
have called Motion Mountain (see Figure 2; a less artistic but more exact version is given
in Figure 1). The hike is one of the most beautiful adventures of the human mind. The
first question to ask is:

Does motion exist?

“
Das Rätsel gibt es nicht. Wenn sich eine Frage
überhaupt stellen läßt, so kann sie beantwortet

”
werden.*
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 6.5

To sharpen the mind for the issue of motion’s existence, have a look at Figure 3 or Figure 4
Ref. 3 and follow the instructions. In all cases the figures seem to rotate. You can experience
similar effects if you walk over cobblestone pavement that is arranged in arched patterns
or if you look at the numerous motion illusions collected by Kitaoka Akiyoshi at www.
Ref. 4 ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka. How can we make sure that real motion is different from these
Challenge 2 s or other similar illusions?
Many scholars simply argued that motion does not exist at all. Their arguments deeply
Ref. 5 influenced the investigation of motion over many centuries. For example, the Greek

* ‘The riddle does not exist. If a question can be put at all, it can also be answered.’
 1 why should we care abou t motion? 17

F I G U R E 3 Illusions of motion: look at the figure on the left and slightly move the page, or look at the
white dot at the centre of the figure on the right and move your head back and forward.

philosopher Parmenides (born c. 515 bce in Elea, a small town near Naples) argued

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
that since nothing comes from nothing, change cannot exist. He underscored the per-
manence of nature and thus consistently maintained that all change and thus all motion
Ref. 6 is an illusion.
Heraclitus (c. 540 to c. 480 bce) held the opposite view. He expressed it in his famous
statement πάντα ῥεῖ ‘panta rhei’ or ‘everything flows’.* He saw change as the essence of
nature, in contrast to Parmenides. These two equally famous opinions induced many
scholars to investigate in more detail whether in nature there are conserved quantities or
whether creation is possible. We will uncover the answer later on; until then, you might
Challenge 3 s ponder which option you prefer.
Parmenides’ collaborator Zeno of Elea (born c. 500 bce) argued so intensely against
motion that some people still worry about it today. In one of his arguments he claims –
in simple language – that it is impossible to slap somebody, since the hand first has to
travel halfway to the face, then travel through half the distance that remains, then again
so, and so on; the hand therefore should never reach the face. Zeno’s argument focuses
on the relation between infinity and its opposite, finitude, in the description of motion.
Ref. 7 In modern quantum theory, a related issue is a subject of research up to this day.
Zeno also maintained that by looking at a moving object at a single instant of time,
one cannot maintain that it moves. He argued that at a single instant of time, there is
no difference between a moving and a resting body. He then deduced that if there is no
difference at a single time, there cannot be a difference for longer times. Zeno therefore
questioned whether motion can clearly be distinguished from its opposite, rest. Indeed,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

in the history of physics, thinkers switched back and forward between a positive and a
negative answer. It was this very question that led Albert Einstein to the development of
general relativity, one of the high points of our journey. In our adventure, we will explore
all known differences between motion and rest. Eventually, we will dare to ask whether
single instants of time do exist at all. Answering this question is essential for reaching
the top of Motion Mountain.
When we explore quantum theory, we will discover that motion is indeed – to a cer-
tain extent – an illusion, as Parmenides claimed. More precisely, we will show that mo-
tion is observed only due to the limitations of the human condition. We will find that we
experience motion only because
* Appendix A explains how to read Greek text.
 18 1 why should we care abou t motion?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 4 Zoom this image to large
size or approach it closely in order
to enjoy its apparent motion
(© Michael Bach after the discovery
of Kitaoka Akiyoshi).

— we have a finite size,

— we are made of a large but finite number of atoms,
— we have a finite but moderate temperature,
— we are electrically neutral,
— we move much more slowly than the speed of light,
— we live in three dimensions,
— we are large compared with a black hole of our same mass,
— we are large compared with our quantum mechanical wavelength,
— we are small compared with the universe,
— we have a limited memory,
— we are forced by our brain to approximate space and time as continuous entities, and
— we are forced by our brain to approximate nature as made of different parts.
If any one of these conditions were not fulfilled, we would not observe motion; motion,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

then, would not exist! If that were not enough, note that none of the conditions requires
human beings; they are equally valid for many animals and machines. Each of these con-
ditions can be uncovered most efficiently if we start with the following question:

How should we talk about motion?

“
Je hais le mouvement, qui déplace les lignes,

”
Et jamais je ne pleure et jamais je ne ris.
Charles Baudelaire, La Beauté.*

* Charles Baudelaire (b. 1821 Paris, d. 1867 Paris) Beauty: ‘I hate movement, which changes shapes, and never
Ref. 8 do I weep and never do I laugh.’
 1 why should we care abou t motion? 19

Anaximander Empedocles Eudoxus Ctesibius Strabo Frontinus Cleomedes

Anaximenes Aristotle Archimedes Varro Maria Artemidor
the Jew
Pythagoras Heraclides Konon Athenaius Josephus Sextus Empiricus
Almaeon Philolaos Theophrastus Chrysippos Eudoxus Pomponius Dionysius Athenaios Diogenes
of Kyz. Mela Periegetes of Nauc. Laertius
Heraclitus Zeno Autolycus Eratosthenes Sosigenes Marinus
Xenophanes Anthistenes Euclid Dositheus Virgilius Menelaos Philostratus
Thales Parmenides Archytas Epicure Biton Polybios Horace Nicomachos Apuleius

Alexander Ptolemaios II Ptolemaios VIII Caesar Nero Trajan

600 BCE 500 400 300 200 100 1 100 200

Socrates Plato Ptolemaios I Cicero Seneca

Anaxagoras Aristarchus Asclepiades Livius Dioscorides Ptolemy

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Leucippus Pytheas Archimedes Seleukos Vitruvius Geminos Epictetus
Protagoras Erasistratus Diocles Manilius Demonax Diophantus
Oenopides Aristoxenus Aratos Philo Dionysius Diodorus Valerius Theon Alexander
of Byz. Thrax Siculus Maximus of Smyrna of Aphr.
Hippocrates Berossos
Herodotus Herophilus Apollonius Theodosius Plinius Rufus Galen
Senior
Democritus Straton Hipparchus Lucretius Aetius Arrian
Hippasos Speusippos Dikaiarchus Poseidonius Heron Plutarch Lucian

F I G U R E 5 A time line of scientific and political personalities in antiquity (the last letter of the name is
aligned with the year of death).

Like any science, the approach of physics is twofold: we advance with precision and with
curiosity. Precision makes meaningful communication possible, and curiosity makes it
worthwhile. Be it an eclipse, a beautiful piece of music, or a feat at the Olympic games:
the world is full of fascinating examples of motion.*
If you ever find yourself talking about motion, whether to understand it more pre-
cisely or more deeply, you are taking steps up Motion Mountain. The examples of Figure 6
make the point. When you fill a bucket with a small amount of water, it does not hang
vertically. (Why?) If you continue adding water, it starts to hang vertically at a certain
Challenge 4 s moment. How much water is necessary? When you pull a thread from a reel in the way
shown, the reel will move either forwards or backwards, depending on the angle at which
you pull. What is the limiting angle between the two possibilities?
High precision means going into fine details, and being attuned to details actually
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

increases the pleasure of the adventure.** Figure 7 shows an example. The higher we get
on Motion Mountain, the further we can see and the more our curiosity is rewarded.
The views offered are breathtaking, especially from the very top. The path we will follow
– one of the many possible routes – starts from the side of biology and directly enters the
Ref. 10 forest that lies at the foot of the mountain.
Intense curiosity drives us to go straight to the limits: understanding motion requires
exploration of the largest distances, the highest velocities, the smallest particles, the
strongest forces and the strangest concepts. Let us begin.

Ref. 9 * For a collection of interesting examples of motion in everyday life, see the excellent book by Walker.
Challenge 5 s ** Distrust anybody who wants to talk you out of investigating details. He is trying to deceive you. Details
are important. Be vigilant also during this journey.
20 1 why should we care abou t motion?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 6 How much water is required to make a bucket hang vertically? At what angle does the
pulled reel change direction of motion? (© Luca Gastaldi).

F I G U R E 7 An example of how precision of observation can lead to the discovery of new effects: the
deformation of a tennis ball during the c. 6 ms of a fast bounce (© International Tennis Federation).

What are the types of motion?

“ ”
Every movement is born of a desire for change.
Antiquity

A good place to obtain a general overview on the types of motion is a large library (see
Table 1). The domains in which motion, movements and moves play a role are indeed
varied. Already the earliest researchers in ancient Greece – listed in Figure 5 – had the
suspicion that all types of motion, as well as many other types of change, are related.
Three categories of change are commonly recognized:
1. Transport. The only type of change we call motion in everyday life is material trans-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

port, such as a person walking, a leaf falling from a tree, or a musical instrument
playing. Transport is the change of position or orientation of objects, fluids included.
To a large extent, the behaviour of people also falls into this category.
2. Transformation. Another category of change groups observations such as the dissolu-
tion of salt in water, the formation of ice by freezing, the rotting of wood, the cook-
ing of food, the coagulation of blood, and the melting and alloying of metals. These
changes of colour, brightness, hardness, temperature and other material properties
are all transformations. Transformations are changes not visibly connected with trans-
port. To this category, a few ancient thinkers added the emission and absorption of
light. In the twentieth century, these two effects were proven to be special cases of
transformations, as were the newly discovered appearance and disappearance of mat-
 1 why should we care abou t motion? 21

TA B L E 1 Content of books about motion found in a public library.

Motion topics Motion topics

motion pictures and digital effects motion as therapy for cancer, diabetes, acne and
depression
motion perception Ref. 11 motion sickness
motion for fitness and wellness motion for meditation
motion control and training in sport and motion ability as health check
singing
perpetual motion motion in dance, music and other performing arts
motion as proof of various gods Ref. 12 motion of planets, stars and angels Ref. 13
economic efficiency of motion the connection between motional and emotional
habits

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
motion as help to overcome trauma motion in psychotherapy Ref. 14
locomotion of insects, horses, animals and motion of cells and plants
robots
collisions of atoms, cars, stars and galaxies growth of multicellular beings, mountains,
sunspots and galaxies
motion of springs, joints, mechanisms, liq-motion of continents, bird flocks, shadows and
uids and gases empty space
commotion and violence motion in martial arts
motions in parliament movements in art, sciences and politics
movements in watches movements in the stock market
movement teaching and learning movement development in children Ref. 15
musical movements troop movements Ref. 16
religious movements bowel movements
moves in chess cheating moves in casinos Ref. 17
connection between gross national product and citizen mobility

ter, as observed in the Sun and in radioactivity. Mind change, such as change of mood,
Ref. 18 of health, of education and of character, is also (mostly) a type of transformation.
Ref. 19 3. Growth. This last and especially important category of change, is observed for an-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

imals, plants, bacteria, crystals, mountains, planets, stars and even galaxies. In the
nineteenth century, changes in the population of systems, biological evolution, and
in the twentieth century, changes in the size of the universe, cosmic evolution, were
added to this category. Traditionally, these phenomena were studied by separate sci-
ences. Independently they all arrived at the conclusion that growth is a combination
of transport and transformation. The difference is one of complexity and of time scale.
At the beginnings of modern science during the Renaissance, only the study of transport
was seen as the topic of physics. Motion was equated to transport. The other two domains
were neglected by physicists. Despite this restriction, the field of enquiry remains large,
Page 16 covering a large part of Experience Island. Early scholars differentiated types of trans-
port by their origin. Movements such as those of the legs when walking were classified
 22 1 why should we care abou t motion?

F I G U R E 8 An

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
example of
transport, at
Mount Etna
(© Marco Fulle).

as volitional, because they are controlled by one’s will, whereas movements of external
objects, such as the fall of a snowflake, which cannot be influenced by will-power, were
classified as passive. Young humans, especially young male humans, spend considerable
time in learning elaborate volitional movements. An example is shown in Figure 10.
The complete distinction between passive and volitional motion is made by children
by the age of six, and this marks a central step in the development of every human to-
wards a precise description of the environment.* From this distinction stems the histor-
ical but now outdated definition of physics as the science of the motion of non-living
things.
The advent of machines forced scholars to rethink the distinction between volitional
and passive motion. Like living beings, machines are self-moving and thus mimic voli-
tional motion. However, careful observation shows that every part in a machine is moved
by another, so their motion is in fact passive. Are living beings also machines? Are hu-
man actions examples of passive motion as well? The accumulation of observations in
the last 100 years made it clear that volitional movement** indeed has the same physi-
cal properties as passive motion in non-living systems. (Of course, from the emotional
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

viewpoint, the differences are important; for example, grace can only be ascribed to voli-
Ref. 20 tional movements.) A distinction between the two types of motion is thus unnecessary.
But since passive and volitional motion have the same properties, through the study of
motion of non-living objects we can learn something about the human condition. This

* Failure to pass this stage completely can result in a person having various strange beliefs, such as believing
in the ability to influence roulette balls, as found in compulsive players, or in the ability to move other bod-
ies by thought, as found in numerous otherwise healthy-looking people. An entertaining and informative
account of all the deception and self-deception involved in creating and maintaining these beliefs is given
by James R andi, The Faith Healers, Prometheus Books, 1989. A professional magician, he presents many
similar topics in several of his other books. See also his www.randi.org website for more details.
** The word ‘movement’ is rather modern; it was imported into English from the old French and became
popular only at the end of the eighteenth century. It is never used by Shakespeare.
1 why should we care abou t motion? 23

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 9 Transport, growth
and transformation (© Philip
Plisson).

F I G U R E 10 One of the most difficult

volitional movements known, performed
by Alexander Tsukanov, the first man able
to do this: jumping from one ultimate
wheel to another (© Moscow State Circus).

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

is most evident when touching the topics of determinism, causality, probability, infin-
ity, time, love and death, to name but a few of the themes we will encounter during our
adventure.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries other classically held beliefs about mo-
tion fell by the wayside. Extensive observations showed that all transformations and
all growth phenomena, including behaviour change and evolution, are also examples of
transport. In other words, over 2 000 years of studies have shown that the ancient classi-
fication of observations was useless: all change is transport.
In the middle of the twentieth century the study of motion culminated in the exper-
imental confirmation of an even more specific idea, previously articulated in ancient
Greece:
 24 1 why should we care abou t motion?

⊳ Every type of change is due to the motion of particles.

It takes time and work to reach this conclusion, which appears only when we relentlessly
pursue higher and higher precision in the description of nature. The first five parts of
Challenge 6 s this adventure retrace the path to this result. (Do you agree with it?)
The last decade of the twentieth century again completely changed the description
of motion: the particle idea turns out to be wrong. This new result, reached through a
combination of careful observation and deduction, will be explored in the last part of
our adventure. But we still have some way to go before we reach that part, just below the
summit of our journey.
In summary, history has shown that classifying the various types of motion is not
productive. Only by trying to achieve maximum precision can we hope to arrive at the
fundamental properties of motion. Precision, not classification, is the path to follow. As

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ernest Rutherford said: ‘All science is either physics or stamp collecting.’
To achieve precision in our description of motion, we need to select specific examples
of motion and study them fully in detail. It is intuitively obvious that the most precise
description is achievable for the simplest possible examples. In everyday life, this is the
case for the motion of any non-living, solid and rigid body in our environment, such
as a stone thrown through the air. Indeed, like all humans, we learned to throw objects
Ref. 21 long before we learned to walk. Throwing is one of the first physical experiments we per-
formed by ourselves.* During our early childhood, by throwing stones, toys and other
objects until our parents feared for every piece of the household, we explored the percep-
tion and the properties of motion. We do the same here.

“ ”
Die Welt ist unabhängig von meinem Willen.**
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 6.373

Perception, permanence and change

“
Only wimps study only the general case; real

”
scientists pursue examples.
Beresford Parlett

Human beings enjoy perceiving. Perception starts before birth, and we continue enjoying
it for as long as we can. That is why television, even when devoid of content, is so success-
ful. During our walk through the forest at the foot of Motion Mountain we cannot avoid
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

perceiving. Perception is first of all the ability to distinguish. We use the basic mental act
of distinguishing in almost every instant of life; for example, during childhood we first
learned to distinguish familiar from unfamiliar observations. This is possible in combi-
nation with another basic ability, namely the capacity to memorize experiences. Memory
gives us the ability to experience, to talk and thus to explore nature. Perceiving, classify-
ing and memorizing together form learning. Without any one of these three abilities, we
could not study motion.
* The importance of throwing is also seen from the terms derived from it: in Latin, words like subject or
‘thrown below’, object or ‘thrown in front’, and interjection or ‘thrown in between’; in Greek, it led to terms
like symbol or ‘thrown together’, problem or ‘thrown forward’, emblem or ‘thrown into’, and – last but not
least – devil or ‘thrown through’.
** ‘The world is independent of my will.’
 1 why should we care abou t motion? 25

F I G U R E 11 How do we distinguish a deer

from its environment? (© Tony Rodgers).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Children rapidly learn to distinguish permanence from variability. They learn to rec-
ognize human faces, even though a face never looks exactly the same each time it is seen.
From recognition of faces, children extend recognition to all other observations. Recog-
nition works pretty well in everyday life; it is nice to recognize friends, even at night, and
even after many beers (not a challenge). The act of recognition thus always uses a form
of generalization. When we observe, we always have some general idea in our mind. Let
us specify the main ones.
Sitting on the grass in a clearing of the forest at the foot of Motion Mountain, sur-
rounded by the trees and the silence typical of such places, a feeling of calmness and tran-
quillity envelops us. We are thinking about the essence of perception. Suddenly, some-
thing moves in the bushes; immediately our eyes turn and our attention focuses. The
nerve cells that detect motion are part of the most ancient part of our brain, shared with
Ref. 22 birds and reptiles: the brain stem. Then the cortex, or modern brain, takes over to ana-
lyse the type of motion and to identify its origin. Watching the motion across our field
of vision, we observe two invariant entities: the fixed landscape and the moving animal.
After we recognize the animal as a deer, we relax again.
How did we distinguish, in case of Figure 11, between landscape and deer? Perception
involves several processes in the eye and in the brain. An essential part for these pro-
cesses is motion, as is best deduced from the flip film shown in the lower left corners
Ref. 23 of these pages. Each image shows only a rectangle filled with a mathematically random
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

pattern. But when the pages are scanned in rapid succession, you discern a shape – a
square – moving against a fixed background. At any given instant, the square cannot
be distinguished from the background; there is no visible object at any given instant of
time. Nevertheless it is easy to perceive its motion.* Perception experiments such as this
one have been performed in many variations. For example, it was found that detecting
a moving square against a random background is nothing special to humans; flies have
the same ability, as do, in fact, all animals that have eyes.

* The human eye is rather good at detecting motion. For example, the eye can detect motion of a point of
light even if the change of angle is smaller than that which can be distinguished in a fixed image. Details of
Ref. 11 this and similar topics for the other senses are the domain of perception research.
 26 1 why should we care abou t motion?

The flip film in the lower left corner, like many similar experiments, illustrates two cen-
tral attributes of motion. First, motion is perceived only if an object can be distinguished
from a background or environment. Many motion illusions focus on this point.* Second,
motion is required to define both the object and the environment, and to distinguish
them from each other. In fact, the concept of space is – among others – an abstraction
of the idea of background. The background is extended; the moving entity is localized.
Does this seem boring? It is not; just wait a second.
We call the set of localized aspects that remain invariant or permanent during mo-
tion, such as size, shape, colour etc., taken together, a (physical) object or a (physical)
body. We will tighten the definition shortly, since otherwise images would be objects as
well. In other words, right from the start we experience motion as a relative process; it is
perceived in relation and in opposition to the environment. The concept of an object is
therefore also a relative concept. But the basic conceptual distinction between localized,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
isolable objects and the extended environment is not trivial or unimportant. First, it has
Challenge 7 s the appearance of a circular definition. (Do you agree?) This issue will keep us busy later
Page 369 on. Second, we are so used to our ability of isolating local systems from the environment
that we take it for granted. However, as we will see in the last part of our walk, this dis-
Vol. VI, page 78 tinction turns out to be logically and experimentally impossible!** Our walk will lead
us to discover the reason for this impossibility and its important consequences. Finally,
apart from moving entities and the permanent background, we need a third concept, as
shown in Table 2.

“
Wisdom is one thing: to understand the thought

”
which steers all things through all things.
Ref. 24 Heraclitus of Ephesus

Does the world need states?

“
Das Feste, das Bestehende und der Gegenstand
sind Eins. Der Gegenstand ist das Feste,
Bestehende; die Konfiguration ist das

”
Wechselnde, Unbeständige.***
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 2.027 – 2.0271

What distinguishes the various patterns in the lower left corners of this text? In everyday
life we would say: the situation or configuration of the involved entities. The situation
somehow describes all those aspects that can differ from case to case. It is customary to
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

call the list of all variable aspects of a set of objects their (physical) state of motion, or
simply their state.
The situations in the lower left corners differ first of all in time. Time is what makes
opposites possible: a child is in a house and the same child is outside the house. Time
* The topic of motion perception is full of interesting aspects. An excellent introduction is chapter 6 of the
beautiful text by Donald D. Hoffman, Visual Intelligence – How We Create What We See, W.W. Norton
& Co., 1998. His collection of basic motion illusions can be experienced and explored on the associated
www.cogsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff website.
** Contrary to what is often read in popular literature, the distinction is possible in quantum theory. It
becomes impossible only when quantum theory is unified with general relativity.
*** ‘The fixed, the existent and the object are one. The object is the fixed, the existent; the configuration is
the changing, the variable.’
 1 why should we care abou t motion? 27

TA B L E 2 Family tree of the basic physical concepts.

motion
the basic type of change

parts relations background

permanent variable permanent
bounded unbounded extended
shaped unshaped measurable

objects images states interactions phase space space-time

impenetrable penetrable global local composed simple

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The corresponding aspects:

mass intensity instant source dimension curvature

size colour position domain distance topology
charge appearance momentum strength volume distance
spin disappearance energy direction subspaces area
etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

world – nature – universe – cosmos

the collection of all parts, relations and backgrounds

describes and resolves this type of contradiction. But the state not only distinguishes sit-
uations in time: the state contains all those aspects of a system (i.e., of a group of objects)
that set it apart from all similar systems. Two objects can have the same mass, shape,
colour, composition and be indistinguishable in all other intrinsic properties; but at least
they will differ in their position, or their velocity, or their orientation. The state pinpoints
the individuality of a physical system,* and allows us to distinguish it from exact copies of
itself. Therefore, the state also describes the relation of an object or a system with respect
to its environment. Or in short: the state describes all aspects of a system that depend on
the observer. These properties are not boring – just ponder this: does the universe have a
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 9 s state?
Describing nature as a collection of permanent entities and changing states is the start-
ing point of the study of motion. The observation of motion requires the distinction of
permanent, intrinsic properties – describing the objects that move – and changing states
– describing the way the objects move. Without this distinction, there is no motion.
The various aspects of objects and of their states are called observables. All these rough,
preliminary definitions will be refined step by step in the following. Using the terms just

* A physical system is a localized entity of investigation. In the classification of Table 2, the term ‘physical
system’ is (almost) the same as ‘object’ or ‘physical body’. Images are usually not counted as physical systems
Challenge 8 s (though radiation is one). Are holes physical systems?
28 1 why should we care abou t motion?

introduced, we can say that motion is the change of state of objects.*

States are required for the description of motion. In order to proceed and to achieve
a complete description of motion, we thus need a complete description of objects and a
complete description of their possible states. The first approach, called Galilean physics,
consists in specifying our everyday environment as precisely as possible.

Galilean physics in six interesting statements

The study of everyday motion, Galilean physics, is already worthwhile in itself: we will
uncover many results that are in contrast with our usual experience. For example, if we
recall our own past, we all have experienced how important, delightful or unwelcome
surprises can be. Nevertheless, the study of everyday motion shows that there are no sur-
prises in nature. Motion, and thus the world, is predictable or deterministic.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The main surprise is thus that there are no surprises in nature. In fact, we will uncover
six aspects of the predictability of everyday motion:
1. We know that eyes, cameras and measurement apparatus have a finite resolution. All
have a smallest distance they can observe. We know that clocks have a smallest time
they can measure. Nevertheless, in everyday life all movements, their states, as well
as space and time, are continuous.
2. We all observe that people, music and many other things in motion stop moving after
a while. The study of motion yields the opposite result: motion never stops. In fact,
several aspects of motion do not change, but are conserved: energy with mass, momen-
tum and angular momentum are conserved in all examples of motion. No exception
to conservation has ever been found. In addition, we will discover that conservation
implies that motion and its properties are the same at all places and all times: motion
is universal.
3. We all know that motion differs from rest. Nevertheless, careful study shows that
there is no intrinsic difference between the two. Motion and rest depend on the ob-
server. Motion is relative. This is the first step towards understanding the theory of
relativity.
4. We all observe that many processes happen only in one direction. For example, spilled
milk never returns into the container by itself. Nevertheless, the study of motion will
show us that all everyday motion is reversible. Physicists call this the invariance of Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

everyday motion under motion reversal (or, sloppily, under time reversal).
5. Most of us find scissors difficult to handle with the left hand, have difficulties to write
with the other hand, and have grown with a heart on the left side. Nevertheless, our
exploration will show that everyday motion is mirror-invariant or parity-invariant.
Mirror processes are always possible in everyday life.

* The exact separation between those aspects belonging to the object and those belonging to the state de-
pends on the precision of observation. For example, the length of a piece of wood is not permanent; wood
shrinks and bends with time, due to processes at the molecular level. To be precise, the length of a piece of
wood is not an aspect of the object, but an aspect of its state. Precise observations thus shift the distinction
between the object and its state; the distinction itself does not disappear – at least not for quite a while.
 1 why should we care abou t motion? 29

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 12 A block and tackle and a differential pulley (left) and a farmer (right).

6. We all are astonished by the many observations that the world offers: colours, shapes,
sounds, growth, disasters, happiness, friendship, love. The variation, beauty and com-
plexity of nature is amazing. But despite all appearance, all motion is simple. Our
study will uncover that all observations can be summarized in a simple way: Nature
is lazy. All motion happens in a way that minimizes change. Change can be measured,
and nature keeps it to a minimum. Situations – or states, as physicists like to say –
evolve by minimizing change.
These six aspects are essential in understanding motion in sport, in music, in animals, in
machines and among the stars. This first volume of our adventure will be an exploration
of such movements. In particular, we will confirm the mentioned six key properties of
everyday motion: continuity, conservation, reversibility, mirror-invariance, relativity and
minimization.

Curiosities and fun challenges about motion*

In contrast to most animals, sedentary creatures, like plants or sea anemones, have no
legs and cannot move much; for their self-defence, they developed poisons. Examples of
such plants are the stinging nettle, the tobacco plant, digitalis, belladonna and poppy;
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

poisons include caffeine, nicotine, and curare. Poisons such as these are at the basis of
most medicines. Therefore, most medicines exist essentially because plants have no legs.
∗∗
A man climbs a mountain from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. He sleeps on the top and comes down
the next day, taking again from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the descent. Is there a place on the
Challenge 10 s path that he passes at the same time on the two days?
∗∗

* Sections entitled ‘curiosities’ are collections of topics and problems that allow one to check and to expand
the usage of concepts already introduced.
 30 1 why should we care abou t motion?

Every time a soap bubble bursts, the motion of the surface during the burst is the same,
Challenge 11 s even though it is too fast to be seen by the naked eye. Can you imagine the details?
∗∗
Challenge 12 s Is the motion of a ghost an example of motion?
∗∗
Challenge 13 s Can something stop moving? How would you show it?
∗∗
Challenge 14 s Does a body moving forever in a straight line show that nature or space is infinite?
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
What is the length of rope one has to pull in order to lift a mass by a height h with a block
Challenge 15 s and tackle with four wheels, as shown on the left of Figure 12? Does the farmer on the
right of the figure do something sensible?
∗∗
Challenge 16 s Can the universe move?
∗∗
To talk about precision with precision, we need to measure precision itself. How would
Challenge 17 s you do that?
∗∗
Challenge 18 s Would we observe motion if we had no memory?
∗∗
Challenge 19 s What is the lowest speed you have observed? Is there a lowest speed in nature?
∗∗
According to legend, Sissa ben Dahir, the Indian inventor of the game of chaturanga or
chess, demanded from King Shirham the following reward for his invention: he wanted
one grain of wheat for the first square, two for the second, four for the third, eight for Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the fourth, and so on. How much time would all the wheat fields of the world take to
Challenge 20 s produce the necessary grains?
∗∗
When a burning candle is moved, the flame lags behind the candle. How does the flame
Challenge 21 s behave if the candle is inside a glass, still burning, and the glass is accelerated?
∗∗
A good way to make money is to build motion detectors. A motion detector is a small
box with a few wires. The box produces an electrical signal whenever the box moves.
What types of motion detectors can you imagine? How cheap can you make such a box?
Challenge 22 d How precise?
 1 why should we care abou t motion? 31

ball

v
block
perfectly flat table

F I G U R E 13 What happens? F I G U R E 14 What is the speed of the rollers? Are

other roller shapes possible?

∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
A perfectly frictionless and spherical ball lies near the edge of a perfectly flat and hori-
Challenge 23 d zontal table, as shown in Figure 13. What happens? In what time scale?
∗∗
You step into a closed box without windows. The box is moved by outside forces un-
Challenge 24 s known to you. Can you determine how you are moving from inside the box?
∗∗
When a block is rolled over the floor over a set of cylinders, as shown in Figure 14, how
Challenge 25 s are the speed of the block and that of the cylinders related?
∗∗
Ref. 18 Do you dislike formulae? If you do, use the following three-minute method to change
Challenge 26 s the situation. It is worth trying it, as it will make you enjoy this book much more. Life is
short; as much of it as possible, like reading this text, should be a pleasure.
1. Close your eyes and recall an experience that was absolutely marvellous, a situation
when you felt excited, curious and positive.
2. Open your eyes for a second or two and look at page 241 – or any other page that
contains many formulae.
3. Then close your eyes again and return to your marvellous experience.
4. Repeat the observation of the formulae and the visualization of your memory – steps
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

2 and 3 – three more times.

Then leave the memory, look around yourself to get back into the here and now, and test
yourself. Look again at page 241. How do you feel about formulae now?
∗∗
In the sixteenth century, Niccolò Tartaglia* proposed the following problem. Three
young couples want to cross a river. Only a small boat that can carry two people is avail-
able. The men are extremely jealous, and would never leave their brides with another
Challenge 27 s man. How many journeys across the river are necessary?

* Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia (1499–1557), important Renaissance mathematician.

 32 1 why should we care abou t motion?

∗∗
Cylinders can be used to roll a flat object over the floor, as shown in Figure 14. The cylin-
ders keep the object plane always at the same distance from the floor. What cross-sections
other than circular, so-called curves of constant width, can a cylinder have to realize the
Challenge 28 s same feat? How many examples can you find? Are objects different than cylinders possi-
ble?

Summary on motion
Motion is the most fundamental observation in nature. Everyday motion is predictable
and deterministic. Predictability is reflected in six aspects of motion: continuity, con-
servation, reversibility, mirror-invariance, relativity and minimization. Some of these as-
pects are valid for all motion, and some are valid only for everyday motion. Which ones,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 29 d and why? We explore this now.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 Chapter 2

FROM MOTION MEA SUREMENT TO

C ON T I N U I T Y

“
Physic ist wahrlich das eigentliche Studium des

”
Menschen.*
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
T he simplest description of motion is the one we all, like cats or monkeys, use
hroughout our everyday life: only one thing can be at a given spot at a given time.
his general description can be separated into three assumptions: matter is impen-
etrable and moves, time is made of instants, and space is made of points. Without these
Challenge 30 s three assumptions (do you agree with them?) it is not possible to define velocity in every-
day life. This description of nature is called Galilean physics, or sometimes Newtonian
physics.
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), Tuscan professor of mathematics, was a founder of mod-
ern physics and is famous for advocating the importance of observations as checks of
statements about nature. By requiring and performing these checks throughout his life,
he was led to continuously increase the accuracy in the description of motion. For ex-
ample, Galileo studied motion by measuring change of position with a self-constructed
stopwatch. His approach changed the speculative description of ancient Greece into the
experimental physics of Renaissance Italy.**
The English alchemist, occultist, theologian, physicist and politician Isaac Newton
(1643–1727) was one of the first to pursue with vigour the idea that different types of mo-
tion have the same properties, and he made important steps in constructing the concepts
necessary to demonstrate this idea.***
The explorations by Galileo and his predecessors provided the first clear statements
on the properties of speed, space and time.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* ‘Physics truly is the proper study of man.’ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) was an important
physicist and essayist.
** The best and most informative book on the life of Galileo and his times is by Pietro Redondi (see the
section on page 285). Galileo was born in the year the pencil was invented. Before his time, it was impossible
to do paper and pencil calculations. For the curious, the www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de website allows you to
read an original manuscript by Galileo.
*** Newton was born a year after Galileo died. Newton’s other hobby, as master of the Mint, was to supervise
Ref. 25 personally the hanging of counterfeiters. About Newton’s infatuation with alchemy, see the books by Dobbs.
Among others, Newton believed himself to be chosen by god; he took his Latin name, Isaacus Neuutonus,
and formed the anagram Jeova sanctus unus. About Newton and his importance for classical mechanics, see
Ref. 26 the text by Clifford Truesdell.
 34 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

F I G U R E 15 Galileo Galilei (1564–1642).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 16 Some speed measurement devices: an anemometer, a tachymeter for inline skates, a sport
radar gun and a Pitot–Prandtl tube in an aeroplane (© Fachhochschule Koblenz, Silva, Tracer, Wikimedia).

What is velocity?

“ ”
There is nothing else like it.
Jochen Rindt*

Velocity fascinates. To physicists, not only car races are interesting, but any moving entity
is. Therefore they first measure as many examples as possible. A selection of measured
speed values is given in Table 3. The units and prefixes used are explained in detail in
Page 383 Appendix B. Some speed measurement devices are shown in Figure 16.
Everyday life teaches us a lot about motion: objects can overtake each other, and they
can move in different directions. We also observe that velocities can be added or changed
smoothly. The precise list of these properties, as given in Table 4, is summarized by math-
ematicians in a special term; they say that velocities form a Euclidean vector space.** More
Page 77 details about this strange term will be given shortly. For now we just note that in describ-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ing nature, mathematical concepts offer the most accurate vehicle.

When velocity is assumed to be an Euclidean vector, it is called Galilean velocity. Ve-
locity is a profound concept. For example, velocity does not need space and time mea-
surements to be defined. Are you able to find a means of measuring velocities without
* Jochen Rindt (1942–1970), famous Austrian Formula One racing car driver, speaking about speed.
** It is named after Euclid, or Eukleides, the great Greek mathematician who lived in Alexandria around
300 bce. Euclid wrote a monumental treatise of geometry, the Στοιχεῖα or Elements, which is one of the
milestones of human thought. The text presents the whole knowledge on geometry of that time. For the
first time, Euclid introduces two approaches that are now in common use: all statements are deduced from
a small number of basic axioms and for every statement a proof is given. The book, still in print today, has
been the reference geometry text for over 2000 years. On the web, it can be found at aleph0.clarku.edu/
~djoyce/java/elements/elements.html.
2 from motion measurement to continuit y 35

TA B L E 3 Some measured velocity values.

O b s e r va t i o n Ve l o c i t y

Growth of deep sea manganese crust 80 am/s

Can you find something slower? Challenge 31 s
Stalagmite growth 0.3 pm/s
Lichen growth down to 7 pm/s
cm Typical motion of continents 10 mm/a = 0.3 nm/s
Human growth during childhood, hair growth 4 nm/s
Tree growth up to 30 nm/s
Electron drift in metal wire 1 μm/s
Sperm motion 60 to 160 μm/s

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Speed of light at Sun’s centre 0.1 mm/s
Ketchup motion 1 mm/s
Slowest speed of light measured in matter on Earth Ref. 27 0.3 m/s
Speed of snowflakes 0.5 m/s to 1.5 m/s
Signal speed in human nerve cells Ref. 28 0.5 m/s to 120 m/s
Wind speed at 1 Beaufort (light air) below 1.5 m/s
Speed of rain drops, depending on radius 2 m/s to 8 m/s
Fastest swimming fish, sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) 22 m/s
2006 Speed sailing record over 500 m (by windsurfer Finian Maynard) 25.1 m/s
2008 Speed sailing record over 500 m (by kitesurfer Alex Caizergues) 26.0 m/s
2009 Speed sailing record over 500 m (by trimaran Hydroptère) 26.4 m/s
Fastest running animal, cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) 30 m/s
Wind speed at 12 Beaufort (hurricane) above 33 m/s
Speed of air in throat when sneezing 42 m/s
Fastest throw: a cricket ball thrown with baseball technique while running 50 m/s
Freely falling human, depending on clothing 50 to 90 m/s
Fastest bird, diving Falco peregrinus 60 m/s
Fastest badminton smash 70 m/s
Average speed of oxygen molecule in air at room temperature 280 m/s
Speed of sound in dry air at sea level and standard temperature 330 m/s
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Cracking whip’s end 750 m/s

Speed of a rifle bullet 1 km/s
Speed of crack propagation in breaking silicon 5 km/s
Highest macroscopic speed achieved by man – the Voyager satellite 14 km/s
Speed of Earth through universe 370 km/s
Average speed (and peak speed) of lightning tip 600 km/s (50 Mm/s)
Highest macroscopic speed measured in our galaxy Ref. 29 0.97 ⋅ 108 m/s
Speed of electrons inside a colour TV 1 ⋅ 108 m/s
Speed of radio messages in space 299 792 458 m/s
Highest ever measured group velocity of light 10 ⋅ 108 m/s
Speed of light spot from a light tower when passing over the Moon 2 ⋅ 109 m/s
Highest proper velocity ever achieved for electrons by man 7 ⋅ 1013 m/s
Highest possible velocity for a light spot or shadow no limit
 36 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

TA B L E 4 Properties of everyday – or Galilean – velocity.

Ve l o c i t i e s Physical M at h e m at i c a l Definition
can propert y name
Be distinguished distinguishability element of set Vol. III, page 223
Change gradually continuum real vector space Page 77, Vol. V,
page 288
Point somewhere direction vector space, dimensionality Page 77
Be compared measurability metricity Vol. V, page 280
Be added additivity vector space Page 77
Have defined angles direction Euclidean vector space Page 77
Exceed any limit infinity unboundedness Vol. III, page 224

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 32 d measuring space and time? If so, you probably want to skip to the next volume, jump-
ing 2000 years of enquiries. If you cannot do so, consider this: whenever we measure a
quantity we assume that everybody is able to do so, and that everybody will get the same
result. In other words, we define measurement as a comparison with a standard. We thus
implicitly assume that such a standard exists, i.e., that an example of a ‘perfect’ velocity
can be found. Historically, the study of motion did not investigate this question first, be-
cause for many centuries nobody could find such a standard velocity. You are thus in
good company.
Some researchers have specialized in the study of the lowest velocities found in nature:
Ref. 30 they are called geologists. Do not miss the opportunity to walk across a landscape while
listening to one of them.
How is velocity measured in everyday life? Animals and people estimate their velocity
in two ways: by estimating the frequency of their own movements, such as their steps, or
by using their eyes, ears, sense of touch or sense of vibration to deduce how their own
position changes with respect to the environment. But several animals have additional
capabilities: certain snakes can determine speeds with their infrared-sensing organs, oth-
ers with their magnetic field sensing organs. Still other animals emit sounds that create
echoes in order to measure speeds to high precision. The same range of solutions is used
by technical devices. Table 5 gives an overview.
Velocity is not always an easy subject. Physicists like to say, provokingly, that what can- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

not be measured does not exist. Can you measure your own velocity in empty interstellar
Challenge 33 s space?
Velocity is of interest to both engineers and evolution. In general, self-propelled sys-
tems are faster the larger they are. As an example, Figure 17 shows how this applies to
the cruise speed of flying things. In general, cruise speed scales with the sixth root of
Challenge 34 d the weight, as shown by the trend line drawn in the graph. (Can you find out why?) By
the way, similar allometric scaling relations hold for many other properties of moving
systems, as we will see later on.
Velocity is a profound subject for an additional reason: we will discover that all seven
properties of Table 4 are only approximate; none is actually correct. Improved experi-
ments will uncover exceptions for every property of Galilean velocity. The failure of the
last three properties of Table 4 will lead us to special and general relativity, the failure of
2 from motion measurement to continuit y 37

1 101 102 103 104

Airbus 380
wing load W/A [N/m2] Boeing 747
DC10
Concorde
106 Boeing 727
Boeing 737
Fokker F-28 F-14
Fokker F-27 MIG 23
F-16
105
Learjet 31
Beechcraft King Air
Beechcraft Bonanza Beechcraft Baron
104 Piper Warrior
Schleicher ASW33B

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Schleicher ASK23
Ultralight
Quicksilver B
103 human-powered plane Skysurfer

Pteranodon
102 griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans)
white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus)
white stork (Ciconia ciconia) graylag goose (Anser anser)
black-backed gull (Larus marinus) cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
herring gull (Larus argentatus) wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos)
10
peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus)
carrion craw (Corvus corone) coot (Fulica atra)
weight W [N]

barn owl (Tyto alba) moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

black headed gull (Larus ridibundus)
common tern (Sterna hirundo)
1 blackbird (Turdus merula)
starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
common swift (Apus Apus) ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana)
sky lark (Alauda arvensis) house sparrow (Passer domesticus)
barn swallow (Hirundo rustica)
European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) great tit (Parus major)
house martin (Delichon urbica)
10-1 winter wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
canary (Serinus canaria)
goldcrest (Regulus Regulus) hummingbird (Trochilidae)
privet hawkmoth (Sphinx ligustri) stag betle (Lucanus cervus)
blue underwing (Catocala fraxini) sawyer beetle (Prionus coriarius)
10-2 yellow-striped dragonfly(S. flaveolum) cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

eyed hawk-moth (S. ocellata) small stag beetle (Dorcus parallelopipedus)

swallowtail (P. machaon) june bug (Amphimallon solstitialis)
green dragonfly (Anax junius) garden bumble bee (Bombus hortorum)
large white (P. brassicae)
10-3 common wasp (Vespa vulgaris)
ant lion (Myrmeleo
honey bee (Apis mellifera)
formicarius)
blowfly (Calliphora vicina)
small white (P. rapae)
crane fly (Tipulidae)
scorpionfly (Panorpidae)
damsel fly house fly (Musca domestica)
10-4 (Coenagrionidae) midge (Chironomidae)

gnat (Culicidae)
mosquito (Culicidae)
10-5
fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster)
1 2 3 5 7 10 20 30 50 70 100 200
cruise speed at sea level v [m/s]
F I G U R E 17 How wing load and sea-level cruise speed scales with weight in flying objects, compared
with the general trend line (after a graph © Henk Tennekes).
38 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

TA B L E 5 Speed measurement devices in biological and engineered systems.

Measurement Device Range

Own running speed in insects, leg beat frequency measured 0 to 33 m/s

mammals and humans with internal clock
Own car speed tachymeter attached to 0 to 150 m/s
wheels
Predators and hunters measuring prey vision system 0 to 30 m/s
speed
Police measuring car speed radar or laser gun 0 to 90 m/s
Bat measuring own and prey speed at doppler sonar 0 to 20 m/s
night
Sliding door measuring speed of doppler radar 0 to 3 m/s

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
approaching people
Own swimming speed in fish and friction and deformation of 0 to 30 m/s
humans skin
Own swimming speed in dolphins and sonar to sea floor 0 to 20 m/s
ships
Diving speed in fish, animals, divers pressure change 0 to 5 m/s
and submarines
Water predators and fishing boats sonar 0 to 20 m/s
measuring prey speed
Own speed relative to Earth in insects often none (grasshoppers) n.a.
Own speed relative to Earth in birds visual system 0 to 60 m/s
Own speed relative to Earth in radio goniometry, radar 0 to 8000 m/s
aeroplanes or rockets
Own speed relative to air in insects filiform hair deflection, 0 to 60 m/s
and birds feather deflection
Own speed relative to air in aeroplanes Pitot–Prandtl tube 0 to 340 m/s
Wind speed measurement in thermal, rotating or 0 to 80 m/s
meteorological stations ultrasound anemometers
Swallows measuring prey speed visual system 0 to 20 m/s
Bats measuring prey speed sonar 0 to 20 m/s
Macroscopic motion on Earth Global Positioning System, 0 to 100 m/s
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Galileo, Glonass
Pilots measuring target speed radar 0 to 1000 m/s
Motion of stars optical Doppler effect 0 to 1000 km/s
Motion of star jets optical Doppler effect 0 to 200 Mm/s

the middle two to quantum theory and the failure of the first two properties to the uni-
fied description of nature. But for now, we’ll stick with Galilean velocity, and continue
with another Galilean concept derived from it: time.
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 39

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 18 A typical path followed by a stone thrown through the air – a parabola – with photographs
(blurred and stroboscopic) of a table tennis ball rebounding on a table (centre) and a stroboscopic
photograph of a water droplet rebounding on a strongly hydrophobic surface (right, © Andrew
Davidhazy, Max Groenendijk).

“
Without the concepts place, void and time,
change cannot be. [...] It is therefore clear [...]
that their investigation has to be carried out, by

”
studying each of them separately.
Aristotle* Physics, Book III, part 1.

What is time?

“
Time does not exist in itself, but only through
the perceived objects, from which the concepts

”
of past, of present and of future ensue.
Lucretius,** De rerum natura, lib. 1, v. 460 ss.

In their first years of life, children spend a lot of time throwing objects around. The term
‘object’ is a Latin word meaning ‘that which has been thrown in front.’ Developmental
Ref. 21 psychology has shown experimentally that from this very experience children extract
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the concepts of time and space. Adult physicists do the same when studying motion at
university.
When we throw a stone through the air, we can define a sequence of observations.
Figure 18 illustrates how. Our memory and our senses give us this ability. The sense of
hearing registers the various sounds during the rise, the fall and the landing of the stone.
Our eyes track the location of the stone from one point to the next. All observations have
their place in a sequence, with some observations preceding them, some observations

* Aristotle (b. 384/3 Stageira, d. 322 bce Euboea), important Greek philosopher and scientist, founder of
the Peripatetic school located at the Lyceum, a gymnasium dedicated to Apollo Lyceus.
** Titus Lucretius Carus (c. 95 to c. 55 bce), Roman scholar and poet.
 40 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

TA B L E 6 Selected time measurements.

O b s e r va t i o n Ti me

Shortest measurable time 10−44 s

Shortest time ever measured 10 ys
Time for light to cross a typical atom 0.1 to 10 as
Shortest laser light pulse produced so far 200 as
Period of caesium ground state hyperfine transition 108.782 775 707 78 ps
Beat of wings of fruit fly 1 ms
Period of pulsar (rotating neutron star) PSR 1913+16 0.059 029 995 271(2) s
Human ‘instant’ 20 ms
Shortest lifetime of living being 0.3 d

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Average length of day 400 million years ago 79 200 s
Average length of day today 86 400.002(1) s
From birth to your 1000 million seconds anniversary 31.7 a
Age of oldest living tree 4600 a
Use of human language 0.2 Ma
Age of Himalayas 35 to 55 Ma
Age of oldest rocks, found in Isua Belt, Greenland 3.8 Ga
and in Porpoise Cove, Hudson Bay
Age of Earth 4.6 Ga
Age of oldest stars 13.7 Ga
Age of most protons in your body 13.7 Ga
Lifetime of tantalum nucleus 180m Ta 1015 a
Lifetime of bismuth 209 Bi nucleus 1.9(2) ⋅ 1019 a

simultaneous to them, and still others succeeding them. We say that observations are
perceived to happen at various instants and we call the sequence of all instants time.
An observation that is considered the smallest part of a sequence, i.e., not itself a
sequence, is called an event. Events are central to the definition of time; in particular,
Challenge 35 s starting or stopping a stopwatch are events. (But do events really exist? Keep this question
in the back of your head as we move on.)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Sequential phenomena have an additional property known as stretch, extension or

duration. Some measured values are given in Table 6.* Duration expresses the idea that
sequences take time. We say that a sequence takes time to express that other sequences
can take place in parallel with it.
How exactly is the concept of time, including sequence and duration, deduced from
observations? Many people have looked into this question: astronomers, physicists,
watchmakers, psychologists and philosophers. All find:

⊳ Time is deduced by comparing motions.

* A year is abbreviated a (Latin ‘annus’).

 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 41

This is even the case for children and animals. Beginning at a very young age, they
Ref. 21 develop the concept of ‘time’ from the comparison of motions in their surroundings.
Grown-ups take as a standard the motion of the Sun and call the resulting type of time
local time. From the Moon they deduce a lunar calendar. If they take a particular village
clock on a European island they call it the universal time coordinate (UTC), once known
as ‘Greenwich mean time.’*Astronomers use the movements of the stars and call the re-
sult ephemeris time (or one of its successors). An observer who uses his personal watch
calls the reading his proper time; it is often used in the theory of relativity.
Not every movement is a good standard for time. In the year 2000, an Earth rotation
Page 386 did not take 86 400 seconds any more, as it did in the year 1900, but 86 400.002 seconds.
Can you deduce in which year your birthday will have shifted by a whole day from the
Challenge 37 s time predicted with 86 400 seconds?
All methods for the definition of time are thus based on comparisons of motions.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In order to make the concept as precise and as useful as possible, a standard reference
motion is chosen, and with it a standard sequence and a standard duration is defined.
The device that performs this task is called a clock. We can thus answer the question of
the section title:

⊳ Time is what we read from a clock.

Note that all definitions of time used in the various branches of physics are equivalent
to this one; no ‘deeper’ or more fundamental definition is possible.** Note that the word
‘moment’ is indeed derived from the word ‘movement’. Language follows physics in this
case. Astonishingly, the definition of time just given is final; it will never be changed,
not even at the top of Motion Mountain. This is surprising at first sight, because many
books have been written on the nature of time. Instead, they should investigate the nature
of motion! But this is the aim of our walk anyhow. We are thus set to discover all the
secrets of time as a side result of our adventure. Every clock reminds us that in order to
understand time, we need to understand motion.
A clock is thus a moving system whose position can be read. Of course, a precise clock
is a system moving as regularly as possible, with as little outside disturbance as possible.
Is there a perfect clock in nature? Do clocks exist at all? We will continue to study these
questions throughout this work and eventually reach a surprising conclusion. At this
point, however, we state a simple intermediate result: since clocks do exist, somehow Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 38 s there is in nature an intrinsic, natural and ideal way to measure time. Can you see it?
Time is not only an aspect of observations, it is also a facet of personal experience.
Even in our innermost private life, in our thoughts, feelings and dreams, we experience
sequences and durations. Children learn to relate this internal experience of time with ex-
ternal observations, and to make use of the sequential property of events in their actions.
Studies of the origin of psychological time show that it coincides – apart from its lack

* Official UTC is used to determine the phase of the power grid, phone companies’ bit streams and the
signal to the GPS system. The latter is used by many navigation systems around the world, especially in
ships, aeroplanes and lorries. For more information, see the www.gpsworld.com website. The time-keeping
Challenge 36 s infrastructure is also important for other parts of the modern economy. Can you spot the most important
ones?
Ref. 31 ** The oldest clocks are sundials. The science of making them is called gnomonics.
 42 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

TA B L E 7 Properties of Galilean time.

I n s ta n t s o f t i m e Physical M at h e m at i c a l Definition
propert y name

Can be distinguished distinguishability element of set Vol. III, page 223

Can be put in order sequence order Vol. V, page 288
Define duration measurability metricity Vol. V, page 280
Can have vanishing duration continuity denseness, completeness Vol. V, page 288
Allow durations to be added additivity metricity Vol. V, page 280
Don’t harbour surprises translation invariance homogeneity Page 204
Don’t end infinity unboundedness Vol. III, page 224
Are equal for all observers absoluteness uniqueness

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
of accuracy – with clock time.* Every living human necessarily uses in his daily life the
concept of time as a combination of sequence and duration; this fact has been checked
Ref. 33 in numerous investigations. For example, the term ‘when’ exists in all human languages.
Time is a concept necessary to distinguish between observations. In any sequence, we
observe that events succeed each other smoothly, apparently without end. In this context,
‘smoothly’ means that observations that are not too distant tend to be not too different.
Yet between two instants, as close as we can observe them, there is always room for other
events. Durations, or time intervals, measured by different people with different clocks
agree in everyday life; moreover, all observers agree on the order of a sequence of events.
Time is thus unique in everyday life.
The properties of everyday time, also listed in Table 7, correspond to the precise ver-
sion of our everyday experience of time. This concept is called Galilean time; all its prop-
erties can be expressed simultaneously by describing time with the help of real numbers.
In fact, real numbers have been constructed by mathematicians to have exactly the same
Vol. III, page 232 properties as Galilean time, as explained in the chapter on the brain. Every instant of time
can be described by a real number, often abbreviated t, and the duration of a sequence of
events is given by the difference between the values for the final and the starting event.
When Galileo studied motion in the seventeenth century, there were as yet no stop-
watches. He thus had to build one himself, in order to measure times in the range be-
Challenge 39 s tween a fraction and a few seconds. Can you imagine how he did it?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

We will have quite some fun with Galilean time in this part of our adventure. However,
hundreds of years of close scrutiny have shown that every single property of time just
listed is approximate, and none is strictly correct. This story is told in the rest of our
adventure.

Vol. V, page 31 * The brain contains numerous clocks. The most precise clock for short time intervals, the internal interval
timer of the brain, is more accurate than often imagined, especially when trained. For time periods between
Ref. 32 a few tenths of a second, as necessary for music, and a few minutes, humans can achieve timing accuracies
of a few per cent.
2 from motion measurement to continuit y 43

light from the Sun

time read off :

11h00 CEST sub-solar poin t

sub-solar point
close to Mekk a

close to Mekka
Sun’s orbit sun's orbi t

on May 15th on May 15 th

mirror reflects
the sunlight
winter-spring
display screen winter-spring
display scree n

time scale ring

CEST

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 19 Different types of clocks: a high-tech sundial (size c. 30 cm), a naval pocket chronometer
(size c. 6 cm), a caesium atomic clock (size c. 4 m), a group of cyanobacteria and the Galilean satellites of
Jupiter (© Carlo Heller at www.heliosuhren.de, Anonymous, INMS, Wikimedia, NASA).
 44 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

Clocks
A clock is a moving system whose position can be read. There are many types of clocks:
stopwatches, twelve-hour clocks, sundials, lunar clocks, seasonal clocks, etc. A few are
Ref. 34 shown in Figure 19. Almost all clock types are also found in plants and animals, as shown
in Table 8.
Ref. 35 Interestingly, there is a strict rule in the animal kingdom: large clocks go slow. How
this happens, is shown in Figure 20, another example of an allometric scaling ‘law’.
Clock makers are experts in producing motion that is as regular as possible. We will
Page 155 discover some of their tricks below. We will also explore, later on, the fundamental limits
Vol. V, page 34 for the precision of clocks.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
2 from motion measurement to continuit y 45

TA B L E 8 Examples of biological rhythms and clocks.

Living being O s c i l l at i n g s ys t e m Period

Sand hopper (Talitrus saltator) knows in which direction to flee from circadian
the position of the Sun or Moon
Human (Homo sapiens) gamma waves in the brain 0.023 to 0.03 s
alpha waves in the brain 0.08 to 0.13 s
heart beat 0.3 to 1.5 s
delta waves in the brain 0.3 to 10 s
blood circulation 30 s
cellular circhoral rhythms 1 to 2 ks
rapid-eye-movement sleep period 5.4 ks
nasal cycle 4 to 9 ks

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
growth hormone cycle 11 ks
suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), circadian 90 ks
hormone concentration, temperature,
etc.; leads to jet lag
monthly period 2.4(4) Ms
built-in aging 3.2(3) Gs
Common fly (Musca domestica) wing beat 30 ms
Fruit fly (Drosophila wing beat for courting 34 ms
melanogaster)
Most insects (e.g. wasps, fruit winter approach detection (diapause) by yearly
flies) length of day measurement; triggers
metabolism changes
Algae (Acetabularia) Adenosinetriphosphate (ATP)
concentration
Moulds (e.g. Neurospora crassa) conidia formation circadian
Many flowering plants flower opening and closing circadian
Tobacco plant flower opening clock; triggered by annual
length of days, discovered in 1920 by
Garner and Allard
Arabidopsis circumnutation circadian
growth a few hours
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Telegraph plant (Desmodium side leaf rotation 200 s

gyrans)
Forsythia europaea, F. suspensa, Flower petal oscillation, discovered by 5.1 ks
F. viridissima, F. spectabilis Van Gooch in 2002
46 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

+8

Maximum lifespan of wild birds

+7

+6
Reproductive maturity

Growth-time in birds
+5
Gestation time (max 100 cycles per lifetime)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
+4
Log10 of time/min

+3

Metabolism of fat, 0.1% of body mass

(max 1 000 000 cycles per lifetime)
+2
Sleep cycle

Insulin clearance of body plasma volume

+1
(max 3 000 000 cycles per lifetime)

0
Circulation of blood volume
(max 30 000 000 cycles per lifetime)

-1
Respiratory cycles
(max 200 000 000 cycles per lifetime)
Gut contraction
-2 (max 300 000 000 cycles per lifetime)

Cardiac cycle
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

(max 1 000 000 000 cycles per lifetime)

-3
Fast muscle contraction
(max 120 000 000 000 cycles per lifetime)
-4
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
Body mass/kg

F I G U R E 20 How biological rhythms scale with size in mammals: all scale more or less with a quater
poweer of the mass (after data from the EMBO and Enrique Morgado).
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 47

Why do clocks go clockwise?

“ ”
Challenge 40 s What time is it at the North Pole now?

Most rotational motions in our society, such as athletic races, horse, bicycle or ice skat-
ing races, turn anticlockwise.* Mathematicians call this the positive rotation sense. Ev-
ery supermarket leads its guests anticlockwise through the hall. Why? Most people are
right-handed, and the right hand has more freedom at the outside of a circle. Therefore
thousands of years ago chariot races in stadia went anticlockwise. As a result, all stadium
races still do so to this day, and that is why runners move anticlockwise. For the same rea-
son, helical stairs in castles are built in such a way that defending right-handers, usually
from above, have that hand on the outside.
On the other hand, the clock imitates the shadow of sundials; obviously, this is true

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
on the northern hemisphere only, and only for sundials on the ground, which were the
most common ones. (The old trick to determine south by pointing the hour hand of
a horizontal watch to the Sun and halving the angle between it and the direction of 12
o’clock does not work on the southern hemisphere.) So every clock implicitly continues
to state on which hemisphere it was invented. In addition, it also tells us that sundials on
walls came in use much later than those on the floor.

Does time flow?

“
Wir können keinen Vorgang mit dem ‘Ablauf
der Zeit’ vergleichen – diesen gibt es nicht –,
sondern nur mit einem anderen Vorgang (etwa

”
dem Gang des Chronometers).**
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 6.3611

“ ”
Si le temps est un fleuve, quel est son lit ?***

The expression ‘the flow of time’ is often used to convey that in nature change follows
after change, in a steady and continuous manner. But though the hands of a clock ‘flow’,
time itself does not. Time is a concept introduced specially to describe the flow of events
around us; it does not itself flow, it describes flow. Time does not advance. Time is neither
linear nor cyclic. The idea that time flows is as hindering to understanding nature as is
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. III, page 81 the idea that mirrors exchange right and left.
The misleading use of the expression ‘flow of time’, propagated first by some flawed
Ref. 36 Greek thinkers and then again by Newton, continues. Aristotle, careful to think logically,
pointed out its misconception, and many did so after him. Nevertheless, expressions such
as ‘time reversal’, the ‘irreversibility of time’, and the much-abused ‘time’s arrow’ are still
Challenge 41 e common. Just read a popular science magazine chosen at random. The fact is: time can-
not be reversed, only motion can, or more precisely, only velocities of objects; time has

* Notable exceptions are most, but not all, Formula 1 races.

** ‘We cannot compare any process with ‘the passage of time’ – there is no such thing – but only with another
process (say, with the working of a chronometer).’
*** ‘If time is a river, what is his bed?’
 48 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

no arrow, only motion has; it is not the flow of time that humans are unable to stop,
but the motion of all the objects in nature. Incredibly, there are even books written by
Ref. 37 respected physicists that study different types of ‘time’s arrows’ and compare them with
each other. Predictably, no tangible or new result is extracted. Time does not flow.
In the same manner, colloquial expressions such as ‘the start (or end) of time’ should
be avoided. A motion expert translates them straight away into ‘the start (or end) of
motion’.

What is space?

“
The introduction of numbers as coordinates [...]

”
is an act of violence [...].
Hermann Weyl, Philosophie der Mathematik
und Naturwissenschaft.*

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Whenever we distinguish two objects from each other, such as two stars, we first of all dis-
tinguish their positions. We distinguish positions with our senses of sight, touch, hearing
and proprioperception. Position is therefore an important aspect of the physical state of
an object. A position is taken by only one object at a time. Positions are limited. The set of
all available positions, called (physical) space, acts as both a container and a background.
Closely related to space and position is size, the set of positions an object occupies.
Small objects occupy only subsets of the positions occupied by large ones. We will discuss
Page 53 size in more detail shortly.
How do we deduce space from observations? During childhood, humans (and most
higher animals) learn to bring together the various perceptions of space, namely the vi-
sual, the tactile, the auditory, the kinaesthetic, the vestibular etc., into one coherent set
of experiences and description. The result of this learning process is a certain concept
of space in the brain. Indeed, the question ‘where?’ can be asked and answered in all
languages of the world. Being more precise, adults derive space from distance measure-
ments. The concepts of length, area, volume, angle and solid angle are all deduced with
their help. Geometers, surveyors, architects, astronomers, carpet salesmen and produc-
ers of metre sticks base their trade on distance measurements. Space is a concept formed
to summarize all the distance relations between objects for a precise description of ob-
servations.
Metre sticks work well only if they are straight. But when humans lived in the jungle,
there were no straight objects around them. No straight rulers, no straight tools, noth-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 42 s ing. Today, a cityscape is essentially a collection of straight lines. Can you describe how
humans achieved this?
Once humans came out of the jungle with their newly built metre sticks, they col-
lected a wealth of results. The main ones are listed in Table 9; they are easily confirmed
by personal experience. Objects can take positions in an apparently continuous manner:
there indeed are more positions than can be counted.** Size is captured by defining the

* Hermann Weyl (1885–1955) was one of the most important mathematicians of his time, as well as an
important theoretical physicist. He was one of the last universalists in both fields, a contributor to quantum
theory and relativity, father of the term ‘gauge’ theory, and author of many popular texts.
** For a definition of uncountability, see page 226 in Volume III.
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 49

F I G U R E 21 Two
proofs that space has
three dimensions: the
vestibular labyrinth in
the inner ear of
mammals (here a
human) with three
canals and a knot
(© Northwestern
University).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
distance between various positions, called length, or by using the field of view an ob-
ject takes when touched, called its surface. Length and surface can be measured with the
help of a metre stick. (Selected measurement results are given in Table 10; some length
measurement devices are shon in Figure 23.) The length of objects is independent of
the person measuring it, of the position of the objects and of their orientation. In daily
life the sum of angles in any triangle is equal to two right angles. There are no limits to
distances, lengths and thus to space.
Experience shows us that space has three dimensions; we can define sequences of
positions in precisely three independent ways. Indeed, the inner ear of (practically) all
vertebrates has three semicircular canals that sense the body’s acceleration in the three
dimensions of space, as shown in Figure 21.* Similarly, each human eye is moved by
Challenge 43 s three pairs of muscles. (Why three?) Another proof that space has three dimensions is
provided by shoelaces: if space had more than three dimensions, shoelaces would not
be useful, because knots exist only in three-dimensional space. But why does space have
three dimensions? This is one of the most difficult question of physics; it will be answered
only in the very last part of our walk.
It is often said that thinking in four dimensions is impossible. That is wrong. Just try.
Challenge 44 s For example, can you confirm that in four dimensions knots are impossible?
Like time intervals, length intervals can be described most precisely with the help of
real numbers. In order to simplify communication, standard units are used, so that every-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

body uses the same numbers for the same length. Units allow us to explore the general
properties of Galilean space experimentally: space, the container of objects, is continuous,
three-dimensional, isotropic, homogeneous, infinite, Euclidean and unique or ‘absolute’.
In mathematics, a structure or mathematical concept with all the properties just men-
tioned is called a three-dimensional Euclidean space. Its elements, (mathematical) points,
are described by three real parameters. They are usually written as

(x, y, z) (1)

* Note that saying that space has three dimensions implies that space is continuous; the Dutch mathemati-
cian and philosopher Luitzen Brouwer (b. 1881 Overschie, d. 1966 Blaricum) showed that dimensionality is
only a useful concept for continuous sets.
 50 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

TA B L E 9 Properties of Galilean space.

Points Physical M at h e m at i c a l Defini-

propert y name tion

Can be distinguished distinguishability element of set Vol. III, page 223

Can be lined up if on one line sequence order Vol. V, page 288
Can form shapes shape topology Vol. V, page 287
Lie along three independent possibility of knots 3-dimensionality Page 77, Vol. V,
directions page 280
Can have vanishing distance continuity denseness, Vol. V, page 288
completeness
Define distances measurability metricity Vol. V, page 280
Allow adding translations additivity metricity Vol. V, page 280

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Define angles scalar product Euclidean space Page 77
Don’t harbour surprises translation invariance homogeneity
Can beat any limit infinity unboundedness Vol. III, page 224
Defined for all observers absoluteness uniqueness Page 52

F I G U R E 22 René Descartes (1596–1650).

and are called coordinates. They specify and order the location of a point in space. (For
Page 77 the precise definition of Euclidean spaces, see below..)
What is described here in just half a page actually took 2000 years to be worked
out, mainly because the concepts of ‘real number’ and ‘coordinate’ had to be discovered
first. The first person to describe points of space in this way was the famous mathemati-
cian and philosopher René Descartes*, after whom the coordinates of expression (1) are
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

named Cartesian.
Like time, space is a necessary concept to describe the world. Indeed, space is auto-
matically introduced when we describe situations with many objects. For example, when
many spheres lie on a billiard table, we cannot avoid using space to describe the relations
between them. There is no way to avoid using spatial concepts when talking about nature.
Even though we need space to talk about nature, it is still interesting to ask why this
is possible. For example, since many length measurement methods do exist – some are

* René Descartes or Cartesius (b. 1596 La Haye, d. 1650 Stockholm), French mathematician and philosopher,
author of the famous statement ‘je pense, donc je suis’, which he translated into ‘cogito ergo sum’ – I think
therefore I am. In his view this is the only statement one can be sure of.
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 51

TA B L E 10 Some measured distance values.

O b s e r va t i o n D i s ta n c e

Galaxy Compton wavelength 10−85 m (calculated only)

Planck length, the shortest measurable length 10−35 m
Proton diameter 1 fm
Electron Compton wavelength 2.426 310 215(18) pm
Smallest air oscillation detectable by human ear 11 pm
Hydrogen atom size 30 pm
Size of small bacterium 0.2 μm
Wavelength of visible light 0.4 to 0.8 μm
Point: diameter of smallest object visible with naked eye 20 μm

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Diameter of human hair (thin to thick) 30 to 80 μm
Total length of DNA in each human cell 2m
Largest living thing, the fungus Armillaria ostoyae 3 km
Longest human throw with any object, using a boomerang 427 m
Highest human-built structure, Burj Khalifa 828 m
Largest spider webs in Mexico c. 5 km
Length of Earth’s Equator 40 075 014.8(6) m
Total length of human blood vessels (rough estimate) 4to16 ⋅ 104 km
Total length of human nerve cells (rough estimate) 1.5to8 ⋅ 105 km
Average distance to Sun 149 597 870 691(30) m
Light year 9.5 Pm
Distance to typical star at night 10 Em
Size of galaxy 1 Zm
Distance to Andromeda galaxy 28 Zm
Most distant visible object 125 Ym

listed in Table 11 – and since they all yield consistent results, there must be a natural or
Challenge 45 s ideal way to measure distances, sizes and straightness. Can you find it?
As in the case of time, each of the properties of space just listed has to be checked.
And again, careful observations will show that each property is an approximation. In
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

simpler and more drastic words, all of them are wrong. This confirms Weyl’s statement
at the beginning of this section. In fact, his statement about the violence connected with
the introduction of numbers is told by every forest in the world, and of course also by
the one at the foot of Motion Mountain. The rest of our adventure will show this.

“ ”
Μέτρον ἄριστον.*
Cleobulus

* ‘Measure is the best (thing).’ Cleobulus (Κλεοβουλος) of Lindos, (c. 620–550 BCE ) was another of the
proverbial seven sages.
52 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 23 Three mechanical (a vernier caliper, a micrometer screw, a moustache) and three optical
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

(the eyes, a laser meter, a light curtain) length and distance measurement devices (© www.
medien-werkstatt.de, Naples Zoo, Leica Geosystems and Keyence).

Are space and time absolute or relative?

In everyday life, the concepts of Galilean space and time include two opposing aspects;
the contrast has coloured every discussion for several centuries. On the one hand, space
and time express something invariant and permanent; they both act like big containers
for all the objects and events found in nature. Seen this way, space and time have an ex-
istence of their own. In this sense one can say that they are fundamental or absolute. On
the other hand, space and time are tools of description that allow us to talk about rela-
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 53

TA B L E 11 Length measurement devices in biological and engineered systems.

Measurement Device Range

Humans
Measurement of body shape, e.g. finger distance, muscle sensors 0.3 mm to 2 m
eye position, teeth distance
Measurement of object distance stereoscopic vision 1 to 100 m
Measurement of object distance sound echo effect 0.1 to 1000 m
Animals
Measurement of hole size moustache up to 0.5 m
Measurement of walking distance by desert ants step counter up to 100 m
Measurement of flight distance by honey bees eye up to 3 km

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Measurement of swimming distance by sharks magnetic field map up to 1000 km
Measurement of prey distance by snakes infrared sensor up to 2 m
Measurement of prey distance by bats, dolphins, sonar up to 100 m
and hump whales
Measurement of prey distance by raptors vision 0.1 to 1000 m
Machines
Measurement of object distance by laser light reflection 0.1 m to 400 Mm
Measurement of object distance by radar radio echo 0.1 to 50 km
Measurement of object length interferometer 0.5 μm to 50 km
Measurement of star, galaxy or quasar distance intensity decay up to 125 Ym
Measurement of particle size accelerator down to 10−18 m

tions between objects. In this view, they do not have any meaning when separated from
objects, and only result from the relations between objects; they are derived, relational
Challenge 46 e or relative. Which of these viewpoints do you prefer? The results of physics have alter-
nately favoured one viewpoint or the other. We will repeat this alternation throughout
Ref. 38 our adventure, until we find the solution. And obviously, it will turn out to be a third
option.

Size – why area exists, but volume does not

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

A central aspect of objects is their size. As a small child, under school age, every human
learns how to use the properties of size and space in their actions. As adults seeking
precision, with the definition of distance as the difference between coordinates allows us
to define length in a reliable way. It took hundreds of years to discover that this is not the
case. Several investigations in physics and mathematics led to complications.
The physical issues started with an astonishingly simple question asked by Lewis
Richardson:* How long is the western coastline of Britain?
Following the coastline on a map using an odometer, a device shown in Figure 24,
Richardson found that the length l of the coastline depends on the scale s (say 1 : 10 000

* Lewis Fray Richardson (1881–1953), English physicist and psychologist.

 54 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

F I G U R E 24 A curvimeter or odometer
(photograph © Frank Müller).

n=1 n=2 n=3 n=∞

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 25 A fractal: a self-similar curve of infinite length (far right), and its construction.

or 1 : 500 000) of the map used:

l = l0 s 0.25 (2)

(Richardson found other exponentials for other coasts.) The number l0 is the length at
scale 1 : 1. The main result is that the larger the map, the longer the coastline. What would
happen if the scale of the map were increased even beyond the size of the original? The
length would increase beyond all bounds. Can a coastline really have infinite length? Yes,
it can. In fact, mathematicians have described many such curves; they are called fractals.
An infinite number of them exist, and Figure 25 shows one example.* Can you construct
Challenge 47 e another?
Length has other strange properties. The Italian mathematician Giuseppe Vitali was
the first to discover that it is possible to cut a line segment of length 1 into pieces that
can be reassembled – merely by shifting them in the direction of the segment – into a
line segment of length 2. Are you able to find such a division using the hint that it is only
Challenge 48 d possible using infinitely many pieces?
To sum up, length is well defined for lines that are straight or nicely curved, but not
for intricate lines, or for lines made of infinitely many pieces. We therefore avoid fractals
and other strangely shaped curves in the following, and we take special care when we
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

talk about infinitely small segments. These are the central assumptions in the first five
volumes of this adventure, and we should never forget them. We will come back to these
assumptions in the last volume of our adventure.
In fact, all these problems pale when compared with the following problem. Com-
monly, area and volume are defined using length. You think that it is easy? You’re wrong,
as well as being a victim of prejudices spread by schools around the world. To define area

* Most of these curves are self-similar, i.e., they follow scaling ‘laws’ similar to the above-mentioned. The
term ‘fractal’ is due to the Polish mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot and refers to a strange property: in a
certain sense, they have a non-integral number D of dimensions, despite being one-dimensional by con-
struction. Mandelbrot saw that the non-integer dimension was related to the exponent e of Richardson by
Ref. 39 D = 1 + e, thus giving D = 1.25 in the example above.
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 55

dihedral
angle

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 26 A polyhedron with one of
its dihedral angles (© Luca Gastaldi).

and volume with precision, their definitions must have two properties: the values must
be additive, i.e., for finite and infinite sets of objects, the total area and volume have to
be the sum of the areas and volumes of each element of the set; and they must be rigid,
i.e., if one cuts an area or a volume into pieces and then rearranges the pieces, the value
remains the same. Are such definitions possible? In other words, do such concepts of
volume and area exist?
For areas in a plane, one proceeds in the following standard way: one defines the area
A of a rectangle of sides a and b as A = ab; since any polygon can be rearranged into
Challenge 49 s a rectangle with a finite number of straight cuts, one can then define an area value for
all polygons. Subsequently, one can define area for nicely curved shapes as the limit of
Page 214 the sum of infinitely many polygons. This method is called integration; it is introduced
in detail in the section on physical action.
However, integration does not allow us to define area for arbitrarily bounded regions.
Challenge 50 s (Can you imagine such a region?) For a complete definition, more sophisticated tools are
needed. They were discovered in 1923 by the famous mathematician Stefan Banach.* He
proved that one can indeed define an area for any set of points whatsoever, even if the
border is not nicely curved but extremely complicated, such as the fractal curve previ-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ously mentioned. Today this generalized concept of area, technically a ‘finitely additive
isometrically invariant measure,’ is called a Banach measure in his honour. Mathemati-
cians sum up this discussion by saying that since in two dimensions there is a Banach
measure, there is a way to define the concept of area – an additive and rigid measure –
for any set of points whatsoever.**

* Stefan Banach (b. 1892 Krakow, d. 1945 Lvov), important Polish mathematician.
** Actually, this is true only for sets on the plane. For curved surfaces, such as the surface of a sphere, there
are complications that will not be discussed here. In addition, the problems mentioned in the definition of
length of fractals also reappear for area if the surface to be measured is not flat. A typical example is the
area of the human lung: depending on the level of details examined, one finds area values from a few up to
over a hundred square metres.
 56 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

What is the situation in three dimensions, i.e., for volume? We can start in the same
way as for area, by defining the volume V of a rectangular polyhedron with sides a, b, c as
V = abc. But then we encounter a first problem: a general polyhedron cannot be cut into
a cube by straight cuts! The limitation was discovered in 1900 and 1902 by Max Dehn.*
He found that the possibility depends on the values of the edge angles, or dihedral angles,
as the mathematicians call them. (They are defined in Figure 26.) If one ascribes to every
edge of a general polyhedron a number given by its length l times a special function
д(α) of its dihedral angle α, then Dehn found that the sum of all the numbers for all
the edges of a solid does not change under dissection, provided that the function fulfils
д(α + β) = д(α) + д(β) and д(π) = 0. An example of such a strange function д is the
one assigning the value 0 to any rational multiple of π and the value 1 to a basis set of
irrational multiples of π. The values for all other dihedral angles of the polyhedron can
then be constructed by combination of rational multiples of these basis angles. Using this

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 51 s function, you may then deduce for yourself that a cube cannot be dissected into a regular
tetrahedron because their respective Dehn invariants are different.**
Despite the problems with Dehn invariants, one can define a rigid and additive con-
cept of volume for polyhedra, since for all polyhedra and, in general, for all ‘nicely curved’
shapes, one can again use integration for the definition of their volume.
Now let us consider general shapes and general cuts in three dimensions, not just the
‘nice’ ones mentioned so far. We then stumble on the famous Banach–Tarski theorem (or
Ref. 40 paradox). In 1924, Stefan Banach and Alfred Tarski*** proved that it is possible to cut one
sphere into five pieces that can be recombined to give two spheres, each the size of the
original. This counter-intuitive result is the Banach–Tarski theorem. Even worse, another
version of the theorem states: take any two sets not extending to infinity and containing
a solid sphere each; then it is always possible to dissect one into the other with a finite
number of cuts. In particular it is possible to dissect a pea into the Earth, or vice versa.
Size does not count!**** Volume is thus not a useful concept at all.
The Banach–Tarski theorem raises two questions: first, can the result be applied to
gold or bread? That would solve many problems. Second, can it be applied to empty
Challenge 52 s space? In other words, are matter and empty space continuous? Both topics will be ex-
plored later in our walk; each issue will have its own, special consequences. For the mo-
ment, we eliminate this troubling issue by restricting our interest to smoothly curved
shapes (and cutting knives). With this restriction, volumes of matter and of empty space
do behave nicely: they are additive and rigid, and show no paradoxes.***** Indeed, the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

cuts required for the Banach–Tarski paradox are not smooth; it is not possible to perform

* Max Dehn (b. 1878 Hamburg, d. 1952 Black Mountain), German mathematician, student of David Hilbert.
** This is also told in the beautiful book by M. Aigler & G. M. Z iegler, Proofs from the Book, Springer
Verlag, 1999. The title is due to the famous habit of the great mathematician Paul Erdős to imagine that all
beautiful mathematical proofs can be assembled in the ‘book of proofs’.
*** Alfred Tarski (b. 1902 Warsaw, d. 1983 Berkeley), Polish mathematician.
**** The proof of the result does not need much mathematics; it is explained beautifully by Ian Stewart in
Paradox of the spheres, New Scientist, 14 January 1995, pp. 28–31. The proof is based on the axiom of choice,
Vol. III, page 224 which is presented later on. The Banach–Tarski paradox also exists in four dimensions, as it does in any
Ref. 41 higher dimension. More mathematical detail can be found in the beautiful book by Stan Wagon.
***** Mathematicians say that a so-called Lebesgue measure is sufficient in physics. This countably additive
isometrically invariant measure provides the most general way to define a volume.
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 57

F I G U R E 27 Straight lines found in nature: cerussite (picture width approx. 3 mm, © Stephan Wolfsried)
and selenite (picture width approx. 15 m, © Arch. Speleoresearch & Films/La Venta at www.laventa.it and
www.naica.com.mx).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
them with an everyday knife, as they require (infinitely many) infinitely sharp bends per-
formed with an infinitely sharp knife. Such a knife does not exist. Nevertheless, we keep
in the back of our mind that the size of an object or of a piece of empty space is a tricky
quantity – and that we need to be careful whenever we talk about it.

What is straight?
When you see a solid object with a straight edge, it is a 99 %-safe bet that it is man-
made. Of course, there are exceptions, as shown in Figure 27.* The largest crystals ever
Ref. 43 found are 18 m in length. But in general, the contrast between the objects seen in a city –
buildings, furniture, cars, electricity poles, boxes, books – and the objects seen in a forest
– trees, plants, stones, clouds – is evident: in the forest nothing is straight or flat, in the
city most objects are. How is it possible for humans to produce straight objects while
there are almost none to be found in nature?
Page 407 Any forest teaches us the origin of straightness; it presents tall tree trunks and rays of
daylight entering from above through the leaves. For this reason we call a line straight if
it touches either a plumb-line or a light ray along its whole length. In fact, the two defini-
Challenge 53 s tions are equivalent. Can you confirm this? Can you find another definition? Obviously,
we call a surface flat if for any chosen orientation and position the surface touches a
plumb-line or a light ray along its whole extension.
In summary, the concept of straightness – and thus also of flatness – is defined with
the help of bodies or radiation. In fact, all spatial concepts, like all temporal concepts,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

require motion for their definition.

A hollow Earth?
Space and straightness pose subtle challenges. Some strange people maintain that all hu-
mans live on the inside of a sphere; they (usually) call this the hollow Earth theory. They
Ref. 44 claim that the Moon, the Sun and the stars are all near the centre of the hollow sphere, as
illustrated in Figure 29. They also explain that light follows curved paths in the sky and

* Another famous exception, unrelated to atomic structures, is the well-known Irish geological formation
Page 362 called the Giant’s Causeway. Other candidates that might come to mind, such as certain bacteria which have
Ref. 42 (almost) square or (almost) triangular shapes are not counter-examples, as the shapes are only approximate.
 58 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 28 A photograph of the Earth – seen from the direction of the Sun (NASA).

that when conventional physicists talk about a distance r from the centre of the Earth,
the real hollow Earth distance is rhe = REarth
2
/r. Can you show that this model is wrong?
Challenge 54 s Roman Sexl* used to ask this question to his students and fellow physicists. The answer
is simple: if you think you have an argument to show that this view is wrong, you are
mistaken! There is no way of showing that such a view is wrong. It is possible to explain
the horizon, the appearance of day and night, as well as the satellite photographs of the
Challenge 55 e round Earth, such as Figure 28. To explain what happened during a flight to the Moon
is also fun. A coherent hollow Earth view is fully equivalent to the usual picture of an
Vol. II, page 263 infinitely extended space. We will come back to this problem in the section on general
relativity. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Curiosities and fun challenges about everyday space and time

How does one measure the speed of a gun bullet with a stop watch, in a space of 1 m3 ,
Challenge 56 s without electronics? Hint: the same method can also be used to measure the speed of
light.
∗∗
Challenge 57 s What is faster: an arrow or a motorbike?

* Roman Sexl, (1939–1986), important Austrian physicist, author of several influential textbooks on gravi-
tation and relativity.
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 59

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 29 A model illustrating the hollow Earth theory, showing how day and night appear
(© Helmut Diehl).

∗∗
Time measurements require periodic phenomena. Tree rings are traces of the seasons.
Glaciers also have such traces, the ogives. Similar traces are found in teeth. Do you know
more examples?
∗∗
A man wants to know how many stairs he would have to climb if the escalator in front of
him, which is running upwards, were standing still. He walks up the escalator and counts
60 stairs; walking down the same escalator with the same speed he counts 90 stairs. What Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 58 s is the answer?

∗∗
You have two hourglasses: one needs 4 minutes and one needs 3 minutes. How can you
Challenge 59 e use them to determine when 5 minutes are over?
∗∗
You have two water containers: one of 3 litres, another of 5 litres. How can you use them
Challenge 60 e to bring 4 litres of water?
∗∗
Challenge 61 s How can you make a hole in a postcard that allows you to step through it?
 60 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

F I G U R E 30 At what height is a conical glass half full?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
rubber band

F I G U R E 31 Can
the snail reach
the horse once it
starts galloping
away?

∗∗
What fraction of the height of a conical glass, shown in Figure 30, must be filled to make
Challenge 62 s the glass half full?
∗∗
Challenge 63 s How many pencils are needed to draw a line as long as the equator of the Earth?
∗∗
Everybody knows the puzzle about the bear: A hunter leaves his home, walks 10 km to Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the South and 10 km to the West, shoots a bear, walks 10 km to the North, and is back
home. What colour is the bear? You probably know the answer straight away. Now comes
the harder question, useful for winning money in bets. The house could be on several
additional spots on the Earth; where are these less obvious spots from which a man can
have exactly the same trip (forget the bear now) that was just described and be at home
Challenge 64 s again?
∗∗
Imagine a rubber band that is attached to a wall on one end and is attached to a horse at
the other end, as shown in Figure 31. On the rubber band, near the wall, there is a snail.
Both the snail and the horse start moving, with typical speeds – with the rubber being
Challenge 65 s infinitely stretchable. Can the snail reach the horse?
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 61

∗∗
For a mathematician, 1 km is the same as 1000 m. For a physicist the two are different!
Indeed, for a physicist, 1 km is a measurement lying between 0.5 km and 1.5 km, whereas
1000 m is a measurement between 999.5 m and 1000.5 m. So be careful when you write
down measurement values. The professional way is to write, for example, 1000(8) m to
mean 1000 ± 8 m, i.e., a value that lies between 992 and 1008 m with a probability of
Page 388 68.3%.
∗∗
Imagine a black spot on a white surface. What is the colour of the line separating the spot
Challenge 66 s from the background? This question is often called Peirce’s puzzle.
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Also bread is an (approximate) fractal, though an irregular one. The fractal dimension
Challenge 67 s of bread is around 2.7. Try to measure it!
∗∗
Challenge 68 e How do you find the centre of a beer mat using paper and pencil?
∗∗
How often in 24 hours do the hour and minute hands of a clock lie on top of each other?
Challenge 69 s For clocks that also have a second hand, how often do all three hands lie on top of each
other?
∗∗
How many times in twelve hours can the two hands of a clock be exchanged with the
Challenge 70 s result that the new situation shows a valid time? What happens for clocks that also have
a third hand for seconds?
∗∗
Challenge 71 s How many minutes does the Earth rotate in one minute?
∗∗
What is the highest speed achieved by throwing (with and without a racket)? What was Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 72 s the projectile used?

∗∗
A rope is put around the Earth, on the Equator, as tightly as possible. The rope is then
Challenge 73 s lengthened by 1 m. Can a mouse slip under the rope? The original, tight rope is length-
ened by 1 mm. Can a child slip under the rope?
∗∗
Jack was rowing his boat on a river. When he was under a bridge, he dropped a ball into
the river. Jack continued to row in the same direction for 10 minutes after he dropped
the ball. He then turned around and rowed back. When he reached the ball, the ball had
Challenge 74 s floated 600 m from the bridge. How fast was the river flowing?
 62 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

1 5 10

1 5 10

F I G U R E 32 A 9-to-10 vernier/nonius/clavius and a 19-to-20 version (in fact, a 38-to-40 version) in a

caliper (© www.medien-werkstatt.de).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∗∗
Adam and Bert are brothers. Adam is 18 years old. Bert is twice as old as at the time when
Challenge 75 e Adam was the age that Bert is now. How old is Bert?
∗∗
‘Where am I?’ is a common question; ‘When am I?’ is never asked, not even in other
Challenge 76 s languages. Why?
∗∗
Challenge 77 s Is there a smallest time interval in nature? A smallest distance?
∗∗
Given that you know what straightness is, how would you characterize or define the cur-
Challenge 78 s vature of a curved line using numbers? And that of a surface?
∗∗
Challenge 79 s What is the speed of your eyelid?
∗∗
The surface area of the human body is about 400 m2 . Can you say where this large number
Challenge 80 s comes from?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
How does a vernier work? It is called nonius in other languages. The first name is derived
from a French military engineer* who did not invent it, the second is a play of words
on the Latinized name of the Portuguese inventor of a more elaborate device** and the
Latin word for ‘nine’. In fact, the device as we know it today – shown in Figure 32 –
was designed around 1600 by Christophonius Clavius,*** the same astronomer whose

* Pierre Vernier (1580–1637), French military officer interested in cartography.

** Pedro Nuñes or Peter Nonnius (1502–1578), Portuguese mathematician and cartographer.
*** Christophonius Clavius or Schlüssel (1537–1612), Bavarian astronomer, one of the main astronomers of
his time.
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 63

d b

L
F I G U R E 33 Leaving a
parking space.

studies were the basis of the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582. Are you able to design

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
a vernier/nonius/clavius that, instead of increasing the precision tenfold, does so by an
Challenge 81 s arbitrary factor? Is there a limit to the attainable precision?
∗∗
Page 54 Fractals in three dimensions bear many surprises. Let us generalize Figure 25 to three
dimensions. Take a regular tetrahedron; then glue on every one of its triangular faces a
smaller regular tetrahedron, so that the surface of the body is again made up of many
equal regular triangles. Repeat the process, gluing still smaller tetrahedrons to these new
(more numerous) triangular surfaces. What is the shape of the final fractal, after an infi-
Challenge 82 s nite number of steps?
∗∗
Motoring poses many mathematical problems. A central one is the following parking
issue: what is the shortest distance d from the car in front necessary to leave a parking
Challenge 83 s spot without using reverse gear? (Assume that you know the geometry of your car, as
shown in Figure 33, and its smallest outer turning radius R, which is known for every
car.) Next question: what is the smallest gap required when you are allowed to manoeuvre
Challenge 84 s back and forward as often as you like? Now a problem to which no solution seems to be
available in the literature: How does the gap depend on the number, n, of times you use
Challenge 85 s reverse gear? (The author had offered 50 euro for the first well-explained solution; the
winning solution by Daniel Hawkins is now found in the appendix.) Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Scientists use a special way to write large and small numbers, explained in Table 12.
∗∗
Ref. 45 In 1996 the smallest experimentally probed distance was 10−19 m, achieved between
quarks at Fermilab. (To savour the distance value, write it down without the exponent.)
Challenge 86 s What does this measurement mean for the continuity of space?
∗∗
Zeno, the Greek philosopher, discussed in detail what happens to a moving object at a
given instant of time. To discuss with him, you decide to build the fastest possible shutter
 64 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

TA B L E 12 The exponential notation: how to write small and large numbers.

Number Exponential Number Exponential

n o tat i o n n o tat i o n

1 100
0.1 10−1 10 101
0.2 2 ⋅ 10−1 20 2 ⋅ 101
0.0324 3.24 ⋅ 10−2 32.4 3.24 ⋅ 101
0.01 10−2 100 102
0.001 10−3 1000 103
0.000 1 10−4 10 000 104
0.000 056 5.6 ⋅ 10−5 56 000 5.6 ⋅ 104

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
0.000 01 10−5 etc. 100 000 105 etc.

a
r A
α Ω
r
A
a Ω = −2
α=− r
r

F I G U R E 34 The definition of plane and solid angles.

for a photographic camera that you can imagine. You have all the money you want. What
Challenge 87 s is the shortest shutter time you would achieve?
∗∗
Can you prove Pythagoras’ theorem by geometrical means alone, without using Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 88 s coordinates? (There are more than 30 possibilities.)

∗∗
Page 58 Why are most planets and moons, including ours, (almost) spherical (see, for example,
Challenge 89 s Figure 28)?
∗∗
A rubber band connects the tips of the two hands of a clock. What is the path followed
Challenge 90 s by the mid-point of the band?
∗∗
There are two important quantities connected to angles. As shown in Figure 34, what is
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 65

cosec cot cot

c
se
c co
cos se

tan tan
sin sin
angle angle
sec cos

circle of radius 1 circle of radius 1

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 35 Two equivalent definitions of the sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant and cosecant of
an angle.

usually called a (plane) angle is defined as the ratio between the lengths of the arc and
the radius. A right angle is π/2 radian (or π/2 rad) or 90°.
The solid angle is the ratio between area and the square of the radius. An eighth of a
sphere is π/2 steradian or π/2 sr. (Mathematicians, of course, would simply leave out the
steradian unit.) As a result, a small solid angle shaped like a cone and the angle of the
Challenge 91 s cone tip are different. Can you find the relationship?
∗∗
The definition of angle helps to determine the size of a firework display. Measure the time
T, in seconds, between the moment that you see the rocket explode in the sky and the
moment you hear the explosion, measure the (plane) angle α – pronounced ‘alpha’ – of
the ball formed by the firework with your hand. The diameter D is

6m
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

D≈ Tα. (3)
s°

Challenge 92 e Why? For more information about fireworks, see the cc.oulu.fi/~kempmp website. By the
way, the angular distance between the knuckles of an extended fist are about 3°, 2° and
3°, the size of an extended hand 20°. Can you determine the other angles related to your
Challenge 93 s hand?
∗∗
Using angles, the sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant and cosecant can be defined, as
shown in Figure 35. You should remember this from secondary school. Can you confirm
Challenge 94 e that sin 15° = (󵀂6 − 󵀂2 )/4, sin 18° = (−1 + 󵀂5 )/4, sin 36° = 󵀆10 − 2󵀂5 /4, sin 54° =
 66 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

sky yks

horizon noziroh

earth htrae

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 36 How the apparent size of the Moon and the Sun changes during a day.

(1 + 󵀂5 )/4 and that sin 72° = 󵀆10 + 2󵀂5 /4? Can you show also that

sin x x x x
= cos cos cos ... (4)
x 2 4 8

Challenge 95 e is correct?
∗∗
Measuring angular size with the eye only is tricky. For example, can you say whether the
Moon is larger or smaller than the nail of your thumb at the end of your extended arm?
Challenge 96 e Angular size is not an intuitive quantity; it requires measurement instruments.
A famous example, shown in Figure 36, illustrates the difficulty of estimating angles.
Both the Sun and the Moon seem larger when they are on the horizon. In ancient times,
Ptolemy explained this so-called Moon illusion by an unconscious apparent distance
change induced by the human brain. Indeed, the Moon illusion disappears when you
look at the Moon through your legs. In fact, the Moon is even further away from the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

observer when it is just above the horizon, and thus its image is smaller than it was a few
Challenge 97 s hours earlier, when it was high in the sky. Can you confirm this?
The Moon’s angular size changes even more due to another effect: the orbit of the
Moon round the Earth is elliptical. An example of the consequence is shown in Figure 37.
∗∗
Galileo also made mistakes. In his famous book, the Dialogues, he says that the curve
formed by a thin chain hanging between two nails is a parabola, i.e., the curve defined
Challenge 98 d by y = x 2 . That is not correct. What is the correct curve? You can observe the shape
(approximately) in the shape of suspension bridges.
∗∗
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 67

F I G U R E 37 How the size of the

Moon actually changes during

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
its orbit (© Anthony
Ayiomamitis).

O
C
B

F I G U R E 38 A famous puzzle: how are the F I G U R E 39 What is the area ABC,

four radii related? given the other three areas and three
right angles at O?

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Draw three circles, of different sizes, that touch each other, as shown in Figure 38. Now
draw a fourth circle in the space between, touching the outer three. What simple relation
Challenge 99 s do the inverse radii of the four circles obey?
∗∗
Take a tetrahedron OABC whose triangular sides OAB, OBC and OAC are rectangular in
O, as shown in Figure 39. In other words, the edges OA, OB and OC are all perpendicular
to each other. In the tetrahedron, the areas of the triangles OAB, OBC and OAC are
Challenge 100 s respectively 8, 4 and 1. What is the area of triangle ABC?
∗∗
Ref. 46 There are many puzzles about ladders. Two are illustrated in Figure 40. If a 5 m ladder
 68 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

wall
blue ladder
of length b
ladder of red ladder
length l of length r
wall wall
height
h?
F I G U R E 40
square Two ladder
box of puzzles: a
side b height h
moderately
difficult
(left) and a
difficult one
distance d ?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
(right).

F I G U R E 41 Anticrepuscular rays - where is

the Sun in this situation? (© Peggy Peterson)

is put against a wall in such a way that it just touches a box with 1 m height and depth,
Challenge 101 s how high does the ladder reach? If two ladders are put against two facing walls, and if
the lengths of the ladders and the height of the crossing point are known, how distant
Challenge 102 d are the walls?
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

With two rulers, you can add and subtract numbers by lying them side by side. Are you
Challenge 103 s able to design rulers that allow you to multiply and divide in the same manner?
∗∗
How many days would a year have if the Earth turned the other way with the same rota-
Challenge 104 s tion frequency?
∗∗
Challenge 105 s The Sun is hidden in the spectacular situation shown in Figure 41 Where is it?
∗∗
 2 from motion measurement to continuit y 69

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 42 Ideal configurations of ropes made of two, three and four strands. In the ideal
configuration, the specific pitch angle relative to the equatorial plane – 39.4°, 42.8° and 43.8°,
respectively – leads to zero-twist structures. In these ideal configurations, the rope will neither rotate in
one nor in the other direction under vertical strain (© Jakob Bohr).

A slightly different, but equally fascinating situation – and useful for getting used to per-
spective drawing – appears when you have a lighthouse in your back. Can you draw the
Challenge 106 e rays you see in the sky up to the horizon?
∗∗
Two cylinders of equal radius intersect at a right angle. What is the value of the intersec-
Challenge 107 s tion volume? (First make a drawing.)
∗∗
Two sides of a hollow cube with side length 1 dm are removed, to yield a tunnel with
square opening. Is it true that a cube with edge length 1.06 dm can be made to pass
Challenge 108 s through the hollow cube with side length 1 dm?
∗∗
Ref. 47 Could a two-dimensional universe exist? Alexander Dewdney imagined such a universe Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

in great detail and wrote a well-known book about it. He describes houses, the trans-
portation system, digestion, reproduction and much more. Can you explain why a two-
Challenge 109 d dimensional universe is impossible?
∗∗
Ropes are wonderful structures. They are flexible, they are helically woven, but despite
this, they do not unwind or twist, they are almost inextensible, and their geometry de-
Ref. 48 pends little on the material used in making them. What is the origin of all these proper-
ties?
Laying rope is an old craft; it is based on a purely geometric result: among all possible
helices of n strands of given length laid around a central structure of fixed radius, there
is one helix for which the number of turns is maximal. For purely geometric reasons,
 70 2 from motion measurement to continuit y

F I G U R E 43 An open research problem: What

is the ropelength of a tight knot? (© Piotr
Pieranski, from Ref. 50)

ropes with that specific number of turns and the corresponding inner radius have the
mentioned properties that make ropes so useful. The geometries of ideal ropes made of
two, three and four strands are shown in Figure 42.
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Some researchers are investigating whether time could be two-dimensional. Can this be?
Challenge 110 s

∗∗
Other researchers are investigating whether space could have more than three dimen-
Challenge 111 s sions. Can this be?
∗∗
One way to compare speeds of animals and machines is to measure them in ‘body lengths
per second’. The click beetle achieves a value of around 2000 during its jump phase, cer-
tain Archaea (bacteria-like) cells a value of 500, and certain hummingbirds 380. These
are the record-holders so far. Cars, aiplanes, cheetahs, falcons, crabs, and all other mo-
Ref. 49 torized systems are much slower.
∗∗
Draw a square consisting of four equally long connecting line segments hinged at the
vertices. Such a structure may be freely deformed into a rhombus if some force is applied.
How many additional line interlinks of the same length must be supplemented to avoid
this freedom and to prevent the square from being deformed? The extra line interlinks
must be in the same plane as the square and each one may only be pegged to others at
Challenge 112 s the endpoints.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Here is a simple challenge on length that nobody has solved yet. Take a piece of ideal
rope: of constant radius, ideally flexible, and completely slippery. Tie a tight knot into it,
Challenge 113 r as shown in Figure 43. By how much did the two ends of the rope come closer together?

Summary about everyday space and time

Motion defines speed, time and length. Observations of everyday life and precision ex-
periments are conveniently and precisely described by modelling velocity as a Euclidean
vector, space as a three-dimensional Euclidean space, and time as a one-dimensional real
line. These three definitions form the everyday, or Galilean, description of our environ-
2 from motion measurement to continuit y 71

ment.
Modelling velocity, time and space as continuous quantities is precise and convenient.
The modelling works during most of the adventures that follows. However, this common
model of space and time cannot be confirmed by experiment. For example, no experi-
ments can check distances larger than 1025 m or smaller than 10−25 m; the continuuum
model is likely to be incorrect there. We will find out in the last part of our mountain
ascent that this is indeed the case.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 3

HOW TO DE S C R I BE MOTION
– K I NEMATIC S

“
La filosofia è scritta in questo grandissimo libro
che continuamente ci sta aperto innanzi agli
occhi (io dico l’universo) ... Egli è scritto in

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
”
lingua matematica.*
Galileo Galilei, Il saggiatore VI.

E
xperiments show that the properties of Galilean time and space are
xtracted from the environment both by children and animals. This
xtraction has been confirmed for cats, dogs, rats, mice, ants and fish, among
others. They all find the same results.
First of all, motion is change of position with time. This description is illustrated by
rapidly flipping the lower left corners of this book, starting at page 208. Each page sim-
ulates an instant of time, and the only change that takes place during motion is in the
position of the object, say a stone, represented by the dark spot. The other variations
from one picture to the next, which are due to the imperfections of printing techniques,
can be taken to simulate the inevitable measurement errors.
Stating that ‘motion’ the change of position with time is neither an explanation nor a
definition, since both the concepts of time and position are deduced from motion itself.
It is only a description of motion. Still, the statement is useful, because it allows for high
precision, as we will find out by exploring gravitation and electrodynamics. After all, pre-
cision is our guiding principle during this promenade. Therefore the detailed description
of changes in position has a special name: it is called kinematics.
The idea of change of positions implies that the object can be followed during its mo-
tion. This is not obvious; in the section on quantum theory we will find examples where
this is impossible. But in everyday life, objects can always be tracked. The set of all pos-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

itions taken by an object over time forms its path or trajectory. The origin of this concept
Ref. 51 is evident when one watches fireworks or again the flip film in the lower left corners
starting at page 208.
In everyday life, animals and humans agree on the Euclidean properties of velocity,
space and time. In particular, this implies that a trajectory can be described by specify-
ing three numbers, three coordinates (x, y, z) – one for each dimension – as continuous

* Science is written in this huge book that is continuously open before our eyes (I mean the universe) ... It
is written in mathematical language.
 3 how to describe motion – kinematics 73

collision

F I G U R E 44 Two ways to test that the time of free fall does not depend on horizontal velocity.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Vol. III, page 227 functions of time t. (Functions are defined in detail later on.) This is usually written as

x = x(t) = (x(t), y(t), z(t)) . (5)

For example, already Galileo found, using stopwatch and ruler, that the height z of any
thrown or falling stone changes as

z(t) = z0 + 󰑣z0 (t − t0 ) − 12 д (t − t0 )2 (6)

where t0 is the time the fall starts, z0 is the initial height, 󰑣z0 is the initial velocity in
the vertical direction and д = 9.8 m/s2 is a constant that is found to be the same, within
about one part in 300, for all falling bodies on all points of the surface of the Earth. Where
Ref. 52 do the value 9.8 m/s2 and its slight variations come from? A preliminary answer will be
given shortly, but the complete elucidation will occupy us during the larger part of this
hike.
The special case with no initial velocity is of great interest. Like a few people before
him, Galileo made it clear that д is the same for all bodies, if air resistance can be ne-
Page 178 glected. He had many arguments for this conclusion; can you find one? And of course,
his famous experiment at the leaning tower in Pisa confirmed the statement. (It is a false Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 53 urban legend that Galileo never performed the experiment.)

Equation (6) therefore allows us to determine the depth of a well, given the time a
Challenge 114 s stone takes to reach its bottom. The equation also gives the speed 󰑣 with which one hits
the ground after jumping from a tree, namely

󰑣 = 󵀄2дh (7)

A height of 3 m yields a velocity of 27 km/h. The velocity is thus proportional only to the
square root of the height. Does this mean that one’s strong fear of falling results from an
Challenge 115 s overestimation of its actual effects?
Galileo was the first to state an important result about free fall: the motions in the
horizontal and vertical directions are independent. He showed that the time it takes for
 74 3 how to describe motion – kinematics

space-time configuration hodograph phase space

diagrams space graph

z z 󰑣z m󰑣z

t x vx z
x m󰑣x

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
t x

F I G U R E 45 Various types of graphs describing the same path of a thrown stone.

a cannon ball that is shot exactly horizontally to fall is independent of the strength of the
gunpowder, as shown in Figure 44. Many great thinkers did not agree with this statement
Ref. 54 even after his death: in 1658 the Academia del Cimento even organized an experiment
to check this assertion, by comparing the flying cannon ball with one that simply fell
Challenge 116 s vertically. Can you imagine how they checked the simultaneity? Figure 44 also shows
how you can check this at home. In this experiment, whatever the spring load of the
cannon, the two bodies will always collide in mid-air (if the table is high enough), thus
proving the assertion.
In other words, a flying canon ball is not accelerated in the horizontal direction. Its
horizontal motion is simply unchanging – as long as air resistance is negligible. By ex-
tending the description of equation (6) with the two expressions for the horizontal coor-
dinates x and y, namely

x(t) = x0 + 󰑣x0 (t − t0 )
y(t) = y0 + 󰑣y0 (t − t0 ) ,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

(8)

a complete description for the path followed by thrown stones results. A path of this shape
Page 39 is called a parabola; it is shown in Figures 18, 44 and 45. (A parabolic shape is also used
Challenge 117 s for light reflectors inside pocket lamps or car headlights. Can you show why?)
Ref. 55 Physicists enjoy generalizing the idea of a path. As Figure 45 shows, a path is a trace
left in a diagram by a moving object. Depending on what diagram is used, these paths
have different names. Space-time diagrams are useful to make the theory of relativity ac-
cessible. The configuration space is spanned by the coordinates of all particles of a system.
For many particles, it has a high number of dimensions. It plays an important role in
self-organization. The difference between chaos and order can be described as a differ-
ence in the properties of paths in configuration space. Hodographs, the paths in ‘velocity
 3 how to describe motion – kinematics 75

space’, are used in weather forecasting. The phase space diagram is also called state space
diagram. It plays an essential role in thermodynamics.

Throwing , jumping and shooting

The kinematic description of motion is useful for answering a whole range of questions.
∗∗
What is the upper limit for the long jump? The running peak speed world record in
Ref. 56 2008 was over 12.5 m/s ≈ 45 km/h by Usain Bolt, and the 1997 women’s record was
Ref. 57 11 m/s ≈ 40 km/h. However, male long jumpers never run much faster than about
9.5 m/s. How much extra jump distance could they achieve if they could run full speed?
How could they achieve that? In addition, long jumpers take off at angles of about 20°,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 58 as they are not able to achieve a higher angle at the speed they are running. How much
Challenge 118 s would they gain if they could achieve 45°? Is 45° the optimal angle?
∗∗
What do the athletes Usain Bolt and Michael Johnson, the last two world record holders
on the 200 m race at time of this writing, have in common? They were tall, athletic, and
had many fast twitch fibres in the muscles. These properties made them good sprinters.
A last difference made them world class sprinters: they had a flattened spine, with almost
no S-shape. This abnormal condition saves them a little bit of time at every step, because
their spine is not as flexible as in usual people. This allows them to excel at short distance
races.
∗∗
Athletes continuously improve speed records. Racing horses do not. Why? For racing
horses, breathing rhythm is related to gait; for human, it is not. As a result, racing horses
cannot change or improve their technique, and the speed of racing horses is essentially
the same since it is measured.
∗∗
Challenge 119 s How can the speed of falling rain be measured using an umbrella? The answer is impor-
tant: the same method can also be used to measure the speed of light, as we will find out
Vol. II, page 16 later. (Can you guess how?)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
When a dancer jumps in the air, how many times can he or she rotate around its vertical
Challenge 120 ny axis before arriving back on earth?
∗∗
Numerous species of moth and butterfly caterpillars shoot away their frass – to put it
Ref. 59 more crudely: their shit – so that its smell does not help predators to locate them. Stanley
Caveney and his team took photographs of this process. Figure 46 shows a caterpillar
(yellow) of the skipper Calpodes ethlius inside a rolled up green leaf caught in the act.
Given that the record distance observed is 1.5 m (though by another species, Epargyreus
 76 3 how to describe motion – kinematics

F I G U R E 46 Three superimposed
images of a frass pellet shot away by a

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
caterpillar inside a rolled-up leaf
(© Stanley Caveney).

Challenge 121 s clarus), what is the ejection speed? How do caterpillars achieve it?
∗∗
What is the horizontal distance one can reach by throwing a stone, given the speed and
Challenge 122 s the angle from the horizontal at which it is thrown?
∗∗
Challenge 123 s What is the maximum numbers of balls that could be juggled at the same time? This is
unclear. The human record is ten balls. The internet is full of material on the topic. For
robots, the present record is three balls, as shown by the Sarcoman robot on www.physio.
northwestern.edu/Secondlevel/Miller/FirstLevel/histresearch.html. It is a challenge for
robotics to reach the maximum number of balls in the future.
∗∗
Is it true that rain drops would kill if it weren’t for the air resistance of the atmosphere?
Challenge 124 s What about hail?
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 125 s Are bullets, fired into the air from a gun, dangerous when they fall back down?
∗∗
Police finds a dead human body at the bottom of cliff with a height of 30 m, at a distance
Challenge 126 s of 12 m from the cliff. Was it suicide or murder?
∗∗
Ref. 60 All land animals, regardless of their size, achieve jumping heights of at most 2.2 m, as
Challenge 127 s shown in Figure 47. The explanation of this fact takes only two lines. Can you find it?
The last two issues arise because the equation (6) describing free fall does not hold in all
cases. For example, leaves or potato crisps do not follow it. As Galileo already knew, this
 3 how to describe motion – kinematics 77

0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10

antilope
cat leopard tiger
20 W/kg
lesser dog human horse
1
galago
Height of jump [m]

locusts and
grasshoppers
0.1
fleas
standing jumps running jumps

0.01 elephant

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Length of animal [m]

F I G U R E 47 The height achieved by jumping land animals.

is a consequence of air resistance; we will discuss it shortly. Because of air resistance, the
path of a stone is not a parabola.
In fact, there are other situations where the path of a falling stone is not a parabola,
Challenge 128 s even without air resistance. Can you find one?

Enjoying vectors
Physical quantities with a defined direction, such as speed, are described with three num-
bers, or three components, and are called vectors. Learning to calculate with such multi-
component quantities is an important ability for many sciences. Here is a summary.
Vectors can be pictured by small arrows. Note that vectors do not have specified points
at which they start: two arrows with same direction and the same length are the same
vector, even if they start at different points in space. Since vectors behave like arrows,
they can be added and they can be multiplied by numbers. For example, stretching an
arrow a = (ax , a y , az ) by a number c corresponds, in component notation, to the vector
ca = (cax , ca y , caz ).
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In precise, mathematical language, a vector is an element of a set, called vector space,

in which the following properties hold for all vectors a and b and for all numbers c and d:

c(a + b) = ca + cb , (c + d)a = ca + da , (cd)a = c(da) and 1a = a . (9)

Examples of vector spaces are the set of all positions of an object, or the set of all its
Challenge 129 s possible velocities. Does the set of all rotations form a vector space?
All vector spaces allow defining a unique null vector and a unique negative vector for
Challenge 130 e each vector.
In most vector spaces of importance in science the concept of length (specifying the
‘magnitude’) can be introduced. This is done via an intermediate step, namely the intro-
 78 3 how to describe motion – kinematics

duction of the scalar product of two vectors. The product is called ‘scalar’ because its
result is a scalar; a scalar is a number that is the same for all observers; for example, it
is the same for observers with different orientations.* The scalar product between two
vectors a and b is a number that satisfies

aa ⩾ 0 ,
ab = ba ,
(a + a󳰀 )b = ab + a󳰀 b , (10)
󳰀 󳰀
a(b + b ) = ab + ab and
(ca)b = a(cb) = c(ab) .

This definition of a scalar product is not unique; however, there is a standard scalar prod-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
uct. In Cartesian coordinate notation, the standard scalar product is given by

ab = ax bx + a y b y + az bz . (11)

If the scalar product of two vectors vanishes the two vectors are orthogonal, at a right
Challenge 131 e angle to each other. (Show it!)
The length or magnitude or norm of a vector can then be defined as the square root of
the scalar product of a vector with itself: a = 󵀂aa . Often, and also in this text, lengths
are written in italic letters, whereas vectors are written in bold letters. A vector space with
a scalar product is called an Euclidean vector space.
The scalar product is also useful for specifying directions. Indeed, the scalar product
between two vectors encodes the angle between them. Can you deduce this important
Challenge 132 s relation?

What is rest? What is velocity?

In the Galilean description of nature, motion and rest are opposites. In other words, a
body is at rest when its position, i.e., its coordinates, do not change with time. In other
words, (Galilean) rest is defined as

x(t) = const . (12) Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

We recall that x(t) is the abbreviation for the three coordinates (x(t), y(t), z(t)). Later
we will see that this definition of rest, contrary to first impressions, is not much use and
will have to be expanded. Nevertheless, any definition of rest implies that non-resting
objects can be distinguished by comparing the rapidity of their displacement. Thus we
can define the velocity 󰑣 of an object as the change of its position x with time t. This is
usually written as
dx
󰑣= . (13)
dt
* We mention that in mathematics, a scalar is a number; in physics, a scalar is an invariant number, i.e.,
a number that is the same for all observers. Likewise, in mathematics, a vector is an element of a vector
space; in physics, a vector is an invariant element of a vector space, i.e., a quantity whose coordinates, when
observed by different observers, change like the components of velocity.
 3 how to describe motion – kinematics 79

y derivative slope: dy/dt

secant slope: Δy/Δt

Δy

Δt
t
F I G U R E 48 The derivative in a
point as the limit of secants.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In this expression, valid for each coordinate separately, d/dt means ‘change with time’. We
can thus say that velocity is the derivative of position with respect to time. The speed 󰑣 is
the name given to the magnitude of the velocity 󰑣. Thus we have 󰑣 = 󵀂󰑣󰑣 . Derivatives
are written as fractions in order to remind the reader that they are derived from the idea
of slope. The expression

ds Δs
is meant as an abbreviation of lim , (14)
dt Δt→0 Δt

a shorthand for saying that the derivative at a point is the limit of the secant slopes in the
neighbourhood of the point, as shown in Figure 48. This definition implies the working
Challenge 133 e rules

d(s + r) ds dr d(cs) ds d ds d2 s d(sr) ds dr

= + , =c , = , = r + s , (15)
dt dt dt dt dt dt dt dt 2 dt dt dt
c being any number. This is all one ever needs to know about derivatives. Quantities such
as dt and ds, sometimes useful by themselves, are called differentials. These concepts are
due to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.* Derivatives lie at the basis of all calculations based on
the continuity of space and time. Leibniz was the person who made it possible to describe
and use velocity in physical formulae and, in particular, to use the idea of velocity at a
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

given point in time or space for calculations.

The definition of velocity assumes that it makes sense to take the limit Δt → 0. In
other words, it is assumed that infinitely small time intervals do exist in nature. The def-
inition of velocity with derivatives is possible only because both space and time are de-
scribed by sets which are continuous, or in mathematical language, connected and com-
plete. In the rest of our walk we shall not forget that from the beginning of classical

* Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (b. 1646 Leipzig, d. 1716 Hannover), Saxon lawyer, physicist, mathematician,
philosopher, diplomat and historian. He was one of the great minds of mankind; he invented the differen-
tial calculus (before Newton) and published many influential and successful books in the various fields he
explored, among them De arte combinatoria, Hypothesis physica nova, Discours de métaphysique, Nouveaux
essais sur l’entendement humain, the Théodicée and the Monadologia.
 80 3 how to describe motion – kinematics

F I G U R E 49 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
physics, infinities are present in its description of nature. The infinitely small is part of our
definition of velocity. Indeed, differential calculus can be defined as the study of infinity
and its uses. We thus discover that the appearance of infinity does not automatically ren-
der a description impossible or imprecise. In order to remain precise, physicists use only
the smallest two of the various possible types of infinities. Their precise definition and
Vol. III, page 225 an overview of other types are introduced later on.
The appearance of infinity in the usual description of motion was first criticized in his
Ref. 61 famous ironical arguments by Zeno of Elea (around 445 bce), a disciple of Parmenides.
In his so-called third argument, Zeno explains that since at every instant a given object
occupies a part of space corresponding to its size, the notion of velocity at a given instant
makes no sense; he provokingly concludes that therefore motion does not exist. Nowa-
days we would not call this an argument against the existence of motion, but against its
usual description, in particular against the use of infinitely divisible space and time. (Do
Challenge 134 e you agree?) Nevertheless, the description criticized by Zeno actually works quite well in
everyday life. The reason is simple but deep: in daily life, changes are indeed continuous.
Large changes in nature are made up of many small changes. This property of nature
is not obvious. For example, we note that we have tacitly assumed that the path of an
object is not a fractal or some other badly behaved entity. In everyday life this is correct;
in other domains of nature it is not. The doubts of Zeno will be partly rehabilitated later
Vol. VI, page 59 in our walk, and increasingly so the more we proceed. The rehabilitation is only partial,
as the final solution will be different from that which he envisaged; on the other hand,
the doubts about the idea of ‘velocity at a point’ will turn out to be well-founded. For
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the moment though, we have no choice: we continue with the basic assumption that in
nature changes happen smoothly.
Why is velocity necessary as a concept? Aiming for precision in the description of
motion, we need to find the complete list of aspects necessary to specify the state of an
object. The concept of velocity is obviously on this list.

Acceleration
Continuing along the same line, we call acceleration a of a body the change of velocity 󰑣
with time, or
d󰑣 d2 x
a= = 2 . (16)
dt dt
 3 how to describe motion – kinematics 81

TA B L E 13 Some measured acceleration values.

O b s e r va t i o n A c c e l e r at i o n

What is the lowest you can find? Challenge 135 s

Back-acceleration of the galaxy M82 by its ejected jet 10 fm/s2
Acceleration of a young star by an ejected jet 10 pm/s2
Fathoumi Acceleration of the Sun in its orbit around the Milky Way 0.2 nm/s2
Deceleration of the Pioneer satellites, due to heat radiation imbalance 0.8 nm/s2
Centrifugal acceleration at Equator due to Earth’s rotation 33 mm/s2
Electron acceleration in household electricity wire due to alternating 50 mm/s2
current
Acceleration of fast underground train 1.3 m/s2
Gravitational acceleration on the Moon 1.6 m/s2

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Minimum deceleration of a car, by law, on modern dry asfalt 5.5 m/s2
Gravitational acceleration on the Earth’s surface, depending on 9.8 ± 0.3 m/s2
location
Standard gravitational acceleration 9.806 65 m/s2
Highest acceleration for a car or motorbike with engine-driven wheels 15 m/s2
Space rockets at take-off 20 to 90 m/s2
Acceleration of cheetah 32 m/s2
Gravitational acceleration on Jupiter’s surface 25 m/s2
Flying fly (Musca domestica) c. 100 m/s2
Acceleration of thrown stone c. 120 m/s2
Acceleration that triggers air bags in cars 360 m/s2
Fastest leg-powered acceleration (by the froghopper, Philaenus 4 km/s2
spumarius, an insect)
Tennis ball against wall 0.1 Mm/s2
Bullet acceleration in rifle 2 Mm/s2
Fastest centrifuges 0.1 Gm/s2
Acceleration of protons in large accelerator 90 Tm/s2
Acceleration of protons inside nucleus 1031 m/s2
Highest possible acceleration in nature 1052 m/s2 Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Acceleration is what we feel when the Earth trembles, an aeroplane takes off, or a bicycle
goes round a corner. More examples are given in Table 13. Like velocity, acceleration has
both a magnitude and a direction, properties indicated by the use of bold letters for their
abbreviations. In short, acceleration, like velocity, is a vector quantity.
Acceleration is felt. Our body is deformed and the sensors in our semicircular canals
in the ear feel it. Higher accelerations can have stronger effects. For example, when ac-
celerating a sitting person in the direction of the head at two or three times the value of
usual gravitational acceleration, eyes stop working and the sight is greyed out, because
the blood cannot reach the eye any more. Between 3 and 5д of continuous acceleration,
Ref. 62 or 7 to 9д of short time acceleration, consciousness is lost, because the brain does not re-
 82 3 how to describe motion – kinematics

TA B L E 14 Some acceleration sensors.

Measurement Sensor Range

Direction of gravity in plants statoliths in cells 0 to 10 m/s2

(roots, trunk, branches, leaves)
Direction and value of the membranes in each 0 to 20 m/s2
accelerations in mammals semicircular canal, and the utricule
and saccule in the inner ear
Direction and value of acceleration piezoelectric sensors 0 to 20 m/s2
in modern step counters for hikers
Direction and value of acceleration airbag sensor using piezoelectric 0 to 2000 m/s2
in car crashes ceramics

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ceive enough blood, and blood may leak out of the feet or lower legs. High acceleration in
the direction of the feet of a sitting person can lead to haemorrhagic strokes in the brain.
The people most at risk are jet pilots; they have special clothes that send compressed air
onto the pilot’s bodies to avoid blood accumulating in the wrong places.
In a usual car, or on a motorbike, we can feel being accelerated. (These accelerations
are below 1д and are therefore harmless.) Acceleration sensors, such are those listed in
Table 14 or those shown in Figure 50, all work in this way. Can you think of a situation
Challenge 136 s where one is accelerated but does not feel it?
Higher derivatives than acceleration can also be defined in the same manner. They
Challenge 137 s add little to the description of nature, because – as we will show shortly – neither these
higher derivatives nor even acceleration itself are useful for the description of the state
of motion of a system.

Objects and point particles

“
Wenn ich den Gegenstand kenne, so kenne ich
auch sämtliche Möglichkeiten seines

”
Vorkommens in Sachverhalten.*
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 2.0123

One aim of the study of motion is to find a complete and precise description of both
states and objects. With the help of the concept of space, the description of objects can be
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

refined considerably. In particular, we know from experience that all objects seen in daily
Challenge 138 e life have an important property: they can be divided into parts. Often this observation is
expressed by saying that all objects, or bodies, have two properties. First, they are made
out of matter,** defined as that aspect of an object responsible for its impenetrability,
i.e., the property preventing two objects from being in the same place. Secondly, bodies
have a certain form or shape, defined as the precise way in which this impenetrability is
distributed in space.
In order to describe motion as accurately as possible, it is convenient to start with

* ‘If I know an object, then I also know all the possibilities of its occurrence in atomic facts.’
Ref. 63 ** Matter is a word derived from the Latin ‘materia’, which originally meant ‘wood’ and was derived via
intermediate steps from ‘mater’, meaning ‘mother’.
3 how to describe motion – kinematics 83

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 50 Three accelerometers: a one-axis piezoelectric airbag sensor, a three-axis capacitive
accelerometer, and the utricule and saccule near the three semicircular canals inside the human ear
(© Bosch, Rieker Electronics, Northwestern University).

those bodies that are as simple as possible. In general, the smaller a body, the simpler
it is. A body that is so small that its parts no longer need to be taken into account is
called a particle. (The older term corpuscle has fallen out of fashion.) Particles are thus
idealized small stones. The extreme case, a particle whose size is negligible compared with
the dimensions of its motion, so that its position is described completely by a single triplet
of coordinates, is called a point particle or a point mass or a mass point. In equation (6),
the stone was assumed to be such a point particle.
Do point-like objects, i.e., objects smaller than anything one can measure, exist in
daily life? Yes and no. The most notable examples are the stars. At present, angular sizes
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

as small as 2 μrad can be measured, a limit given by the fluctuations of the air in the
atmosphere. In space, such as for the Hubble telescope orbiting the Earth, the angular
limit is due to the diameter of the telescope and is of the order of 10 nrad. Practically
all stars seen from Earth are smaller than that, and are thus effectively ‘point-like’, even
when seen with the most powerful telescopes.
As an exception to the general rule, the size of a few large and nearby stars, of red
giant type, can be measured with special instruments.* Betelgeuse, the higher of the two
shoulders of Orion shown in Figure 51, Mira in Cetus, Antares in Scorpio, Aldebaran in
* The website www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/sowlist.html gives an introduction to the different types of
stars. The www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations website provides detailed and interesting information
about constellations.
 84 3 how to describe motion – kinematics

α γ
Betelgeuse
Bellatrix

εδ Mintaka
ζ Alnilam
Alnitak

β
κ
Rigel
Saiph
F I G U R E 51 Orion in natural colours (© Matthew Spinelli) and Betelgeuse (ESA, NASA).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 52 Regulus and Mars,
photographed with 10 second
exposure time on 4 June 2010
with a wobbling camera, show
the difference between a
point-like star that twinkles and
an extended planet that does
not (© Jürgen Michelberger).

Taurus and Sirius in Canis Major are examples of stars whose size has been measured;
Ref. 64 they are all only a few light years from Earth. Of course, like the Sun, also all other stars
have a finite size, but one cannot prove this by measuring dimensions in photographs.
Challenge 139 s (True?)
The difference between ‘point-like’ and finite-size sources can be seen with the naked
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 140 e eye: at night, stars twinkle, but planets do not. (Check it!) A beautiful visualization is
shown in Figure 52. This effect is due to the turbulence of air. Turbulence has an effect
on the almost point-like stars because it deflects light rays by small amounts. On the
other hand, air turbulence is too weak to lead to twinkling of sources of larger angular
size, such as planets or artificial satellites,* because the deflection is averaged out in this

For an overview of the planets, see the beautiful book by K. R. L ang & C. A. Whitney, Vagabonds de
l’espace – Exploration et découverte dans le système solaire, Springer Verlag, 1993. The most beautiful pictures
of the stars can be found in D. Malin, A View of the Universe, Sky Publishing and Cambridge University
Press, 1993.
* A satellite is an object circling a planet, like the Moon; an artificial satellite is a system put into orbit by
humans, like the Sputniks.
 3 how to describe motion – kinematics 85

case.
An object is point-like for the naked eye if its angular size is smaller than about
󳰀
Challenge 141 s 2 = 0.6 mrad. Can you estimate the size of a ‘point-like’ dust particle? By the way, an
object is invisible to the naked eye if it is point-like and if its luminosity, i.e., the intensity
of the light from the object reaching the eye, is below some critical value. Can you esti-
mate whether there are any man-made objects visible from the Moon, or from the space
Challenge 142 s shuttle?
The above definition of ‘point-like’ in everyday life is obviously misleading. Do proper,
real point particles exist? In fact, is it at all possible to show that a particle has vanishing
size? This question will be central in the last part of our walk. In the same way, we need to
ask and check whether points in space do exist. Our walk will lead us to the astonishing
Challenge 143 s result that all the answers to these questions are negative. Can you imagine why? Do not
be disappointed if you find this issue difficult; many brilliant minds have had the same

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
problem.
However, many particles, such as electrons, quarks or photons are point-like for all
practical purposes. Once one knows how to describe the motion of point particles, one
can also describe the motion of extended bodies, rigid or deformable, by assuming that
they are made of parts. This is the same approach as describing the motion of an animal as
a whole by combining the motion of its various body parts. The simplest description, the
continuum approximation, describes extended bodies as an infinite collection of point
particles. It allows us to understand and to predict the motion of milk and honey, the
motion of the air in hurricanes and of perfume in rooms. The motion of fire and all
other gaseous bodies, the bending of bamboo in the wind, the shape changes of chewing
Ref. 65 gum, and the growth of plants and animals can also be described in this way.
A more precise description than the continuum approximation is given below.
Vol. IV, page 13 Nevertheless, all observations so far have confirmed that the motion of large bodies can
be described to high precision as the result of the motion of their parts. This approach
will guide us through the first five volumes of our mountain ascent. Only in the final
volume will we discover that, at a fundamental scale, this decomposition is impossible.

Legs and wheels

The parts of a body determine its shape. Shape is an important aspect of bodies: among
other things, it tells us how to count them. In particular, living beings are always made of
a single body. This is not an empty statement: from this fact we can deduce that animals
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

cannot have wheels or propellers, but only legs, fins, or wings. Why?
Living beings have only one surface; simply put, they have only one piece of skin.
Vol. V, page 289 Mathematically speaking, animals are connected. This is often assumed to be obvious,
Ref. 66 and it is often mentioned that the blood supply, the nerves and the lymphatic connec-
tions to a rotating part would get tangled up. However, this argument is not so simple, as
Figure 53 shows. It shows that it is indeed possible to rotate a body continuously against a
second one, without tangling up the connections. Can you find an example for this kind
Challenge 144 s of motion in your own body? Are you able to see how many cables may be attached to
Challenge 145 s the rotating body of the figure without hindering the rotation?
Despite the possibility of animals having rotating parts, the method of Figure 53 still
Challenge 146 s cannot be used to make a practical wheel or propeller. Can you see why? Evolution had
 86 3 how to describe motion – kinematics

F I G U R E 53 How an object can rotate continuously without tangling up the connection to a second
object.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
50 μm

F I G U R E 54 Legs and ‘wheels’ in living beings: the red millipede Aphistogoniulus erythrocephalus (15 cm
body length), a gekko on a glass pane (15 cm body length), an amoeba Amoeba proteus (1 mm size), the
rolling shrimp Nannosquilla decemspinosa (2 cm body length, 1.5 rotations per second, up to 2 m, can
even roll slightly uphill slopes) and the rolling caterpillar Pleurotya ruralis (can only roll downhill, to
escape predators), (© David Parks, Marcel Berendsen, Antonio Guillén, Robert Full, John Brackenbury /
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Science Photo Library ).

no choice: it had to avoid animals with parts rotating around axles. That is the reason
that propellers and wheels do not exist in nature. Of course, this limitation does not rule
Ref. 67 out that living bodies move by rotation as a whole: tumbleweed, seeds from various trees,
some insects, several spiders,* certain other animals, children and dancers occasionally
move by rolling or rotating as a whole.

* Rolling is known for desert spiders of the Cebrennus and the Carparachne genus; films can be found on
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XwIXFFVOSA and www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozn31QBOHtk. Cebrennus
seems even to be able to accelerate its rolling motion with its legs.
 3 how to describe motion – kinematics 87

Single bodies, and thus all living beings, can only move through deformation of their
shape: therefore they are limited to walking, running, rolling, crawling or flapping wings
Ref. 68 or fins. Extreme examples of leg use in nature are shown in Figure 54. The most extreme
Ref. 69 example are rolling spiders living in the sand in Morocco; they use their legs to accelerate
and steer the rolling direction. Walking on water is shown in Figure 106 on page 149;
Vol. V, page 208 examples of wings are given later on, as are the various types of deformations that allow
Vol. V, page 210 swimming in water. In contrast, systems of several bodies, such as bicycles, pedal boats
or other machines, can move without any change of shape of their components, thus
enabling the use of axles with wheels, propellers or other rotating devices.*
In summary, whenever we observe a construction in which some part is turning con-
tinuously (and without the ‘wiring’ of Figure 53) we know immediately that it is an arte-
fact: it is a machine, not a living being (but built by one). However, like so many state-
ments about living creatures, this one also has exceptions. The distinction between one

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
and two bodies is poorly defined if the whole system is made of only a few molecules.
This happens most clearly inside bacteria. Organisms such as Escherichia coli, the well-
known bacterium found in the human gut, or bacteria from the Salmonella family, all
swim using flagella. Flagella are thin filaments, similar to tiny hairs that stick out of the
cell membrane. In the 1970s it was shown that each flagellum, made of one or a few
long molecules with a diameter of a few tens of nanometres, does in fact turn about
Vol. V, page 210 its axis. A bacterium is able to turn its flagella in both clockwise and anticlockwise direc-
tions, can achieve more than 1000 turns per second, and can turn all its flagella in perfect
Ref. 70 synchronization. (These wheels are so tiny that they do not need a mechanical connec-
tion.) Therefore wheels actually do exist in living beings, albeit only tiny ones. But let us
now continue with our study of simple objects.

Curiosities and fun challenges about kinematics

Challenge 148 s What is the biggest wheel ever made?
∗∗
A soccer ball is shot, by a goalkeeper, with around 30 m/s. Calculate the distance it should
fly and compare it with the distances found in a soccer match. Where does the difference
Challenge 149 s come from?
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

A train starts to travel at a constant speed of 10 m/s between two cities A and B, 36 km
apart. The train will take one hour for the journey. At the same time as the train, a fast
dove starts to fly from A to B, at 20 m/s. Being faster than the train, the dove arrives at
B first. The dove then flies back towards A; when it meets the train, it turns back again,

* Despite the disadvantage of not being able to use rotating parts and of being restricted to one piece only,
nature’s moving constructions, usually called animals, often outperform human built machines. As an ex-
ample, compare the size of the smallest flying systems built by evolution with those built by humans. (See,
e.g., pixelito.reference.be.) There are two reasons for this discrepancy. First, nature’s systems have integrated
repair and maintenance systems. Second, nature can build large structures inside containers with small
openings. In fact, nature is very good at what people do when they build sailing ships inside glass bottles.
Challenge 147 s The human body is full of such examples; can you name a few?
 88 3 how to describe motion – kinematics

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 55 Are comets, such as the beautiful comet McNaught seen in 2007, images or bodies? How
can one settle the issue? (© Robert McNaught)

to city B. It goes on flying back and forward until the train reaches B. What distance did
Challenge 150 e the dove cover?
∗∗
Balance a pencil vertically (tip upwards!) on a piece of paper near the edge of a table.
Challenge 151 e How can you pull out the paper without letting the pencil fall?
∗∗
Is a return flight by plane – from a point A to B and back to A – faster if the wind blows
Challenge 152 e or if it does not? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
The level of acceleration a human can survive depends on the duration over which one
is subjected to it. For a tenth of a second, 30 д = 300 m/s2 , as generated by an ejector
seat in an aeroplane, is acceptable. (It seems that the record acceleration a human has
survived is about 80 д = 800 m/s2 .) But as a rule of thumb it is said that accelerations of
15 д = 150 m/s2 or more are fatal.
∗∗
The highest microscopic accelerations are observed in particle collisions, where one gets
values up to 1035 m/s2 . The highest macroscopic accelerations are probably found in the
collapsing interiors of supernovae, exploding stars which can be so bright as to be visible
 3 how to describe motion – kinematics 89

F I G U R E 56 Observation of sonoluminescence (© Detlev Lohse).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
in the sky even during the daytime. A candidate on Earth is the interior of collapsing
bubbles in liquids, a process called cavitation. Cavitation often produces light, an effect
Ref. 71 discovered by Frenzel and Schultes in 1934 and called sonoluminescence. (See Figure 56.)
It appears most prominently when air bubbles in water are expanded and contracted by
underwater loudspeakers at around 30 kHz and allows precise measurements of bubble
motion. At a certain threshold intensity, the bubble radius changes at 1500 m/s in as little
Ref. 72 as a few μm, giving an acceleration of several 1011 m/s2 .
∗∗
Legs are easy to build. Nature has even produced a millipede, Illacme plenipes, that has
750 legs. The animal is 3 to 4 cm long and about 0.5 mm wide. This seems to be the record
so far. In contrast to its name, no millipede actually has a thousand legs.

Summary of kinematics
The description of everyday motion of mass points with three coordinates as
(x(t), y(t), z(t)) is simple, precise and complete. It assumes that objects can be fol-
lowed along their paths. Therefore, the description often does not work for an important
case: the motion of images.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 4

FROM OBJECT S AND IMAGES TO

C ON SE RVATION

W
alking through a forest we observe two rather different types of motion:
e see the breeze move the leaves, and at the same time, on the ground,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 73 e see their shadows move. Shadows are a simple type of image. Both objects
and images are able to move; both change position over time. Running tigers, falling
snowflakes, and material ejected by volcanoes, but also the shadow following our body,
the beam of light circling the tower of a lighthouse on a misty night, and the rainbow
that constantly keeps the same apparent distance from us are examples of motion.
Both objects and images differ from their environment in that they have boundaries
defining their size and shape. But everybody who has ever seen an animated cartoon
knows that images can move in more surprising ways than objects. Images can change
their size and shape, they can even change colour, a feat only few objects are able to
perform.* Images can appear and disappear without trace, multiply, interpenetrate, go
backwards in time and defy gravity or any other force. Images, even ordinary shadows,
can move faster than light. Images can float in space and keep the same distance from
Ref. 75 approaching objects. Objects can do almost none of this. In general, the ‘laws of cartoon
physics’ are rather different from those in nature. In fact, the motion of images does not
seem to follow any rules, in contrast to the motion of objects. We feel the need for precise
criteria allowing the two cases to be distinguished.
Making a clear distinction between images and objects is performed using the same
method that children or animals use when they stand in front of a mirror for the first
time: they try to touch what they see. Indeed, if we are able to touch what we see – or
more precisely, if we are able to move it – we call it an object, otherwise an image.**
Vol. IV, page 119 Images cannot be touched, but objects can. Images cannot hit each other, but objects can.
And as everybody knows, touching something means feeling that it resists movement.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Certain bodies, such as butterflies, pose little resistance and are moved with ease, others,
* Excluding very slow changes such as the change of colour of leaves in the Fall, in nature only certain
crystals, the octopus, the chameleon and a few other animals achieve this. Of man-made objects, television,
Challenge 153 s computer displays, heated objects and certain lasers can do it. Do you know more examples? An excellent
source of information on the topic of colour is the book by K. Nassau, The Physics and Chemistry of Colour
– the fifteen causes of colour, J. Wiley & Sons, 1983. In the popular science domain, the most beautiful book is
the classic work by the Flemish astronomer Marcel G. J. Minnaert, Light and Colour in the Outdoors,
Springer, 1993, an updated version based on his wonderful book series, De natuurkunde van ‘t vrije veld,
Ref. 74 Thieme & Cie, 1937. Reading it is a must for all natural scientists. On the web, there is also the – simpler,
but excellent – webexhibits.org/causesofcolour website.
** One could propose including the requirement that objects may be rotated; however, this requirement,
surprisingly, gives difficulties in the case of atoms, as explained on page 72 in Volume IV.
 4 from objects and images to conservation 91

push

F I G U R E 57 In which direction does the bicycle turn?

such as ships, resist more, and are moved with more difficulty. This resistance to motion
– more precisely, to change of motion – is called inertia, and the difficulty with which a
body can be moved is called its (inertial) mass. Images have neither inertia nor mass.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Summing up, for the description of motion we must distinguish bodies, which can
be touched and are impenetrable, from images, which cannot and are not. Everything
Challenge 154 s visible is either an object or an image; there is no third possibility. (Do you agree?) If
the object is so far away that it cannot be touched, such as a star or a comet, it can be
difficult to decide whether one is dealing with an image or an object; we will encounter
this difficulty repeatedly. For example, how would you show that comets – such as the
beautiful example of Figure 55 – are objects and not images, as Galileo (falsely) claimed?
Challenge 155 s
In the same way that objects are made of matter, images are made of radiation. Im-
Ref. 76 ages are the domain of shadow theatre, cinema, television, computer graphics, belief sys-
tems and drug experts. Photographs, motion pictures, ghosts, angels, dreams and many
hallucinations are images (sometimes coupled with brain malfunction). To understand
images, we need to study radiation (plus the eye and the brain). However, due to the
importance of objects – after all we are objects ourselves – we study the latter first.

Motion and contact

“
Democritus affirms that there is only one type

”
of movement: That resulting from collision.
Ref. 77 Aetius, Opinions.

When a child rides a unicycle, she or he makes use of a general rule in our world: one Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

body acting on another puts it in motion. Indeed, in about six hours, anybody can learn
to ride and enjoy a unicycle. As in all of life’s pleasures, such as toys, animals, women, ma-
chines, children, men, the sea, wind, cinema, juggling, rambling and loving, something
pushes something else. Thus our first challenge is to describe this transfer of motion in
more precise terms.
Contact is not the only way to put something into motion; a counter-example is an
apple falling from a tree or one magnet pulling another. Non-contact influences are more
fascinating: nothing is hidden, but nevertheless something mysterious happens. Contact
motion seems easier to grasp, and that is why one usually starts with it. However, despite
this choice, non-contact forces are not easily avoided. Taking this choice we will make a
similar experience to that of cyclists. (See Figure 57.) If you ride a bicycle at a sustained
speed and try to turn left by pushing the right-hand steering bar, you will turn right. By
 92 4 from objects and images to conservation

v1 v2

v1d v2d

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 58 Collisions define mass. F I G U R E 59 The standard kilogram (© BIPM).

the way, this surprising effect, also known to motor bike riders, obviously works only
Challenge 156 s above a certain minimal speed. Can you determine what this speed is? Be careful! Too
strong a push will make you fall.
Something similar will happen to us as well; despite our choice for contact motion,
the rest of our walk will rapidly force us to study non-contact interactions.

What is mass?

“
Δός μοί (φησι) ποῦ στῶ καὶ κινῶ τὴν γῆν.

”
Da ubi consistam, et terram movebo.*
Archimedes

[]
When we push something we are unfamiliar with, such as when we kick an object on the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

street, we automatically pay attention to the same aspect that children explore when they
stand in front of a mirror for the first time, or when they see a red laser spot for the first
time. They check whether the unknown entity can be pushed or caught, and they pay
attention to how the unknown object moves under their influence. The high precision
version of the experiment is shown in Figure 58. Repeating the experiment with various
pairs of objects, we find – as in everyday life – that a fixed quantity mi can be ascribed to

* ‘Give me a place to stand, and I’ll move the Earth.’ Archimedes (c. 283–212), Greek scientist and engineer.
Ref. 78 This phrase is attributed to him by Pappus. Already Archimedes knew that the distinction used by lawyers
between movable and immovable property made no sense.
 4 from objects and images to conservation 93

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 60 Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794) and his wife.

every object i, determined by the relation

m2 Δ󰑣
=− 1 (17)
m1 Δ󰑣2

where Δ󰑣 is the velocity change produced by the collision. The more difficult it is to move
an object, the higher the number. The number mi is called the mass of the object i.
In order to have mass values that are common to everybody, the mass value for
one particular, selected object has to be fixed in advance. This special object, shown in
Figure 59, is called the standard kilogram and is kept with great care in a glass container
in Sèvres near Paris. The standard kilogram is touched only once every few years because
otherwise dust, humidity, or scratches would change its mass. By the way, the standard
kilogram is not kept under vacuum, because this would lead to outgassing and thus to
changes in its mass. The standard kilogram determines the value of the mass of every
other object in the world.
The mass thus measures the difficulty of getting something moving. High masses are
harder to move than low masses. Obviously, only objects have mass; images don’t. (By the
Ref. 63 way, the word ‘mass’ is derived, via Latin, from the Greek μαζα – bread – or the Hebrew
‘mazza’ – unleavened bread. That is quite a change in meaning.)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Experiments with everyday life objects also show that throughout any collision, the
sum of all masses is conserved:
󵠈 mi = const . (18)
i

The principle of conservation of mass was first stated by Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier.*

* Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794), French chemist and a genius. Lavoisier was the first to understand
that combustion is a reaction with oxygen; he discovered the components of water and introduced mass
measurements into chemistry. There is a good, but most probably false story about him: When he was
(unjustly) sentenced to the guillotine during the French revolution, he decided to use the situations for a
scientific experiment. He would try to blink his eyes as frequently as possible after his head was cut off, in
 94 4 from objects and images to conservation

F I G U R E 61 Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695).

Conservation of mass also implies that the mass of a composite system is the sum of the
mass of the components. In short, Galilean mass is a measure for the quantity of matter.
In a famous experiment in the sixteenth century, for several weeks Santorio Santorio

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
(Sanctorius) (1561–1636), friend of Galileo, lived with all his food and drink supply, and
also his toilet, on a large balance. He wanted to test mass conservation. How did the
Challenge 157 s measured weight change with time?

Momentum and mass

The definition of mass can also be given in another way. We can ascribe a number mi
to every object i such that for collisions free of outside interference the following sum is
unchanged throughout the collision:

󵠈 mi 󰑣i = const . (19)
i

The product of the velocity 󰑣i and the mass mi is called the momentum of the body. The
sum, or total momentum of the system, is the same before and after the collision; mo-
mentum is a conserved quantity.

⊳ Momentum conservation defines mass.

The two conservation principles (18) and (19) were first stated in this way by the im-
portant Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens.* Momentum and mass are conserved in
everyday motion of objects. Neither quantity can be defined for the motion of images.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Some typical momentum values are given in Table 15.

Momentum conservation implies that when a moving sphere hits a resting one of the
same mass and without loss of energy, a simple rule determines the angle between the

order to show others how long it takes to lose consciousness. Lavoisier managed to blink eleven times. It is
unclear whether the story is true or not. It is known, however, that it could be true. Indeed, if a decapitated
Ref. 79 has no pain or shock, he can remain conscious for up to half a minute.
* Christiaan Huygens (b. 1629 ’s Gravenhage, d. 1695 Hofwyck) was one of the main physicists and mathe-
maticians of his time. Huygens clarified the concepts of mechanics; he also was one of the first to show that
light is a wave. He wrote influential books on probability theory, clock mechanisms, optics and astronomy.
Among other achievements, Huygens showed that the Orion Nebula consists of stars, discovered Titan, the
moon of Saturn, and showed that the rings of Saturn consist of rock. (This is in contrast to Saturn itself,
whose density is lower than that of water.)
 4 from objects and images to conservation 95

F I G U R E 62 Is this dangerous?

TA B L E 15 Some measured momentum values.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
O b s e r va t i o n Momentum

Images 0
Momentum of a green photon 1.2 ⋅ 10−27 Ns
Average momentum of oxygen molecule in air 10−26 Ns
X-ray photon momentum 10−23 Ns
γ photon momentum 10−17 Ns
Highest particle momentum in accelerators 1 f Ns
Highest possible momentum of a single elementary 6.5 Ns
particle – the Planck momentum
Fast billiard ball 3 Ns
Flying rifle bullet 10 Ns
Box punch 15 to 50 Ns
Comfortably walking human 80 Ns
Lion paw strike kNs
Whale tail blow kNs
Car on highway 40 kNs
Impact of meteorite with 2 km diameter 100 TNs
Momentum of a galaxy in galaxy collision up to 1046 Ns
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 158 s directions the two spheres take after the collision. Can you find this rule? It is particularly
useful when playing billiards. We will find out later that it is not valid in special relativity.
Another consequence of momentum conservation is shown in Figure 62: a man is
lying on a bed of nails with a large block of concrete on his stomach. Another man is
hitting the concrete with a heavy sledgehammer. As the impact is mostly absorbed by
Challenge 159 s the concrete, there is no pain and no danger – unless the concrete is missed. Why?
The above definition of mass has been generalized by the physicist and philosopher
Ernst Mach* in such a way that it is valid even if the two objects interact without contact,

* Ernst Mach (1838 Chrlice–1916 Vaterstetten), Austrian physicist and philosopher. The mach unit for aero-
plane speed as a multiple of the speed of sound in air (about 0.3 km/s) is named after him. He developed the
so-called Mach–Zehnder interferometer; he also studied the basis of mechanics. His thoughts about mass
 96 4 from objects and images to conservation

as long as they do so along the line connecting their positions. The mass ratio between
two bodies is defined as a negative inverse acceleration ratio, thus as

m2 a
=− 1 , (20)
m1 a2

where a is the acceleration of each body during the interaction. This definition has been
studied in much detail in the physics community, mainly in the nineteenth century. A
few points sum up the results:
— The definition of mass implies the conservation of total momentum ∑ m󰑣. Momen-
tum conservation is not a separate principle. Conservation of momentum cannot
be checked experimentally, because mass is defined in such a way that the principle
holds.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
— The definition of mass implies the equality of the products m1 a1 and −m2 a2 . Such
products are called forces. The equality of acting and reacting forces is not a separate
principle; mass is defined in such a way that the principle holds.
— The definition of mass is independent of whether contact is involved or not, and
whether the origin of the accelerations is due to electricity, gravitation, or other in-
teractions.* Since the interaction does not enter the definition of mass, mass values
defined with the help of the electric, nuclear or gravitational interaction all agree, as
long as momentum is conserved. All known interactions conserve momentum. For
some unfortunate historical reasons, the mass value measured with the electric or
nuclear interactions is called the ‘inertial’ mass and the mass measured using gravity
is called the ‘gravitational’ mass. As it turns out, this artificial distinction has no real
meaning; this becomes especially clear when one takes an observation point that is
far away from all the bodies concerned.
— The definition of mass requires observers at rest or in inertial motion.
By measuring the masses of bodies around us we can explore the science and art of ex-
periments. An overview of devices is given in Table 18 and Figure 63. Some measurement
results are listed in Table 16. We also discover the main properties of mass. It is additive
in everyday life, as the mass of two bodies combined is equal to the sum of the two sep-
arate masses. Furthermore, mass is continuous; it can seemingly take any positive value.
Finally, mass is conserved; the mass of a system, defined as the sum of the mass of all
constituents, does not change over time if the system is kept isolated from the rest of
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the world. Mass is not only conserved in collisions but also during melting, evaporation,
digestion and all other processes.

and inertia influenced the development of general relativity, and led to Mach’s principle, which will appear
later on. He was also proud to be the last scientist denying – humorously, and against all evidence – the
existence of atoms.
* As mentioned above, only central forces obey the relation (20) used to define mass. Central forces act
Page 108 between the centre of mass of bodies. We give a precise definition later. However, since all fundamental
forces are central, this is not a restriction. There seems to be one notable exception: magnetism. Is the
Challenge 160 s definition of mass valid in this case?
 4 from objects and images to conservation 97

TA B L E 16 Some measured mass values.

O b s e r va t i o n Mass

Probably lightest known object: neutrino c. 2 ⋅ 10−36 kg

Mass increase due to absorption of one green photon 4.1 ⋅ 10−36 kg
Lightest known charged object: electron 9.109 381 88(72) ⋅ 10−31 kg
Atom of argon 39.962 383 123(3) u = 66.359 1(1) yg
Lightest object ever weighed (a gold particle) 0.39 ag
Human at early age (fertilized egg) 10−8 g
Water adsorbed on to a kilogram metal weight 10−5 g
Planck mass 2.2 ⋅ 10−5 g
Fingerprint 10−4 g
10−4 g

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Typical ant
Water droplet 1 mg
Honey bee, Apis mellifera 0.1 g
Euro coin 7.5 g
Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus 180 Mg
Heaviest living things, such as the fungus Armillaria 106 kg
ostoyae or a large Sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum
Heaviest train ever 99.7 ⋅ 106 kg
Largest ocean-going ship 400 ⋅ 106 kg
Largest object moved by man (Troll gas rig) 687.5 ⋅ 106 kg
Large antarctic iceberg 1015 kg
Water on Earth 1021 kg
Earth’s mass 5.98 ⋅ 1024 kg
Solar mass 2.0 ⋅ 1030 kg
Our galaxy’s visible mass 3 ⋅ 1041 kg
Our galaxy’s estimated total mass 2 ⋅ 1042 kg
virgo supercluster 2 ⋅ 1046 kg
Total mass visible in the universe 1054 kg

Later we will find that in the case of mass all these properties, summarized in Table 17,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

are only approximate. Precise experiments show that none of them are correct.* For the
moment we continue with the present, Galilean concept of mass, as we have not yet a
better one at our disposal.
The definition of mass through momentum conservation implies that when an object
falls, the Earth is accelerated upwards by a tiny amount. If one could measure this tiny
amount, one could determine the mass of the Earth. Unfortunately, this measurement is
Challenge 161 s impossible. Can you find a better way to determine the mass of the Earth?
Summarizing Table 17, the mass of a body is thus most precisely described by a positive
real number, often abbreviated m or M. This is a direct consequence of the impenetrabil-
* In particular, in order to define mass we must be able to distinguish bodies. This seems a trivial requirement,
but we discover that this is not always possible in nature.
 98 4 from objects and images to conservation

TA B L E 17 Properties of Galilean mass.

Masses Physical M at h e m at i c a l Defini-

propert y name tion

Can be distinguished distinguishability element of set Vol. III, page 223

Can be ordered sequence order Vol. IV, page 196
Can be compared measurability metricity Vol. V, page 280
Can change gradually continuity completeness Vol. V, page 288
Can be added quantity of matter additivity
Page 77
Beat any limit infinity unboundedness, openness Vol. III, page 224
Do not change conservation invariance m = const
Do not disappear impenetrability positivity m⩾0

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ity of matter. Indeed, a negative (inertial) mass would mean that such a body would move
in the opposite direction of any applied force or acceleration. Such a body could not be
kept in a box; it would break through any wall trying to stop it. Strangely enough, nega-
tive mass bodies would still fall downwards in the field of a large positive mass (though
Challenge 162 e more slowly than an equivalent positive mass). Are you able to confirm this? However, a
small positive mass object would float away from a large negative-mass body, as you can
easily deduce by comparing the various accelerations involved. A positive and a nega-
tive mass of the same value would stay at constant distance and spontaneously accelerate
Challenge 163 e away along the line connecting the two masses. Note that both energy and momentum
Vol. II, page 66 are conserved in all these situations.* Negative-mass bodies have never been observed.
Vol. IV, page 166 Antimatter, which will be discussed later, also has positive mass.

Is motion eternal? – Conservation of momentum

“
Every body continues in the state of rest or of
uniform motion in a straight line except in so

”
far as it doesn’t.
Arthur Eddington**

The product p = m󰑣 of mass and velocity is called the momentum of a particle; it de-
scribes the tendency of an object to keep moving during collisions. The larger it is, the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

harder it is to stop the object. Like velocity, momentum has a direction and a magnitude:
it is a vector. In French, momentum is called ‘quantity of motion’, a more appropriate
term. In the old days, the term ‘motion’ was used instead of ‘momentum’, for example by

* For more curiosities, see R. H. Price, Negative mass can be positively amusing, American Journal of
Physics 61, pp. 216–217, 1993. Negative mass particles in a box would heat up a box made of positive mass
Page 101 while traversing its walls, and accelerating, i.e., losing energy, at the same time. They would allow one to
build a perpetuum mobile of the second kind, i.e., a device circumventing the second principle of thermo-
Challenge 164 e dynamics. Moreover, such a system would have no thermodynamic equilibrium, because its energy could
decrease forever. The more one thinks about negative mass, the more one finds strange properties contra-
Challenge 165 s dicting observations. By the way, what is the range of possible mass values for tachyons?
** Arthur Eddington (1882–1944), British astrophysicist.
4 from objects and images to conservation 99

TA B L E 18 Some mass sensors.

Measurement Sensor Range

Particle collision speed below 1 mg

Sense of touch pressure sensitive cells 1 mg to 500 kg
Doppler effect on light reflected off interferometer 1 mg to 100 g
the object
Precision scales balance, pendulum, or spring 1 pg to 103 kg
Cosmonaut body mass spring frequency around 70 kg
measurement device
Truck scales hydraulic balance 1 to 60 ⋅ 103 kg
Ship weight water volume measurement up to 500 ⋅ 106 kg

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 63 Mass measurement devices: a vacuum balance used in 1890 by Dmitriy Ivanovich

Mendeleyev, a modern laboratory balance, a device to measure the mass of a cosmonaut in space and
a truck scales (© Thinktank Trust, Mettler-Toledo, NASA Anonymous).

Newton. The conservation of momentum, relation (19), therefore expresses the conser-
vation of motion during interactions.
Momentum is an extensive quantity. That means that it can be said that it flows from
one body to the other, and that it can be accumulated in bodies, in the same way that
 100 4 from objects and images to conservation

cork

wine

wine
stone

Challenge 166 s F I G U R E 64 What happens in these four situations?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
water flows and can be accumulated in containers. Imagining momentum as something
that can be exchanged between bodies in collisions is always useful when thinking about
the description of moving objects.
Momentum is conserved. That explains the limitations you might experience when
being on a perfectly frictionless surface, such as ice or a polished, oil covered marble:
you cannot propel yourself forward by patting your own back. (Have you ever tried to
put a cat on such a marble surface? It is not even able to stand on its four legs. Neither
Challenge 167 s are humans. Can you imagine why?) Momentum conservation also answers the puzzles
of Figure 64.
The conservation of momentum and mass also means that teleportation (‘beam me
Challenge 168 s up’) is impossible in nature. Can you explain this to a non-physicist?
Momentum conservation implies that momentum can be imagined to be like an invis-
ible fluid. In an interaction, the invisible fluid is transferred from one object to another.
In such transfers, the sum of fluid is always constant.
Momentum conservation implies that motion never stops; it is only exchanged. On
the other hand, motion often ‘disappears’ in our environment, as in the case of a stone
dropped to the ground, or of a ball left rolling on grass. Moreover, in daily life we of-
ten observe the creation of motion, such as every time we open a hand. How do these
examples fit with the conservation of momentum?
It turns out that the answer lies in the microscopic aspects of these systems. A muscle
only transforms one type of motion, namely that of the electrons in certain chemical
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

compounds* into another, the motion of the fingers. The working of muscles is similar
to that of a car engine transforming the motion of electrons in the fuel into motion of
the wheels. Both systems need fuel and get warm in the process.
We must also study the microscopic behaviour when a ball rolls on grass until it stops.
The disappearance of motion is called friction. Studying the situation carefully, we find
that the grass and the ball heat up a little during this process. During friction, visible mo-
tion is transformed into heat. A striking observation of this effect for a bicycle is shown
Page 320 below, in Figure 214. Later, when we discover the structure of matter, it will become clear
that heat is the disorganized motion of the microscopic constituents of every material.
When these constituents all move in the same direction, the object as a whole moves;

Ref. 80 * Usually adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the fuel of most processes in animals.
 4 from objects and images to conservation 101

when they oscillate randomly, the object is at rest, but is warm. Heat is a form of motion.
Friction thus only seems to be disappearance of motion; in fact it is a transformation of
ordered into unordered motion.
Page 330 Despite momentum conservation, macroscopic perpetual motion does not exist, since
friction cannot be completely eliminated.* Motion is eternal only at the microscopic
scale. In other words, the disappearance and also the spontaneous appearance of mo-
tion in everyday life is an illusion due to the limitations of our senses. For example, the
motion proper of every living being exists before its birth, and stays after its death. The
same happens with its energy. This result is probably the closest one can get to the idea
of everlasting life from evidence collected by observation. It is perhaps less than a co-
incidence that energy used to be called vis viva, or ‘living force’, by Leibniz and many
others.
Since motion is conserved, it has no origin. Therefore, at this stage of our walk we

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
cannot answer the fundamental questions: Why does motion exist? What is its origin?
The end of our adventure is nowhere near.

More conservation – energy

When collisions are studied in detail, a second conserved quantity turns up. Experiments
show that in the case of perfect, or elastic collisions – collisions without friction – the
following quantity, called the kinetic energy T of the system, is also conserved:

T = 󵠈 12 mi 󰑣i2 = 󵠈 12 mi 󰑣i2 = const . (21)

i i

Kinetic energy is the ability that a body has to induce change in bodies it hits. Kinetic
energy thus depends on the mass and on the square of the speed 󰑣 of a body. The full
name ‘kinetic energy’ was introduced by Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis.** Some measured
energy values are given in Table 19.
* Some funny examples of past attempts to built a perpetual motion machine are described in
Stanislav Michel, Perpetuum mobile, VDI Verlag, 1976. Interestingly, the idea of eternal motion came
to Europe from India, via the Islamic world, around the year 1200, and became popular as it opposed
the then standard view that all motion on Earth disappears over time. See also the web.archive.org/web/
20040812085618/http://www.geocities.com/mercutio78_99/pmm.html and the www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/
museum/unwork.htm websites. The conceptual mistake made by eccentrics and used by crooks is always
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the same: the hope of overcoming friction. (In fact, this applied only to the perpetual motion machines of
the second kind; those of the first kind – which are even more in contrast with observation – even try to
generate energy from nothing.)
If the machine is well constructed, i.e., with little friction, it can take the little energy it needs for the
sustenance of its motion from very subtle environmental effects. For example, in the Victoria and Albert
Ref. 81 Museum in London one can admire a beautiful clock powered by the variations of air pressure over time.
Low friction means that motion takes a long time to stop. One immediately thinks of the motion of the
planets. In fact, there is friction between the Earth and the Sun. (Can you guess one of the mechanisms?)
Challenge 169 s But the value is so small that the Earth has already circled around the Sun for thousands of millions of years,
and will do so for quite some time more.
** Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (b. 1792 Paris, d. 1843 Paris), French engineer and mathematician. He intro-
Page 124 duced the modern concepts of ‘work’ and of ‘kinetic energy’, and discovered the Coriolis effect. Coriolis
also introduced the factor 1/2 in the kinetic energy T , in order that the relation dT/d󰑣 = p would be obeyed.
Challenge 170 s (Why?)
 102 4 from objects and images to conservation

F I G U R E 65 Robert Mayer (1814–1878).

⊳ (Physical) energy is the measure of the ability to generate motion.

A body has a lot of energy if it has the ability to move many other bodies. Energy is a

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
number; energy, in contrast to momentum, has no direction. The total momentum of two
equal masses moving with opposite velocities is zero; but their total energy is not, and
it increases with velocity. Energy thus also measures motion, but in a different way than
momentum. Energy measures motion in a more global way. An equivalent definition is
the following:

⊳ Energy is the ability to perform work.

Energy is the ability to perform work. Here, the physical concept of work is just the pre-
cise version of what is meant by work in everyday life.*
Another, equivalent definition of energy will become clear later:

⊳ Energy is what can be transformed into heat.

Energy is a word taken from ancient Greek; originally it was used to describe character,
and meant ‘intellectual or moral vigour’. It was taken into physics by Thomas Young (1773
–1829) in 1807 because its literal meaning is ‘force within’. (The letters E, W, A and several
others are also used to denote energy.)
Do not be surprised if you do not grasp the difference between momentum and en-
ergy straight away: physicists took about two centuries to figure it out! For some time
they even insisted on using the same word for both, and often they didn’t know which
situation required which concept. So you are allowed to take some time to get used to it.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Both energy and momentum measure how systems change. Momentum tells how sys-
tems change over distance, energy measures how systems change over time. Momentum
is needed to compare motion here and there. Energy is needed to compare motion now
and later.
One way to explore the difference between energy and momentum is to think about
the following challenges. Is it more difficult to stop a running man with mass m and
Challenge 171 e speed 󰑣, or one with mass m/2 and speed 2󰑣, or one with mass m/2 and speed 󵀂2 󰑣? You
may want to ask a rugby-playing friend for confirmation.

* (Physical) work is the product of force and distance in direction of the force. In other words, work is the
scalar product of force and distance.
 4 from objects and images to conservation 103

TA B L E 19 Some measured energy values.

O b s e r va t i o n Energy

Average kinetic energy of oxygen molecule in air 6 zJ

Green photon energy 0.37 aJ
X-ray photon energy 1 fJ
γ photon energy 1 pJ
Highest particle energy in accelerators 0.1 μJ
Kinetic energy of a flying mosquito 0.2 μJ
Comfortably walking human 20 J
Flying arrow 50 J
Right hook in boxing 50 J

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Energy in torch battery 1 kJ
Energy in explosion of 1 g TNT 4.1 kJ
Energy of 1 kcal 4.18 kJ
Flying rifle bullet 10 kJ
One gram of fat 38 kJ
One gram of gasoline 44 kJ
Apple digestion 0.2 MJ
Car on highway 0.3 to 1 MJ
Highest laser pulse energy 1.8 MJ
Lightning flash up to 1 GJ
Planck energy 2.0 GJ
Small nuclear bomb (20 ktonne) 84 TJ
Earthquake of magnitude 7 2 PJ
Largest nuclear bomb (50 Mtonne) 210 PJ
Impact of meteorite with 2 km diameter 1 EJ
Yearly machine energy use 420 EJ
Rotation energy of Earth 2 ⋅ 1029 J
Supernova explosion 1044 J
Gamma ray burst up to 1047 J
Energy content E = mc 2 of Sun’s mass 1.8 ⋅ 1047 J
4 ⋅ 1053 J
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Energy content of Galaxy’s central black hole

Another distinction is illustrated by athletics: the real long jump world record, almost
10 m, is still kept by an athlete who in the early twentieth century ran with two weights
in his hands, and then threw the weights behind him at the moment he took off. Can you
Challenge 172 s explain the feat?
When a car travelling at 100 m/s runs head-on into a parked car of the same kind and
Challenge 173 s make, which car receives the greatest damage? What changes if the parked car has its
brakes on?
To get a better feeling for energy, here is an additional approach. The world consump-
tion of energy by human machines (coming from solar, geothermal, biomass, wind, nu-
 104 4 from objects and images to conservation

clear, hydro, gas, oil, coal, or animal sources) in the year 2000 was about 420 EJ,* for
Ref. 82 a world population of about 6000 million people. To see what this energy consumption
means, we translate it into a personal power consumption; we get about 2.2 kW. The watt
W is the unit of power, and is simply defined as 1 W = 1 J/s, reflecting the definition of
(physical) power as energy used per unit time. (The precise wording is: power is energy
flowing per time through a defined closed surface.) As a working person can produce
mechanical work of about 100 W, the average human energy consumption corresponds
to about 22 humans working 24 hours a day. (See Table 20 for some power values found
in nature, and Table 21 for some measurement devices.) In particular, if we look at the
energy consumption in First World countries, the average inhabitant there has machines
working for them equivalent to several hundred ‘servants’. Can you point out some of
Challenge 174 s these machines?
Kinetic energy is thus not conserved in everyday life. For example, in non-elastic colli-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
sions, such as that of a piece of chewing gum hitting a wall, kinetic energy is lost. Friction
destroys kinetic energy. At the same time, friction produces heat. It was one of the im-
portant conceptual discoveries of physics that total energy is conserved if one includes
the discovery that heat is a form of energy. Friction is thus in fact a process transforming
kinetic energy, i.e., the energy connected with the motion of a body, into heat. On a mi-
croscopic scale, energy is conserved.** Indeed, without energy conservation, the concept
of time would not be definable. We will show this connection shortly.
In summary, in addition to mass and momentum, everyday linear motion also con-
serves energy. To discover the last conserved quantity, we explore another type of motion:
rotation.

The cross product, or vector product

The discussion of rotation is easiest if we introduce an additional way to multiply vectors.
This new product between two vectors a and b is called the cross product or vector product
a × b.
The result of the vector product is another vector; thus it differs from the scalar prod-
uct, whose result is a scalar, i.e., a number. The result of the vector product is that vector
that is orthogonal to both vectors to be multiplied, whose orientation is given by the
right-hand rule, and whose length is given by ab sin 󳈂(a, b), i.e., by the surface area of
the parallelogram spanned by the two vectors.
The definition implies that the cross product vanishes if and only if the vectors are
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

parallel. From the definition you can also show that the vector product has the properties

Page 383 * For the explanation of the abbreviation E, see Appendix B.

** In fact, the conservation of energy was stated in its full generality in public only in 1842, by Julius Robert
Mayer. He was a medical doctor by training, and the journal Annalen der Physik refused to publish his
paper, as it supposedly contained ‘fundamental errors’. What the editors called errors were in fact mostly
– but not only – contradictions of their prejudices. Later on, Helmholtz, Thomson-Kelvin, Joule and many
others acknowledged Mayer’s genius. However, the first to have stated energy conservation in its modern
form was the French physicist Sadi Carnot (1796–1832) in 1820. To him the issue was so clear that he did not
publish the result. In fact he went on and discovered the second ‘law’ of thermodynamics. Today, energy
conservation, also called the first ‘law’ of thermodynamics, is one of the pillars of physics, as it is valid in
all its domains.
4 from objects and images to conservation 105

TA B L E 20 Some measured power values.

O b s e r va t i o n Power

Radio signal from the Galileo space probe sending from Jupiter 10 zW
Power of flagellar motor in bacterium 0.1 pW
Power consumption of a typical cell 1 pW
sound power at the ear at hearing threshold 2.5 pW
CR-R laser, at 780 nm 40-80 mW
Sound output from a piano playing fortissimo 0.4 W
Dove (0.16 kg) basal metabolic rate 0.97 W
Rat (0.26 kg) basal metabolic rate 1.45 W
Pigeon (0.30 kg) basal metabolic rate 1.55 W

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Hen (2.0 kg) basal metabolic rate 4.8 W
Incandescent light bulb light output 1 to 5 W
Dog (16 kg) basal metabolic rate 20 W
Sheep (45 kg) basal metabolic rate 50 W
Woman (60 kg) basal metabolic rate 68 W
Man (70 kg) basal metabolic rate 87 W
Incandescent light bulb electricity consumption 25 to 100 W
A human, during one work shift of eight hours 100 W
Cow (400 kg) basal metabolic rate 266 W
One horse, for one shift of eight hours 300 W
Steer (680 kg) basal metabolic rate 411 W
Eddy Merckx, the great bicycle athlete, during one hour 500 W
Metric horse power power unit (75 kg ⋅ 9.81 m/s2 ⋅ 1 m/s) 735.5 W
British horse power power unit 745.7 W
Large motorbike 100 kW
Electrical power station output 0.1 to 6 GW
World’s electrical power production in 2000 Ref. 82 450 GW
Power used by the geodynamo 200 to 500 GW
Input on Earth surface: Sun’s irradiation of Earth Ref. 83 0.17 EW
Input on Earth surface: thermal energy from inside of the Earth 32 TW
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Input on Earth surface: power from tides (i.e., from Earth’s rotation) 3 TW
Input on Earth surface: power generated by man from fossil fuels 8 to 11 TW
Lost from Earth surface: power stored by plants’ photosynthesis 40 TW
World’s record laser power 1 PW
Output of Earth surface: sunlight reflected into space 0.06 EW
Output of Earth surface: power radiated into space at 287 K 0.11 EW
Peak power of the largest nuclear bomb 5 YW
Sun’s output 384.6 YW
Maximum power in nature, c 5 /4G 9.1 ⋅ 1051 W
 106 4 from objects and images to conservation

TA B L E 21 Some power sensors.

Measurement Sensor Range

Heart beat as power meter deformation sensor and clock 75 to 2 000 W

Fitness power meter piezoelectric sensor 75 to 2 000 W
Electricity meter at home rotating aluminium disc 20 to 10 000 W
Power meter for car engine electromagnetic brake up to 1 MW
Laser power meter photoelectric effect in up to 10 GW
semiconductor
Calorimeter for chemical reactions temperature sensor up to 1 MW
Calorimeter for particles light detector up to a few μJ/ns

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 175 e

a × b = −b × a , a × (b + c) = a × b + a × c ,
λa × b = λ(a × b) = a × λb , a × a = 0 ,
a(b × c) = b(c × a) = c(a × b) , a × (b × c) = b(ac) − c(ab) ,
(a × b)(c × d) = a(b × (c × d)) = (ac)(bd) − (bc)(ad) ,
(a × b) × (c × d) = c((a × b)d) − d((a × b)c) ,
a × (b × c) + b × (c × a) + c × (a × b) = 0 . (22)

The vector product exists only in vector spaces with three dimensions. We will explore
Vol. IV, page 205 more details on this connection later on.
The vector product is useful to describe systems that rotate – and (thus) also systems
with magnetic forces. The main reason for the usefulness is that the motion of an orbiting
body is always perpendicular both to the axis and to the shortest line that connects the
body with the axis.
Challenge 176 e Confirm that the best way to calculate the vector product a × b component by com-
ponent is given by the determinant

󵄨󵄨 e a b 󵄨󵄨 󵄨󵄨 + − + 󵄨󵄨
󵄨󵄨 x x x 󵄨󵄨 󵄨󵄨 󵄨󵄨
a × b = 󵄨󵄨󵄨󵄨 e y a y b y 󵄨󵄨󵄨󵄨 a × b = 󵄨󵄨󵄨󵄨 ax a y az 󵄨󵄨󵄨󵄨 .
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

or, sloppily (23)

󵄨󵄨 󵄨 󵄨󵄨 b b b 󵄨󵄨
󵄨󵄨 ez az bz 󵄨󵄨󵄨 󵄨󵄨 x y z 󵄨󵄨

This is easy to remember and easy to perform, both with letters and with numerical val-
ues. (Here, ex is the unit basis vector in the x direction.) Written out, it is equivalent to
the relation
a × b = (a y bz − b y az , bx az − ax bz , ax b y − bx a y ) (24)

which is harder to remember, though.

Show that the parallelepiped spanned by three arbitrary vectors a, b and c has the
Challenge 177 e volume V = c (a × b). Show that the pyramid or tetrahedron formed by the same three
vectors has one sixth of that volume.
4 from objects and images to conservation 107

TA B L E 22 Some measured rotation frequencies.

O b s e r va t i o n Angular velocity
ω = 2π/T

Galactic rotation 2π ⋅ 0.14 ⋅ 10−15 / s

= 2π /(220 ⋅ 10 a)6

Average Sun rotation around its axis 2π ⋅3.8 ⋅ 10−7 / s = 2π / 30 d

Typical lighthouse 2π ⋅ 0.08/ s
Pirouetting ballet dancer 2π ⋅ 3/ s
Ship’s diesel engine 2π ⋅ 5/ s
Helicopter rotor 2π ⋅ 5.3/ s
Washing machine up to 2π ⋅ 20/ s
Bacterial flagella 2π ⋅ 100/ s

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Fast CD recorder up to 2π ⋅ 458/ s
Racing car engine up to 2π ⋅ 600/ s
Fastest turbine built 2π ⋅ 103 / s
Fastest pulsars (rotating stars) up to at least 2π ⋅ 716/ s
Ultracentrifuge > 2π ⋅ 2 ⋅ 103 / s
Dental drill up to 2π ⋅ 13 ⋅ 103 / s
Technical record 2π ⋅ 333 ⋅ 103 / s
Proton rotation 2π ⋅ 1020 / s
Highest possible, Planck angular velocity 2π⋅ 1035 / s

Rotation and angular momentum

Rotation keeps us alive. Without the change of day and night, we would be either fried or
frozen to death, depending on our location on our planet. But rotation appears in many
other settings, as Table 22 shows. A short exploration of rotation is thus appropriate.
All objects have the ability to rotate. We saw before that a body is described by its
reluctance to move; similarly, a body also has a reluctance to turn. This quantity is called
its moment of inertia and is often abbreviated Θ – pronounced ‘theta’. The speed or rate
of rotation is described by angular velocity, usually abbreviated ω – pronounced ‘omega’.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

A few values found in nature are given in Table 22.

The observables that describe rotation are similar to those describing linear motion,
as shown in Table 24. Like mass, the moment of inertia is defined in such a way that the
sum of angular momenta L – the product of moment of inertia and angular velocity – is
conserved in systems that do not interact with the outside world:

󵠈 Θi ωi = 󵠈 Li = const . (25)
i i

In the same way that the conservation of linear momentum defines mass, the conserva-
tion of angular momentum defines the moment of inertia.
The moment of inertia can be related to the mass and shape of a body. If the body is
 108 4 from objects and images to conservation

middle finger: "r x p"

L = r × p = Θω = mr ω 2
fingers in
rotation
sense;
thumb
r shows
index: "p"
A angular
thumb: "r" momentum
p = m󰑣 = mω × r
F I G U R E 66 Angular momentum and other quantities for a point particle in circular motion, and the
two versions of the right-hand rule.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
imagined to consist of small parts or mass elements, the resulting expression is

Θ = 󵠈 mn rn2 , (26)
n

where rn is the distance from the mass element mn to the axis of rotation. Can you con-
Challenge 178 e firm the expression? Therefore, the moment of inertia of a body depends on the chosen
Challenge 179 s axis of rotation. Can you confirm that this is so for a brick?
In contrast to the case of mass, there is no conservation of the moment of inertia. The
value of the moment of inertia depends on the location of the axis used for its definition.
For each axis direction, one distinguishes an intrinsic moment of inertia, when the axis
passes through the centre of mass of the body, from an extrinsic moment of inertia, when
it does not.* In the same way, one distinguishes intrinsic and extrinsic angular momenta.
(By the way, the centre of mass of a body is that imaginary point which moves straight
Challenge 181 s during vertical fall, even if the body is rotating. Can you find a way to determine its
location for a specific body?)
We now define the rotational energy as

L2
Erot = 1
2
Θ ω2 = . (28)
2Θ Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The expression is similar to the expression for the kinetic energy of a particle. Can you
guess how much larger the rotational energy of the Earth is compared with the yearly
Challenge 182 s electricity usage of humanity? In fact, if you could find a way to harness this energy, you
would become famous. For undistorted rotated objects, rotational energy is conserved.
Every object that has an orientation also has an intrinsic angular momentum. (What
Challenge 183 s about a sphere?) Therefore, point particles do not have intrinsic angular momenta – at

* Extrinsic and intrinsic moment of inertia are related by

Θext = Θint + md 2 , (27)

where d is the distance between the centre of mass and the axis of extrinsic rotation. This relation is called
Challenge 180 s Steiner’s parallel axis theorem. Are you able to deduce it?
4 from objects and images to conservation 109

TA B L E 23 Some measured angular momentum values.

O b s e r va t i o n Angular momen-
tum

Smallest observed in nature (ħ/2) – applies to the z- 0.53 ⋅ 10−34 Js

component of most fermions
Spinning top 5 ⋅ 10−6 Js
CD (compact disk) playing 0.029 Js
Walking man (around body axis) c. 4 Js
Dancer in a pirouette 5 Js
Typical car wheel at 30 m/s 10 Js
Typical wind generator at 12 m/s (6 Beaufort) 104 Js
Atmosphere 1 to 1 ⋅ 1026 kg m2 /s

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Earth around its axis 7.1 ⋅ 1033 kg m2 /s
Moon around Earth 2.9 ⋅ 1034 kg m2 /s
Earth around Sun 2.7 ⋅ 1040 kg m2 /s
Sun around its axis 1.1 ⋅ 1042 kg m2 /s
Jupiter around Sun 1.9 ⋅ 1043 kg m2 /s
Solar system around Sun 3.2 ⋅ 1043 kg m2 /s
Milky Way 1068 kg m2 /s
All masses in the universe 0 (within measurement er-
ror)

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 110 4 from objects and images to conservation

TA B L E 24 Correspondence between linear and rotational motion.

Q ua n t i t y Linear motion R o tat i o n a l

motion
State time t time t
position x angle φ
momentum p = m󰑣 angular momentum L = Θω
energy m󰑣 2 /2 energy Θω2 /2
Motion velocity 󰑣 angular velocity ω
acceleration a angular acceleration α
Reluctance to move mass m moment of inertia Θ
Motion change force ma torque Θα

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
frictionless
axis

F I G U R E 67 Can the ape reach the F I G U R E 68 How a snake turns itself around its axis.
banana?

least in first approximation. (This conclusion will change in quantum theory.) The extrin-
sic angular momentum L of a point particle is given by Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

2a(T)m 2A(T)m
L=r×p= so that L=rp= (29)
T T
where p is the momentum of the particle, a(T) is the surface swept by the position vector
r of the particle during time T. The angular momentum thus points along the rotation
axis, following the right-hand rule, as shown in Figure 66. A few observed values are
given in Table 23.
A body can rotate simultaneously about several axes. The film of Figure 94 shows an
Page 134 example: The top rotates around its body axis and around the vertical at the same time.
A detailed exploration shows that the exact rotation of the top is given by the vector sum
of these two rotations. Rotations thus are vectors.
As in the case of linear motion, rotational energy and angular momentum are not
 4 from objects and images to conservation 111

always conserved in the macroscopic world: rotational energy can change due to fric-
tion, and angular momentum can change due to external forces (torques). However, for
closed (undisturbed) systems both quantities are always conserved. In particular, on a
microscopic scale, most objects are undisturbed, so that conservation of rotational en-
ergy and angular momentum is especially obvious there.
Angular momentum is conserved. This statement is valid for any axis of a physical
system, provided that external forces (torques) play no role. To make the point, Jean-Marc
Ref. 2 Lévy-Leblond poses the problem of Figure 67. Can the ape reach the banana without
leaving the plate, assuming that the plate on which the ape rests can turn around the axis
Challenge 184 s without friction?
We note that the effects of rotation are the same as for acceleration. Therefore, many
Page 82 sensors for rotation are the same as the acceleration sensors we explored above. But a
few sensors for rotation are fundamentally new. In particular, we will meet the gyroscope

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Page 128 shortly.
On a frictionless surface, as approximated by smooth ice or by a marble floor covered
by a layer of oil, it is impossible to move forward. In order to move, we need to push
against something. Is this also the case for rotation?
Surprisingly, it is possible to turn even without pushing against something. You can
check this on a well-oiled rotating office chair: simply rotate an arm above the head. After
each turn of the hand, the orientation of the chair has changed by a small amount. Indeed,
conservation of angular momentum and of rotational energy do not prevent bodies from
changing their orientation. Cats learn this in their youth. After they have learned the
trick, if they are dropped legs up, they can turn themselves in such a way that they always
Ref. 84 land feet first. Snakes also know how to rotate themselves, as Figure 68 shows. During
the Olympic Games one can watch board divers and gymnasts perform similar tricks.
Challenge 185 d Rotation is thus different from translation in this aspect. (Why?)

Rolling wheels
Rotation is an interesting phenomenon in many ways. A rolling wheel does not turn
around its axis, but around its point of contact. Let us show this.
A wheel of radius R is rolling if the speed of the axis 󰑣axis is related to the angular
velocity ω by
󰑣
ω = axis . (30)
R
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

For any point P on the wheel, with distance r from the axis, the velocity 󰑣P is the sum
of the motion of the axis and the motion around the axis. Figure 69 shows that 󰑣P is
orthogonal to d, the distance between the point P and the contact point of the wheel.
Challenge 186 e The figure also shows that the length ratio between 󰑣P and d is the same as between 󰑣axis
and R. As a result, we can write
󰑣P = ω × d , (31)

which shows that a rolling wheel does indeed rotate about its point of contact with the
ground.
Surprisingly, when a wheel rolls, some points on it move towards the wheel’s axis,
 112 4 from objects and images to conservation

ωr ω d = vp
P ωR

r ω R = vaxis

d
R

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 69 The velocities and unit vectors F I G U R E 70 A simulated photograph of a
for a rolling wheel. rolling wheel with spokes.

some stay at a fixed distance and others move away from it. Can you determine where
Challenge 187 s these various points are located? Together, they lead to an interesting pattern when a
Ref. 85 rolling wheel with spokes, such as a bicycle wheel, is photographed, as show in Figure 70.
Ref. 86 With these results you can tackle the following beautiful challenge. When a turning
bicycle wheel is deposed on a slippery surface, it will slip for a while, then slip and roll,
and finally roll only. How does the final speed depend on the initial speed and on the
Challenge 188 d friction?

How do we walk?

“ ”
Golf is a good walk spoiled.
Mark Twain

Why do we move our arms when walking or running? To save energy or to be graceful?
In fact, whenever a body movement is performed with as little energy as possible, it is
natural and graceful. This correspondence can indeed be taken as the actual definition
of grace. The connection is common knowledge in the world of dance; it is also a central
Ref. 20 aspect of the methods used by actors to learn how to move their bodies as beautifully as Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

possible.
To convince yourself about the energy savings, try walking or running with your arms
fixed or moving in the opposite direction to usual: the effort required is considerably
higher. In fact, when a leg is moved, it produces a torque around the body axis which
has to be counterbalanced. The method using the least energy is the swinging of arms.
Since the arms are lighter than the legs, they must move further from the axis of the
body, to compensate for the momentum; evolution has therefore moved the attachment
of the arms, the shoulders, farther apart than those of the legs, the hips. Animals on two
legs but no arms, such as penguins or pigeons, have more difficulty walking; they have
to move their whole torso with every step.
Which muscles do most of the work when walking, the motion that experts call gait?
Ref. 87 In 1980, Serge Gracovetsky found that in human gait a large fraction of the power comes
 4 from objects and images to conservation 113

F I G U R E 71 The
measured motion of a
walking human (© Ray

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
McCoy).

from the muscles along the spine, not from those of the legs. (Indeed, people without
legs are also able to walk. However, a number of muscles in the legs must work in oder
to walk normally.) When you take a step, the lumbar muscles straighten the spine; this
automatically makes it turn a bit to one side, so that the knee of the leg on that side
automatically comes forward. When the foot is moved, the lumbar muscles can relax,
and then straighten again for the next step. In fact, one can experience the increase in
Challenge 189 e tension in the back muscles when walking without moving the arms, thus confirming
where the human engine is located.
Human legs differ from those of apes in a fundamental aspect: humans are able to run.
In fact the whole human body has been optimized for running, an ability that no other
primate has. The human body has shed most of its hair to achieve better cooling, has
evolved the ability to run while keeping the head stable, has evolved the right length of
arms for proper balance when running, and even has a special ligament in the back that
works as a shock absorber while running. In other words, running is the most human of
all forms of motion.

Curiosities and fun challenges about conservation and rotation

“
It is a mathematical fact that the casting of this
pebble from my hand alters the centre of gravity
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

”
of the universe.
Thomas Carlyle,* Sartor Resartus III.

Walking is a source of many physics problems. When climbing a mountain, the most
Ref. 88 energy-effective way is not always to follow the steepest ascent; indeed, for steep slopes,
zig-zagging is more energy efficient. Why? And can you estimate the slope angle at which
Challenge 191 s this will happen?
∗∗
Death is a physical process; let us explore it. In general, animals have a lifespan T that
Challenge 190 s * Thomas Carlyle (1797–1881), Scottish essayist. Do you agree with the quotation?
 114 4 from objects and images to conservation

F I G U R E 72 Is it safe to let the cork go?

scales with fourth root of their mass M. In other terms, T = M 1/4 . This valid from
bacteria to insects to blue whales. Animals also have a power consumption per mass,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
or metabolic rate per mass, that scales with the inverse fourth root. We conclude that
death occurs for all animals when a certain fixed energy consumption per mass has been
achieved. This is indeed the case; death occurs for most animals when they have con-
Ref. 89 sumed around 1 GJ/kg. (But quite a bit later for humans.) This surprisingly simple result
is valid, on average, for all known animals.
Note that the argument is only valid when different species are compared. The depen-
dence on mass is not valid when specimen of the same species are compared. (You cannot
live longer by eating less.)
In short, animals die after they metabolized 1 GJ/kg. In other words, once we ate all
the calories we were designed for, we die.
∗∗
A car at a certain speed uses 7 litres of gasoline per 100 km. What is the combined air
Challenge 192 s and rolling resistance? (Assume that the engine has an efficiency of 25%.)
∗∗
A cork is attached to a thin string a metre long. The string is passed over a long rod
held horizontally, and a wine glass is attached at the other end. If you let go the cork in
Challenge 193 s Figure 72, nothing breaks. Why not? And what happens exactly?
∗∗ Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In 1907, Duncan MacDougalls, a medical doctor, measured the weight of dying people,
Ref. 90 in the hope to see whether death leads to a mass change. He found a sudden decrease
between 10 and 20 g at the moment of death. He attributed it to the soul exiting the body.
Challenge 194 s Can you find a more satisfying explanation?
∗∗
It is well known that the weight of a one-year old child depends on whether the it wants to
be carried or whether it wants to reach the floor. Does this contradict mass conservation?
Challenge 195 e

∗∗
The Earth’s crust is less dense (2.7 kg/l) than the Earth’s mantle (3.1 kg/l) and floats on it.
 4 from objects and images to conservation 115

mountain
height h
ocean plain ocean
solid continental crust

depth d
liquid
mantle F I G U R E 73 A simple
magma model for continents
and mountains.

As a result, the lighter crust below a mountain ridge must be much deeper than below a

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
plain. If a mountain rises 1 km above the plain, how much deeper must the crust be below
Challenge 196 s it? The simple block model shown in Figure 73 works fairly well; first, it explains why, near
mountains, measurements of the deviation of free fall from the vertical line lead to so
much lower values than those expected without a deep crust. Later, sound measurements
have confirmed directly that the continental crust is indeed thicker beneath mountains.
∗∗
All homogeneous cylinders roll down an inclined plane in the same way. True or false?
Challenge 197 e And what about spheres? Can you show that spheres roll faster than cylinders?
∗∗
Take two cans of the same size and weight, one full of ravioli and one full of peas. Which
Challenge 198 e one rolls faster on an inclined plane?
∗∗
Another difference between matter and images: matter smells. In fact, the nose is a matter
sensor. The same can be said of the tongue and its sense of taste.
∗∗
Take a pile of coins. You can push out the coins, starting with the one at the bottom,
by shooting another coin over the table surface. The method also helps to visualize two- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 199 e dimensional momentum conservation.

∗∗
In early 2004, two men and a woman earned £ 1.2 million in a single evening in a Lon-
don casino. They did so by applying the formulae of Galilean mechanics. They used the
method pioneered by various physicists in the 1950s who built various small computers
that could predict the outcome of a roulette ball from the initial velocity imparted by the
Ref. 91 croupier. In the case in Britain, the group added a laser scanner to a smart phone that
measured the path of a roulette ball and predicted the numbers where it would arrive.
In this way, they increased the odds from 1 in 37 to about 1 in 6. After six months of
investigations, Scotland Yard ruled that they could keep the money they won.
In fact around the same time, a few people earned around 400 000 euro over a few
 116 4 from objects and images to conservation

before the hit observed after the hit

F I G U R E 74 A
well-known toy.

before the hit observed after the hit

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
V=0 v V‘ v’ 0
F I G U R E 75 An
elastic collision
2L,2M L, M that seems not to
obey energy
conservation.

weeks by using the same method in Germany, but with no computer at all. In certain
casinos, machines were throwing the roulette ball. By measuring the position of the zero
to the incoming ball with the naked eye, these gamblers were able to increase the odds
of the bets they placed during the last allowed seconds and thus win a considerable sum
purely through fast reactions.
∗∗
The toy of Figure 74 shows interesting behaviour: when a number of spheres are lifted
and dropped to hit the resting ones, the same number of spheres detach on the other side,
whereas the previously dropped spheres remain motionless. At first sight, all this seems
to follow from energy and momentum conservation. However, energy and momentum
conservation provide only two equations, which are insufficient to explain or determine
the behaviour of five spheres. Why then do the spheres behave in this way? And why do Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 200 d they all swing in phase when a longer time has passed?
∗∗
A surprising effect is used in home tools such as hammer drills. We remember that when
a small ball elastically hits a large one at rest, both balls move after the hit, and the small
Ref. 92 one obviously moves faster than the large one. Despite this result, when a short cylinder
hits a long one of the same diameter and material, but with a length that is some integer
multiple of that of the short one, something strange happens. After the hit, the small
cylinder remains almost at rest, whereas the large one moves, as shown in Figure 75.
Even though the collision is elastic, conservation of energy seems not to hold in this
case. (In fact this is the reason that demonstrations of elastic collisions in schools are
Challenge 201 d always performed with spheres.) What happens to the energy?
 4 from objects and images to conservation 117

wall

ladder

F I G U R E 76 The centre of mass F I G U R E 77 How does the ladder

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
defines stability. fall?

∗∗
Does a wall get a stronger jolt when it is hit by a ball rebounding from it or when it is hit
Challenge 202 s by a ball that remains stuck to it?
∗∗
Housewives know how to extract a cork of a wine bottle using a cloth. Can you imagine
Challenge 203 s how? They also know how to extract the cork with the cloth if the cork has fallen inside
the bottle. How?
∗∗
The sliding ladder problem, shown schematically in Figure 77, asks for the detailed mo-
tion of the ladder over time. The problem is more difficult than it looks, even if friction
Challenge 204 ny is not taken into account. Can you say whether the lower end always touches the floor?
∗∗
A homogeneous ladder of length 5 m and mass 30 kg leans on a wall. The angle is 30°; the
static friction coefficient on the wall is negligible, and on the floor it is 0.3. A person of
mass 60 kg climbs the ladder. What is the maximum height the person can climb before Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the ladder starts sliding? This and many puzzles about ladders can be found on www.
mathematische-basteleien.de/leiter.htm.
∗∗
Ref. 93 A common fly on the stern of a 30 000 ton ship of 100 m length tilts it by less than the
diameter of an atom. Today, distances that small are easily measured. Can you think of
Challenge 205 s at least two methods, one of which should not cost more than 2000 euro?
∗∗
Is the image of three stacked spinning tops shown in Figure 78 a true photograph, show-
ing a real observation, or is it the result of digital composition, showing an impossible
Challenge 206 ny situation?
 118 4 from objects and images to conservation

F I G U R E 78 Is this a possible situation or is it a fake photograph?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
(© Wikimedia)

∗∗
Challenge 207 s How does the kinetic energy of a rifle bullet compare to that of a running man?
∗∗
Challenge 208 s What happens to the size of an egg when one places it in a jar of vinegar for a few days?
∗∗
What is the amplitude of a pendulum oscillating in such a way that the absolute value of
Challenge 209 s its acceleration at the lowest point and at the return point are equal?
∗∗
Can you confirm that the value of the acceleration of a drop of water falling through
Challenge 210 d vapour is д/7?
∗∗
You have two hollow spheres: they have the same weight, the same size and are painted
in the same colour. One is made of copper, the other of aluminium. Obviously, they fall Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

with the same speed and acceleration. What happens if they both roll down a tilted plane?
Challenge 211 ny

∗∗
Challenge 212 ny What is the shape of a rope when rope jumping?
∗∗
Challenge 213 s How can you determine the speed of a rifle bullet with only a scale and a metre stick?
∗∗
Why does a gun make a hole in a door but cannot push it open, in exact contrast to what
Challenge 214 e a finger can do?
 4 from objects and images to conservation 119

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 79 A commercial clock that needs no special energy source, because it takes its energy from
the environment (© Jaeger-LeCoultre).

∗∗
Challenge 215 s What is the curve described by the mid point of a ladder sliding down a wall?
∗∗
A high-tech company, see www.enocean.com, sells electric switches for room lights that
have no cables and no power cell (battery). You can glue such a switch to the centre of a
Challenge 216 s window pane. How is this possible?
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

For over 50 years, a famous Swiss clock maker is selling table clocks with a rotating pen-
dulum that need no battery and no manual rewinding, as they take up energy from the
environment. A specimen is shown in Figure 79. Can you imagine how this clock works?
Challenge 217 s

∗∗
Ship lifts, such as the one shown in Figure 80, are impressive machines. How does the
Challenge 218 s weight of the lift change when the ships enters?
∗∗
How do you measure the mass of a ship?
120 4 from objects and images to conservation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 80 The spectacular ship lift at Strépy-Thieux in Belgium. What engine power is needed to lift a
ship, if the right and left lifts were connected by ropes or by a hydraulic system? (© Jean-Marie
Hoornaert)
 4 from objects and images to conservation 121

F I G U R E 81 The famous Celtic wobble stone and a version made with a spoon (© Ed Keath).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∗∗
All masses are measured by comparing them, directly or indirectly, to the standard kilo-
gram in Sèvres near Paris. Since a few years, there is the serious doubt that the standard
kilogram is losing weight, possibly through outgassing, with an estimated rate of around
0.5 μg/a. This is an awkward situation, and there is a vast, world-wide effort to find a bet-
ter definition of the kilogram. Such an improved definition must be simple, precise, and
avoid trips to Sèvres. No such alternative has been defined yet.
∗∗
Which engine is more efficient: a moped or a human on a bicycle?
∗∗
Both mass and moment of inertia can be defined and measured both with and without
Challenge 219 e contact. Can you do so?
∗∗
Figure 81 shows the so-called Celtic wobble stone, also called anagyre or rattleback, a stone
Ref. 92 that starts rotating on a plane surface when it is put into up-and-down oscillation. The
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

size can vary between a few centimetres and a few metres. By simply bending a spoon
one can realize a primitive form of this strange device, if the bend is not completely
symmetrical. The rotation is always in the same direction. If the stone is put into rotation
in the wrong direction, after a while it stops and starts rotating in the other sense! Can
Challenge 220 d you explain the effect that seems to contradict the conservation of angular momentum?

Summary on conservation

“
The gods are not as rich as one might think:
what they give to one, they take away from the

”
other.
Antiquity
 122 4 from objects and images to conservation

We have encountered four conservation principles that are valid for closed systems in
everyday life:
— conservation of total linear momentum,
— conservation of total angular momentum,
— conservation of total energy,
— conservation of total mass.
None of these conservation laws applies to motion of images.
These conservation principles are among the great results in science. They limit the sur-
prises that nature can offer: conservation means that linear momentum, angular momen-
tum, and mass–energy can neither be created from nothing, nor can they disappear into
nothing. Conservation limits creation. The above quote, almost blasphemous, expresses
this idea.
Page 241 Later on we will find out that these results could have been deduced from three sim-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ple observations: closed systems behave the same independently of where they are, in
what direction they are oriented and of the time at which they are set up. Motion is uni-
versal. In more abstract and somewhat more general terms, physicists like to say that all
conservation principles are consequences of the invariances, or symmetries, of nature.
Later on, the theory of special relativity will show that energy and mass are conserved
only when taken together. Many adventures still await us.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 Chapter 5

FROM THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH

TO THE R EL ATIVIT Y OF MOTION

“ ”
Eppur si muove!
Anonymous*

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
I
s the Earth rotating? The search for definite answers to this question gives an
nteresting cross section of the history of classical physics. Around the year 265 bce,
Ref. 94 n Samos, the Greek thinker Aristarchus maintained that the Earth rotates. He had
measured the parallax of the Moon (today known to be up to 0.95°) and of the Sun (to-
day known to be 8.8 󳰀 ).** The parallax is an interesting effect; it is the angle describing
the difference between the directions of a body in the sky when seen by an observer on
the surface of the Earth and when seen by a hypothetical observer at the Earth’s centre.
(See Figure 82.) Aristarchus noticed that the Moon and the Sun wobble across the sky,
and this wobble has a period of 24 hours. He concluded that the Earth rotates. It seems
that Aristarchus received death threats for his result.
Aristarchus’ observation yields a more powerful argument than the trails of the stars
Challenge 221 e shown in Figure 83. Can you explain why?
Vol. II, page 16 Measurements of the aberration of light also show the rotation of the Earth; it can
be detected with a telescope while looking at the stars. The aberration is a change of the
expected light direction, which we will discuss shortly. At the Equator, Earth rotation
adds an angular deviation of 0.32 󳰀 , changing sign every 12 hours, to the aberration due
to the motion of the Earth around the Sun, about 20.5 󳰀 . In modern times, astronomers
have found a number of additional proofs, but none is accessible to the man on the street.
Furthermore, the measurements showing that the Earth is not a sphere, but is flat-
tened at the poles, confirmed the rotation of the Earth. Figure 84 illustrates the situation.
Again, however, this eighteenth century measurement by Maupertuis*** is not accessible
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* ‘And yet she moves’ is the sentence about the Earth attributed, most probably incorrectly, to Galileo since
the 1640s. It is true, however, that at his trial he was forced to publicly retract the statement of a moving
Earth to save his life. For more details of this famous story, see the section on page 285.
** For the definition of the concept of angle, see page 64, and for the definition of the measurement units
for angle see Appendix B.
*** Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698–1759), French physicist and mathematician. He was one of the
key figures in the quest for the principle of least action, which he named in this way. He was also founding
president of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Maupertuis thought that the principle reflected the maximiza-
tion of goodness in the universe. This idea was thoroughly ridiculed by Voltaire in this Histoire du Docteur
Akakia et du natif de Saint-Malo, 1753. Maupertuis (www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/23/08DIAL.htm) per-
formed his measurement of the Earth to distinguish between the theory of gravitation of Newton and that
of Descartes, who had predicted that the Earth is elongated at the poles, instead of flattened.
 124 5 from the rotation of the earth

rotating Moon sky

Earth or and
Sun stars

F I G U R E 82 The parallax – not drawn to

scale.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
to everyday observation.
Then, in the years 1790 to 1792 in Bologna, Giovanni Battista Guglielmini (1763–1817)
finally succeeded in measuring what Galileo and Newton had predicted to be the sim-
plest proof for the Earth’s rotation. On the Earth, objects do not fall vertically, but are
slightly deviated to the east. This deviation appears because an object keeps the larger
horizontal velocity it had at the height from which it started falling, as shown in Figure 85.
Guglielmini’s result was the first non-astronomical proof of the Earth’s rotation. The ex-
periments were repeated in 1802 by Johann Friedrich Benzenberg (1777–1846). Using
metal balls which he dropped from the Michaelis tower in Hamburg – a height of 76 m –
Benzenberg found that the deviation to the east was 9.6 mm. Can you confirm that the
value measured by Benzenberg almost agrees with the assumption that the Earth turns
Challenge 222 ny once every 24 hours? There is also a much smaller deviation towards the Equator, not
measured by Guglielmini, Benzenberg or anybody after them up to this day; however, it
completes the list of effects on free fall by the rotation of the Earth.
Both deviations from vertical fall are easily understood if we use the result (described
Page 168 below) that falling objects describe an ellipse around the centre of the rotating Earth.
The elliptical shape shows that the path of a thrown stone does not lie on a plane for an
observer standing on Earth; for such an observer, the exact path thus cannot be drawn
on a piece of paper.
In 1835, Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis discovered a closely related effect that nobody had
as yet noticed in everyday life. Imagine a ball that rolls over a table. For a person on the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

floor, the ball rolls in a straight line. Now imagine that the table rotates. For the person
on the floor, the ball still rolls in a straight line. But for a person on the rotating table,
the ball traces a curved path. In short, any object that travels in a rotating background is
subject to a transversal acceleration. This is the so-called Coriolis acceleration or Coriolis
effect. On a rotating background, travelling objects deviate from the straight line. The
best way to understand the Coriolis effect is to experience it yourself; this can be done
on a carousel, as shown in Figure 86. Watching films on the internet on the topic is also
Ref. 95 helpful. Said simply, on a rotating carousel it is not easy to hit a target by throwing or
rolling a ball.
Also the Earth is a rotating background. On the northern hemisphere, the rotation is
anticlockwise. As the result, any moving object is slightly deviated to the right (while the
magnitude of its velocity stays constant). On Earth, like on all rotating backgrounds, the
 Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
125

F I G U R E 83 The trails of the stars at night, photographed as a series of 6 min exposures (© Anthony
to the rel ativit y of motion

Ayiomamitis).
 126 5 from the rotation of the earth

sphere

Earth

5 km 5 km
Equator

F I G U R E 84 Earth’s deviation from spherical shape

due to its rotation (exaggerated).

v = ω (R+h)
N

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
h h

v=ωR
ϕ

N
Equator
E
F I G U R E 85 The deviations of free fall
towards the east and towards the
Equator due to the rotation of the
S
Earth.

c. 0.2 Hz
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

c. 3 m
F I G U R E 86 A typical carousel allows observing the Coriolis effect in its most striking appearance: if a
person lets a ball roll with the proper speed and direction, the ball is deflected so strongly that it comes
back to her.

Coriolis acceleration a results from the change of distance to the rotation axis. Can you
Challenge 223 s deduce the analytical expression for the Coriolis effect, namely aC = −2ω × 󰑣?
On Earth, the Coriolis acceleration generally has a small value. Therefore it is best ob-
served either in large-scale or high-speed phenomena. Indeed, the Coriolis acceleration
determines the handedness of many large-scale phenomena with a spiral shape, such as
the directions of cyclones and anticyclones in meteorology, the general wind patterns on
 to the rel ativit y of motion 127

ψ1
N

Earth's
centre φ
Eq
u ato
r
ψ0 F I G U R E 87 The turning motion of a
ψ1 pendulum showing the rotation of
the Earth.

Earth and the deflection of ocean currents and tides. These phenomena have opposite

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
handedness on the northern and the southern hemisphere. Most beautifully, the Cori-
olis acceleration explains why icebergs do not follow the direction of the wind as they
Ref. 96 drift away from the polar caps. The Coriolis acceleration also plays a role in the flight
of cannon balls (that was the original interest of Coriolis), in satellite launches, in the
Ref. 97 motion of sunspots and even in the motion of electrons in molecules. All these Coriolis
accelerations are of opposite sign on the northern and southern hemispheres and thus
prove the rotation of the Earth. (In the First World War, many naval guns missed their
targets in the southern hemisphere because the engineers had compensated them for the
Coriolis effect in the northern hemisphere.)
Ref. 98 Only in 1962, after several earlier attempts by other researchers, Asher Shapiro was the
first to verify that the Coriolis effect has a tiny influence on the direction of the vortex
formed by the water flowing out of a bathtub. Instead of a normal bathtub, he had to use
a carefully designed experimental set-up because, contrary to an often-heard assertion,
no such effect can be seen in a real bathtub. He succeeded only by carefully eliminat-
ing all disturbances from the system; for example, he waited 24 hours after the filling of
the reservoir (and never actually stepped in or out of it!) in order to avoid any left-over
motion of water that would disturb the effect, and built a carefully designed, completely
rotationally-symmetric opening mechanism. Others have repeated the experiment in the
Ref. 98 southern hemisphere, finding opposite rotation direction and thus confirming the result.
In other words, the handedness of usual bathtub vortices is not caused by the rotation
of the Earth, but results from the way the water starts to flow out. (A number of crooks
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

in Quito, a city located on the equator, show gullible tourists that the vortex in a sink
changes when crossing the equator line drawn on the road.) But let us go on with the
story about the Earth’s rotation.
In 1851, the French physician-turned-physicist Jean Bernard Léon Foucault (b. 1819
Paris, d. 1868 Paris) performed an experiment that removed all doubts and rendered him
world-famous practically overnight. He suspended a 67 m long pendulum* in the Pan-
théon in Paris and showed the astonished public that the direction of its swing changed

Challenge 224 d * Why was such a long pendulum necessary? Understanding the reasons allows one to repeat the experiment
Ref. 99 at home, using a pendulum as short as 70 cm, with the help of a few tricks. To observe Foucault’s effect with
a simple set-up, attach a pendulum to your office chair and rotate the chair slowly. Several pendulum ani-
mations, with exaggerated deviation, can be found at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Foucault_pendulum.
 128 5 from the rotation of the earth

over time, rotating slowly. To anybody with a few minutes of patience to watch the change
of direction, the experiment proved that the Earth rotates. If the Earth did not rotate, the
swing of the pendulum would always continue in the same direction. On a rotating Earth,
in Paris, the direction changes to the right, in clockwise sense, as shown in Figure 87. The
swing direction does not change if the pendulum is located at the Equator, and it changes
to the left in the southern hemisphere.* A modern version of the pendulum can be ob-
served via the web cam at pendelcam.kip.uni-heidelberg.de/; high speed films of the pen-
dulum’s motion during day and night can be downloaded at www.kip.uni-heidelberg.de/
OeffWiss/Pendel-Internetauftritt/zeitraffer.php.
The time over which the orientation of the pendulum’s swing performs a full turn –
the precession time – can be calculated. Study a pendulum starting to swing in the North–
Challenge 225 d South direction and you will find that the precession time TFoucault is given by

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
23 h 56 min
TFoucault = (32)
sin φ

where φ is the latitude of the location of the pendulum, e.g. 0° at the Equator and 90° at
the North Pole. This formula is one of the most beautiful results of Galilean kinematics.**
Foucault was also the inventor and namer of the gyroscope. He built the device, shown
in Figure 88, in 1852, one year after his pendulum. With it, he again demonstrated the
rotation of the Earth. Once a gyroscope rotates, the axis stays fixed in space – but only
when seen from distant stars or galaxies. (This is not the same as talking about absolute
Challenge 226 s space. Why?) For an observer on Earth, the axis direction changes regularly with a pe-
riod of 24 hours. Gyroscopes are now routinely used in ships and in aeroplanes to give
the direction of north, because they are more precise and more reliable than magnetic
compasses. In the most modern versions, one uses laser light running in circles instead
of rotating masses.***
In 1909, Roland von Eötvös measured a simple effect: due to the rotation of the Earth,
the weight of an object depends on the direction in which it moves. As a result, a balance
in rotation around the vertical axis does not stay perfectly horizontal: the balance starts
Challenge 228 s to oscillate slightly. Can you explain the origin of the effect?
Ref. 100 In 1910, John Hagen published the results of an even simpler experiment, proposed
by Louis Poinsot in 1851. Two masses are put on a horizontal bar that can turn around a
vertical axis, a so-called isotomeograph. Its total mass was 260 kg. If the two masses are Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

slowly moved towards the support, as shown in Figure 89, and if the friction is kept low
enough, the bar rotates. Obviously, this would not happen if the Earth were not rotating.
Challenge 229 s Can you explain the observation? This little-known effect is also useful for winning bets
between physicists.

* The discovery also shows how precision and genius go together. In fact, the first person to observe the
effect was Vincenzo Viviani, a student of Galileo, as early as 1661! Indeed, Foucault had read about Viviani’s
work in the publications of the Academia dei Lincei. But it took Foucault’s genius to connect the effect to
the rotation of the Earth; nobody had done so before him.
** The calculation of the period of Foucault’s pendulum assumes that the precession rate is constant during
a rotation. This is only an approximation (though usually a good one).
Challenge 227 s *** Can you guess how rotation is detected in this case?
to the rel ativit y of motion 129

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 88 The gyroscope: the original system by Foucault with its freely movable spinning top, the
mechanical device to bring it to speed, the optical device to detect its motion, the general construction
principle, and a modern (triangular) ring laser gyroscope, based on colour change of rotating laser light
instead of angular changes of a rotating mass (© CNAM, JAXA).

water- r
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

filled E
tube
m m
W

F I G U R E 89 Showing the rotation of the Earth F I G U R E 90 Demonstrating the rotation

through the rotation of an axis. of the Earth with water.
 130 5 from the rotation of the earth

F I G U R E 91 A modern precision ring laser interferometer (© Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Carl Zeiss).

In 1913, Arthur Compton showed that a closed tube filled with water and some small
Ref. 101 floating particles (or bubbles) can be used to show the rotation of the Earth. The device is
called a Compton tube or Compton wheel. Compton showed that when a horizontal tube
filled with water is rotated by 180°, something happens that allows one to prove that the
Earth rotates. The experiment, shown in Figure 90, even allows measuring the latitude
Challenge 230 d of the point where the experiment is made. Can you guess what happens?
Another method to detect the rotation of the Earth using light was first realized in 1913
by the French physicist Georges Sagnac:* he used an interferometer to produce bright
Vol. IV, page 49 and dark fringes of light with two light beams, one circulating in clockwise direction,
and the second circulating in anticlockwise direction. The interference fringes are shifted
when the whole system rotates; the faster it rotates, the larger is the shift. A modern,
high-precision version of the experiment, which uses lasers instead of lamps, is shown
Ref. 102 in Figure 91. Sagnac also determined the relation between the fringe shift and the details
of the experiment. The rotation of a complete ring interferometer with angular frequency
Challenge 231 s (vector) Ω produces a fringe shift of angular phase Δφ given by

8π Ω a
Δφ = (33)
cλ Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

where a is the area (vector) enclosed by the two interfering light rays, λ their wavelength
and c the speed of light. The effect is now called the Sagnac effect after its discoverer. It had
Ref. 103 already been predicted 20 years earlier by Oliver Lodge.** Today, Sagnac interferometers
are the central part of laser gyroscopes – shown in Figure 88 – and are found in every

* Georges Sagnac (b. 1869 Périgeux, d. 1928 Meudon-Bellevue) was a physicist in Lille and Paris, friend of
the Curies, Langevin, Perrin, and Borel. Sagnac also deduced from his experiment that the speed of light
was independent from the speed of its source, and thus confirmed a prediction of special relativity.
** Oliver Lodge (1851–1940) was a British physicist who studied electromagnetic waves and tried to commu-
nicate with the dead. A strange but influential figure, his ideas are often cited when fun needs to be made of
physicists; for example, he was one of those (rare) physicists who believed that at the end of the nineteenth
century physics was complete.
 to the rel ativit y of motion 131

mirror

massive metal rod

typically 1.5 m F I G U R E 92 Observing the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
rotation of the Earth in two
seconds.

passenger aeroplane, missile and submarine, in order to measure the changes of their
motion and thus to determine their actual position.
A part of the fringe shift is due to the rotation of the Earth. Modern high-precision
Sagnac interferometers use ring lasers with areas of a few square metres, as shown in
Figure 91. Such a ring interferometer is able to measure variations of the rotation rates of
the Earth of less than one part per million. Indeed, over the course of a year, the length of
a day varies irregularly by a few milliseconds, mostly due to influences from the Sun or
Ref. 104 the Moon, due to weather changes and due to hot magma flows deep inside the Earth.*
But also earthquakes, the El Niño effect in the climate and the filling of large water dams
have effects on the rotation of the Earth. All these effects can be studied with such high-
precision interferometers; they can also be used for research into the motion of the soil
due to lunar tides or earthquakes, and for checks on the theory of special relativity.
Finally, in 1948, Hans Bucka developed the simplest experiment so far to show the
Ref. 105 rotation of the Earth. A metal rod allows one to detect the rotation of the Earth after
only a few seconds of observation, using the set-up of Figure 92. The experiment can be
Challenge 232 s easily be performed in class. Can you guess how it works?
In summary, observations show that the Earth surface rotates at 463 m/s at the Equa-
tor, a larger value than that of the speed of sound in air, which is about 340 m/s at usual
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

conditions. The rotation also implies an acceleration, at the Equator, of 0.034 m/s2 . We
are in fact whirling through the universe.

How does the Earth rotate?

Is the rotation of the Earth, the length of the day, constant over geological time scales?
That is a hard question. If you find a method leading to an answer, publish it! (The same
Ref. 106 is true for the question whether the length of the year is constant.) Only a few methods
are known, as we will find out shortly.

* The growth of leaves on trees and the consequent change in the Earth’s moment of inertia, already thought
of in 1916 by Harold Jeffreys, is way too small to be seen, as it is hidden by larger effects.
 132 5 from the rotation of the earth

The rotation of the Earth is not even constant during a human lifespan. It varies by a
few parts in 108 . In particular, on a ‘secular’ time scale, the length of the day increases by
about 1 to 2 ms per century, mainly because of the friction by the Moon and the melting
of the polar ice caps. This was deduced by studying historical astronomical observations
Ref. 107 of the ancient Babylonian and Arab astronomers. Additional ‘decadic’ changes have an
amplitude of 4 or 5 ms and are due to the motion of the liquid part of the Earth’s core.
The seasonal and biannual changes of the length of the day – with an amplitude of
0.4 ms over six months, another 0.5 ms over the year, and 0.08 ms over 24 to 26 months
– are mainly due to the effects of the atmosphere. In the 1950s the availability of precision
measurements showed that there is even a 14 and 28 day period with an amplitude of
0.2 ms, due to the Moon. In the 1970s, when wind oscillations with a length scale of about
50 days were discovered, they were also found to alter the length of the day, with an
amplitude of about 0.25 ms. However, these last variations are quite irregular.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Also the oceans influence the rotation of the Earth, due to the tides, the ocean currents,
Ref. 108 wind forcing, and atmospheric pressure forcing. Further effects are due to the ice sheet
variations and due to water evaporation and rain falls. Last but not least, flows in the
interior of the Earth, both in the mantle and in the core, change the rotation. For example,
earthquakes, plate motion, post-glacial rebound and volcanic eruptions all influence the
rotation.
But why does the Earth rotate at all? The rotation derives from the rotating gas cloud
at the origin of the solar system. This connection explains that the Sun and all planets,
except one, turn around themselves in the same direction, and that they also all turn
Ref. 109 around the Sun in that same direction. But the complete story is outside the scope of this
text.
The rotation around its axis is not the only motion of the Earth; it performs other
motions as well. This was already known long ago. In 128 bce, the Greek astronomer
Hipparchos discovered what is today called the (equinoctial) precession. He compared a
measurement he made himself with another made 169 years before. Hipparchos found
that the Earth’s axis points to different stars at different times. He concluded that the sky
was moving. Today we prefer to say that the axis of the Earth is moving. During a period
of 25 800 years the axis draws a cone with an opening angle of 23.5°. This motion, shown
in Figure 93, is generated by the tidal forces of the Moon and the Sun on the equatorial
bulge of the Earth that results form its flattening. The Sun and the Moon try to align the
axis of the Earth at right angles to the Earth’s path; this torque leads to the precession of Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the Earth’s axis.

Precession is a motion common to all rotating systems: it appears in planets, spin-
ning tops and atoms. (Precession is also at the basis of the surprise related to the sus-
pended wheel shown on page 209.) Precession is most easily seen in spinning tops, be
they suspended or not. An example is shown in Figure 94; for atomic nuclei or planets,
just imagine that the suspending wire is missing and the rotating body less flat.
In addition, the axis of the Earth is not even fixed relative to the Earth’s surface. In 1884,
by measuring the exact angle above the horizon of the celestial North Pole, Friedrich
Küstner (1856–1936) found that the axis of the Earth moves with respect to the Earth’s
crust, as Bessel had suggested 40 years earlier. As a consequence of Küstner’s discov-
ery, the International Latitude Service was created. The polar motion Küstner discovered
turned out to consist of three components: a small linear drift – not yet understood –
 to the rel ativit y of motion 133

nutation period
year 15000: is 18.6 years year 2000:
North pole is North pole is
Vega in Polaris in
Lyra Ursa minor

precession

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Moon’s path
Moon

equatorial
bulge
Eq equatorial
uat bulge
or

S
Earth’s path

F I G U R E 93 The precession and the nutation of the Earth’s axis.

a yearly elliptical motion due to seasonal changes of the air and water masses, and a
circular motion* with a period of about 1.2 years due to fluctuations in the pressure at
the bottom of the oceans. In practice, the North Pole moves with an amplitude of about
Ref. 110 15 m around an average central position, as shown in Figure 95. Short term variations
of the North Pole position, due to local variations in atmospheric pressure, to weather
Ref. 111 change and to the tides, have also been measured. Only with help of the exact position
of the Earth’s axis is the high precision of the GPS system possible; and only with this
knowledge can artificial satellites be guided to Mars or other planets.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The details of the motion of the Earth have been studied in great detail. Table 25 gives
an overview of the knowledge and the precision that is available today.
In 1912, the German meteorologist and geophysicist Alfred Wegener (1880–1930) dis-
covered an even larger effect. After studying the shapes of the continental shelves and the
geological layers on both sides of the Atlantic, he conjectured that the continents move,
and that they are all fragments of a single continent that broke up 200 million years ago.**

* The circular motion, a wobble, was predicted by the great Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707–
1783). In an incredible story, using Euler’s and Bessel’s predictions and Küstner’s data, in 1891 Seth Chandler
claimed to be the discoverer of the circular component.
** In this old continent, called Gondwanaland, there was a huge river that flowed westwards from the Chad
to Guayaquil in Ecuador. After the continent split up, this river still flowed to the west. When the Andes
134 5 from the rotation of the earth

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 94
Precession of
a suspended
spinning top
(mpg film
© Lucas
Barbosa)

F I G U R E 95 The motion of the North Pole from 2003 to 2007, including the prediction until 2008 (left)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

and the average position since 1900 (right) – with 0.1 arcsecond being around 3.1 m on the surface of
the Earth – not showing the diurnal and semidiurnal variations of a fraction of a millisecond of arc due
to the tides (from hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-pc).

Even though at first derided across the world, Wegener’s discoveries were correct.
Modern satellite measurements, shown in Figure 96, confirm this model. For example,
the American continent moves away from the European continent by about 10 mm every
year. There are also speculations that this velocity may have been much higher at certain

appeared, the water was blocked, and many millions of years later, it flowed back. Today, the river still flows
eastwards and is called the Amazon River.
 to the rel ativit y of motion 135

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 96 The continental plates are the
objects of tectonic motion.

F I G U R E 97 The angular size of the Sun

changes due to the elliptical motion of the
Earth (© Anthony Ayiomamitis).

periods in the past. The way to check this is to look at the magnetization of sedimental
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

rocks. At present, this is still a hot topic of research. Following the modern version of
the model, called plate tectonics, the continents (with a density of 2.7 ⋅ 103 kg/m3 ) float
Page 114 on the fluid mantle of the Earth (with a density of 3.1 ⋅ 103 kg/m3 ) like pieces of cork
Vol. III, page 174 on water, and the convection inside the mantle provides the driving mechanism for the
Ref. 112 motion.

Does the Earth move?

The centre of the Earth is not at rest in the universe. In the third century bce Aristarchus
of Samos maintained that the Earth turns around the Sun. Experiments such as that of
Figure 97 confirm that the orbit is an ellipse. However, a fundamental difficulty of the
heliocentric system is that the stars look the same all year long. How can this be, if the
136 5 from the rotation of the earth

TA B L E 25 Modern measurement data about the motion of the Earth (from hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-pc).

O b s e r va b l e Symb ol Va l u e
Mean angular velocity of Earth Ω 72.921 150(1) μrad/s
Nominal angular velocity of Earth (epoch 1820) ΩN 72.921 151 467 064 μrad/s
Conventional mean solar day (epoch 1820) d 86 400 s
Conventional sidereal day dsi 86 164.090 530 832 88 s
Ratio conv. mean solar day to conv. sidereal day k = d/dsi 1.002 737 909 350 795
Conventional duration of the stellar day dst 86 164.098 903 691 s
Ratio conv. mean solar day to conv. stellar day k 󳰀 = d/dst 1.002 737 811 911 354 48
General precession in longitude p 5.028 792(2) 󳰀󳰀 /a
Obliquity of the ecliptic (epoch 2000) ε0 23° 26 󳰀 21.4119 󳰀󳰀

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Küstner-Chandler period in terrestrial frame TKC 433.1(1.7) d
Quality factor of the Küstner-Chandler peak QKC 170
Free core nutation period in celestial frame TF 430.2(3) d
Quality factor of the free core nutation QF 2 ⋅ 104
Astronomical unit AU 149 597 870.691(6) km
Sidereal year (epoch 2000) asi 365.256 363 004 d
= 365 d 6 h 9 min 9.76 s
Tropical year atr 365.242 190 402 d
= 365 d 5 h 48 min 45.25 s
Mean Moon period TM 27.321 661 55(1) d
Earth’s equatorial radius a 6 378 136.6(1) m
First equatorial moment of inertia A 8.0101(2) ⋅ 1037 kg m2
Longitude of principal inertia axis A λA −14.9291(10)°
Second equatorial moment of inertia B 8.0103(2) ⋅ 1037 kg m2
Axial moment of inertia C 8.0365(2) ⋅ 1037 kg m2
Equatorial moment of inertia of mantle Am 7.0165 ⋅ 1037 kg m2
Axial moment of inertia of mantle Cm 7.0400 ⋅ 1037 kg m2
Earth’s flattening f 1/298.25642(1)
Astronomical Earth’s dynamical flattening H = (C − A)/C 0.003 273 794 9(1)
Geophysical Earth’s dynamical flattening e = (C − A)/A 0.003 284 547 9(1)
Earth’s core dynamical flattening ef 0.002 646(2)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Second degree term in Earth’s gravity potential J2 = −(A + B − 1.082 635 9(1) ⋅ 10−3
2C)/(2MR2 )
Secular rate of J2 dJ2 /dt −2.6(3) ⋅ 10−11 /a
Love number (measures shape distortion by k2 0.3
tides)
Secular Love number ks 0.9383
Mean equatorial gravity дeq 9.780 3278(10) m/s2
Geocentric constant of gravitation GM 3.986 004 418(8) ⋅ 1014 m3 /s2
Heliocentric constant of gravitation GM⊙ 1.327 124 420 76(50) ⋅ 1020 m3 /s2
Moon-to-Earth mass ratio μ 0.012 300 038 3(5)
 to the rel ativit y of motion 137

F I G U R E 98 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Earth travels around the Sun? The distance between the Earth and the Sun has been
known since the seventeenth century, but it was only in 1837 that Friedrich Wilhelm
Bessel* became the first to observe the parallax of a star. This was a result of extremely
careful measurements and complex calculations: he discovered the Bessel functions in
order to realize it. He was able to find a star, 61 Cygni, whose apparent position changed
with the month of the year. Seen over the whole year, the star describes a small ellipse in
the sky, with an opening of 0.588 󳰀󳰀 (this is the modern value). After carefully eliminating
all other possible explanations, he deduced that the change of position was due to the
motion of the Earth around the Sun, and from the size of the ellipse he determined the
Challenge 233 s distance to the star to be 105 Pm, or 11.1 light years.
Bessel had thus managed for the first time to measure the distance of a star. By doing
so he also proved that the Earth is not fixed with respect to the stars in the sky and that the
Earth indeed revolves around the Sun. The motion itself was not a surprise. It confirmed
the result of the mentioned aberration of light, discovered in 1728 by James Bradley**
Vol. II, page 16 and to be discussed below; the Earth moves around the Sun.
With the improvement of telescopes, other motions of the Earth were discovered. In
1748, James Bradley announced that there is a small regular change of the precession,
which he called nutation, with a period of 18.6 years and an angular amplitude of 19.2 󳰀󳰀 .
Nutation occurs because the plane of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is not exactly
the same as the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Are you able to confirm that
Challenge 234 ny this situation produces nutation?
Astronomers also discovered that the 23.5° tilt – or obliquity – of the Earth’s axis,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the angle between its intrinsic and its orbital angular momentum, actually changes from
22.1° to 24.5° with a period of 41 000 years. This motion is due to the attraction of the Sun
and the deviations of the Earth from a spherical shape. In 1941, during the Second World
War, the Serbian astronomer Milutin Milankovitch (1879–1958) retreated into solitude
and explored the consequences. In his studies he realized that this 41 000 year period of

* Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846), Westphalian astronomer who left a successful business career to
dedicate his life to the stars, and became the foremost astronomer of his time.
** James Bradley (1693–1762), English astronomer. He was one of the first astronomers to understand the
value of precise measurement, and thoroughly modernized Greenwich. He discovered the aberration of
light, a discovery that showed that the Earth moves and also allowed him to measure the speed of light; he
also discovered the nutation of the Earth.
 138 5 from the rotation of the earth

precession ellipticity change

rotation axis

Earth
Sun

Sun

rotation tilt change

axis

Earth perihelion shift

Sun

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Earth
orbital inclination change
P
Sun
P
Sun

F I G U R E 99 Changes in the Earth’s motion around the Sun.

the obliquity, together with an average period of 22 000 years due to precession,* gives
rise to the more than 20 ice ages in the last 2 million years. This happens through stronger
or weaker irradiation of the poles by the Sun. The changing amounts of melted ice then
lead to changes in average temperature. The last ice age had its peak about 20 000 years
ago and ended around 11 800 years ago; the next is still far away. A spectacular confirma-
tion of the relation between ice age cycles and astronomy came through measurements
of oxygen isotope ratios in ice cores and sea sediments, which allow the average temper-
Ref. 113 ature over the past million years to be tracked. Figure 100 shows how closely the temper-
ature follows the changes in irradiation due to changes in obliquity and precession.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The Earth’s orbit also changes its eccentricity with time, from completely circular to
slightly oval and back. However, this happens in very complex ways, not with periodic
regularity, and is due to the influence of the large planets of the solar system on the Earth’s
orbit. The typical time scale is 100 000 to 125 000 years.
In addition, the Earth’s orbit changes in inclination with respect to the orbits of the
other planets; this seems to happen regularly every 100 000 years. In this period the in-
clination changes from +2.5° to −2.5° and back.
Even the direction in which the ellipse points changes with time. This so-called per-

* In fact, the 25 800 year precession leads to three insolation periods, of 23 700, 22 400 and 19 000 years, due
to the interaction between precession and perihelion shift.
to the rel ativit y of motion 139

P re c e s s ion P a ra me te r ( 1 0 −3 )
A −40
−20
0
20
40
4
B
0
ΔT S ( ° C )

−4

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
−8

C
0

R F (W m )
−2
−1

−2

D 2
24. 0 0. 4

(W m )
−2
O bliquity ( ° )

(° C )
23. 5

obl
0 0. 0
23. 0

obl
ΔT S
−1

RF
22.5 −0. 4
−2
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Age (1000 years before present)
F I G U R E 100 Modern measurements showing how Earth’s precession parameter (black curve A) and
obliquity (black curve D) influence the average temperature (coloured curve B) and the irradiation of
the Earth (blue curve C) over the past 800 000 years: the obliquity deduced by Fourier analysis from the
irradiation data RF (blue curve D) and the obliquity deduced by Fourier analysis from the temperature
(red curve D) match the obliquity known from astronomical data (black curve D); sharp cooling events
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

took place whenever the obliquity rose while the precession parameter was falling (marked red below
the temperature curve) (© Jean Jouzel/Science from Ref. 113).

ihelion shift is due in large part to the influence of the other planets; a small remaining
part will be important in the chapter on general relativity. It was the first piece of data
confirming the theory.
Obviously, the length of the year also changes with time. The measured variations are
of the order of a few parts in 1011 or about 1 ms per year. However, knowledge of these
changes and of their origins is much less detailed than for the changes in the Earth’s
rotation.
The next step is to ask whether the Sun itself moves. Indeed it does. Locally, it moves
 140 5 from the rotation of the earth

120 000 al = 1.2 Zm

our galaxy

orbit of our local star system

500 al = 5 Em Sun's path

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
50 000 al = 500 Em F I G U R E 101 The
motion of the Sun
around the galaxy.

with a speed of 19.4 km/s towards the constellation of Hercules. This was shown by
William Herschel in 1783. But globally, the motion is even more interesting. The diameter
of the galaxy is at least 100 000 light years, and we are located 26 000 light years from the
centre. (This has been known since 1918; the centre of the galaxy is located in the direc-
tion of Sagittarius.) At our position, the galaxy is 1 300 light years thick; presently, we are
Ref. 114 68 light years ‘above’ the centre plane. The Sun, and with it the solar system, takes about
225 million years to turn once around the galactic centre, its orbital velocity being around
220 km/s. It seems that the Sun will continue moving away from the galaxy plane until it
is about 250 light years above the plane, and then move back, as shown in Figure 101. The
oscillation period is estimated to be around 62 million years, and has been suggested as
the mechanism for the mass extinctions of animal life on Earth, possibly because some
gas cloud or some cosmic radiation source may be periodically encountered on the way.
The issue is still a hot topic of research.
We turn around the galaxy centre because the formation of galaxies, like that of solar
systems, always happens in a whirl. By the way, can you confirm from your own obser-
Challenge 235 s vation that our galaxy itself rotates?
Finally, we can ask whether the galaxy itself moves. Its motion can indeed be observed
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

because it is possible to give a value for the motion of the Sun through the universe,
defining it as the motion against the background radiation. This value has been measured
Ref. 115 to be 370 km/s. (The velocity of the Earth through the background radiation of course
depends on the season.) This value is a combination of the motion of the Sun around
the galaxy centre and of the motion of the galaxy itself. This latter motion is due to the
gravitational attraction of the other, nearby galaxies in our local group of galaxies.*
In summary, the Earth really moves, and it does so in rather complex ways. As Henri
Poincaré would say, if we are in a given spot today, say the Panthéon in Paris, and come

* This is roughly the end of the ladder. Note that the expansion of the universe, to be studied later, produces
no motion.
 to the rel ativit y of motion 141

back to the same spot tomorrow at the same time, we are in fact 31 million kilometres
away. This state of affairs would make time travel extremely difficult even if it were pos-
sible (which it is not); whenever you went back to the past, you would have to get to the
old spot exactly!

Is velocity absolute? – The theory of everyday relativity

Why don’t we feel all the motions of the Earth? The two parts of the answer were already
given in 1632. First of all, as Galileo explained, we do not feel the accelerations of the
Earth because the effects they produce are too small to be detected by our senses. Indeed,
many of the mentioned accelerations do induce measurable effects only in high-precision
Vol. II, page 142 experiments, e.g. in atomic clocks.
But the second point made by Galileo is equally important: it is impossible to feel the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
high speed at which we are moving. We do not feel translational, unaccelerated motions
because this is impossible in principle. Galileo discussed the issue by comparing the ob-
servations of two observers: one on the ground and another on the most modern means
of unaccelerated transportation of the time, a ship. Galileo asked whether a man on the
ground and a man in a ship moving at constant speed experience (or ‘feel’) anything dif-
ferent. Einstein used observers in trains. Later it became fashionable to use travellers in
Challenge 236 e rockets. (What will come next?) Galileo explained that only relative velocities between
bodies produce effects, not the absolute values of the velocities. For the senses, there is
no difference between constant, undisturbed motion, however rapid it may be, and rest.
This is now called Galileo’s principle of relativity. In everyday life we feel motion only if
the means of transportation trembles (thus if it accelerates), or if we move against the
air. Therefore Galileo concludes that two observers in straight and undisturbed motion
against each other cannot say who is ‘really’ moving. Whatever their relative speed, nei-
ther of them ‘feels’ in motion.*

* In 1632, in his Dialogo, Galileo writes: ‘Shut yourself up with some friend in the main cabin below decks
on some large ship, and have with you there some flies, butterflies, and other small flying animals. Have
a large bowl of water with some fish in it; hang up a bottle that empties drop by drop into a wide vessel
beneath it. With the ship standing still, observe carefully how the little animals fly with equal speed to all
sides of the cabin. The fish swim indifferently in all directions; the drops fall into the vessel beneath; and,
in throwing something to your friend, you need throw it no more strongly in one direction than another,
the distances being equal: jumping with your feet together, you pass equal spaces in every direction. When
you have observed all these things carefully (though there is no doubt that when the ship is standing still
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

everything must happen in this way), have the ship proceed with any speed you like, so long as the motion
is uniform and not fluctuating this way and that, you will discover not the least change in all the effects
named, nor could you tell from any of them whether the ship was moving or standing still. In jumping,
you will pass on the floor the same spaces as before, nor will you make larger jumps toward the stern than
toward the prow even though the ship is moving quite rapidly, despite the fact that during the time you are
in the air the floor under you will be going in a direction opposite to your jump. In throwing something
to your companion, you will need no more force to get it to him whether he is in the direction of the bow
or the stern, with yourself situated opposite. The droplets will fall as before into the vessel beneath without
dropping toward the stern, although while the drops are in the air the ship runs many spans. The fish in
their water will swim toward the front of their bowl with no more effort than toward the back, and will
go with equal ease to bait placed anywhere around the edges of the bowl. Finally the butterflies and flies
will continue their flights indifferently toward every side, nor will it ever happen that they are concentrated
toward the stern, as if tired out from keeping up with the course of the ship, from which they will have been
separated during long intervals by keeping themselves in the air. And if smoke is made by burning some
 142 5 from the rotation of the earth

Rest is relative. Or more clearly: rest is an observer-dependent concept. This result

of Galilean physics is so important that Poincaré introduced the expression ‘theory of
relativity’ and Einstein repeated the principle explicitly when he published his famous
theory of special relativity. However, these names are awkward. Galilean physics is also
a theory of relativity! The relativity of rest is common to all of physics; it is an essential
aspect of motion.
Undisturbed or uniform motion has no observable effect; only change of motion does.
Velocity cannot be felt; acceleration can. As a result, every physicist can deduce some-
thing simple about the following statement by Wittgenstein:

Daß die Sonne morgen aufgehen wird, ist eine Hypothese; und das heißt:
wir wissen nicht, ob sie aufgehen wird.*

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The statement is wrong. Can you explain why Wittgenstein erred here, despite his strong
Challenge 237 s desire not to?

Is rotation relative?
When we turn rapidly, our arms lift. Why does this happen? How can our body detect
whether we are rotating or not? There are two possible answers. The first approach, pro-
moted by Newton, is to say that there is an absolute space; whenever we rotate against
this space, the system reacts. The other answer is to note that whenever the arms lift,
the stars also rotate, and in exactly the same manner. In other words, our body detects
rotation because we move against the average mass distribution in space.
The most cited discussion of this question is due to Newton. Instead of arms, he ex-
plored the water in a rotating bucket. As usual for philosophical issues, Newton’s answer
was guided by the mysticism triggered by his father’s early death. Newton saw absolute
space as a religious concept and was not even able to conceive an alternative. Newton
thus sees rotation as an absolute concept. Most modern scientist have fewer problems
and more common sense than Newton; as a result, today’s consensus is that rotation ef-
fects are due to the mass distribution in the universe: rotation is relative. Even the theory
of general relativity confirms this conclusion.

Curiosities and fun challenges about relativity Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

When travelling in the train, you can test Galileo’s statement about everyday relativity of
motion. Close your eyes and ask somebody to turn you around many times: are you able
Challenge 238 e to say in which direction the train is running?
∗∗

incense, it will be seen going up in the form of a little cloud, remaining still and moving no more toward
one side than the other. The cause of all these correspondences of effects is the fact that the ship’s motion is
common to all the things contained in it, and to the air also. That is why I said you should be below decks;
for if this took place above in the open air, which would not follow the course of the ship, more or less
noticeable differences would be seen in some of the effects noted.’
* ‘That the Sun will rise to-morrow, is an hypothesis; and that means that we do not know whether it will
rise.’ This well-known statement is found in Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 6.36311.
 to the rel ativit y of motion 143

A good bathroom scales, used to determine the weight of objects, does not show a con-
Challenge 239 s stant weight when you step on it and stay motionless. Why not?
∗∗
Challenge 240 s If a gun located at the Equator shoots a bullet vertically, where does the bullet fall?
∗∗
Challenge 241 s Why are most rocket launch sites as near as possible to the Equator?
∗∗
At the equator, the speed of rotation of the Earth is 465 m/s, or about Mach 1.4; the latter
number means that it is 1.4 times the speed of sound. This supersonic motion has two
intriguing consequences.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
First of all, the speed determines the size of typical weather phenomena. This size, the
so-called Rosby length, is given by the speed of sound divided by the local rotation speed.
At moderate latitudes, the Rosby length is about 2000 km. This is a sizeable fraction of the
Earth’s radius, so that only a few large weather systems are present on Earth at any specific
time. If the Earth rotated more slowly, the weather would be determined by short-lived,
local flows and have no general regularities. If the Earth rotated more rapidly, the weather
would be much more violent – as on Jupiter – but the small Rosby length implies that
large weather structures have a huge lifetime, such as the red spot on Jupiter, which lasted
for several centuries. In a sense, the rotation of the Earth has the speed that provides the
most interesting weather.
The other consequence of the value of the Earth’s rotation speed concerns the atmo-
sphere. Mach 1 is also, roughly speaking, the thermal speed of air molecules. This speed is
sufficient for an air molecule to reach the characteristic height of the atmosphere, about
6 km. On the other hand, the speed of rotation Ω of the Earth determines its departure
Page 126 h from sphericity: the Earth is flattened, as we saw above. Roughly speaking, we have
дh = Ω2 R2 /2, or about 12 km. (This is correct to within 50%, the actual value is 21 km.)
We thus find that the speed of rotation of the Earth implies that its flattening is compa-
rable to the thickness of the atmosphere.
∗∗
The Coriolis effect influences rivers and their shores. This surprising connection was
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

made in 1860 by Karl Ernst von Baer who found that in Russia, many rivers flowing north
in lowlands had right shores that are steep and high, and left shores that are low and flat.
Challenge 242 e (Can you explain the details?) He also found that rivers in the southern hemisphere show
the opposite effect.
∗∗
Would travelling through interplanetary space be healthy? People often fantasize about
long trips through the cosmos. Experiments have shown that on trips of long duration,
cosmic radiation, bone weakening, muscle degeneration and psychological problems are
the biggest dangers. Many medical experts question the viability of space travel lasting
longer than a couple of years. Other dangers are rapid sunburn, at least near the Sun,
 144 5 from the rotation of the earth

and exposure to the vacuum. So far only one man has experienced vacuum without
Ref. 116 protection. He lost consciousness after 14 seconds, but survived unharmed.
∗∗
Challenge 243 s In which direction does a flame lean if it burns inside a jar on a rotating turntable?
∗∗
Galileo’s principle of everyday relativity states that it is impossible to determine an abso-
lute velocity. It is equally impossible to determine an absolute position, an absolute time
Challenge 244 ny and an absolute direction. Is this correct?
∗∗
Does centrifugal acceleration exist? Most university students go through the shock of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
meeting a teacher who says that it doesn’t because it is a ‘fictitious’ quantity, in the face
of what one experiences every day in a car when driving around a bend. Simply ask the
teacher who denies it to define ‘existence’. (The definition physicists usually use is given
Vol. III, page 259 later on.) Then check whether the definition applies to the term and make up your own
Challenge 245 s mind.
Whether you like the term ‘centrifugal acceleration’ or avoid it by using its negative,
the so-called centripetal acceleration, you should know it is calculated. We use a simple
trick. For an object in circular motion of radius r, the magnitude 󰑣 of the velocity 󰑣 =
dx/dt is 󰑣 = 2πr/T. The vector 󰑣 behaves over time exactly like the position of the
object: it rotates continuously. Therefore, the magnitude a of the centrifugal/centripetal
acceleration a = d󰑣/dt is given by the corresponding expression, namely a = 2π󰑣/T.
Eliminating T, we find that the centrifugal/centripetal acceleration a of a body rotating
at speed 󰑣 at radius r is given by
󰑣2
a= = ω2 r . (34)
r
This is the acceleration we feel when sitting in a car that goes around a bend.
∗∗
Rotation holds a surprise for anybody who studies it carefully. Angular momentum is
a quantity with a magnitude and a direction. However, it is not a vector, as any mirror
shows. The angular momentum of a body circling in a plane parallel to a mirror behaves
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

in a different way from a usual arrow: its mirror image is not reflected if it points towards
Challenge 246 e the mirror! You can easily check this for yourself. For this reason, angular momentum
is called a pseudovector. The fact has no important consequences in classical physics; but
we have to keep it in mind for later occasions.
∗∗
What is the best way to transport a number of full coffee or tea cups while at the same
Challenge 247 s time avoiding spilling any precious liquid?
∗∗
A ping-pong ball is attached by a string to a stone, and the whole is put under water in a
 to the rel ativit y of motion 145

water
ping-pong ball
string
stone
F I G U R E 102 How does the ball move when the jar is
accelerated in direction of the arrow?

jar. The set-up is shown in Figure 102. Now the jar is accelerated horizontally. In which
Challenge 248 s direction does the ball move? What do you deduce for a jar at rest?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∗∗
The Moon recedes from the Earth by 3.8 cm a year, due to friction. Can you find the
Challenge 249 s mechanism responsible for the effect?
∗∗
What are earthquakes? Earthquakes are large examples of the same process that make a
door squeak. The continental plates correspond to the metal surfaces in the joints of the
door.
Earthquakes can be described as energy sources. The Richter scale is a direct measure
of this energy. The Richter magnitude Ms of an earthquake, a pure number, is defined
from its energy E in joule via

log(E/1 J) − 4.8
Ms = . (35)
1.5
The strange numbers in the expression have been chosen to put the earthquake values as
near as possible to the older, qualitative Mercalli scale (now called EMS98) that classifies
the intensity of earthquakes. However, this is not fully possible; the most sensitive instru-
ments today detect earthquakes with magnitudes of −3. The highest value ever measured
was a Richter magnitude of 10, in Chile in 1960. Magnitudes above 12 are probably im-
Challenge 250 s possible. (Can you show why?) Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
What is the motion of the point on the surface of the Earth that has Sun in its zenith (i.e.,
Challenge 251 ny vertically above it), when seen on a map of the Earth during one day, and day after day?
∗∗
The moment of inertia of a body depends on the shape of the body; usually, angular
momentum and the angular velocity do not point in the same direction. Can you confirm
Challenge 252 s this with an example?
∗∗
Can it happen that a satellite dish for geostationary TV satellites focuses the sunshine
 146 5 from the rotation of the earth

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 103 What happens when the ape climbs?

Challenge 253 s onto the receiver?

∗∗
Why is it difficult to fire a rocket from an aeroplane in the direction opposite to the
Challenge 254 s motion of the plane?
∗∗
An ape hangs on a rope. The rope hangs over a wheel and is attached to a mass of equal
weight hanging down on the other side, as shown in Figure 103. The rope and the wheel
Challenge 255 s are massless and frictionless. What happens when the ape climbs the rope?
∗∗
Challenge 256 s Can a water skier move with a higher speed than the boat pulling him?
∗∗
Challenge 257 s What is the moment of inertia of a homogeneous sphere?
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The moment of inertia is determined by the values of its three principal axes. These are
all equal for a sphere and for a cube. Does it mean that it is impossible to distinguish a
Challenge 258 s sphere from a cube by their inertial behaviour?
∗∗
You might know the ‘Dynabee’, a hand-held gyroscopic device that can be accelerated to
Challenge 259 d high speed by proper movements of the hand. How does it work?
∗∗
It is possible to make a spinning top with a metal paper clip. It is even possible to make
Challenge 260 s one of those tops that turn onto their head when spinning. Can you find out how?
 to the rel ativit y of motion 147

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 104 A long exposure of the stars at
night - over the Gemini telescope in Hawaii
(© Gemini Observatory/AURA).

∗∗
Is it true that the Moon in the first quarter in the northern hemisphere looks like the
Challenge 261 s Moon in the last quarter in the southern hemisphere?
∗∗
An impressive confirmation that the Earth is round can be seen at sunset, if one turns,
against usual habits, one’s back on the Sun. On the eastern sky one can see the impressive
rise of the Earth’s shadow. (In fact, more precise investigations show that it is not the
shadow of the Earth alone, but the shadow of its ionosphere.) One can admire a vast
shadow rising over the whole horizon, clearly having the shape of a segment of a huge Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

circle.
∗∗
Challenge 262 s How would Figure 104 look if taken at the Equator?
∗∗
Since the Earth is round, there are many ways to drive from one point on the Earth to
another along a circle segment. This has interesting consequences for volley balls and
for girl-watching. Take a volleyball and look at its air inlet. If you want to move the inlet
to a different position with a simple rotation, you can choose the rotation axis in many
Challenge 263 e different ways. Can you confirm this? In other words, when we look in a given direction
and then want to look in another, the eye can accomplish this change in different ways.
 148 5 from the rotation of the earth

The option chosen by the human eye had already been studied by medical scientists in
the eighteenth century. It is called Listing’s ‘law’.* It states that all axes that nature chooses
Challenge 264 s lie in one plane. Can you imagine its position in space? Men have a real interest that
this mechanism is strictly followed; if not, looking at girls on the beach could cause the
muscles moving the eyes to get knotted up.

Legs or wheels? – Again

The acceleration and deceleration of standard wheel-driven cars is never much greater
than about 1 д = 9.8 m/s2 , the acceleration due to gravity on our planet. Higher accel-
erations are achieved by motorbikes and racing cars through the use of suspensions that
divert weight to the axes and by the use of spoilers, so that the car is pushed downwards
with more than its own weight. Modern spoilers are so efficient in pushing a car towards

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the track that racing cars could race on the roof of a tunnel without falling down.
Through the use of special tyres these downwards forces are transformed into grip;
modern racing tyres allow forward, backward and sideways accelerations (necessary for
speed increase, for braking and for turning corners) of about 1.1 to 1.3 times the load.
Engineers once believed that a factor 1 was the theoretical limit and this limit is still
sometimes found in textbooks; but advances in tyre technology, mostly by making clever
use of interlocking between the tyre and the road surface as in a gear mechanism, have
allowed engineers to achieve these higher values. The highest accelerations, around 4 д,
are achieved when part of the tyre melts and glues to the surface. Special tyres designed to
make this happen are used for dragsters, but high performance radio-controlled model
cars also achieve such values.
How do all these efforts compare to using legs? High jump athletes can achieve peak
accelerations of about 2 to 4 д, cheetahs over 3 д, bushbabies up to 13 д, locusts about
Ref. 117 18 д, and fleas have been measured to accelerate about 135 д. The maximum accelera-
tion known for animals is that of click beetles, a small insect able to accelerate at over
2000 m/s2 = 200 д, about the same as an airgun pellet when fired. Legs are thus defini-
tively more efficient accelerating devices than wheels – a cheetah can easily beat any car
or motorbike – and evolution developed legs, instead of wheels, to improve the chances
of an animal in danger getting to safety. In short, legs outperform wheels.
Challenge 265 s There are other reasons for using legs instead of wheels. (Can you name some?) For
example, legs, unlike wheels, allow walking on water. Most famous for this ability is the
basilisk, ** a lizard living in Central America and shown in Figure 105. This reptile is up
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

to 70 cm long and has a mass of about 90 g. It looks like a miniature Tyrannosaurus rex
and is able to run over water surfaces on its hind legs. The motion has been studied in
detail with high-speed cameras and by measurements using aluminium models of the
animal’s feet. The experiments show that the feet slapping on the water provides only
Ref. 118 25 % of the force necessary to run above water; the other 75 % is provided by a pocket
of compressed air that the basilisks create between their feet and the water once the feet

* If you are interested in learning in more detail how nature and the eye cope with the complexities
of three dimensions, see the schorlab.berkeley.edu/vilis/whatisLL.htm and www.physpharm.fmd.uwo.ca/
undergrad/llconsequencesweb/ListingsLaw/perceptual1.htm websites.
** In the Middle Ages, the term ‘basilisk’ referred to a mythical monster supposed to appear shortly before
the end of the world. Today, it is a small reptile in the Americas.
 to the rel ativit y of motion 149

F I G U R E 105 A basilisk lizard (Basiliscus basiliscus)

running on water, with a total length of about
25 cm, showing how the propulsing leg pushes
into the water (© TERRA).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 106 A water strider, total size F I G U R E 107 A water walking robot, total
about 10 mm (© Charles Lewallen). size about 20 mm (© AIP).

are inside the water. In fact, basilisks mainly walk on air. (Both effects used by basilisks
Ref. 119 are also found in fast canoeing.) It was calculated that humans are also able to walk on
water, provided their feet hit the water with a speed of 100 km/h using the simultaneous
physical power of 15 sprinters. Quite a feat for all those who ever did so.
There is a second method of walking and running on water; this second method even
allows its users to remain immobile on top of the water surface. This is what water strid-
ers, insects of the family Gerridae with a overall length of up to 15 mm, are able to do
(together with several species of spiders), as shown in Figure 106. Like all insects, the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

water strider has six legs (spiders have eight). The water strider uses the back and front
legs to hover over the surface, helped by thousands of tiny hairs attached to its body. The
hairs, together with the surface tension of water, prevent the strider from getting wet. If
you put shampoo into the water, the water strider sinks and can no longer move. The wa-
ter strider uses its large middle legs as oars to advance over the surface, reaching speeds
of up to 1 m/s doing so. In short, water striders actually row over water. The same mecha-
nism is used by the small robots that can move over water and were developed by Metin
Ref. 120 Sitti and his group, as shown in Figure 107.
Robot design is still in its infancy. No robot can walk or even run as fast as the animal
system it tries to copy. For two-legged robots, the most difficult ones, the speed record
is around 3.5 leg lengths per second. In fact, there is a race going on in robotics depart-
ments: each department tries to build the first robot that is faster, either in metres per
 150 5 from the rotation of the earth

second or in leg lengths per second, than the original fourlegged animal or two-legged
human. The difficulties of realizing this development goal show how complicated walk-
ing motion is and how well nature has optimized living systems.
Legs pose many interesting problems. Engineers know that a staircase is comfortable
to walk only if for each step the depth l plus twice the height h is a constant: l + 2h =
Challenge 266 s 0.63 ± 0.02 m. This is the so-called staircase formula. Why does it hold?
Challenge 267 s Most animals have an even number of legs. Do you know an exception? Why not? In
fact, one can argue that no animal has less than four legs. Why is this the case?
On the other hand, all animals with two legs have the legs side by side, whereas sys-
tems with two wheels have them one behind the other. Why is this not the other way
Challenge 268 e round?
Legs also provide simple distance rulers: just count your steps. In 2006, it was discov-
ered that this method is used by certain ant species, such as Cataglyphis fortis. They can

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 121 count to at least 25 000, as shown by Matthias Wittlinger and his team. These ants use the
ability to find the shortest way back to their home even in structureless desert terrain.
Ref. 122 Why do 100 m sprinters run faster than ordinary people? A thorough investigation
shows that the speed 󰑣 of a sprinter is given by

Fc
󰑣 = f Lstride = f Lc , (36)
W

where f is the frequency of the legs, Lstride is the stride length, Lc is the contact length –
the length that the sprinter advances during the time the foot is in contact with the floor
– W the weight of the sprinter, and Fc the average force the sprinter exerts on the floor
during contact. It turns out that the frequency f is almost the same for all sprinters; the
only way to be faster than the competition is to increase the stride length Lstride . Also the
contact length Lc varies little between athletes. Increasing the stride length thus requires
that the athlete hits the ground with strong strokes. This is what athletic training for
sprinters has to achieve.

Summary on Galilean relativity

The Earth rotates. The acceleration is so small that we do not feel it. The speed is large,
but we do not feel it, because the is no way to so.
Undisturbed or inertial motion cannot be felt or measured. It is thus impossible to
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

distinguish motion from rest; the distinction depends on the observer: motion of bodies
is relative. That is why the soil below our feet seems so stable to us, even though it moves
with high speed across the universe.
Only later on will we discover that one example of motion in nature is not relative: the
motion of light. But we continue first with the study of motion transmitted over distance,
without the use of any contact at all.
 Chapter 6

MOTION DUE TO GR AVITATION

“ ”
Caddi come corpo morto cade.
Dante, Inferno, c. V, v. 142.*

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
T
he first and main method to generate motion without any contact
hat we discover in our environment is height. Waterfalls, snow, rain,
he ball of your favourite game and falling apples all rely on it. It was one of
the fundamental discoveries of physics that height has this property because there is
an interaction between every body and the Earth. Gravitation produces an acceleration
along the line connecting the centres of gravity of the body and the Earth. Note that in
order to make this statement, it is necessary to realize that the Earth is a body in the
same way as a stone or the Moon, that this body is finite and that therefore it has a centre
and a mass. Today, these statements are common knowledge, but they are by no means
evident from everyday personal experience.**
How does gravitation change when two bodies are far apart? The experts on distant
objects are the astronomers. Over the years they have performed numerous measure-
ments of the movements of the Moon and the planets. The most industrious of all was
Tycho Brahe,*** who organized an industrial-scale search for astronomical facts spon-
sored by his king. His measurements were the basis for the research of his young assistant,
the Swabian astronomer Johannes Kepler**** who found the first precise description of

* ‘I fell like dead bodies fall.’ Dante Alighieri (1265, Firenze–1321, Ravenna), the powerful Italian poet.
** In several myths about the creation or the organization of the world, such as the biblical one or the Indian
one, the Earth is not an object, but an imprecisely defined entity, such as an island floating or surrounded
Challenge 269 s by water with unclear boundaries and unclear method of suspension. Are you able to convince a friend that
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the Earth is round and not flat? Can you find another argument apart from the roundness of the Earth’s
shadow when it is visible on the Moon, shown in Figure 109?
Ref. 123 A famous crook, Robert Peary, claimed to have reached the North Pole in 1909. (In fact, Roald Amundsen
reached both the South and the North Pole first.) Among others, Peary claimed to have taken a picture there,
but that picture, which went round the world, turned out to be one of the proofs that he had not been there.
Challenge 270 s Can you imagine how?
By the way, if the Earth is round, the top of two buildings is further apart than their base. Can this effect
Challenge 271 s be measured?
*** Tycho Brahe (b. 1546 Scania, d. 1601 Prague), famous Danish astronomer, builder of Uraniaborg, the
astronomical castle. He consumed almost 10 % of the Danish gross national product for his research, which
produced the first star catalogue and the first precise position measurements of planets.
**** Johannes Kepler (1571 Weil der Stadt–1630 Regensburg) studied Protestant theology and became a
teacher of mathematics, astronomy and rhetoric. He helped his mother to defend herself successfully in
a trial where she was accused of witchcraft. His first book on astronomy made him famous, and he became
 152 6 motion due to gravitation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 108 The retrograde motion of planet Mars across the sky – the Pleiades star cluster is at the
top left – when the planet is on the other side of the sun. The pictures were taken about a week apart
and superimposed. The motion is one of the many example that are fully explained by universal
gravitation (© Tunc Tezel).

Vol. III, page 259 planetary motion. This is not an easy task, as the observation of Figure 108 shows.
In 1684, all observations about planets and stones were condensed into an astonish-
ingly simple result by the English physicist Robert Hooke and a few others:* every body
of mass M attracts any other body towards its centre with an acceleration whose magni-
tude a is given by
M
a=G 2 (37)
r
where r is the centre-to-centre distance of the two bodies. This is called universal gravita-
tion, or the universal ‘law’ of gravitation, because it is valid in general, both on Earth and
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

in the sky. The proportionality constant G is called the gravitational constant; it is one
of the fundamental constants of nature, like the speed of light or the quantum of action.
Page 155 More about G will be said shortly. The effect of gravity thus decreases with increasing
distance; gravity depends on the inverse distance squared of the bodies under considera-
tion. If bodies are small compared with the distance r, or if they are spherical, expression

assistant to Tycho Brahe and then, at his teacher’s death, the Imperial Mathematician. He was the first to
use mathematics in the description of astronomical observations, and introduced the concept and field of
‘celestial physics’.
* Robert Hooke (1635–1703), important English physicist and secretary of the Royal Society. Apart from dis-
covering the inverse square relation and many others, such as Hooke’s ‘law’, he also wrote the Micrographia,
a beautifully illustrated exploration of the world of the very small.
 6 motion due to gravitation 153

F I G U R E 109 How to compare

the radius of the Earth with

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
that of the Moon during a
partial lunar eclipse
(© Anthony Ayiomamitis).

(37) is correct as it stands; for non-spherical shapes the acceleration has to be calculated
separately for each part of the bodies and then added together.
This inverse square dependence is often called Newton’s ‘law’ of gravitation, because
the English physicist Isaac Newton proved more elegantly than Hooke that it agreed with
all astronomical and terrestrial observations. Above all, however, he organized a better
Ref. 124 public relations campaign, in which he falsely claimed to be the originator of the idea.
Newton published a simple proof showing that this description of astronomical mo-
tion also gives the correct description for stones thrown through the air, down here on
‘father Earth’. To achieve this, he compared the acceleration am of the Moon with that
of stones д. For the ratio between these two accelerations, the inverse square relation
predicts a value д/am = dm 2
/R2 , where dm the distance of the Moon and R is the radius
of the Earth. The Moon’s distance can be measured by triangulation, comparing the pos-
ition of the Moon against the starry background from two different points on Earth.*
The result is dm /R = 60 ± 3, depending on the orbital position of the Moon, so that
an average ratio д/am = 3.6 ⋅ 103 is predicted from universal gravity. But both acceler-
ations can also be measured directly. At the surface of the Earth, stones are subject to
an acceleration due to gravitation with magnitude д = 9.8 m/s2 , as determined by mea-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

suring the time that stones need to fall a given distance. For the Moon, the definition
of acceleration, a = d󰑣/dt, in the case of circular motion – roughly correct here – gives
am = dm (2π/T)2 , where T = 2.4 Ms is the time the Moon takes for one orbit around
the Earth.** The measurement of the radius of the Earth*** yields R = 6.4 Mm, so that
the average Earth–Moon distance is dm = 0.38 Gm. One thus has д/am = 3.6 ⋅ 103 , in
* The first precise – but not the first – measurement was achieved in 1752 by the French astronomers Lalande
and La Caille, who simultaneously measured the position of the Moon seen from Berlin and from Le Cap.
** This expression for the centripetal acceleration is deduced easily by noting that for an object in circular
motion, the magnitude 󰑣 of the velocity 󰑣 = dx/dt is given as 󰑣 = 2πr/T. The drawing of the vector 󰑣 over
Challenge 272 s time, the so-called hodograph, shows that it behaves exactly like the position of the object. Therefore the
magnitude a of the acceleration a = d󰑣/dt is given by the corresponding expression, namely a = 2π󰑣/T .
*** This is the hardest quantity to measure oneself. The most surprising way to determine the Earth’s size is
 154 6 motion due to gravitation

Moon

Earth

figure to be inserted

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 110 A physicist’s and an artist’s view of the fall of the Moon: a diagram by Christiaan Huygens
(not to scale) and a marble statue by Auguste Rodin.

agreement with the above prediction. With this famous ‘Moon calculation’ we have thus
shown that the inverse square property of gravitation indeed describes both the motion
of the Moon and that of stones. You might want to deduce the value of the product GM
Challenge 275 s for Earth.
Universal gravitation describes motion due to gravity on Earth and in the sky. This
was an important step towards the unification of physics. Before this discovery, from the
observation that on the Earth all motion eventually comes to rest, whereas in the sky all
motion is eternal, Aristotle and many others had concluded that motion in the sublunar
world has different properties from motion in the translunar world. Several thinkers had
criticized this distinction, notably the French philosopher and rector of the University of
Ref. 127 Paris, Jean Buridan.* The Moon calculation was the most important result showing this
distinction to be wrong. This is the reason for calling the expression (37) the universal
gravitation.
Universal gravitation allows us to answer another old question. Why does the Moon
not fall from the sky? Well, the preceding discussion showed that fall is motion due to
Ref. 125 the following: watch a sunset in the garden of a house, with a stopwatch in hand. When the last ray of the
Sun disappears, start the stopwatch and run upstairs. There, the Sun is still visible; stop the stopwatch when
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the Sun disappears again and note the time t. Measure the height distance h of the two eye positions where
Challenge 273 s the Sun was observed. The Earth’s radius R is then given by R = k h/t 2 , with k = 378 ⋅ 106 s2 .
Ref. 126 There is also a simple way to measure the distance to the Moon, once the size of the Earth is known.
Take a photograph of the Moon when it is high in the sky, and call θ its zenith angle, i.e., its angle from the
vertical. Make another photograph of the Moon a few hours later, when it is just above the horizon. On this
Page 66 picture, unlike a common optical illusion, the Moon is smaller, because it is further away. With a sketch the
reason for this becomes immediately clear. If q is the ratio of the two angular diameters, the Earth–Moon
distance dm is given by the relation dm2 = R 2 + (2Rq cos θ/(1 − q2 ))2 . Enjoy finding its derivation from the
Challenge 274 s sketch.
Another possibility is to determine the size of the Moon by comparing it with the size of the shadow of
the Earth during a lunar eclipse, as shown in Figure 109. The distance to the Moon is then computed from
its angular size, about 0.5°.
* Jean Buridan (c. 1295 to c. 1366) was also one of the first modern thinkers to discuss the rotation of the
Earth about an axis.
 6 motion due to gravitation 155

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 111 A precision second pendulum, thus about 1 m in length; almost
at the upper end, the vacuum chamber that compensates for changes in
atmospheric pressure; towards the lower end, the wide construction that
compensates for temperature variations of pendulum length; at the very
bottom, the screw that compensates for local variations of the gravitational
acceleration, giving a final precision of about 1 s per month (© Erwin Sattler
OHG).

gravitation. Therefore the Moon actually is falling, with the peculiarity that instead of
falling towards the Earth, it is continuously falling around it. Figure 110 illustrates the
idea. The Moon is continuously missing the Earth.*
The Moon is not the only object that falls around the Earth. Figure 112 shows another.
Universal gravity also explains why the Earth and most planets are (almost) spherical.
Since gravity increases with decreasing distance, a liquid body in space will always try to
form a spherical shape. Seen on a large scale, the Earth is indeed liquid. We also know
that the Earth is cooling down – that is how the crust and the continents formed. The
sphericity of smaller solid objects encountered in space, such as the Moon, thus means
that they used to be liquid in older times. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Properties of gravitation
Page 74 Gravitation implies that the path of a stone is not a parabola, as stated earlier, but actually
an ellipse around the centre of the Earth. This happens for exactly the same reason that
Page 166 the planets move in ellipses around the Sun. Are you able to confirm this statement?
Universal gravitation allows us to understand the puzzling acceleration value

* Another way to put it is to use the answer of the Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695): the
Moon does not fall from the sky because of the centrifugal acceleration. As explained on page 144, this
explanation is often out of favour at universities.
Ref. 128 There is a beautiful problem connected to the left side of the figure: Which points on the surface of the
Challenge 276 d Earth can be hit by shooting from a mountain? And which points can be hit by shooting horizontally?
 156 6 motion due to gravitation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 112 The man in
orbit feels no weight, the
blue atmosphere, which is
not, does (NASA).

TA B L E 26 Some measured values of the acceleration due to gravity.

Place Va l u e

Poles 9.83 m/s2

Trondheim 9.8215243 m/s2
Hamburg 9.8139443 m/s2
Munich 9.8072914 m/s2
Rome 9.8034755 m/s2
Equator 9.78 m/s2
Moon 1.6 m/s2
Sun 273 m/s2

д = 9.8 m/s2 we encountered in equation (6). The value is thus due to the relation Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

2
д = GMEarth /REarth . (38)

The expression can be deduced from equation (37), universal gravity, by taking the Earth
to be spherical. The everyday acceleration of gravity д thus results from the size of the
Earth, its mass, and the universal constant of gravitation G. Obviously, the value for д
is almost constant on the surface of the Earth, as shown in Table 26, because the Earth
is almost a sphere. Expression (38) also explains why д gets smaller as one rises above
the Earth, and the deviations of the shape of the Earth from sphericity explain why д is
different at the poles and higher on a plateau. (What would д be on the Moon? On Mars?
Challenge 277 s On Jupiter?)
By the way, it is possible to devise a simple machine, other than a yo-yo, that slows
 6 motion due to gravitation 157

down the effective acceleration of gravity by a known amount, so that one can measure
Challenge 278 s its value more easily. Can you imagine it?
Note that 9.8 is roughly π2 . This is not a coincidence: the metre has been chosen in
such a way to make this (roughly) correct. The period T of a swinging pendulum, i.e., a
Challenge 279 s back and forward swing, is given by*

l
T = 2π󵀌 , (39)
д

where l is the length of the pendulum, and д = 9.8 m/s2 is the gravitational acceleration.
(The pendulum is assumed to consist of a compact mass attached to a string of negligible
mass.) The oscillation time of a pendulum depends only on the length of the string and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
on д, thus on the planet it is located on.
If the metre had been defined such that T/2 = 1 s, the value of the normal acceleration
Challenge 281 e д would have been exactly π2 m/s2 . Indeed, this was the first proposal for the definition
of the metre; it was made in 1673 by Huygens and repeated in 1790 by Talleyrand, but was
rejected by the conference that defined the metre because variations in the value of д with
geographical position, temperature-induced variations of the length of a pendulum and
even air pressure variations induce errors that are too large to yield a definition of useful
precision. (Indeed, all these effects must be corrected in pendulum clocks, as shown in
Figure 111.)
Finally, the proposal was made to define the metre as 1/40 000 000 of the circumfer-
ence of the Earth through the poles, a so-called meridian. This proposal was almost iden-
tical to – but much more precise than – the pendulum proposal. The meridian definition
of the metre was then adopted by the French national assembly on 26 March 1791, with
the statement that ‘a meridian passes under the feet of every human being, and all meridi-
ans are equal’. (Nevertheless, the distance from Equator to the poles is not exactly 10 Mm;
Ref. 129 that is a strange story. One of the two geographers who determined the size of the first
metre stick was dishonest. The data he gave for his measurements – the general method
of which is shown in Figure 113 – was fabricated. Thus the first official metre stick in Paris
was shorter than it should be.)
Continuing our exploration of the gravitational acceleration д, we can still ask: Why
does the Earth have the mass and size it has? And why does G have the value it has? The
first question asks for a history of the solar system; it is still unanswered and is topic of
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

research. The second question is addressed in Appendix B.

If gravitation is indeed universal, and if all objects really attract each other, attraction
should also occur for objects in everyday life. Gravity must also work sideways. This is

* Formula (39) is noteworthy mainly for all that is missing. The period of a pendulum does not depend on
the mass of the swinging body. In addition, the period of a pendulum does not depend on the amplitude.
(This is true as long as the oscillation angle is smaller than about 15°.) Galileo discovered this as a student,
when observing a chandelier hanging on a long rope in the dome of Pisa. Using his heartbeat as a clock he
found that even though the amplitude of the swing got smaller and smaller, the time for the swing stayed
the same.
A leg also moves like a pendulum, when one walks normally. Why then do taller people tend to walk
Challenge 280 s faster? Is the relation also true for animals of different size?
158 6 motion due to gravitation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 113 The measurements that lead to the definition of the
metre (© Ken Alder).

indeed the case, even though the effects are so small that they were measured only long
after universal gravity had predicted them. In fact, measuring this effect allows the grav-
itational constant G to be determined. Let us see how.
We note that measuring the gravitational constant G is also the only way to deter-
mine the mass of the Earth. The first to do so, in 1798, was the English physicist Henry
Cavendish; he used the machine, ideas and method of John Michell who died when at-
tempting the experiment. Michell and Cavendish* called the aim and result of their ex-
periments ‘weighing the Earth’.
The idea of Michell was to suspended a horizontal handle, with two masses at the end,
at the end of a long metal wire. He then approached two large masses at the two ends
of the handle, avoiding any air currents, and measured how much the handle rotated.
Figure 114 shows how to repeat this experiment in your basement, and Figure 115 how to
perform it when you have a larger budget.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The value the gravitational constant G found in more elaborate versions of the
Michell–Cavendish experiments is

G = 6.7 ⋅ 10−11 Nm2 /kg2 = 6.7 ⋅ 10−11 m3 /kg s2 . (40)

Cavendish’s experiment was thus the first to confirm that gravity also works sideways.
The experiment also allows deducing the mass M of the Earth from its radius R and the

* Henry Cavendish (b. 1731 Nice, d. 1810 London) was one of the great geniuses of physics; rich, autistic,
misogynist, unmarried and solitary, he found many rules of nature, but never published them. Had he done
so, his name would be much more well known. John Michell (1724–1793) was church minister, geologist and
amateur astronomer.
 6 motion due to gravitation 159

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 114 An experiment that allows weighing the Earth and proving that gravity also works
sideways and curves space. Top left and right: a torsion balance made of foam and lead, with pétanque
(boules) masses as fixed masses; centre right: a torsion balance made of wood and lead, with stones as
fixed masses; bottom: a time sequence showing how the stones do attract the lead (© John Walker).
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 282 e relation д = GM/R2 . Finally, as we will see later on, this experiment proves, if we keep
Vol. II, page 124 in mind that the speed of light is finite and invariant, that space is curved. All this is
achieved with this simple set-up!
Ref. 130 Cavendish found a mass density of the Earth of 5.5 times that of water. At his time,
this was a surprising result, because rock only has 2.8 times the density of water.
Gravitation is weak. For example, two average people 1 m apart feel an acceleration
towards each other that is less than that exerted by a common fly when landing on the
Challenge 283 s skin. Therefore we usually do not notice the attraction to other people. When we notice
it, it is much stronger than that. The measurement of G thus proves that gravitation can-
not be the true cause of people falling in love, and also that erotic attraction is not of
gravitational origin, but of a different source. The physical basis for love will be studied
 160 6 motion due to gravitation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 115 A modern precision torsion balance experiment to measure the gravitational constant,
performed at the University of Washington (© Eöt-Wash Group).

f (x,y)

y
x

grad f

F I G U R E 116 The potential and the gradient.

Vol. III, page 14 later in our walk: it is called electromagnetism. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The gravitational potential

Gravity has an important property: all effects of gravitation can also be described by an-
other observable, namely the (gravitational) potential φ. We then have the simple relation
that the acceleration is given by the gradient of the potential

a = −∇φ or a = −grad φ . (41)

The gradient is just a learned term for ‘slope along the steepest direction’. The gradient is
defined for any point on a slope, is large for a steep one and small for a shallow one. The
gradient points in the direction of steepest ascent, as shown in Figure 116. The gradient
is abbreviated ∇, pronounced ‘nabla’, and is mathematically defined through the relation
 6 motion due to gravitation 161

∇φ = (∂φ/∂x, ∂φ/∂y, ∂φ/∂z) = grad φ. The minus sign in (41) is introduced by conven-
tion, in order to have higher potential values at larger heights.* In everyday life, when
the spherical shape of the Earth can be neglected, the gravitational potential is given by

φ = дh . (42)

The potential φ is an interesting quantity; with a single number at every position in space
we can describe the vector aspects of gravitational acceleration. It automatically gives that
gravity in New Zealand acts in the opposite direction to gravity in Paris. In addition, the
potential suggests the introduction of the so-called potential energy U by setting

U = mφ (43)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
and thus allowing us to determine the change of kinetic energy T of a body falling from
a point 1 to a point 2 via

1 1
T1 − T2 = U2 − U1 or m1 󰑣1 2 − m2 󰑣2 2 = mφ2 − mφ1 . (44)
2 2
In other words, the total energy, defined as the sum of kinetic and potential energy, is
conserved in motion due to gravity. This is a characteristic property of gravitation. Gravity
conserves energy and momentum.
Not all accelerations can be derived from a potential; systems with this property are
Page 101 called conservative. Observation shoes that accelerations due to friction are not conser-
vative, but accelerations due to electromagnetism are. In short, we can either say that
gravity can be described by a potential, or say that it conserves energy and momentum.
When the spherical shape of the Earth can be neglected, the potential energy of an object
at height h is given by
U = mдh . (45)

To get a feeling of how much energy this is, answer the following question. A car with
mass 1 Mg falls down a cliff of 100 m. How much water can be heated from freezing point
Challenge 284 s to boiling point with the energy of the car?

The shape of the Earth

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 285 e For a spherical or a point-like body of mass M, the potential φ is

M
φ = −G . (46)
r
A potential considerably simplifies the description of motion, since a potential is addi-
tive: given the potential of a point particle, we can calculate the potential and then the

* In two or more dimensions slopes are written ∂φ/∂z – where ∂ is still pronounced ‘d’ – because in those
cases the expression dφ/dz has a slightly different meaning. The details lie outside the scope of this walk.
 162 6 motion due to gravitation

F I G U R E 117 The shape of the Earth, with

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
exaggerated height scale
(© GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam).

motion around any other irregularly shaped object.* Interestingly, the number d of di-
mensions of space is coded into the potential φ of a spherical mass: the dependence of φ
Challenge 287 s on the radius r is in fact 1/r d−2 . The exponent d − 2 has been checked experimentally to
Ref. 131 extremely high precision; no deviation of d from 3 has ever been found.
The concept of potential helps in understanding the shape of the Earth. Since most of
Ref. 132 the Earth is still liquid when seen on a large scale, its surface is always horizontal with
respect to the direction determined by the combination of the accelerations of gravity
and rotation. In short, the Earth is not a sphere. It is not an ellipsoid either. The mathe-
Ref. 133 matical shape defined by the equilibrium requirement is called a geoid. The geoid shape,
illustrated in Figure 117, differs from a suitably chosen ellipsoid by at most 50 m. Can you
Challenge 288 ny describe the geoid mathematically? The geoid is an excellent approximation to the actual
shape of the Earth; sea level differs from it by less than 20 metres. The differences can
be measured with satellite radar and are of great interest to geologists and geographers.
For example, it turns out that the South Pole is nearer to the equatorial plane than the

* Alternatively, for a general, extended body, the potential is found by requiring that the divergence of its
gradient is given by the mass (or charge) density times some proportionality constant. More precisely, one
has
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Δφ = 4πG ρ (47)
where ρ = ρ(x, t) is the mass volume density of the body and the operator Δ, pronounced ‘delta’, is defined
as Δ f = ∇∇ f = ∂2 f /∂x 2 + ∂2 f /∂y 2 + ∂2 f /∂z 2 . Equation (47) is called the Poisson equation for the potential
φ. It is named after Siméon-Denis Poisson (1781–1840), eminent French mathematician and physicist. The
positions at which ρ is not zero are called the sources of the potential. The so-called source term Δφ of
a function is a measure for how much the function φ(x) at a point x differs from the average value in a
Challenge 286 ny region around that point. (Can you show this, by showing that Δφ ∼ φ̄ − φ(x)?) In other words, the Poisson
equation (47) implies that the actual value of the potential at a point is the same as the average value around
that point minus the mass density multiplied by 4πG. In particular, in the case of empty space the potential
at a point is equal to the average of the potential around that point.
Often the concept of gravitational field is introduced, defined as д = −∇φ. We avoid this in our walk,
because we will discover that, following the theory of relativity, gravity is not due to a field at all; in fact
even the concept of gravitational potential turns out to be only an approximation.
 6 motion due to gravitation 163

North Pole by about 30 m. This is probably due to the large land masses in the northern
hemisphere.
Page 126 Above we saw how the inertia of matter, through the so-called ‘centrifugal force’, in-
creases the radius of the Earth at the Equator. In other words, the Earth is flattened at the
poles. The Equator has a radius a of 6.38 Mm, whereas the distance b from the poles
to the centre of the Earth is 6.36 Mm. The precise flattening (a − b)/a has the value
Appendix B 1/298.3 = 0.0034. As a result, the top of Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador, even though
its height is only 6267 m above sea level, is about 20 km farther away from the centre of
the Earth than the top of Mount Sagarmatha* in Nepal, whose height above sea level is
8850 m. The top of Mount Chimborazo is in fact the point on the surface most distant
from the centre of the Earth.
The shape of the Earth has another important consequence. If the Earth stopped ro-
tating (but kept its shape), the water of the oceans would flow from the equator to the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
poles; all of Europe would be under water, except for the few mountains of the Alps
that are higher than about 4 km. The northern parts of Europe would be covered by be-
tween 6 km and 10 km of water. Mount Sagarmatha would be over 11 km above sea level.
We would also walk inclined. If we take into account the resulting change of shape of
the Earth, the numbers come out somewhat smaller. In addition, the change in shape
would produce extremely strong earthquakes and storms. As long as there are none of
these effects, we can be sure that the Sun will indeed rise tomorrow, despite what some
Page 142 philosophers pretended.

Dynamics – how do things move in various dimensions?

The concept of potential is a powerful tool. If a body can move only along a – straight
or curved – line, the concepts of kinetic and potential energy are sufficient to determine
completely the way the body moves. In short, motion in one dimension follows directly
from energy conservation.
If a body can move in two dimensions – i.e., on a flat or curved surface – and if the
forces involved are internal (which is always the case in theory, but not in practice), the
conservation of angular momentum can be used. The full motion in two dimensions thus
follows from energy and angular momentum conservation. For example, all properties
of free fall follow from energy and angular momentum conservation. (Are you able to
Challenge 289 s show this?) Again, the potential is essential.
In the case of motion in three dimensions, a more general rule for determining motion
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

is necessary. If more than two spatial dimensions are involved conservation is insufficient
to determine how a body moves. It turns out that general motion follows from a simple
principle: the time average of the difference between kinetic and potential energy must
be as small as possible. This is called the least action principle. We will explain the details
Page 213 of this calculation method later. But again, the potential is the main ingredient in the
calculation of change, and thus in the description of any example of motion.
For simple gravitational motions, motion is two-dimensional, in a plane. Most three-
dimensional problems are outside the scope of this text; in fact, some of these problems
are so hard that they still are subjects of research. In this adventure, we will explore three-
dimensional motion only for selected cases that provide important insights.
* Mount Sagarmatha is sometimes also called Mount Everest.
 164 6 motion due to gravitation

culmination
zenith of a star or
n
idia planet:
celestial mer me 90° – ϕ + δ
North rid
ian
Pole
star or planet
nia
rid

celestial
t
me

e Equator
plan
r or
sta
of

merid
90° – ϕ ϕ–δ δ
at ion
lin

ian

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
c
de
latitude ϕ 90° – ϕ

North observer South

F I G U R E 118 Some important concepts when observing the stars at night.

Gravitation in the sky

The expression a = GM/r 2 for the acceleration due to universal gravity also describes the
motion of all the planets across the sky. We usually imagine to be located at the centre of
the Sun and say that the planets ‘orbit the Sun’. How can we check this?
First of all, looking at the sky at night, we can check that the planets always stay within
the zodiac, a narrow stripe across the sky. The centre line of the zodiac gives the path of
the Sun and is called the ecliptic, since the Moon must be located on it to produce an
Page 193 eclipse. This shows that planets move (approximately) in a single, common plane.*
The detailed motion of the planets is not easy to describe. As Figure 118 shows, observ-
ing a planet or star requires measuring various angles. For a planet, these angles change
every night. From the way the angles change, one can deduce the motion of the planets.
A few generations before Hooke, using the observations of Tycho Brahe, the Swabian as- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tronomer Johannes Kepler, in his painstaking research on the movements of the planets
in the zodiac, had deduced several ‘laws’. The three main ones are as follows:

1. Planets move on ellipses with the Sun located at one focus (1609).
2. Planets sweep out equal areas in equal times (1609).
3. All planets have the same ratio T 2 /d 3 between the orbit duration T and the semima-
jor axis d (1619).

Kepler’s results are illustrated in Figure 119. The sheer work required to deduce the three
‘laws’ was enormous. Kepler had no calculating machine available. The calculation tech-
* The apparent height of the ecliptic changes with the time of the year and is the reason for the changing
seasons. Therefore seasons are a gravitational effect as well.
 6 motion due to gravitation 165

d
d
Sun

planet
F I G U R E 119 The motion of a planet around
the Sun, showing its semimajor axis d, which is
also the spatial average of its distance from the
Sun.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
nology he used was the recently discovered logarithms. Anyone who has used tables of
logarithms to perform calculations can get a feeling for the amount of work behind these
three discoveries.
Now comes the central point. The huge volume of work by Brahe and Kepler can be
summarized in the expression
a = GM/r 2 , (48)

as Hooke and a few others had stated. Let us see why.

Ref. 134 Why is the usual orbit an ellipse? The simplest argument is given in Figure 120. We
know that the acceleration due to gravity varies as a = GM/r 2 . We also know that an
orbiting body of mass m has a constant energy E < 0. We then can draw, around the Sun,
the circle with radius R = −GMm/E, which gives the largest distance that a body with
energy E can be from the Sun. We now project the planet position P onto this circle, thus
constructing a position S. We then reflect S along the tangent to get a position F. This
Challenge 290 s last position F is constant in time, as a simple argument shows. (Can you find it?) As a
result of the construction, the distance sum OP+PF is constant in time, and given by the
radius R = −GMm/E. Since this distance sum is constant, the orbit is an ellipse, because
an ellipse is precisely the curve that appears when this sum is constant. (Remember that
an ellipse can be drawn with a piece of rope in this way.) Point F, like the Sun, is a focus Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

of the ellipse. This is the first of Kepler’s ‘laws’.

Can you confirm that also the other two of Kepler’s ‘laws’ follow from Hooke’s expres-
Challenge 291 s sion of universal gravity? Publishing this result was the main achievement of Newton.
Try to repeat his achievement; it will show you not only the difficulties, but also the pos-
sibilities of physics, and the joy that puzzles give.
The second of Kepler’s ‘laws’, about equal swept areas, implies that planets move faster
when they are near the Sun. It is a simple way to state the conservation of angular mo-
Challenge 292 e mentum. What does the third ‘law’ state?
Newton solved these puzzles with geometric drawing – though in quite a complex
manner. It is well known that Newton was not able to write down, let alone handle, dif-
Ref. 26 ferential equations at the time he published his results on gravitation. In fact, Newton’s
notation and calculation methods were poor. (Much poorer than yours!) The English
 166 6 motion due to gravitation

orbit of planet

origin (Sun)
circle of largest O
possible planet F
distance at energy E reflection of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
position S
tangent along tangent
R = – k/E P
to planet
planet
motion
position

S
projection of
position P on
circle

F I G U R E 120 The proof that a planet moves in an ellipse (magenta) around the Sun, given an inverse
square distance relation for gravitation (see text).

mathematician Godfrey Hardy* used to say that the insistence on using Newton’s inte-
gral and differential notation, rather than the earlier and better method, still common
today, due to his rival Leibniz – threw back English mathematics by 100 years.
To sum up, Kepler, Hooke and Newton became famous because they brought order
to the description of planetary motion. They showed that all motion due to gravity fol-
lows from the same description, the inverse square distance. For this reason, the inverse
square distance relation a = GM/r 2 is called the universal law of gravity. Achieving this
unification of motion description, though of small practical significance, was widely pub-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

licized. The main reason were the age-old prejudices and fantasies linked with astrology.
In fact, the inverse square distance relation explains many additional phenomena. It
explains the motion and shape of the Milky Way and of the other galaxies, the motion of
many weather phenomena, and explains why the Earth has an atmosphere but the Moon
Challenge 293 s does not. (Can you explain this?) In fact, universal gravity explains much more about the
Moon.

* Godfrey Harold Hardy (1877–1947) was an important English number theorist, and the author of the
well-known A Mathematician’s Apology. He also ‘discovered’ the famous Indian mathematician Srinivasa
Ramanujan, and brought him to Britain.
 6 motion due to gravitation 167

F I G U R E 121 The change of the moon during

the month, showing its libration (QuickTime

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
film © Martin Elsässer)

F I G U R E 122 High
resolution maps
(not photographs)
of the near side
(left) and far side
(right) of the
moon, showing
how often the
latter saved the
Earth from
meteorite impacts
(courtesy USGS).

The Moon
How long is a day on the Moon? The answer is roughly 29 Earth-days. That is the time
that it takes for an observer on the Moon to see the Sun again in the same position in the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

sky.
One often hears that the Moon always shows the same side to the Earth. But this is
wrong. As one can check with the naked eye, a given feature in the centre of the face of
the Moon at full Moon is not at the centre one week later. The various motions leading
to this change are called librations; they are shown in the film in Figure 121. The mo-
tions appear mainly because the Moon does not describe a circular, but an elliptical orbit
around the Earth and because the axis of the Moon is slightly inclined, compared with
that of its rotation around the Earth. As a result, only around 45 % of the Moon’s surface
is permanently hidden from Earth.
The first photographs of the hidden area were taken in the 1960s by a Soviet artificial
satellite; modern satellites provided exact maps, as shown in Figure 122. (Just zoom into
Challenge 294 e the figure for fun.) The hidden surface is much more irregular than the visible one, as
 168 6 motion due to gravitation

the hidden side is the one that intercepts most asteroids attracted by the Earth. Thus the
gravitation of the Moon helps to deflect asteroids from the Earth. The number of animal
life extinctions is thus reduced to a small, but not negligible number. In other words, the
gravitational attraction of the Moon has saved the human race from extinction many
times over.*
The trips to the Moon in the 1970s also showed that the Moon originated from the
Earth itself: long ago, an object hit the Earth almost tangentially and threw a sizeable
fraction of material up into the sky. This is the only mechanism able to explain the large
Ref. 135 size of the Moon, its low iron content, as well as its general material composition.
Ref. 136 The Moon is receding from the Earth at 3.8 cm a year. This result confirms the old
deduction that the tides slow down the Earth’s rotation. Can you imagine how this mea-
Challenge 295 s surement was performed? Since the Moon slows down the Earth, the Earth also changes
shape due to this effect. (Remember that the shape of the Earth depends on its speed of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
rotation.) These changes in shape influence the tectonic activity of the Earth, and maybe
also the drift of the continents.
The Moon has many effects on animal life. A famous example is the midge Clunio,
Ref. 137 which lives on coasts with pronounced tides. Clunio spends between six and twelve
weeks as a larva, sure then hatches and lives for only one or two hours as an adult flying
insect, during which time it reproduces. The midges will only reproduce if they hatch dur-
ing the low tide phase of a spring tide. Spring tides are the especially strong tides during
the full and new moons, when the solar and lunar effects combine, and occur only every
14.8 days. In 1995, Dietrich Neumann showed that the larvae have two built-in clocks,
a circadian and a circalunar one, which together control the hatching to precisely those
few hours when the insect can reproduce. He also showed that the circalunar clock is syn-
chronized by the brightness of the Moon at night. In other words, the larvae monitor the
Moon at night and then decide when to hatch: they are the smallest known astronomers.
If insects can have circalunar cycles, it should come as no surprise that women also
have such a cycle; however, in this case the precise origin of the cycle length is still un-
Ref. 138 known and a topic of research.
The Moon also helps to stabilize the tilt of the Earth’s axis, keeping it more or less
fixed relative to the plane of motion around the Sun. Without the Moon, the axis would
change its direction irregularly, we would not have a regular day and night rhythm, we
would have extremely large climate changes, and the evolution of life would have been
Ref. 139 impossible. Without the Moon, the Earth would also rotate much faster and we would Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 140 have much less clement weather. The Moon’s main remaining effect on the Earth, the
Page 132 precession of its axis, is responsible for the ice ages.

Orbits – and conic sections

The path of a body continuously orbiting another under the influence of gravity is an
ellipse with the central body at one focus. A circular orbit is also possible, a circle being a
special case of an ellipse. Single encounters of two objects can also be parabolas or hyper-
bolas, as shown in Figure 124. Circles, ellipses, parabolas and hyperbolas are collectively

* The web pages cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/Closest.html and InnerPlot.html give an impression of the

number of objects that almost hit the Earth every year. Without the Moon, we would have many additional
catastrophes.
 6 motion due to gravitation 169

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 123 The
phases of the Moon
and of Venus, as
observed from Athens
in summer 2007
(© Anthony
Ayiomamitis).

known as conic sections. Indeed each of these curves can be produced by cutting a cone
Challenge 296 e with a knife. Are you able to confirm this?
If orbits are mostly ellipses, it follows that comets return. The English astronomer Ed-
mund Halley (1656–1742) was the first to draw this conclusion and to predict the return
of a comet. It arrived at the predicted date in 1756, and is now named after him. The
period of Halley’s comet is between 74 and 80 years; the first recorded sighting was 22
centuries ago, and it has been seen at every one of its 30 passages since, the last time in
1986.
Depending on the initial energy and the initial angular momentum of the body with
respect to the central planet, paths are either elliptic, parabolic or hyperbolic. Can you
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

determine the conditions of the energy and the angular momentum needed for these
Challenge 297 ny paths to appear?
In practice, parabolic paths do not exist in nature. (Though some comets seem to ap-
proach this case when moving around the Sun; almost all comets follow elliptical paths).
Hyperbolic paths do exist; artificial satellites follow them when they are shot towards a
planet, usually with the aim of changing the direction of the satellite’s journey across the
solar system.
Why does the inverse square ‘law’ lead to conic sections? First, for two bodies, the
total angular momentum L is a constant:

L = mr 2 φ̇ (49)
 170 6 motion due to gravitation

hyperbola

parabola

mass

circle ellipse

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 124 The possible orbits due to universal gravity around a large mass (left) and a few recent
examples of measured orbits (right), namely those of some extrasolar planets and of the Earth, all drawn
around their respective central star, with distances given in astronomical units (© Geoffrey Marcy).

F I G U R E 125 Universal gravitation also explains the obervations of Venus, the evening and morning star.
In particular, universal gravitation, and the elliptical orbits it implies, explains its phases and its change
of angular size. The pictures shown here were taken in 2004 and 2005. The observations can easily be
made with a binocular or a small telescope (© Wah!; film available at apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060110.
html).
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

and therefore the motion lies in a plane. Also the energy E is a constant

1 dr 2 1 dφ 2 mM
E = m 󶀥 󶀵 + m 󶀥r 󶀵 − G . (50)
2 dt 2 dt r

Challenge 298 ny Together, the two equations imply that

L2 1
r= . (51)
Gm2 M 2
1 + 󵀊1 + 22EL
3 2 cos φ
G m M
 6 motion due to gravitation 171

Now, any curve defined by the general expression

C C
r= or r= (52)
1 + e cos φ 1 − e cos φ

is an ellipse for 0 < e < 1, a parabola for e = 1 and a hyperbola for e > 1, one focus being
at the origin. The quantity e, called the eccentricity, describes how squeezed the curve is.
In other words, a body in orbit around a central mass follows a conic section.
In all orbits, also the heavy mass moves. In fact, both bodies orbit around the com-
mon centre of mass. Both bodies follow the same type of curve (ellipsis, parabola or
Challenge 299 e hyperbola), but the sizes of the two curves differ.
If more than two objects move under mutual gravitation, many additional possibilities
for motions appear. The classification and the motions are quite complex. In fact, this so-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
called many-body problem is still a topic of research, and the results are mathematically
fascinating. Let us look at a few examples.
When several planets circle a star, they also attract each other. Planets thus do not
move in perfect ellipses. The largest deviation is a perihelion shift, as shown in Figure 99.
It is observed for Mercury and a few other planets, including the Earth. Other devia-
tions from elliptical paths appear during a single orbit. In 1846, the observed deviations
of the motion of the planet Uranus from the path predicted by universal gravity were
used to predict the existence of another planet, Neptune, which was discovered shortly
afterwards.
Page 97 We have seen that mass is always positive and that gravitation is thus always attractive;
there is no antigravity. Can gravity be used for levitation nevertheless, maybe using more
than two bodies? Yes; there are two examples.* The first are the geostationary satellites,
which are used for easy transmission of television and other signals from and towards
Earth.
The Lagrangian libration points are the second example. Named after their discoverer,
these are points in space near a two-body system, such as Moon–Earth or Earth–Sun, in
which small objects have a stable equilibrium position. An overview is given in Figure 126.
Challenge 300 s Can you find their precise position, remembering to take rotation into account? There are
three additional Lagrangian points on the Earth–Moon line (or Sun–planet line). How
Challenge 301 d many of them are stable?
There are thousands of asteroids, called Trojan asteroids, at and around the Lagrangian
points of the Sun–Jupiter system. In 1990, a Trojan asteroid for the Mars–Sun system
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

was discovered. Finally, in 1997, an ‘almost Trojan’ asteroid was found that follows the
Earth on its way around the Sun (it is only transitionary and follows a somewhat more
Ref. 141 complex orbit). This ‘second companion’ of the Earth has a diameter of 5 km. Similarly,
on the main Lagrangian points of the Earth–Moon system a high concentration of dust
has been observed.
To sum up, the single equation a = −GMr/r 3 correctly describes a large number of
phenomena in the sky. The first person to make clear that this expression describes ev-
erything happening in the sky was Pierre Simon Laplace** in his famous treatise Traité

Vol. III, page 175 * Levitation is discussed in detail in the section on electrodynamics.
** Pierre Simon Laplace (b. 1749 Beaumont-en-Auge, d. 1827 Paris), important French mathematician. His
 172 6 motion due to gravitation

geostationary
satellite
planet (or Sun)

fixed N L5
parabolic π/3
antenna
Earth π/3
π/3 π/3

L4
moon (or planet)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 126 Geostationary satellites (left) and the main stable Lagrangian points (right).

de mécanique céleste. When Napoleon told him that he found no mention about the cre-
ator in the book, Laplace gave a famous, one sentence summary of his book: Je n’ai pas
eu besoin de cette hypothèse. ‘I had no need for this hypothesis.’ In particular, Laplace
studied the stability of the solar system, the eccentricity of the lunar orbit, and the eccen-
tricities of the planetary orbits, always getting full agreement between calculation and
measurement.
These results are quite a feat for the simple expression of universal gravitation; they
also explain why it is called ‘universal’. But how accurate is the formula? Since astronomy
allows the most precise measurements of gravitational motion, it also provides the most
stringent tests. In 1849, Urbain Le Verrier concluded after intensive study that there was
only one known example of a discrepancy between observation and universal gravity,
namely one observation for the planet Mercury. (Nowadays a few more are known.) The
point of least distance to the Sun of the orbit of planet Mercury, its perihelion, changes
at a rate that is slightly less than that predicted: he found a tiny difference, around 38 󳰀󳰀
Ref. 142 per century. (This was corrected to 43 󳰀󳰀 per century in 1882 by Simon Newcomb.) Le
Verrier thought that the difference was due to a planet between Mercury and the Sun,
Vulcan, which he chased for many years without success. Indeed, Vulcan does not exist.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. II, page 163 The correct explanation of the difference had to wait for Albert Einstein.

Tides
Ref. 143 Why do physics texts always talk about tides? Because, as general relativity will show,
tides prove that space is curved! It is thus useful to study them in a bit more detail.
Figure 127 how striking tides can be. Gravitation explains the sea tides as results of the at-
traction of the ocean water by the Moon and the Sun. Tides are interesting; even though
the amplitude of the tides is only about 0.5 m on the open sea, it can be up to 20 m at

treatise appeared in five volumes between 1798 and 1825. He was the first to propose that the solar system
was formed from a rotating gas cloud, and one of the first people to imagine and explore black holes.
 6 motion due to gravitation 173

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 127 Tides at Saint-Valéry en Caux on September 20, 2005 (© Gilles Régnier).

Sun before
t = t1 :
deformed

t=0: after
spherical

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 128 Tidal deformations due to F I G U R E 129 The origin of tides.

gravity.

Challenge 302 s special places near the coast. Can you imagine why? The soil is also lifted and lowered by
Ref. 52 the Sun and the Moon, by about 0.3 m, as satellite measurements show. Even the atmo-
sphere is subject to tides, and the corresponding pressure variations can be filtered out
Ref. 144 from the weather pressure measurements.
Tides appear for any extended body moving in the gravitational field of another. To
understand the origin of tides, picture a body in orbit, like the Earth, and imagine its com-
ponents, such as the segments of Figure 128, as being held together by springs. Universal
 174 6 motion due to gravitation

gravity implies that orbits are slower the more distant they are from a central body. As
a result, the segment on the outside of the orbit would like to be slower than the central
one; but it is pulled by the rest of the body through the springs. In contrast, the inside seg-
ment would like to orbit more rapidly but is retained by the others. Being slowed down,
the inside segments want to fall towards the Sun. In sum, both segments feel a pull away
from the centre of the body, limited by the springs that stop the deformation. Therefore,
extended bodies are deformed in the direction of the field inhomogeneity.
For example, as a result of tidal forces, the Moon always has (roughly) the same face
to the Earth. In addition, its radius in direction of the Earth is larger by about 5 m than
the radius perpendicular to it. If the inner springs are too weak, the body is torn into
pieces; in this way a ring of fragments can form, such as the asteroid ring between Mars
and Jupiter or the rings around Saturn.
Let us return to the Earth. If a body is surrounded by water, it will form bulges in

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the direction of the applied gravitational field. In order to measure and compare the
strength of the tides from the Sun and the Moon, we reduce tidal effects to their bare
minimum. As shown in Figure 129, we can study the deformation of a body due to gravity
by studying the deformation of four pieces. We can study it in free fall, because orbital
motion and free fall are equivalent. Now, gravity makes some of the pieces approach
and others diverge, depending on their relative positions. The figure makes clear that the
strength of the deformation – water has no built-in springs – depends on the change
of gravitational acceleration with distance; in other words, the relative acceleration that
leads to the tides is proportional to the derivative of the gravitational acceleration.
Page 383 Using the numbers from Appendix B, the gravitational accelerations from the Sun
and the Moon measured on Earth are
GMSun
aSun = 2
= 5.9 mm/s2
dSun
GMMoon
aMoon = 2
= 0.033 mm/s2 (53)
dMoon

and thus the attraction from the Moon is about 178 times weaker than that from the Sun.
When two nearby bodies fall near a large mass, the relative acceleration is propor-
tional to their distance, and follows da = da/dr dr. The proportionality factor da/dr =
∇a, called the tidal acceleration (gradient), is the true measure of tidal effects. Near a
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 303 e large spherical mass M, it is given by

da 2GM
=− 3 (54)
dr r
which yields the values

daSun 2GM
= − 3 Sun = −0.8 ⋅ 10−13 /s2
dr dSun
daMoon 2GM
= − 3 Moon = −1.7 ⋅ 10−13 /s2 . (55)
dr dMoon
 6 motion due to gravitation 175

Moon

Earth’s rotation drives

The Moon attracts the
the bulge forward.
tide bulge and thus slows
down the rotation of
the Earth.

Earth

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The bulge of the tide attracts
the Moon and thus increases
the Moon’s orbit radius.

F I G U R E 130 The Earth, the Moon and the friction effects of the tides (not to scale).

In other words, despite the much weaker pull of the Moon, its tides are predicted to be
over twice as strong as the tides from the Sun; this is indeed observed. When Sun, Moon
and Earth are aligned, the two tides add up; these so-called spring tides are especially
strong and happen every 14.8 days, at full and new moon.
Tides lead to a pretty puzzle. Moon tides are much stronger than Sun tides. This im-
Challenge 304 s plies that the Moon is much denser than the Sun. Why?
Tides also produce friction, as shown in Figure 130. The friction leads to a slowing of
the Earth’s rotation. Nowadays, the slowdown can be measured by precise clocks (even
Ref. 104 though short time variations due to other effects, such as the weather, are often larger).
The results fit well with fossil results showing that 400 million years ago, in the Devonian
Vol. II, page 211 period, a year had 400 days, and a day about 22 hours. It is also estimated that 900 million Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

years ago, each of the 481 days of a year were 18.2 hours long. The friction at the basis of
this slowdown also results in an increase in the distance of the Moon from the Earth by
Challenge 305 s about 3.8 cm per year. Are you able to explain why?
As mentioned above, the tidal motion of the soil is also responsible for the triggering
of earthquakes. Thus the Moon can have also dangerous effects on Earth. (Unfortunately,
knowing the mechanism does not allow predicting earthquakes.) The most fascinating
example of tidal effects is seen on Jupiter’s satellite Io. Its tides are so strong that they
induce intense volcanic activity, as shown in Figure 131, with eruption plumes as high
as 500 km. If tides are even stronger, they can destroy the body altogether, as happened
to the body between Mars and Jupiter that formed the planetoids, or (possibly) to the
moons that led to Saturn’s rings.
In summary, tides are due to relative accelerations of nearby mass points. This has an
 176 6 motion due to gravitation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 131 A spectacular result of tides: volcanism
on Io (NASA).

x
t1

α
b

t2 M
t

F I G U R E 132 Particles falling F I G U R E 133 Masses bend light.

side-by-side approach over time.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. II, page 124 important consequence. In the chapter on general relativity we will find that time multi-
plied by the speed of light plays the same role as length. Time then becomes an additional
dimension, as shown in Figure 132. Using this similarity, two free particles moving in the
same direction correspond to parallel lines in space-time. Two particles falling side-by-
side also correspond to parallel lines. Tides show that such particles approach each other.
Vol. II, page 174 In other words, tides imply that parallel lines approach each other. But parallel lines can
approach each other only if space-time is curved. In short, tides imply curved space-time
and space. This simple reasoning could have been performed in the eighteenth century;
however, it took another 200 years and Albert Einstein’s genius to uncover it.
 6 motion due to gravitation 177

Can light fall?

“
Die Maxime, jederzeit selbst zu denken, ist die

”
Aufklärung.
Immanuel Kant*

Towards the end of the seventeenth century people discovered that light has a finite ve-
Vol. II, page 14 locity – a story which we will tell in detail later. An entity that moves with infinite velocity
cannot be affected by gravity, as there is no time to produce an effect. An entity with a
finite speed, however, should feel gravity and thus fall.
Does its speed increase when light reaches the surface of the Earth? For almost three
centuries people had no means of detecting any such effect; so the question was not in-
vestigated. Then, in 1801, the Prussian astronomer Johann Soldner (1776–1833) was the
Ref. 145 first to put the question in a different way. Being an astronomer, he was used to measur-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ing stars and their observation angles. He realized that light passing near a massive body
would be deflected due to gravity.
Soldner studied a body on a hyperbolic path, moving with velocity c past a spheri-
cal mass M at distance b (measured from the centre), as shown in Figure 133. Soldner
Challenge 306 ny deduced the deflection angle
2 GM
αuniv. grav. = . (56)
b c2
One sees that the angle is largest when the motion is just grazing the mass M. For light
deflected by the mass of the Sun, the angle turns out to be at most a tiny 0.88 󳰀󳰀 = 4.3 μrad.
In Soldner’s time, this angle was too small to be measured. Thus the issue was forgotten.
Had it been pursued, general relativity would have begun as an experimental science, and
Vol. II, page 161 not as the theoretical effort of Albert Einstein! Why? The value just calculated is different
from the measured value. The first measurement took place in 1919;** it found the correct
dependence on the distance, but found a deflection of up to 1.75 󳰀󳰀 , exactly double that of
expression (56). The reason is not easy to find; in fact, it is due to the curvature of space,
as we will see. In summary, light can fall, but the issue hides some surprises.

What is mass? – Again

Mass describes how an object interacts with others. In our walk, we have encountered
two of its aspects. Inertial mass is the property that keeps objects moving and that offers
resistance to a change in their motion. Gravitational mass is the property responsible for
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the acceleration of bodies nearby (the active aspect) or of being accelerated by objects
nearby (the passive aspect). For example, the active aspect of the mass of the Earth de-
termines the surface acceleration of bodies; the passive aspect of the bodies allows us
to weigh them in order to measure their mass using distances only, e.g. on a scale or a
balance. The gravitational mass is the basis of weight, the difficulty of lifting things.***
Is the gravitational mass of a body equal to its inertial mass? A rough answer is given
by the experience that an object that is difficult to move is also difficult to lift. The simplest

* The maxim to think at all times for oneself is the enlightenment.

Challenge 307 ny ** By the way, how would you measure the deflection of light near the bright Sun?
Challenge 308 ny *** What are the values shown by a balance for a person of 85 kg juggling three balls of 0.3 kg each?
 178 6 motion due to gravitation

experiment is to take two bodies of different masses and let them fall. If the acceleration
is the same for all bodies, inertial mass is equal to (passive) gravitational mass, because
in the relation ma = ∇(GMm/r) the left-hand m is actually the inertial mass, and the
right-hand m is actually the gravitational mass.
But in the seventeenth century Galileo had made widely known an even older argu-
ment showing without a single experiment that the gravitational acceleration is indeed
the same for all bodies. If larger masses fell more rapidly than smaller ones, then the
following paradox would appear. Any body can be seen as being composed of a large
fragment attached to a small fragment. If small bodies really fell less rapidly, the small
fragment would slow the large fragment down, so that the complete body would have
to fall less rapidly than the larger fragment (or break into pieces). At the same time, the
body being larger than its fragment, it should fall more rapidly than that fragment. This
is obviously impossible: all masses must fall with the same acceleration.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Many accurate experiments have been performed since Galileo’s original discussion.
In all of them the independence of the acceleration of free fall from mass and material
Ref. 146 composition has been confirmed with the precision they allowed. In other words, as far
as we can tell, gravitational mass and inertial mass are identical. What is the origin of this
mysterious equality?
This so-called ‘mystery’ is a typical example of disinformation, now common across
Page 92 the whole world of physics education. Let us go back to the definition of mass as a nega-
tive inverse acceleration ratio. We mentioned that the physical origins of the accelerations
do not play a role in the definition because the origin does not appear in the expression.
In other words, the value of the mass is by definition independent of the interaction.
That means in particular that inertial mass, based on electromagnetic interaction, and
gravitational mass are identical by definition.
We also note that we have never defined a separate concept of ‘passive gravitational
mass’. The mass being accelerated by gravitation is the inertial mass. Worse, there is no
Challenge 309 s way to define a ‘passive gravitational mass’. Try it! All methods, such as weighing an ob-
ject, cannot be distinguished from those that determine inertial mass from its reaction to
acceleration. Indeed, all methods of measuring mass use non-gravitational mechanisms.
Scales are a good example.
If the ‘passive gravitational mass’ were different from the inertial mass, we would have
strange consequences. For those bodies for which it were different we would get into
trouble with energy conservation. Also assuming that ‘active gravitational mass’ differs Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

from inertial mass gets us into trouble.

Another way of looking at the issue is as follows. How could ‘gravitational mass’ dif-
fer from inertial mass? Would the difference depend on relative velocity, time, position,
composition or on mass itself? Each of these possibilities contradicts either energy or
momentum conservation.
No wonder that all measurements confirm the equality of all mass types. The issue is
Vol. II, page 144 usually resurrected in general relativity, with no new results. ‘Both’ masses remain equal.
Mass is a unique property of bodies. Another, deeper issue remains, though. What is the
origin of mass? Why does it exist? This simple but deep question cannot be answered by
classical physics. We will need some patience to find out.
 6 motion due to gravitation 179

F I G U R E 134 Brooms fall more rapidly than stones (© Luca Gastaldi).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Curiosities and fun challenges about gravitation

“
Fallen ist weder gefährlich noch eine Schande;

”
Liegen bleiben ist beides.*
Konrad Adenauer

Gravity on the Moon is only one sixth of that on the Earth. Why does this imply that
it is difficult to walk quickly and to run on the Moon (as can be seen in the TV images
recorded there)?
∗∗
Is the acceleration due to gravity constant? Not really. Every day, it is estimated that 108 kg
of material fall onto the Earth in the form of meteorites and asteroids. Nevertheless, it is
unknown whether the mass of the Earth increases with time (due to collection of mete-
orites and cosmic dust) or decreases (due to gas loss). If you find a way to settle the issue,
publish it.
∗∗
Incidentally, discovering objects hitting the Earth is not at all easy. Astronomers like to
point out that an asteroid as large as the one that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs
could hit the Earth without any astronomer noticing in advance, if the direction is slightly
unusual, such as from the south, where few telescopes are located. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Several humans have survived free falls from aeroplanes for a thousand metres or more,
even though they had no parachute. A minority of them even did so without any harm
Challenge 310 s at all. How was this possible?
∗∗
Imagine that you have twelve coins of identical appearance, of which one is a forgery.
The forged one has a different mass from the eleven genuine ones. How can you decide

* ‘Falling is neither dangerous nor a shame; to keep lying is both.’ Konrad Adenauer (b. 1876 Köln, d.
1967 Rhöndorf ), West German Chancellor.
 180 6 motion due to gravitation

which is the forged one and whether it is lighter or heavier, using a simple balance only
Challenge 311 e three times?
You have nine identically-looking spheres, all of the same mass, except one, which is
heavier. Can you determine which one, using the balance only two times?
∗∗
For a physicist, antigravity is repulsive gravity; it does not exist in nature. Nevertheless,
the term ‘antigravity’ is used incorrectly by many people, as a short search on the in-
ternet shows. Some people call any effect that overcomes gravity, ‘antigravity’. However,
this definition implies that tables and chairs are antigravity devices. Following the defini-
tion, most of the wood, steel and concrete producers are in the antigravity business. The
internet definition makes absolutely no sense.
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 312 s What is the cheapest way to switch gravity off for 25 seconds?
∗∗
Do all objects on Earth fall with the same acceleration of 9.8 m/s2 , assuming that air
resistance can be neglected? No; every housekeeper knows that. You can check this by
yourself. As shown in Figure 134, a broom angled at around 35° hits the floor before a
Challenge 313 s stone, as the sounds of impact confirm. Are you able to explain why?
∗∗
Also bungee jumpers are accelerated more strongly than д. For a bungee cord of mass m
and a jumper of mass M, the maximum acceleration a is

1m m
a = д 󶀤1 + 󶀤4 + 󶀴󶀴 . (57)
8M M

Challenge 314 s Can you deduce the relation from Figure 135?
∗∗
Challenge 315 s Guess: What is the weight of a ball of cork with a radius of 1 m?
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 316 s Guess: One thousand 1 mm diameter steel balls are collected. What is the mass?
∗∗
How can you use your observations made during your travels with a bathroom scale to
Challenge 317 s show that the Earth is not flat?
∗∗
Both the Earth and the Moon attract bodies. The centre of mass of the Earth–Moon
system is 4800 km away from the centre of the Earth, quite near its surface. Why do
Challenge 318 s bodies on Earth still fall towards the centre of the Earth?
 6 motion due to gravitation 181

1000 km

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
M

F I G U R E 135 The starting situation F I G U R E 136 An honest balance?

for a bungee jumper.

∗∗
Does every spherical body fall with the same acceleration? No. If the weight of the object
is comparable to that of the Earth, the distance decreases in a different way. Can you
Challenge 319 e confirm this statement? Figure 136 shows a related puzzle. What then is wrong about
Page 178 Galileo’s argument about the constancy of acceleration of free fall?
∗∗
What is the fastest speed that a human can achieve making use of gravitational accelera-
tion? There are various methods that try this; a few are shown in Figure 137. Terminal
speed of free falling skydivers can be even higher, but no reliable record speed value ex-
ists. The last word is not spoken yet, as all these records will be surpassed in the coming
years. It is important to require normal altitude; at stratospheric altitudes, speed values
Vol. II, page 124 can be four times the speed values at low altitude. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
It is easy to lift a mass of a kilogram from the floor on a table. Twenty kilograms is harder.
Challenge 320 s A thousand is impossible. However, 6 ⋅ 1024 kg is easy. Why?
∗∗
Page 175 The friction between the Earth and the Moon slows down the rotation of both. The Moon
stopped rotating millions of years ago, and the Earth is on its way to doing so as well.
When the Earth stops rotating, the Moon will stop moving away from Earth. How far will
Challenge 321 ny the Moon be from the Earth at that time? Afterwards however, even further in the future,
the Moon will move back towards the Earth, due to the friction between the Earth–Moon
system and the Sun. Even though this effect would only take place if the Sun burned for
 182 6 motion due to gravitation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 137 Reducing air resistance increases the terminal speed: left, the 2007 speed skiing world
record holder Simone Origone with 69.83 m/s and right, the 2007 speed world record holder for
bicycles on snow Éric Barone with 61.73 m/s (© Simone Origone, Éric Barone).

Challenge 322 s ever, which is known to be false, can you explain it?
∗∗
When you run towards the east, you lose weight. There are two different reasons for this:
the ‘centrifugal’ acceleration increases so that the force with which you are pulled down
diminishes, and the Coriolis force appears, with a similar result. Can you estimate the
Challenge 323 ny size of the two effects?
∗∗
What is the relation between the time a stone takes falling through a distance l and the
Challenge 324 s time a pendulum takes swinging though half a circle of radius l? (This problem is due to
Galileo.) How many digits of the number π can one expect to determine in this way? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Why can a spacecraft accelerate through the slingshot effect when going round a planet,
Challenge 325 s despite momentum conservation? It is speculated that the same effect is also the reason
for the few exceptionally fast stars that are observed in the galaxy. For example, the star
Ref. 147 HE0457-5439 moves with 720 km/s, which is much higher than the 100 to 200 km/s of
most stars in the Milky way. It seems that the role of the accelerating centre was taken by
a black hole.
∗∗
Ref. 148 The orbit of a planet around the Sun has many interesting properties. What is the hodo-
Challenge 326 s graph of the orbit? What is the hodograph for parabolic and hyperbolic orbits?
 6 motion due to gravitation 183

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 138 The four satellites of Jupiter discovered by Galileo
and their motion (© Robin Scagell).

∗∗
The Galilean satellites of Jupiter, shown in Figure 138, can be seen with small amateur tele-
scopes. Galileo discovered them in 1610 and called them the Medicean satellites. (Today,
they are named, in order of increasing distance from Jupiter, as Io, Europa, Ganymede
and Callisto.) They are almost mythical objects. They were the first bodies found that ob-
viously did not orbit the Earth; thus Galileo used them to deduce that the Earth is not at
the centre of the universe. The satellites have also been candidates to be the first standard
clock, as their motion can be predicted to high accuracy, so that the ‘standard time’ could
be read off from their position. Finally, due to this high accuracy, in 1676, the speed of
Vol. II, page 15 light was first measured with their help, as told in the section on special relativity.
∗∗
A simple, but difficult question: if all bodies attract each other, why don’t or didn’t all stars Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 327 s fall towards each other? Indeed, the inverse square expression of universal gravity has a
limitation: it does not allow one to make sensible statements about the matter in the
universe. Universal gravity predicts that a homogeneous mass distribution is unstable;
indeed, an inhomogeneous distribution is observed. However, universal gravity does not
predict the average mass density, the darkness at night, the observed speeds of the distant
galaxies, etc. In fact, ‘universal’ gravity does not explain or predict a single property of
Vol. II, page 194 the universe. To do this, we need general relativity.
∗∗
The acceleration д due to gravity at a depth of 3000 km is 10.05 m/s2 , over 2 % more
Ref. 149 than at the surface of the Earth. How is this possible? Also, on the Tibetan plateau, д is
influenced by the material below it.
 184 6 motion due to gravitation

Earth Moon Earth

Moon

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Sun

F I G U R E 139 Which of the two Moon paths is correct?

∗∗
When the Moon circles the Sun, does its path have sections concave towards the Sun, as
Challenge 328 s shown at the right of Figure 139, or not, as shown on the left? (Independent of this issue,
both paths in the diagram disguise that the Moon path does not lie in the same plane as
the path of the Earth around the Sun.)
∗∗
You can prove that objects attract each other (and that they are not only attracted by the
Earth) with a simple experiment that anybody can perform at home, as described on the
www.fourmilab.ch/gravitation/foobar website.
∗∗
It is instructive to calculate the escape velocity from the Earth, i.e., that velocity with
which a body must be thrown so that it never falls back. It turns out to be around 11 km/s.
(This was called the second cosmic velocity in the past; the first cosmic velocity was the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

name given to the lowest speed for an orbit, 7.9 km/s.) The exact value of the escape
velocity depends on the latitude of the thrower, and on the direction of the throw. (Why?)
Challenge 329 e
What is the escape velocity for the solar system? (It was once called the third cosmic
velocity.) By the way, the escape velocity from our galaxy is over 500 km/s. What would
happen if a planet or a system were so heavy that its escape velocity would be larger than
Challenge 330 s the speed of light?
∗∗
Challenge 331 s What is the largest asteroid one can escape from by jumping?
∗∗
 6 motion due to gravitation 185

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 140 The analemma over Delphi, taken
between January and December 2002
(© Anthony Ayiomamitis).

For bodies of irregular shape, the centre of gravity of a body is not the same as the centre
Challenge 332 s of mass. Are you able to confirm this? (Hint: Find and use the simplest example possible.)
∗∗
Can gravity produce repulsion? What happens to a small test body on the inside of a
Challenge 333 ny large C-shaped mass? Is it pushed towards the centre of mass?
∗∗
Ref. 150 The shape of the Earth is not a sphere. As a consequence, a plumb line usually does not
Challenge 334 ny point to the centre of the Earth. What is the largest deviation in degrees?
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

If you look at the sky every day at 6 a.m., the Sun’s position varies during the year. The
result of photographing the Sun on the same film is shown in Figure 140. The curve,
called the analemma, is due to two combined effects: the inclination of the Earth’s axis
and the elliptical shape of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The top and the (hidden)
bottom points of the analemma correspond to the solstices. How does the analemma look
Challenge 335 s if photographed every day at local noon? Why is it not a straight line pointing exactly
south?
∗∗
The constellation in which the Sun stands at noon (at the centre of the time zone) is sup-
posedly called the ‘zodiacal sign’ of that day. Astrologers say there are twelve of them,
 186 6 motion due to gravitation

namely Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricor-
nus, Aquarius and Pisces and that each takes (quite precisely) a twelfth of a year or a
twelfth of the ecliptic. Any check with a calendar shows that at present, the midday Sun
is never in the zodiacal sign during the days usually connected to it. The relation has
Page 138 shifted by about a month since it was defined, due to the precession of the Earth’s axis.
A check with a map of the star sky shows that the twelve constellations do not have the
same length and that on the ecliptic there are fourteen of them, not twelve. There is Ophi-
uchus or Serpentarius, the serpent bearer constellation, between Scorpius and Sagittarius,
and Cetus, the whale, between Aquarius and Pisces. In fact, not a single astronomical
Ref. 151 statement about zodiacal signs is correct. To put it clearly, astrology, in contrast to its
name, is not about stars. (In one language, the term for ‘crook’ is derived from the word
‘astrologer’.)
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
For a long time, it was thought that there is no additional planet in our solar system
Ref. 152 outside Neptune and Pluto, because their orbits show no disturbances from another body.
Today, the view has changed. It is known that there are only eight planets: Pluto is not
a planet, but the first of a set of smaller objects in the so-called Kuiper belt. Kuiper belt
objects are regularly discovered; around 80 are known today.
In 2003, two major Kuiper objects were discovered; one, called Sedna, is almost as
Ref. 153 large as Pluto, the other, called Eris, is even larger than Pluto and has a moon. Both have
strongly elliptical orbits (see Figure 141). Since Pluto and Eris, like the asteroid Ceres,
have cleaned their orbit from debris, these three objects are now classified as dwarf plan-
ets.
∗∗
In astronomy new examples of motion are regularly discovered even in the present cen-
tury. Sometimes there are also false alarms. One example was the alleged fall of mini
comets on the Earth. They were supposedly made of a few dozen kilograms of ice, hitting
Ref. 154 the Earth every few seconds. It is now known not to happen.
∗∗
Universal gravity allows only elliptical, parabolic or hyperbolic orbits. It is impossible
for a small object approaching a large one to be captured. At least, that is what we have Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

learned so far. Nevertheless, all astronomy books tell stories of capture in our solar sys-
tem; for example, several outer satellites of Saturn have been captured. How is this pos-
Challenge 336 s sible?
∗∗
How would a tunnel have to be shaped in order that a stone would fall through it without
touching the walls? (Assume constant density.) If the Earth did not rotate, the tunnel
would be a straight line through its centre, and the stone would fall down and up again,
in a oscillating motion. For a rotating Earth, the problem is much more difficult. What
Challenge 337 s is the shape when the tunnel starts at the Equator?
∗∗
 6 motion due to gravitation 187

Sedna
Jupiter Kuiper Belt

Mars
Earth
Venus Uranus
Mercury
Saturn

Jupiter

Asteroids Pluto

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Inner Outer
Solar System Solar System

Inner extent Orbit of

of Oort Cloud Sedna

F I G U R E 141 The orbit of Sedna in comparison with the orbits of the planets in the solar system (NASA).

The International Space Station circles the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

380 km. You can see where it is from the website www.heavens-above.com. By the way,
whenever it is just above the horizon, the station is the third brightest object in the night
Challenge 338 e sky, superseded only by the Moon and Venus. Have a look at it.
∗∗
Is it true that the centre of mass of the solar system, its barycentre, is always inside the
Challenge 339 s Sun? Even though a star or the Sun move very little when planets move around them,
this motion can be detected with precision measurements making use of the Doppler
Vol. II, page 27 effect for light or radio waves. Jupiter, for example, produces a speed change of 13 m/s
in the Sun, the Earth 1 m/s. The first planets outside the solar system, around the pulsar
PSR1257+12 and the star Pegasi 51, was discovered in this way, in 1992 and 1995. In the
meantime, over 400 planets have been discovered with this and other methods. Some
 188 6 motion due to gravitation

dm
r

m
R

dM

F I G U R E 142 The vanishing of gravitational force inside a

spherical shell of matter.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
have even masses comparable to that of the Earth.
∗∗
Not all points on the Earth receive the same number of daylight hours during a year. The
Challenge 340 d effects are difficult to spot, though. Can you find one?
∗∗
Can the phase of the Moon have a measurable effect on the human body, for example
Challenge 341 s through tidal effects?
∗∗
There is an important difference between the heliocentric system and the old idea that all
planets turn around the Earth. The heliocentric system states that certain planets, such as
Mercury and Venus, can be between the Earth and the Sun at certain times, and behind
the Sun at other times. In contrast, the geocentric system states that they are always in be-
tween. Why did such an important difference not immediately invalidate the geocentric
Challenge 342 s system?
∗∗
The strangest reformulation of the description of motion given by ma = ∇U is the almost
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 155 absurd looking equation

∇󰑣 = d󰑣/ds (58)

where s is the motion path length. It is called the ray form of Newton’s equation of motion.
Challenge 343 s Can you find an example of its application?
∗∗
Seen from Neptune, the size of the Sun is the same as that of Jupiter seen from the Earth
Challenge 344 s at the time of its closest approach. True?
∗∗
 6 motion due to gravitation 189

Ref. 156 The gravitational acceleration for a particle inside a spherical shell is zero. The vanishing
of gravity in this case is independent of the particle shape and its position, and indepen-
Challenge 345 s dent of the thickness of the shell.Can you find the argument using Figure 142? This works
only because of the 1/r 2 dependence of gravity. Can you show that the result does not
hold for non-spherical shells? Note that the vanishing of gravity inside a spherical shell
usually does not hold if other matter is found outside the shell. How could one eliminate
Challenge 346 s the effects of outside matter?
∗∗
What is gravity? This is not a simple question. In 1690, Nicolas Fatio de Duillier and in
Ref. 157 1747, Georges-Louis Lesage proposed an explanation for the 1/r 2 dependence. Lesage ar-
gued that the world is full of small particles – he called them ‘corpuscules ultra-mondains’
– flying around randomly and hitting all objects. Single objects do not feel the hits, since

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
they are hit continuously and randomly from all directions. But when two objects are
near to each other, they produce shadows for part of the flux to the other body, resulting
Challenge 347 e in an attraction. Can you show that such an attraction has a 1/r 2 dependence?
However, Lesage’s proposal has a number of problems. The argument only works if
the collisions are inelastic. (Why?) However, that would mean that all bodies would heat
Ref. 2 up with time, as Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond explains.
There are two additional problems with the idea of Lesage. First, a moving body in
free space would be hit by more or faster particles in the front than in the back; as a
result, the body should be decelerated. Second, gravity would depend on size, but in a
strange way. In particular, three bodies lying on a line should not produce shadows, as
no such shadows are observed; but the naive model predicts such shadows.
Despite all the criticisms, this famous idea has regularly resurfaced in physics ever
since, even though such particles have never been found. Only in the final part of our
mountain ascent will we settle the issue of the origin of gravitation.
∗∗
Challenge 348 ny For which bodies does gravity decrease as you approach them?
∗∗
Could one put a satellite into orbit using a cannon? Does the answer depend on the
Challenge 349 s direction in which one shoots?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Two computer users share experiences. ‘I threw my Pentium III and Pentium IV out of
the window.’ ‘And?’ ‘The Pentium III was faster.’
∗∗
Challenge 350 s How often does the Earth rise and fall when seen from the Moon? Does the Earth show
phases?
∗∗
Challenge 351 ny What is the weight of the Moon? How does it compare with the weight of the Alps?
 190 6 motion due to gravitation

F I G U R E 143 The motion of the

planetoids compared to that of the
planets (Shockwave animation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
© Hans-Christian Greier)

∗∗
Owing to the slightly flattened shape of the Earth, the source of the Mississippi is about
20 km nearer to the centre of the Earth than its mouth; the water effectively runs uphill.
Challenge 352 s How can this be?
∗∗
If a star is made of high density material, the speed of a planet orbiting near to it could
Challenge 353 s be greater than the speed of light. How does nature avoid this strange possibility?
∗∗
What will happen to the solar system in the future? This question is surprisingly hard to
answer. The main expert of this topic, French planetary scientist Jacques Laskar, simu-
Ref. 158 lated a few hundred million years of evolution using computer-aided calculus. He found
Page 357 that the planetary orbits are stable, but that there is clear evidence of chaos in the evolu-
tion of the solar system, at a small level. The various planets influence each other in subtle
and still poorly understood ways. Effects in the past are also being studied, such as the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

energy change of Jupiter due to its ejection of smaller asteroids from the solar system, or
energy gains of Neptune. There is still a lot of research to be done in this field.
∗∗
One of the open problems of the solar system is the description of planet distances discov-
ered in 1766 by Johann Daniel Titius (1729–1796) and publicized by Johann Elert Bode
(1747–1826). Titius discovered that planetary distances d from the Sun can be approxi-
mated by
d = a + 2n b with a = 0.4 AU , b = 0.3 AU (59)

where distances are measured in astronomical units and n is the number of the planet.
The resulting approximation is compared with observations in Table 27.
 6 motion due to gravitation 191

TA B L E 27 An unexplained property of nature: planet

distances and the values resulting from the Titius–Bode
rule.

Planet n predicted measured

d i s ta n c e i n AU

Mercury −∞ 0.4 0.4

Venus 0 0.7 0.7
Earth 1 1.0 1.0
Mars 2 1.6 1.5
Planetoids 3 2.8 2.2 to 3.2
Jupiter 4 5.2 5.2
Saturn 5 10.0 9.5

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Uranus 6 19.6 19.2
Neptune 7 38.8 30.1
Pluto 8 77.2 39.5

Interestingly, the last three planets, as well as the planetoids, were discovered after
Bode’s and Titius’ deaths; the rule had successfully predicted Uranus’ distance, as well as
that of the planetoids. Despite these successes – and the failure for the last two planets –
nobody has yet found a model for the formation of the planets that explains Titius’ rule.
The large satellites of Jupiter and of Uranus have regular spacing, but not according to
the Titius–Bode rule.
Explaining or disproving the rule is one of the challenges that remains in classical
Ref. 159 mechanics. Some researchers maintain that the rule is a consequence of scale invariance,
Ref. 160 others maintain that it is a accident or even a red herring. The last interpretation is also
suggested by the non-Titius–Bode behaviour of practically all extrasolar planets. The is-
sue is not closed.
∗∗
Around 3000 years ago, the Babylonians had measured the orbital times of the seven Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

celestial bodies. Ordered from longest to shortest, they wrote them down in Table 28.
The Babylonians also introduced the week and the division of the day into 24 hours.
The Babylonians dedicated every one of the 168 hours of the week to a celestial body,
following the order of Table 28. They also dedicated the whole day to that celestial body
that corresponds to the first hour of that day. The first day of the week was dedicated to
Challenge 354 e Saturn; the present ordering of the other days of the week then follows from Table 28. This
Ref. 161 story was told by Cassius Dio (c. 160 to c. 230). Towards the end of Antiquity, the ordering
was taken up by the Roman empire. In Germanic languages, including English, the Latin
names of the celestial bodies were replaced by the corresponding Germanic gods. The
order Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday is thus a
consequence of both the astronomical measurements and the astrological superstitions
of the ancients.
 192 6 motion due to gravitation

TA B L E 28 The orbital
periods known to the
Babylonians.

Body Period

Saturn 29 a
Jupiter 12 a
Mars 687 d
Sun 365 d
Venus 224 d
Mercury 88 d
Moon 29 d

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∗∗
In 1722, the great mathematician Leonhard Euler made a mistake in his calculation that
led him to conclude that if a tunnel, or better, a deep hole were built from one pole of
the Earth to the other, a stone falling into it would arrive at the Earth’s centre and then
immediately turn and go back up. Voltaire made fun of this conclusion for many years.
Can you correct Euler and show that the real motion is an oscillation from one pole
to the other, and can you calculate the time a pole-to-pole fall would take (assuming
Challenge 355 s homogeneous density)?
What would be the oscillation time for an arbitrary straight surface-to-surface tunnel
Challenge 356 s of length l, thus not going from pole to pole?
The previous challenges circumvented the effects of the Earth’s rotation. The topic
Ref. 162 becomes much more interesting if rotation is included. What would be the shape of a
Challenge 357 ny tunnel so that a stone falling through it never touches the wall?
∗∗
Figure 144 shows a photograph of a solar eclipse taken from the Russian space station
Mir and a photograph taken at the centre of the shadow from the Earth. Indeed, a global
view of a phenomenon can be quite different from a local one. What is the speed of the
Challenge 358 s shadow?
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In 2005, satellite measurements have shown that the water in the Amazon river presses
down the land up to 75 mm more in the season when it is full of water than in the season
Ref. 163 when it is almost empty.
∗∗
Assume that wires existed that do not break at all. How long would such a wire have to
Challenge 359 s be so that, when attached to the equator, it would stand upright in the air?
∗∗
Everybody knows that there are roughly two tides per day. But there are places, such as
on the coast of Vietnam, where there is only one tide per day. See www.jason.oceanobs.
 6 motion due to gravitation 193

F I G U R E 144 The solar eclipse of 11 August 1999, photographed by Jean-Pierre Haigneré, member of
the Mir 27 crew, and the (enhanced) solar eclipse of 29 March 2006 (© CNES and Laurent

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Laveder/PixHeaven.net).

Challenge 360 ny com/html/applications/marees/marees_m2k1_fr.html. Why?

∗∗
It is sufficient to use the concept of centrifugal force to show that the rings of Saturn
cannot be made of massive material, but must be made of separate pieces. Can you find
Challenge 361 s out how?
∗∗
A painting is hanging on the wall of Dr. Dolittle’s waiting room. He hung up the painting
using two nails, and wound the picture wire around the nails in such a way that the
Challenge 362 e painting would fall if either nail were pulled out. How did Dr. Dolittle do it?
∗∗
Why did Mars lose its atmosphere? Nobody knows. It has recently been shown that the
solar wind is too weak for this to happen. This is one of the many open riddles of the
solar system.
∗∗
The observed motion due to gravity can be shown to be the simplest possible, in the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 217 following sense. If we measure change of a falling object with ∫ m󰑣 2 /2 − mдh dt, then a
constant acceleration due to gravity minimizes the change in every example of fall. Can
Challenge 363 ny you confirm this?
∗∗
Motion due to gravity is fun: think about roller coasters. If you want to know more at
how they are built, visit www.vekoma.com.

“
The scientific theory I like best is that the rings

”
of Saturn are made of lost airline luggage.
Mark Russel
194 6 motion due to gravitation

Summary on gravitation
Spherical bodies of mass m attract other bodies at a distance r by inducing an acceleration
towards them given by a = Gm/r 2 . This expression, universal gravitation, describes snow-
boarders, skiers, paragliders, athletes, couch potatoes, pendula, stones, canons, rockets,
tides, eclipses, planet shapes, planet motion and much more. It is the first example of a
unified description, in this case, of how everything falls.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 7

C L A S SIC A L ME C HAN IC S A N D TH E
PR EDIC TABI LI T Y OF MOTION

A
ll those types of motion in which the only permanent property of
body is mass define the field of mechanics. The same name is given

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
lso to the experts studying the field. We can think of mechanics as the ath-
letic part of physics.* Both in athletics and in mechanics only lengths, times and masses
are measured.
More specifically, our topic of investigation so far is called classical mechanics, to dis-
tinguish it from quantum mechanics. The main difference is that in classical physics arbi-
trary small values are assumed to exist, whereas this is not the case in quantum physics.
Classical mechanics is often also called Galilean physics or Newtonian physics.**
Classical mechanics states that motion is predictable: it thus states that there are no
surprises in motion. Is this correct in all cases? Let us start with the exploration of this
issue.
We know that there is more to the world than gravity. A simple observation makes
the point: friction. Friction cannot be due to gravity, because friction is not observed
in the skies, where motion follows gravity rules only.*** Moreover, on Earth, friction is
Challenge 364 e not related to gravity, as you might want to check. There must be another interaction
responsible for friction. We shall study it shortly. But one issue merits a discussion right
away.

Should one use force? Power?

“
The direct use of force is such a poor solution to
any problem, it is generally employed only by

”
small children and large nations.
David Friedman
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* This is in contrast to the actual origin of the term ‘mechanics’, which means ‘machine science’. It derives
from the Greek μηκανή, which means ‘machine’ and even lies at the origin of the English word ‘machine’
itself. Sometimes the term ‘mechanics’ is used for the study of motion of solid bodies only, excluding, e.g.,
hydrodynamics. This use fell out of favour in physics in the twentieth century.
** The basis of classical mechanics, the description of motion using only space and time, is called kinematics.
An example is the description of free fall by z(t) = z0 + 󰑣0 (t − t0 ) − 12 д(t − t0 )2 . The other, main part of
classical mechanics is the description of motion as a consequence of interactions between bodies; it is called
dynamics. An example of dynamics is the formula of universal gravity. The distinction between kinematics
and dynamics can also be made in relativity, thermodynamics and electrodynamics.
*** This is not completely correct: in the 1980s, the first case of gravitational friction was discovered: the
Vol. II, page 153 emission of gravity waves. We discuss it in detail in the chapter on general relativity.
 196 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion

TA B L E 29 Some force values in nature.

O b s e r va t i o n Force

Value measured in a magnetic resonance force microscope 820 zN

Force needed to rip a DNA molecule apart by pulling at its two ends 600 pN
Maximum force exerted by human bite 2.1 kN
Typical peak force exerted by sledgehammer 2 kN
Force exerted by quadriceps up to 3 kN
Force sustained by 1 cm2 of a good adhesive up to 10 kN
Force needed to tear a good rope used in rock climbing 30 kN
Maximum force measurable in nature 3.0 ⋅ 1043 N

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Everybody has to take a stand on this question, even students of physics. Indeed, many
types of forces are used and observed in daily life. One speaks of muscular, gravitational,
psychic, sexual, satanic, supernatural, social, political, economic and many others. Physi-
cists see things in a simpler way. They call the different types of forces observed between
objects interactions. The study of the details of all these interactions will show that, in
everyday life, they are of electrical origin.
For physicists, all change is due to motion. The term force then also takes on a more
restrictive definition. (Physical) force is defined as the change of momentum with time, i.e.,
as
dp
F= . (60)
dt
A few measured values are listed in Figure 29. Since momentum is conserved, we can
say that force measures the flow of momentum. If a force accelerates a body, momentum
flows into it. Indeed, momentum can be imagined to be some invisible and intangible
liquid. Force measures how much of this liquid flows into or out of a body per unit time.
Using the Galilean definition of linear momentum p = m󰑣, we can rewrite the defini-
tion of force (for constant mass) as
F = ma , (61)

where F = F(t, x) is the force acting on an object of mass m and where a = a(t, x) =
d󰑣/dt = d2 x/dt 2 is the acceleration of the same object, that is to say its change of ve-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

locity.* The expression states in precise terms that force is what changes the velocity of
masses. The quantity is called ‘force’ because it corresponds in many, but not all aspects
to muscular force. For example, the more force is used, the further a stone can be thrown.
However, whenever the concept of force is used, it should be remembered that phys-
ical force is different from everyday force or everyday effort. Effort is probably best ap-

* This equation was first written down by the Swiss mathematician and physicist Leonhard Euler (1707–
1783) in 1747, 20 years after the death of Newton, to whom it is usually and falsely ascribed. It was Euler, one
of the greatest mathematicians of all time, not Newton, who first understood that this definition of force is
useful in every case of motion, whatever the appearance, be it for point particles or extended objects, and be
Ref. 26 it rigid, deformable or fluid bodies. Surprisingly and in contrast to frequently-made statements, equation
Vol. II, page 75 (61) is even correct in relativity. .
 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion 197

proximated by the concept of (physical) power, usually abbreviated P, and defined (for
constant force) as
dW
P= =F ⋅󰑣 (62)
dt
in which (physical) work W is defined as W = F ⋅ s. Physical work is a form of energy,
as you might want to check. Work, as a form of energy, has to be taken into account
when the conservation of energy is checked. Note that a man who walks carrying a heavy
Challenge 365 s rucksack is hardly doing any work; why then does he get tired?
With the definition of work just given you can solve the following puzzles. What hap-
Challenge 366 s pens to the electricity consumption of an escalator if you walk on it instead of standing
Challenge 367 d still? What is the effect of the definition of power for the salary of scientists?
When students in exams say that the force acting on a thrown stone is least at the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 164 highest point of the trajectory, it is customary to say that they are using an incorrect view,
namely the so-called Aristotelian view, in which force is proportional to velocity. Some-
times it is even said that they are using a different concept of state of motion. Critics
then add, with a tone of superiority, how wrong all this is. This is an example of intellec-
tual disinformation. Every student knows from riding a bicycle, from throwing a stone
or from pulling an object that increased effort results in increased speed. The student is
right; those theoreticians who deduce that the student has a mistaken concept of force
are wrong. In fact, instead of the physical concept of force, the student is just using the
everyday version, namely effort. Indeed, the effort exerted by gravity on a flying stone is
least at the highest point of the trajectory. Understanding the difference between physical
force and everyday effort is the main hurdle in learning mechanics.*
Often the flow of momentum, equation (60), is not recognized as the definition of
force. This is mainly due to an everyday observation: there seem to be forces without
any associated acceleration or change in momentum, such as in a string under tension
or in water at high pressure. When one pushes against a tree, there is no motion, yet a
force is applied. If force is momentum flow, where does the momentum go? It flows into
the slight deformations of the arms and the tree. In fact, when one starts pushing and
thus deforming, the associated momentum change of the molecules, the atoms, or the
electrons of the two bodies can be observed. After the deformation is established, and
looking at even higher magnification, one can indeed find that a continuous and equal
flow of momentum is going on in both directions. The nature of this flow will be clarified
in our exploration of quantum theory.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

As force is net momentum flow, it is only needed as a separate concept in everyday

life, where it is useful in situations where net momentum flows are less than the total
flows. At the microscopic level, momentum alone suffices for the description of motion.
For example, the concept of weight describes the flow of momentum due to gravity. Thus
we will hardly ever use the term ‘weight’ in the microscopic part of our adventure.
Before we can answer the question in the section title, on the usefulness of force and
power, we need more arguments. Through its definition, the concept of force is distin-

* This stepping stone is so high that many professional physicists do not really take it themselves; this is
confirmed by the innumerable comments in papers that state that physical force is defined using mass,
and, at the same time, that mass is defined using force (the latter part of the sentence being a fundamental
mistake).
 198 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion

guished clearly from ‘mass’, ‘momentum’, ‘energy’ and ‘power’. But where do forces orig-
inate? In other words, which effects in nature have the capacity to accelerate bodies by
pumping momentum into objects? Table 30 gives an overview.

Forces, surfaces and conservation

We saw that force is the change of momentum. We also saw that momentum is conserved.
How do these statements come together? The answer is the same for all conserved quan-
tities. We imagine a closed surface that is the boundary of a volume in space. Conserva-
tion implies that the conserved quantity enclosed inside the surface can only change by
flowing through that surface.*
All conserved quantities in nature – such as energy, linear momentum, electric charge,
angular momentum – can only change by flowing through surfaces. In particular, when

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the momentum of a body changes, this happens through a surface. Momentum change
is due to momentum flow. In other words, the concept of force always assumes a surface
through which momentum flows.

⊳ Force is the flow of momentum through a surface.

Ref. 272 This point is essential in understanding physical force! Every force requires a surface for
its definition.
To refine your own concept of force, you can search for the relevant surface when a
Challenge 368 e rope pulls a chariot, or when an arm pushes a tree, or when a car accelerates. It is also
helpful to compare the definition of force with the definition of power: both are flows
through surfaces.

Friction and motion

Every example of motion, from the one that lets us choose the direction of our gaze to
the one that carries a butterfly through the landscape, can be put into one of the two left-
most columns of Table 30. Physically, the two columns are separated by the following
criterion: in the first class, the acceleration of a body can be in a different direction from
its velocity. The second class of examples produces only accelerations that are exactly
opposed to the velocity of the moving body, as seen from the frame of reference of the
braking medium. Such a resisting force is called friction, drag or a damping. All examples Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 369 e in the second class are types of friction. Just check.

* Mathematically, the conservation of a quantity q is expressed with the help of the volume density ρ = q/V ,
the current I = q/t, and the flow or flux j = ρ󰑣, so that j = q/At. Conservation then implies

dq ∂ρ
=󵐐 dV = − 󵐐 jdA = −I (63)
dt V ∂t A=∂V

or, equivalently,
∂ρ
+ ∇j = 0 . (64)
∂t
This is the continuity equation for the quantity q. All this only states that a conserved quantity in a closed
volume V can only change by flowing through the surface A. This is a typical example of how complex
mathematical expressions can obfuscate the simple physical content.
7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion 199

TA B L E 30 Selected processes and devices changing the motion of bodies.

S i t uat i o n s t h at c a n S i t uat i o n s t h at Motors and

l e a d t o a c c e l e r at i o n on ly lead to a c t uat o r s
d e c e l e r at i o n
piezoelectricity
quartz under applied voltage thermoluminescence walking piezo tripod
collisions
satellite in planet encounter car crash rocket motor
growth of mountains meteorite crash swimming of larvae
magnetic effects
compass needle near magnet electromagnetic braking electromagnetic gun

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
magnetostriction transformer losses linear motor
current in wire near magnet electric heating galvanometer
electric effects
rubbed comb near hair friction between solids electrostatic motor
bombs fire muscles, sperm flagella
television tube electron microscope Brownian motor
light
levitating objects by light light bath stopping atoms (true) light mill
solar sail for satellites light pressure inside stars solar cell
elasticity
bow and arrow trouser suspenders ultrasound motor
bent trees standing up again pillow, air bag bimorphs
osmosis
water rising in trees salt conservation of food osmotic pendulum
electro-osmosis tunable X-ray screening
heat & pressure
freezing champagne bottle surfboard water resistance hydraulic engines
tea kettle quicksand steam engine
barometer parachute air gun, sail Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

earthquakes sliding resistance seismometer

attraction of passing trains shock absorbers water turbine
nuclei
radioactivity plunging into the Sun supernova explosion
biology
bamboo growth decreasing blood vessel molecular motors
diameter
gravitation
falling emission of gravity waves pulley
 200 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion

typical passenger aeroplane cw = 0.03

typical sports car or van cw = 0.44

modern sedan cw = 0.28

dolphin and penguin cw = 0.035

soccer ball
turbulent (above c. 10 m/s) cw = 0.2

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
laminar (below c. 10 m/s) cw = 0.45

F I G U R E 145 Shapes and air/water resistance.

Challenge 370 s A puzzle on cycling: does side wind brake – and why?
Friction can be so strong that all motion of a body against its environment is made
impossible. This type of friction, called static friction or sticking friction, is common and
important: without it, turning the wheels of bicycles, trains or cars would have no effect.
Without static friction, wheels driven by a motor would have no grip. Similarly, not a
single screw would stay tightened and no hair clip would work. We could neither run nor
walk in a forest, as the soil would be more slippery than polished ice. In fact not only our
own motion, but all voluntary motion of living beings is based on friction. The same is the
case for self-moving machines. Without static friction, the propellers in ships, aeroplanes
and helicopters would not have any effect and the wings of aeroplanes would produce no
Challenge 371 s lift to keep them in the air. (Why?) In short, static friction is required whenever we or an
engine want to move relative to our environment.

Friction, sport, machines and predictability

Once an object moves through its environment, it is hindered by another type of friction;
it is called dynamic friction and acts between bodies in relative motion. Without it, falling
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 165 bodies would always rebound to the same height, without ever coming to a stop; neither
parachutes nor brakes would work; worse, we would have no memory, as we will see
later.*
All motion examples in the second column of Table 30 include friction. In these exam-
ples, macroscopic energy is not conserved: the systems are dissipative. In the first column,
macroscopic energy is constant: the systems are conservative.
The first two columns can also be distinguished using a more abstract, mathematical
criterion: on the left are accelerations that can be derived from a potential, on the right,

* Recent research suggest that maybe in certain crystalline systems, such as tungsten bodies on silicon,
under ideal conditions gliding friction can be extremely small and possibly even vanish in certain directions
Ref. 166 of motion. This so-called superlubrication is presently a topic of research.
 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion 201

decelerations that can not. As in the case of gravitation, the description of any kind of
motion is much simplified by the use of a potential: at every position in space, one needs
only the single value of the potential to calculate the trajectory of an object, instead of
the three values of the acceleration or the force. Moreover, the magnitude of the velocity
of an object at any point can be calculated directly from energy conservation.
The processes from the second column cannot be described by a potential. These are
the cases where we necessarily have to use force if we want to describe the motion of
the system. For example, the friction or drag force F due to wind resistance of a body is
roughly given by
1
F = cw ρA󰑣 2 (65)
2
where A is the area of its cross-section and 󰑣 its velocity relative to the air, ρ is the density

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
of air; the drag coefficient cw is a pure number that depends on the shape of the moving
object. (A few examples are given in Figure 145. The formula is valid for all fluids, not only
for air, below the speed of sound, as long as the drag is due to turbulence. This is usually
the case in air and in water. At low velocities, when the fluid motion is not turbulent but
laminar, drag is called viscous and follows an (almost) linear relation with speed.) You
Challenge 372 ny may check that aerodynamic resistance cannot be derived from a potential.*
The drag coefficient cw is a measured quantity.** An aerodynamic car has a value
between 0.25 and 0.3; many sports cars share with vans values of 0.44 and higher, and
racing car values can be as high as 1, depending on the amount of the force that is used
to keep the car fastened to the ground. The lowest known values are for dolphins and
penguins.
Ref. 168 Wind resistance is also of importance to humans, in particular in athletics. It is esti-
mated that 100 m sprinters spend between 3 % and 6 % of their power overcoming drag.
This leads to varying sprint times tw when wind of speed 󰑤 is involved, related by the
expression
t0 󰑤tw 2
= 1.03 − 0.03 󶀤1 − 󶀴 , (66)
tw 100 m

where the more conservative estimate of 3 % is used. An opposing wind speed of −2 m/s
gives an increase in time of 0.13 s, enough to change a potential world record into an
‘only’ excellent result. (Are you able to deduce the cw value for running humans from the
Challenge 374 ny formula?)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Likewise, parachuting exists due to wind resistance. Can you determine how the speed
of a falling body, with or without parachute, changes with time, assuming constant shape

* Such a statement about friction is correct only in three dimensions, as is the case in nature; in the case of
Challenge 373 s a single dimension, a potential can always be found.
** Calculating drag coefficients in computers, given the shape of the body and the properties of the fluid, is
one of the most difficult tasks of science; the problem is still not solved.
The topic of aerodynamic shapes is even more interesting for fluid bodies. They are kept together by
surface tension. For example, surface tension keeps the hairs of a wet brush together. Surface tension also
determines the shape of rain drops. Experiments show that it is spherical for drops smaller than 2 mm
Vol. V, page 232 diameter, and that larger rain drops are lens shaped, with the flat part towards the bottom. The usual tear
Ref. 167 shape is not encountered in nature; something vaguely similar to it appears during drop detachment, but
never during drop fall.
 202 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion

Challenge 375 s and drag coefficient?

In contrast, static friction has different properties. It is proportional to the force press-
Ref. 169 ing the two bodies together. Why? Studying the situation in more detail, sticking friction
is found to be proportional to the actual contact area. It turns out that putting two solids
into contact is rather like turning Switzerland upside down and putting it onto Austria;
the area of contact is much smaller than that estimated macroscopically. The important
point is that the area of actual contact is proportional to the normal force. The study of
what happens in that contact area is still a topic of research; researchers are investigating
the issues using instruments such as atomic force microscopes, lateral force microscopes
and triboscopes. These efforts resulted in computer hard discs which last longer, as the
friction between disc and the reading head is a central quantity in determining the life-
time.
All forms of friction are accompanied by an increase in the temperature of the moving

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
body. The reason became clear after the discovery of atoms. Friction is not observed in
few – e.g. 2, 3, or 4 – particle systems. Friction only appears in systems with many parti-
cles, usually millions or more. Such systems are called dissipative. Both the temperature
changes and friction itself are due to the motion of large numbers of microscopic parti-
cles against each other. This motion is not included in the Galilean description. When it
is included, friction and energy loss disappear, and potentials can then be used through-
out. Positive accelerations – of microscopic magnitude – then also appear, and motion
is found to be conserved. As a result, all motion is conservative on a microscopic scale.
Therefore, on a microscopic scale it is possible to describe all motion without the concept
of force.*
The moral of the story is twofold: First, one should use force and power only in one
situation: in the case of friction, and only when one does not want to go into the micro-
scopic details.** Secondly, friction is not an obstacle to predictability.

“
Et qu’avons-nous besoin de ce moteur, quand
l’étude réfléchie de la nature nous prouve que le
mouvement perpétuel est la première de ses

”
lois ?***
Donatien de Sade Justine, ou les malheurs de la
vertu.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* The first scientist who eliminated force from the description of nature was Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (b. 1857
Hamburg, d. 1894 Bonn), the famous discoverer of electromagnetic waves, in his textbook on mechanics,
Die Prinzipien der Mechanik, Barth, 1894, republished by Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1963. His idea
was strongly criticized at that time; only a generation later, when quantum mechanics quietly got rid of the
concept for good, did the idea become commonly accepted. (Many have speculated about the role Hertz
would have played in the development of quantum mechanics and general relativity, had he not died so
young.) In his book, Hertz also formulated the principle of the straightest path: particles follow geodesics.
This same description is one of the pillars of general relativity, as we will see later on.
** In the case of human relations the evaluation should be somewhat more discerning, as the research by
Ref. 170 James Gilligan shows.
*** ‘And whatfor do we need this motor, when the reasoned study of nature proves to us that perpetual
motion is the first of its laws?’
 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion 203

Complete states – initial conditions

“ ”
Quid sit futurum cras, fuge quaerere ...*
Horace, Odi, lib. I, ode 9, v. 13.

Let us continue our exploration of the predictability of motion. We often describe the
motion of a body by specifying the time dependence of its position, for example as

x(t) = x0 + 󰑣0 (t − t0 ) + 12 a0 (t − t0 )2 + 16 j0 (t − t0 )3 + ... . (67)

The quantities with an index 0, such as the starting position x0 , the starting velocity 󰑣0 ,
etc., are called initial conditions. Initial conditions are necessary for any description of
motion. Different physical systems have different initial conditions. Initial conditions
thus specify the individuality of a given system. Initial conditions also allow us to distin-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
guish the present situation of a system from that at any previous time: initial conditions
specify the changing aspects of a system. In other words, they summarize the past of a
system.
Page 26 Initial conditions are thus precisely the properties we have been seeking for a descrip-
tion of the state of a system. To find a complete description of states we thus need only a
complete description of initial conditions, which we can thus righty call also initial states.
It turns out that for gravitation, as for all other microscopic interactions, there is no need
for initial acceleration a0 , initial jerk j0 , or higher-order initial quantities. In nature, acce-
leration and jerk depend only on the properties of objects and their environment; they
do not depend on the past. For example, the expression a = GM/r 2 of universal gravity,
giving the acceleration of a small body near a large one, does not depend on the past, but
only on the environment. The same happens for the other fundamental interactions, as
we will find out shortly.
Page 82 The complete state of a moving mass point is thus described by specifying its position
and its momentum at all instants of time. Thus we have now achieved a complete descrip-
tion of the intrinsic properties of point objects, namely by their mass, and of their states
of motion, namely by their momentum, energy, position and time. For extended rigid ob-
jects we also need orientation, angular velocity and angular momentum. Can you specify
Challenge 376 s the necessary quantities in the cases of extended elastic bodies and of fluids? Can you give
Challenge 377 s an example of an intrinsic property that we have so far missed?
The set of all possible states of a system is given a special name: it is called the phase
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

space. We will use the concept repeatedly. Like any space, it has a number of dimensions.
Challenge 378 s Can you specify it for a system consisting of N point particles?
Given that we have a description of both properties and states of point objects, ex-
tended rigid objects and deformable bodies, can we predict all motion? Not yet. There
are situations in nature where the motion of an object depends on characteristics other
Challenge 379 s than its mass; motion can depend on its colour (can you find an example?), on its tem-
perature, and on a few other properties that we will soon discover. And for each intrinsic
property there are state variables to discover. Each property is the basis of a field of phys-
ical enquiry. Speed is the basis for mechanics, temperature is the basis fir thermodynam-

Ref. 78 * ‘What future will be tomorrow, never ask ...’ Horace is Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65–8 bce ), the great
Roman poet.
 204 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion

ics, etc. We must therefore conclude that as yet we do not have a complete description of
motion.
It is interesting to recall an older challenge and ask again: does the universe have initial
Challenge 380 s conditions? Does it have a phase space? As a hint, recall that when a stone is thrown, the
initial conditions summarize the effects of the thrower, his history, the way he got there
etc.; in other words, initial conditions summarize the past of a system, i.e., the effects that
the environment had during the history of a system.

“
An optimist is somebody who thinks that the

”
future is uncertain.
Anonymous

Do surprises exist? Is the future determined?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
“
Die Ereignisse der Zukunft können wir nicht
aus den gegenwärtigen erschließen. Der Glaube

”
an den Kausalnexus ist ein Aberglaube.*
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 5.1361

“ ”
Freedom is the recognition of necessity.
Friedrich Engels (1820–1895)

If, after climbing a tree, we jump down, we cannot halt the jump in the middle of the
trajectory; once the jump has begun, it is unavoidable and determined, like all passive
motion. However, when we begin to move an arm, we can stop or change its motion from
a hit to a caress. Voluntary motion does not seem unavoidable or predetermined. Which
Challenge 381 e of these two cases is the general one?
Let us start with the example that we can describe most precisely so far: the fall of
a body. Once the gravitational potential φ acting on a particle is given and taken into
account, we can use the expression

a(x) = −∇φ = −GMr/r 3 , (68)

and we can use the state at a given time, given by initial conditions such as

x(t0 ) and 󰑣(t0 ) , (69) Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

to determine the motion of the particle in advance. Indeed, with these two pieces of
information, we can calculate the complete trajectory x(t).
An equation that has the potential to predict the course of events is called an evolution
equation. Equation (68), for example, is an evolution equation for the fall of the object.
(Note that the term ‘evolution’ has different meanings in physics and in biology.) An
evolution equation embraces the observation that not all types of change are observed
in nature, but only certain specific cases. Not all imaginable sequences of events are ob-
served, but only a limited number of them. In particular, equation (68) embraces the

* ‘We cannot infer the events of the future from those of the present. Belief in the causal nexus is superstition.’
Our adventure, however, will show that this statement is wrong.
 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion 205

idea that from one instant to the next, falling objects change their motion based on the
gravitational potential acting on them.
Evolution equations do not exist only for motion due to gravity, but for motion due to
all forces in nature. Given an evolution equation and initial state, the whole motion of a
system is thus uniquely fixed, a property of motion often called determinism. For example,
astronomers can calculate the position of planets with high precision for thousands of
years in advance.
Let us carefully distinguish determinism from several similar concepts, to avoid mis-
understandings. Motion can be deterministic and at the same time be unpredictable in
practice. The unpredictability of motion can have four origins:
1. an impracticably large number of particles involved,
2. the mathematical complexity of the evolution equations,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
3. insufficient information about initial conditions, and
4. strange shapes of space-time.
For example, in case of the weather the first three conditions are fulfilled at the same time.
It is hard to predict the weather over periods longer than about a week or two. (In 1942,
Hitler made a fool of himself by ordering a precise weather forecast for the following
twelve months.) Despite the difficulty of prediction, weather change is still deterministic.
As another example, near black holes all four origins apply together. We will discuss
black holes in the section on general relativity. Despite being unpredictable, motion is
deterministic near black holes.
Motion can be both deterministic and time random, i.e., with different outcomes in
similar experiments. A roulette ball’s motion is deterministic, but it is also random.* As
we will see later, quantum-mechanical situations fall into this category, as do all examples
of irreversible motion, such as a drop of ink spreading out in clear water. In all such
cases the randomness and the irreproducibility are only apparent; they disappear when
the description of states and initial conditions in the microscopic domain are included.
In short, determinism does not contradict (macroscopic) irreversibility. However, on the
microscopic scale, deterministic motion is always reversible.
A final concept to be distinguished from determinism is acausality. Causality is the
requirement that a cause must precede the effect. This is trivial in Galilean physics, but
becomes of importance in special relativity, where causality implies that the speed of light
is a limit for the spreading of effects. Indeed, it seems impossible to have deterministic
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

motion (of matter and energy) which is acausal, in other words, faster than light. Can you
Challenge 382 s confirm this? This topic will be looked at more deeply in the section on special relativity.
Saying that motion is ‘deterministic’ means that it is fixed in the future and also in
the past. It is sometimes stated that predictions of future observations are the crucial test
for a successful description of nature. Owing to our often impressive ability to influence
the future, this is not necessarily a good test. Any theory must, first of all, describe past
observations correctly. It is our lack of freedom to change the past that results in our lack

* Mathematicians have developed a large number of tests to determine whether a collection of numbers may
be called random; roulette results pass all these tests – in honest casinos only, however. Such tests typically
check the equal distribution of numbers, of pairs of numbers, of triples of numbers, etc. Other tests are the
Ref. 171 χ 2 test, the Monte Carlo test(s), and the gorilla test.
 206 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion

of choice in the description of nature that is so central to physics. In this sense, the term
‘initial condition’ is an unfortunate choice, because in fact, initial conditions summarize
the past of a system.* The central ingredient of a deterministic description is that all
motion can be reduced to an evolution equation plus one specific state. This state can be
either initial, intermediate, or final. Deterministic motion is uniquely specified into the
past and into the future.
To get a clear concept of determinism, it is useful to remind ourselves why the con-
cept of ‘time’ is introduced in our description of the world. We introduce time because
we observe first that we are able to define sequences in observations, and second, that un-
restricted change is impossible. This is in contrast to films, where one person can walk
through a door and exit into another continent or another century. In nature we do not
observe metamorphoses, such as people changing into toasters or dogs into toothbrushes.
We are able to introduce ‘time’ only because the sequential changes we observe are ex-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 383 s tremely restricted. If nature were not reproducible, time could not be used. In short,
determinism expresses the observation that sequential changes are restricted to a single
possibility.
Since determinism is connected to the use of the concept of time, new questions arise
whenever the concept of time changes, as happens in special relativity, in general relativ-
ity and in theoretical high energy physics. There is a lot of fun ahead.
In summary, every description of nature that uses the concept of time, such as that of
everyday life, that of classical physics and that of quantum mechanics, is intrinsically and
inescapably deterministic, since it connects observations of the past and the future, elim-
inating alternatives. In short, the use of time implies determinism, and vice versa. When
drawing metaphysical conclusions, as is so popular nowadays when discussing quantum
Vol. V, page 35 theory, one should never forget this connection. Whoever uses clocks but denies deter-
minism is nurturing a split personality!** The future is determined.

Free will

“ ”
You do have the ability to surprise yourself.
Richard Bandler and John Grinder

The idea that motion is determined often produces fear, because we are taught to asso-
ciate determinism with lack of freedom. On the other hand, we do experience freedom
in our actions and call it free will. We know that it is necessary for our creativity and for
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

our happiness. Therefore it seems that determinism is opposed to happiness.

But what precisely is free will? Much ink has been consumed trying to find a precise
definition. One can try to define free will as the arbitrariness of the choice of initial con-
ditions. However, initial conditions must themselves result from the evolution equations,
so that there is in fact no freedom in their choice. One can try to define free will from the
idea of unpredictability, or from similar properties, such as uncomputability. But these
definitions face the same simple problem: whatever the definition, there is no way to

* The problems with the term ‘initial conditions’ become clear near the big bang: at the big bang, the universe
has no past, but it is often said that it has initial conditions. This contradiction will only be resolved in the
last part of our adventure.
** That can be a lot of fun though.
 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion 207

prove experimentally that an action was performed freely. The possible definitions are
useless. In short, free will cannot be observed. (Psychologists also have a lot of their own
data to support this, but that is another topic.)
No process that is gradual – in contrast to sudden – can be due to free will; gradual
processes are described by time and are deterministic. In this sense, the question about
free will becomes one about the existence of sudden changes in nature. This will be a
recurring topic in the rest of this walk. Can nature surprise us? In everyday life, nature
does not. Sudden changes are not observed. Of course, we still have to investigate this
question in other domains, in the very small and in the very large. Indeed, we will change
our opinion several times. The lack of surprises in everyday life is built deep into our
body: the concept of curiosity is based on the idea that everything discovered is useful
afterwards. If nature continually surprised us, curiosity would make no sense.
Many observations contradict the existence of surprises: in the beginning of our walk

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
we defined time using the continuity of motion; later on we expressed this by saying
that time is a consequence of the conservation of energy. Conservation is the opposite of
surprise. By the way, a challenge remains: can you show that time would not be definable
Challenge 384 s even if surprises existed only rarely?
In summary, so far we have no evidence that surprises exist in nature. Time exists
because nature is deterministic. Free will cannot be defined with the precision required
by physics. Given that there are no sudden changes, there is only one consistent defini-
tion of free will: it is a feeling, in particular of independence of others, of independence
from fear and of accepting the consequences of one’s actions. Free will is a feeling of
Ref. 172 satisfaction. This solves the apparent paradox; free will, being a feeling, exists as a hu-
man experience, even though all objects move without any possibility of choice. There is
no contradiction.*
Ref. 173 Even if human action is determined, it is still authentic. So why is determinism so
frightening? That is a question everybody has to ask themselves. What difference does
Challenge 386 e determinism imply for your life, for the actions, the choices, the responsibilities and the
pleasures you encounter?** If you conclude that being determined is different from being
free, you should change your life! Fear of determinism usually stems from refusal to take
the world the way it is. Paradoxically, it is precisely he who insists on the existence of free
will who is running away from responsibility.

Summary on predictability Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Despite difficulties to predict specific cases, all motion we encountered so far is determin-
istic and predictable. The future is determined. In fact, this is the case for all motion in

* That free will is a feeling can also be confirmed by careful introspection. The idea of free will always appears
after an action has been started. It is a beautiful experiment to sit down in a quiet environment, with the
intention to make, within an unspecified number of minutes, a small gesture, such as closing a hand. If you
Challenge 385 e carefully observe, in all detail, what happens inside yourself around the very moment of decision, you find
either a mechanism that led to the decision, or a diffuse, unclear mist. You never find free will. Such an
experiment is a beautiful way to experience deeply the wonders of the self. Experiences of this kind might
also be one of the origins of human spirituality, as they show the connection everybody has with the rest of
nature.
Challenge 387 s ** If nature’s ‘laws’ are deterministic, are they in contrast with moral or ethical ‘laws’? Can people still be
held responsible for their actions?
 208 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion

F I G U R E 146 What shape of rail allows the F I G U R E 147 Can motion be described in a
black stone to glide most rapidly from manner common to all observers?
point A to the lower point B?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
nature, even in the domain of quantum theory. If motion were not predictable, we could
not have introduced the concept of ‘motion’ in the first place.

Predictability and global descriptions of motion

“ ”
Πλεῖν ἀνάγκε, ζῆν οὐκ ἀνάγκη.*
Pompeius

Physicists aim to talk about motion with the highest precision possible. Predictability is
an aspect of precision. The highest predictability – and thus the highest precision – is
possible when motion is described as globally as possible.
All over the Earth – even in Australia – people observe that stones fall ‘down’. This
ancient observation led to the discovery of the universal ‘law’ of gravity. To find it, all
that was necessary was to look for a description of gravity that was valid globally. The
only additional observation that needs to be recognized in order to deduce the result
a = GM/r 2 is the variation of gravity with height.
In short, thinking globally helps us to make our description of motion more precise
and our predictions more useful. How can we describe motion as globally as possible? It
turns out that there are six approaches to this question, each of which will be helpful on
our way to the top of Motion Mountain. We first give an overview, and then explore the
details of each approach.
1. Action principles or Variational principles, the first global approach to motion, arise
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

when we overcome a limitation of what we have learned so far. When we predict

the motion of a particle from its current acceleration with an evolution equation, we
Page 204 are using the most local description of motion possible. We use the acceleration of
a particle at a certain place and time to determine its position and motion just after
that moment and in the immediate neighbourhood of that place. Evolution equations
thus have a mental ‘horizon’ of radius zero.
The contrast to evolution equations are variational principles. A famous example
is illustrated in Figure 146. The challenge is to find the path that allows the fastest

* Navigare necesse, vivere non necesse. ‘To navigate is necessary, to live is not.’ Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus
Ref. 174 (106–48 bce) is cited in this way by Plutarchus (c. 45 to c. 125).
 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion 209

bicycle wheel
rotating rapidly
rope on rigid axis rope
a b b

F C P

a b b

F I G U R E 148 What happens when one F I G U R E 149 A famous mechanism, the

rope is cut? Peaucellier-Lipkin linkage, that allows drawing a
straight line with a compass: fix point F, put a
pencil into joint P and move C with a compass

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
along a circle.

possible gliding motion from a high point to a distant low point. The sought path
Challenge 388 d is the brachistochrone, from ancient Greek for ‘shortest time’, This puzzle asks about
a property of motion as a whole, for all times and positions. The global approach
required by questions such as this one will lead us to a description of motion which is
simple, precise and fascinating: the so-called principle of cosmic laziness, also known
as the principle of least action.
2. Relativity, the second global approach to motion, emerges when we compare the var-
ious descriptions of the same system produced by different observers. For example,
the observations by somebody falling from a cliff – as shown in Figure 147 – a pas-
senger in a roller coaster, and an observer on the ground will usually differ. The rela-
tionships between these observations, the so-called symmetry transformations, lead
us to a global description, valid for everybody. Later, this approach will lead us to
Einstein’s special and general theory of relativity.
3. Mechanics of extended and rigid bodies, rather than mass points, is required to under-
stand many objects, plants and animals. As an example, the counter-intuitive result of
Challenge 389 ny the experiment in Figure 148 shows why this topic is worthwhile. The rapidly rotating
wheel suspended on only one end of the axis remains almost horizontal, but slowly
rotates around the rope. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In order to design machines, it is essential to understand how a group of rigid bod-

ies interact with one another. For example, take the Peaucellier-Lipkin linkage shown
Ref. 175 in Figure 149. A joint F is fixed on a wall. Two movable rods lead to two opposite
corners of a movable rhombus, whose rods connect to the other two corners C and
P. This mechanism has several astonishing properties. First of all, it implicitly defines
a circle of radius R so that one always has the relation rC = R2 /rP between the dis-
tances of joints C and P from the centre of this circle. Can you find this special circle?
Challenge 390 ny Secondly, if you put a pencil in joint P, and let joint C follow a certain circle, the pencil
Challenge 391 ny P draws a straight line. Can you find that circle? The mechanism thus allows drawing
a straight line with the help of a compass.
Ref. 176 Another famous machine challenge is to devise a wooden carriage, with gear-
wheels that connect the wheels to an arrow, with the property that, whatever path
 210 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion

carriage

W E
path

F I G U R E 150 A south-pointing carriage: whatever the path it follows, the arrow on it always points

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
south.

Challenge 392 d the carriage takes, the arrow always points south (see Figure 150). The solution to
this puzzle will even be useful in helping us to understand general relativity, as we
Vol. II, page 190 will see. Such a wagon allows measuring the curvature of a surface and of space.
Another interesting example of rigid motion is the way that human movements,
such as the general motions of an arm, are composed from a small number of basic
Ref. 177 motions. All these examples are from the fascinating field of engineering; unfortu-
nately, we will have little time to explore this topic in our hike.
4. The next global approach to motion is the description of non-rigid extended bod-
ies. For example, fluid mechanics studies the flow of fluids (like honey, water or air)
around solid bodies (like spoons, ships, sails or wings). Fluid mechanics thus de-
scribes how insects, birds and aeroplanes fly,* why sailing-boats can sail against the
Ref. 178 wind, what happens when a hard-boiled egg is made to spin on a thin layer of water,
Challenge 393 s or how a bottle full of wine can be emptied in the fastest way possible.
As well as fluids, we can study the behaviour of deformable solids. This area of
research is called continuum mechanics. It deals with deformations and oscillations
of extended structures. It seeks to explain, for example, why bells are made in par-
Challenge 395 s ticular shapes; how large bodies – such as the falling chimneys shown in Figure 151
– or small bodies – such as diamonds – break when under stress; and how cats can
turn themselves the right way up as they fall. During the course of our journey we
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

will repeatedly encounter issues from this field, which impinges even upon general
relativity and the world of elementary particles.
5. Statistical mechanics is the study of the motion of huge numbers of particles. Statis-
tical mechanics is yet another global approach to the study of motion. The concepts
needed to describe gases, such as temperature, entropy and pressure (see Figure 152),

* The mechanisms of insect flight are still a subject of active research. Traditionally, fluid dynamics has
concentrated on large systems, like boats, ships and aeroplanes. Indeed, the smallest human-made object
that can fly in a controlled way – say, a radio-controlled plane or helicopter – is much larger and heavier
than many flying objects that evolution has engineered. It turns out that controlling the flight of small things
requires more knowledge and more tricks than controlling the flight of large things. There is more about
this topic on page 206 in Volume V.
 7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion 211

possible? possible?

F I G U R E 151 How and where does a falling F I G U R E 152 Why do hot-air balloons
Challenge 394 ny brick chimney break? stay inflated? How can you measure the
weight of a bicycle rider using only a
ruler?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 153 Why do marguerites – or ox-eye daisies, Leucanthemum vulgare – usually have around 21
(left and centre) or around 34 (right) petals? (© Anonymous, Giorgio Di Iorio and Thomas Lüthi)

are essential tools of this discipline. They help us to understand why some processes
in nature do not occur backwards. These concepts will also help us take our first steps
towards the understanding of black holes.
6. The last global approach to motion, self-organization, involves all of the above-
mentioned viewpoints at the same time. Such an approach is needed to understand
everyday experience, and life itself. Why does a flower form a specific number of
petals, as shown in Figure 153? How does an embryo differentiate in the womb? What
makes our hearts beat? How do mountains ridges and cloud patterns emerge? How
do stars and galaxies evolve? How are sea waves formed by the wind?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

All these are examples of self-organization processes; life scientists simply speak
of growth processes. Whatever we call them, all these processes are characterized by
the spontaneous appearance of patterns, shapes and cycles. Such processes are a com-
mon research theme across many disciplines, including biology, chemistry, medicine,
geology and engineering.
We will now explore to these six global approaches to motion. We will begin with the
first approach, namely, the global description of motion using a variational principle.
This beautiful method was the result of several centuries of collective effort, and is the
highlight of particle dynamics. Variational principles also provide the basis for all the
other global approaches just mentioned and for all the further descriptions of motion
that we will explore afterwards.
 Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
7 classical mechanics and the predictabilit y of motion
212
 Chapter 8

M E A SU R I NG C HANGE W I T H AC T ION

M
otion can be described by numbers. Take a single particle that
oves. The expression (x(t), y(t), z(t)) describes how, during its

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
otion, position changes with time. This description is completed by stat-
ing how its speed (󰑣x (t), 󰑣 y (t), 󰑣z (t)) changes over time. Indeed, realizing that these two
expressions can be used to describe the path and the behaviour of a moving particle was
a milestone in the development of modern physics.
The next milestone of modern physics is achieved by answering a short but hard ques-
Page 20 tion. If motion is a type of change, as the Greek already said, how can we measure change?
In fact, change can be measured by a single number. Physicists took almost two centuries
of attempts to uncover the way to measure change. As a result, the quantity that measures
change has a strange name: it is called (physical) action.* To remember the connection
of ‘action’ with change, just think about a Hollywood film: a lot of action means a large
amount of change.
Introducing physical action as a measure of change is important, because it provides
the first and the most useful global description of motion. In fact, we are now ready to
define action.
Imagine taking two snapshots of a system at different times. How could you define
the amount of change that occurred in between? When do things change a lot, and when
do they change only a little? First of all, a system with many moving parts shows a lot of
change. So it makes sense that the action of a system composed of independent subsys-
tems should be the sum of the actions of these subsystems.
Secondly, systems with high energy, such as the explosions shown in Figure 155, show
larger change than systems at lower speed. Indeed, we introduced energy as the quantity Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* Note that this ‘action’ is not the same as the ‘action’ appearing in statements such as ‘every action has an
equal and opposite reaction’. This last usage, coined by Newton for certain forces, has not stuck; therefore
the term has been recycled. After Newton, the term ‘action’ was first used with an intermediate meaning,
before it was finally given the modern meaning used here. This modern meaning is the only meaning used
in this text.
Another term that has been recycled is the ‘principle of least action’. In old books it used to have a differ-
ent meaning from the one in this chapter. Nowadays, it refers to what used to be called Hamilton’s principle
in the Anglo-Saxon world, even though it is (mostly) due to others, especially Leibniz. The old names and
meanings are falling into disuse and are not continued here.
Behind these shifts in terminology is the story of an intense two-centuries-long attempt to describe mo-
tion with so-called extremal or variational principles: the objective was to complete and improve the work
initiated by Leibniz. These principles are only of historical interest today, because all are special cases of the
Ref. 179 principle of least action described here.
 214 8 measuring change with action

F I G U R E 154 Giuseppe Lagrangia/Joseph Lagrange (1736–1813).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 155 Physical action
measures change: an
example of process with
large action value
(© Christophe Blanc). Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 102 that measures how much a system changes over time.
Thirdly, change often – but not always – builds up over time; in other cases, recent
change can compensate for previous change, as in a pendulum. Change can thus increase
or decrease with time.
Finally, for a system in which motion is stored, transformed or shifted from one subsys-
tem to another, especially when kinetic energy is stored or changed to potential energy,
change is smaller than for a system where all systems move freely.
The mentioned properties imply that the natural measure of change is the average dif-
ference between kinetic and potential energy multiplied by the elapsed time. This quan-
tity has all the right properties: it is the sum of the corresponding quantities for all sub-
8 measuring change with action 215

TA B L E 31 Some action values for changes and processes either observed or imagined.

System and process A p p r ox i m at e

a c t i o n va l u e

Smallest measurable action 1.1 ⋅ 10−34 Js

Light
Smallest blackening of photographic film < 10−33 Js
Photographic flash c. 10−17 Js
Electricity
Electron ejected from atom or molecule c. 10−33 Js
Current flow in lightning bolt c. 104 Js
Mechanics and materials
Tearing apart two neighbouring iron atoms c. 10−33 Js

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Breaking a steel bar c. 101 Js
Tree bent by the wind from one side to the other c. 500 Js
Making a white rabbit vanish by ‘real’ magic c. 100 PJs
Hiding a white rabbit c. 0.1 Js
Car crash c. 2 kJs
Driving car stops within the blink of an eye c. 20 kJs
Levitating yourself within a minute by 1 m c. 40 kJs
Large earthquake c. 1 PJs
Driving car disappears within the blink of an eye c. 1 ZJs
Sunrise c. 0.1 ZJs
Chemistry
Atom collision in liquid at room temperature c. 10−33 Js
Smelling one molecule c. 10−31 Js
Burning fuel in a cylinder in an average car engine explosion c. 104 Js
Held versus dropped glass c. 0.8 Js
Life
Air molecule hitting eardrum c. 10−32 Js
Ovule fertilization c. 10−20 Js
Cell division c. 10−15 Js
c. 10−10 Js
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Fruit fly’s wing beat

Flower opening in the morning c. 1 nJs
Getting a red face c. 10 mJs
Maximum brain change in a minute c. 5 Js
Person walking one body length c. 102 Js
Birth c. 2 kJs
Change due to a human life c. 1 EJs
Nuclei and stars
Single nuclear fusion reaction in star c. 10−15 Js
Explosion of gamma-ray burster c. 1046 Js
Universe after one second has elapsed undefined and undefin-
able
 216 8 measuring change with action

L
L(t) = T − U

average L

integral
∫ L(t)dt

t
Δt tm F I G U R E 156 Defining a total change or action
ti tf
as an accumulation (addition, or integral) of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
elapsed time small changes or actions over time.

systems if these are independent; it generally increases with time (unless the evolution
compensates for something that happened earlier); and it decreases if the system trans-
Challenge 396 e forms motion into potential energy.
Thus the (physical) action S, measuring the change in a system, is defined as
tf tf
S = L ⋅ Δt = T − U ⋅ (tf − ti ) = 󵐐 (T − U) dt = 󵐐 L dt , (70)
ti ti

Page 160 where T is the kinetic energy, U the potential energy we already know, L is the difference
between these, and the overbar indicates a time average. The quantity L is called the
Lagrangian (function) of the system,* describes what is being added over time, whenever
things change. The sign ∫ is a stretched ‘S’, for ‘sum’, and is pronounced ‘integral of ’. In
intuitive terms it designates the operation (called integration) of adding up the values
of a varying quantity in infinitesimal time steps dt. The initial and the final times are
written below and above the integration sign, respectively. Figure 156 illustrates the idea:
the integral is simply the size of the dark area below the curve L(t).
Challenge 397 e Mathematically, the integral of the curve L(t) is defined as Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tf f
󵐐 L(t) dt = lim 󵠈 L(tm )Δt = L ⋅ (tf − ti ) . (71)
ti Δt→0
m=i

In other words, the integral is the limit, as the time slices get smaller, of the sum of the
areas of the individual rectangular strips that approximate the function. Since the ∑ sign

* It is named after Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia (b. 1736 Torino, d. 1813 Paris), better known as Joseph Louis
Lagrange. He was the most important mathematician of his time; he started his career in Turin, then worked
for 20 years in Berlin, and finally for 26 years in Paris. Among other things he worked on number theory and
analytical mechanics, where he developed most of the mathematical tools used nowadays for calculations
in classical mechanics and classical gravitation. He applied them successfully to many motions in the solar
system.
 8 measuring change with action 217

also means a sum, and since an infinitesimal Δt is written dt, we can understand the no-
tation used for integration. Integration is a sum over slices. The notation was developed
by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz to make exactly this point. Physically speaking, the inte-
gral of the Lagrangian measures the total effect that L builds up over time. Indeed, action
is called ‘effect’ in some languages, such as German. The effect that builds up is the total
change in the system.
In short, the integral of the Lagrangian, the action, measures the total change that oc-
curs in a system. Physical action is total change. Action, or change, is the integral of the
Lagrangian over time. The unit of action, and thus of change, is the unit of energy (the
Joule) times the unit of time (the second).

⊳ Change is measured in Js.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
A large value means a big change. Table 31 shows some values of action observed in
nature.
To understand the definition of action in more detail, we will start with the simplest
case: a system for which the potential energy is zero, such as a particle moving freely.
Obviously, the higher the kinetic energy is, the more change there is. Also, if we observe
the particle at two instants, the more distant they are the larger the change. This is not
surprising.
Next, we explore a single particle moving in a potential. For example, a falling stone
loses potential energy in exchange for a gain in kinetic energy. The more kinetic energy
is stored into potential energy, the less change there is. Hence the minus sign in the def-
inition of L. If we explore a particle that is first thrown up in the air and then falls, the
curve for L(t) first is below the times axis, then above. We note that the definition of
integration makes us count the grey surface below the time axis negatively. Change can
thus be negative, and be compensated by subsequent change, as expected.
To measure change for a system made of several independent components, we simply
add all the kinetic energies and subtract all the potential energies. This technique allows
us to define actions for gases, liquids and solid matter. Even if the components interact,
we still get a sensible result. In short, action is an additive quantity.
Physical action thus measures, in a single number, the change observed in a system
between two instants of time. Physical action quantifies the change of a physical process.
This is valid for all observations, i.e., for all systems and for all processes: an explosion, a Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

caress or a colour change. Change is measured in Js. We will discover later that describ-
ing change with a single number is also possible in relativity and quantum theory. Any
Page 20 change going on in any system of nature, be it transport, transformation or growth, can
be measured with a single number.

The principle of least action

We now have a precise measure of change, which, as it turns out, allows a simple, global
and powerful description of motion. In nature, the change happening between two in-
stants is always the smallest possible. In nature, action is minimal.* Of all possible mo-
* In fact, in some macroscopic situations the action can be a saddle point, so that the snobbish form of the
Ref. 180 principle is that the action is ‘stationary’. In contrast to what is often heard, the action is never a maximum.
 218 8 measuring change with action

F I G U R E 157 The minimum of a curve has vanishing slope.

tions, nature always chooses for which the change is minimal. Let us study a few exam-
ples.
In the simple case of a free particle, when no potentials are involved, the principle of
minimal action implies that the particle moves in a straight line with constant velocity.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 398 e All other paths would lead to larger actions. Can you verify this?
When gravity is present, a thrown stone flies along a parabola (or more precisely, along
an ellipse) because any other path, say one in which the stone makes a loop in the air,
Challenge 399 e would imply a larger action. Again you might want to verify this for yourself.
All observations support this simple and basic statement: things always move in a way
that produces the smallest possible value for the action. This statement applies to the full
path and to any of its segments. Bertrand Russell called it the ‘law of cosmic laziness’.
It is customary to express the idea of minimal change in a different way. The action
varies when the path is varied. The actual path is the one with the smallest action. You will
recall from school that at a minimum the derivative of a quantity vanishes: a minimum
has a horizontal slope. In the present case, we do not vary a quantity, but a complete path;
hence we do not speak of a derivative or slope, but of a variation. It is customary to write
the variation of action as δS. The principle of least action thus states:

⊳ The actual trajectory between specified end points satisfies δS = 0. (72)

Mathematicians call this a variational principle. Note that the end points have to be spec-
ified: we have to compare motions with the same initial and final situations.
Before discussing the principle further, we can check that it is equivalent to the evolu-
tion equation.* To do this, we can use a standard procedure, part of the so-called calculus Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Moreover, for motion on small (infinitesimal) scales, the action is always a minimum. The mathematical
condition of vanishing variation, given below, encompasses all these details.
* For those interested, here are a few comments on the equivalence of Lagrangians and evolution equations.
First of all, Lagrangians do not exist for non-conservative, or dissipative systems. We saw that there is no
Page 200 potential for any motion involving friction (and more than one dimension); therefore there is no action in
these cases. One approach to overcome this limitation is to use a generalized formulation of the principle
of least action. Whenever there is no potential, we can express the work variation δW between different
trajectories xi as
δW = 󵠈 mi ẍi δxi . (73)
i

Motion is then described in the following way:

tf
⊳ The actual trajectory satifies 󵐐 (δT + δW)dt = 0 provided δx(ti ) = δx(tf ) = 0 . (74)
ti
 8 measuring change with action 219

of variations. The condition δS = 0 implies that the action, i.e., the area under the curve
in Figure 156, is a minimum. A little bit of thinking shows that if the Lagrangian is of the
Challenge 401 ny form L(xn , 󰑣n ) = T(󰑣n ) − U(xn ), then the minimum area is achieved when

d ∂T ∂U
󶀤 󶀴=− (75)
dt ∂󰑣n ∂xn

where n counts all coordinates of all particles.* For a single particle, these Lagrange’s
Challenge 402 e equations of motion reduce to
ma = −∇U . (77)

The quantity being varied has no name; it represents a generalized notion of change. You might want to
Challenge 400 ny check that it leads to the correct evolution equations. Thus, although proper Lagrangian descriptions exist

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
only for conservative systems, for dissipative systems the principle can be generalized and remains useful.
Many physicists will prefer another approach. What a mathematician calls a generalization is a special
case for a physicist: the principle (74) hides the fact that all friction results from the usual principle of
minimal action, if we include the complete microscopic details. There is no friction in the microscopic
domain. Friction is an approximate, macroscopic concept.
Nevertheless, more mathematical viewpoints are useful. For example, they lead to interesting limitations
for the use of Lagrangians. These limitations, which apply only if the world is viewed as purely classical –
which it isn’t – were discovered about a hundred years ago. In those times, computers were not available,
and the exploration of new calculation techniques was important. Here is a summary.
The coordinates used in connection with Lagrangians are not necessarily the Cartesian ones. Generalized
coordinates are especially useful when there are constraints on the motion. This is the case for a pendulum,
where the weight always has to be at the same distance from the suspension, or for an ice skater, where the
Ref. 181 skate has to move in the direction in which it is pointing. Generalized coordinates may even be mixtures of
positions and momenta. They can be divided into a few general types.
Generalized coordinates are called holonomic–scleronomic if they are related to Cartesian coordinates in
a fixed way, independently of time: physical systems described by such coordinates include the pendulum
and a particle in a potential. Coordinates are called holonomic–rheonomic if the dependence involves time.
An example of a rheonomic systems would be a pendulum whose length depends on time. The two terms
Page 327 rheonomic and scleronomic are due to Ludwig Boltzmann. These two cases, which concern systems that are
only described by their geometry, are grouped together as holonomic systems. The term is due to Heinrich
Vol. III, page 90 Hertz.
The more general situation is called anholonomic, or nonholonomic. Lagrangians work well only for holo-
nomic systems. Unfortunately, the meaning of the term ‘nonholonomic’ has changed. Nowadays, the term
is also used for certain rheonomic systems. The modern use calls nonholonomic any system which involves
velocities. Therefore, an ice skater or a rolling disc is often called a nonholonomic system. Care is thus
necessary to decide what is meant by nonholonomic in any particular context.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Even though the use of Lagrangians, and of action, has its limitations, these need not bother us at micro-
scopic level, since microscopic systems are always conservative, holonomic and scleronomic. At the funda-
mental level, evolution equations and Lagrangians are indeed equivalent.
* The most general form for a Lagrangian L(qn , q̇n , t), using generalized holonomic coordinates qn , leads to
Lagrange equations of the form
d ∂L ∂L
󶀤 󶀴= . (76)
dt ∂q̇n ∂qn
In order to deduce these equations, we also need the relation δ q̇ = d/dt(δq). This relation is valid only for
holonomic coordinates introduced in the previous footnote and explains their importance.
It should also be noted that the Lagrangian for a moving system is not unique; however, the study of how
Ref. 182 the various Lagrangians for a given moving system are related is not part of this walk.
By the way, the letter q for position and p for momentum were introduced in physics by the mathemati-
cian Carl Jacobi (b. 1804 Potsdam, d. 1851 Berlin).
 220 8 measuring change with action

This is the evolution equation: it says that the force acting on a particle is the gradient of
the potential energy U. The principle of least action thus implies the equation of motion.
Challenge 403 s (Can you show the converse, which is also correct?)
In other words, all systems evolve in such a way that the change or action is as small
as possible. Nature is economical. Nature is thus the opposite of a Hollywood thriller, in
which the action is maximized; nature is more like a wise old man who keeps his actions
to a minimum.
The principle of minimal action states that the actual trajectory is the one for which
the average of the Lagrangian over the whole trajectory is minimal (see Figure 156). Na-
ture is a Dr. Dolittle. Can you verify this? This viewpoint allows one to deduce Lagrange’s
Challenge 404 ny equations (75) directly.
The principle of least action distinguishes the actual trajectory from all other imag-
inable ones. This observation lead Leibniz to his famous interpretation that the actual

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
world is the ‘best of all possible worlds.’* We may dismiss this as metaphysical specula-
tion, but we should still be able to feel the fascination of the issue. Leibniz was so excited
about the principle of least action because it was the first time that actual observations
were distinguished from all other imaginable possibilities. For the first time, the search
for reasons why things are the way they are became a part of physical investigation. Could
the world be different from what it is? In the principle of least action, we have a hint of a
Challenge 405 s negative answer. (What do you think?) The final answer will emerge only in the last part
of our adventure.

L agrangians and motion

“ ”
Never confuse movement with action.
Ref. 183 Ernest Hemingway

Systems evolve by minimizing change. Change, or action, is the time integral of the La-
grangian. As a way to describe motion, the Lagrangian has several advantages over the
evolution equation. First of all, the Lagrangian is usually more compact than writing the
corresponding evolution equations. For example, only one Lagrangian is needed for one
system, however many particles it includes. One makes fewer mistakes, especially sign
mistakes, as one rapidly learns when performing calculations. Just try to write down the
evolution equations for a chain of masses connected by springs; then compare the effort
Challenge 406 ny with a derivation using a Lagrangian. (The system is often studied because it behaves like
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

a chain of atoms.) We will encounter another example shortly: David Hilbert took only
a few weeks to deduce the equations of motion of general relativity using a Lagrangian,
whereas Albert Einstein had worked for ten years searching for them directly.
In addition, the description with a Lagrangian is valid with any set of coordinates de-
scribing the objects of investigation. The coordinates do not have to be Cartesian; they
can be chosen as one prefers: cylindrical, spherical, hyperbolic, etc. These so-called gen-
eralized coordinates allow one to rapidly calculate the behaviour of many mechanical
systems that are in practice too complicated to be described with Cartesian coordinates.

* This idea was ridiculed by the French philosopher Voltaire (1694–1778) in his lucid writings, notably in
the brilliant book Candide, written in 1759, and still widely available.
 8 measuring change with action 221

TA B L E 32 Some Lagrangians.

System Lagrangian Q ua n t i t i e s

Free, non-relativistic L = 12 m󰑣 2 mass m, speed 󰑣 = dx/dt

mass point
Particle in potential L = 12 m󰑣 2 − mφ(x) gravitational potential φ
Mass on spring L = 12 m󰑣 2 − 12 kx 2 elongation x, spring
constant k
Mass on frictionless L = 12 m󰑣 2 − k(x 2 + y2 ) spring constant k,
table attached to spring coordinates x, y
Chain of masses and L = 12 m ∑ 󰑣i2 − 12 mω2 ∑i, j (xi − x j )2 coordinates xi , lattice
springs (simple model of frequency ω
atoms in a linear crystal)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Free, relativistic mass L = −mc 2 󵀆1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2 mass m, speed 󰑣, speed of
point light c

For example, for programming the motion of robot arms, the angles of the joints pro-
vide a clearer description than Cartesian coordinates of the ends of the arms. Angles are
non-Cartesian coordinates. They simplify calculations considerably: the task of finding
the most economical way to move the hand of a robot from one point to another can be
solved much more easily with angular variables.
More importantly, the Lagrangian allows one to quickly deduce the essential proper-
ties of a system, namely, its symmetries and its conserved quantities. We will develop this
Page 238 important idea shortly, and use it regularly throughout our walk.
Finally, the Lagrangian formulation can be generalized to encompass all types of inter-
actions. Since the concepts of kinetic and potential energy are general, the principle of
least action can be used in electricity, magnetism and optics as well as mechanics. The
principle of least action is central to general relativity and to quantum theory, and allows
one to easily relate both fields to classical mechanics.
As the principle of least action became well known, people applied it to an ever-increa-
Ref. 179 sing number of problems. Today, Lagrangians are used in everything from the study of
elementary particle collisions to the programming of robot motion in artificial intelli-
gence. (Table 32 shows a few examples.) However, we should not forget that despite its Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

remarkable simplicity and usefulness, the Lagrangian formulation is equivalent to the

Challenge 407 s evolution equations. It is neither more general nor more specific. In particular, it is not
an explanation for any type of motion, but only a different view of it. In fact, the search
for a new physical ‘law’ of motion is just the search for a new Lagrangian. This makes
sense, as the description of nature always requires the description of change. Change in
nature is always described by actions and Lagrangians.
The principle of least action states that the action is minimal when the end points of
Ref. 184 the motion, and in particular the time between them, are fixed. It is less well known that
the reciprocal principle also holds: if the action value is kept fixed, the elapsed time for
Challenge 408 ny the actual motion is maximal. Can you show this?
Even though the principle of least action is not an explanation of motion, the principle
somehow calls for such an explanation. We need some patience, though. Why nature fol-
 222 8 measuring change with action

lows the principle of least action, and how it does so, will become clear when we explore
quantum theory.

Why is motion so often bounded?

“
The optimist thinks this is the best of all

”
possible worlds, and the pessimist knows it.
Robert Oppenheimer

Looking around ourselves on Earth or in the sky, we find that matter is not evenly dis-
tributed. Matter tends to be near other matter: it is lumped together in aggregates. Some
Ref. 185 major examples of aggregates are listed in Figure 158 and Table 33. All aggregates have
mass and size. In the mass–size diagram of Figure 158, both scales are logarithmic. One
notes three straight lines: a line m ∼ l extending from the Planck mass* upwards, via

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
black holes, to the universe itself; a line m ∼ 1/l extending from the Planck mass down-
wards, to the lightest possible aggregate; and the usual matter line with m ∼ l 3 , extending
from atoms upwards, via everyday objects, the Earth to the Sun. The first of the lines, the
black hole limit, is explained by general relativity; the last two, the aggregate limit and
the common matter line, by quantum theory.**
The aggregates outside the common matter line also show that the stronger the inter-
action that keeps the components together, the smaller the aggregate. But why is matter
mainly found in lumps?
First of all, aggregates form because of the existence of attractive interactions between
objects. Secondly, they form because of friction: when two components approach, an
aggregate can only be formed if the released energy can be changed into heat. Thirdly,
aggregates have a finite size because of repulsive effects that prevent the components from
collapsing completely. Together, these three factors ensure that bound motion is much
more common than unbound, ‘free’ motion.
Only three types of attraction lead to aggregates: gravity, the attraction of electric
charges, and the strong nuclear interaction. Similarly, only three types of repulsion are
observed: rotation, pressure, and the Pauli exclusion principle (which we will encounter
Vol. IV, page 117 later on). Of the nine possible combinations of attraction and repulsion, not all appear
in nature. Can you find out which ones are missing from Figure 158 and Table 33, and
Challenge 409 s why?
Together, attraction, friction and repulsion imply that change and action are mini-
mized when objects come and stay together. The principle of least action thus implies
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the stability of aggregates. By the way, formation history also explains why so many ag-
Challenge 410 ny gregates rotate. Can you tell why?
But why does friction exist at all? And why do attractive and repulsive interactions
exist? And why is it – as it would appear from the above – that in some distant past
matter was not found in lumps? In order to answer these questions, we must first study
another global property of motion: symmetry.

* The Planck mass is given by mPl = 󵀆ħc/G = 21.767(16) μg.

** Figure 158 suggests that domains beyond physics exist; we will discover later on that this is not the case,
as mass and size are not definable in those domains.
8 measuring change with action 223

universe
mass
[kg]

galaxy
1040 black
holes star cluster

lim ce:
Sun

Beyond nature and science: beyond Planck length limit

ol ien
it
k h sc
Earth

e
neutron

ac d
bl an
1020

Beyond nature and science: undefined

star

e e
th t u r
nd na
mountain

yo nd

ine
be eyo
B

ter l
mat

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
human
100

mon
Planck mass

com
cell

heavy DNA
10-20 nucleus
uranium
muon hydrogen
proton
electron
Aggregates
m

10-40 neutrino
icr
os
co
pi
ca
gg

Elementary
re
ga

particles lightest
te
lim

10-60 imaginable
it

aggregate

10-40 10-20 100 1020 size [m]

F I G U R E 158 Elementary particles and aggregates found in nature.

TA B L E 33 Some major aggregates observed in nature.

A g g r e g at e Size Obs. Constituents

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

(diameter) num.

Gravitationally bound aggregates

Matter across universe c. 100 Ym 1 superclusters of galaxies, hydrogen
and helium atoms
Quasar 1012 to 1014 m 20 ⋅ 106 baryons and leptons
Supercluster of galaxies c. 3 Ym 107 galaxy groups and clusters
Galaxy cluster c. 60 Zm 25 ⋅ 109 10 to 50 galaxies
Galaxy group or cluster c. 240 Zm 50 to over 2000 galaxies
Our local galaxy group 50 Zm 1 c. 40 galaxies
224 8 measuring change with action

A g g r e g at e Size Obs. Constituents

(diameter) num.

General galaxy 0.5 to 2 Zm 3.5 ⋅ 1012 1010 to 3 ⋅ 1011 stars, dust and gas
clouds, probably solar systems
Our galaxy 1.0(0.1) Zm 1 1011 stars, dust and gas clouds, solar
systems
Interstellar clouds up to 15 Em ≫ 105 hydrogen, ice and dust
Solar system a unknown > 400 star, planets
Our solar system 30 Pm 1 Sun, planets (Pluto’s orbit’s diameter:
11.8 Tm), moons, planetoids, comets,
asteroids, dust, gas
Oort cloud 6 to 30 Pm 1 comets, dust

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Kuiper belt 60 Tm 1 planetoids, comets, dust
Star b 10 km to 100 Gm 1022±1 ionized gas: protons, neutrons,
electrons, neutrinos, photons
Our star, the Sun 1.39 Gm
Planet a (Jupiter, Earth) 143 Mm, 12.8 Mm 8+ > solids, liquids, gases; in particular,
400 heavy atoms
Planetoids (Varuna, etc) 50 to 1 000 km > 100 solids
(est. 109 )
Moons 10 to 1 000 km > 50 solids
neutron stars 10 km > 1000 mainly neutrons
Electromagnetically bound aggregates c
Dwarf planets, minor 1 m to 2400 km > 106 (109 estimated) solids, usually
planets, asteroids d monolithic
Comets 10 cm to 50 km > 109 (1012 possible) ice and dust
Mountains, solids, liquids, 1 nm to > 100 km n.a. molecules, atoms
gases, cheese
Animals, plants, kefir 5 μm to 1 km 1026±2 organs, cells
brain, human 0.2 m 1010 neurons and other cell types
Cells: 1031±1 organelles, membranes, molecules
smallest (Nanoarchaeum c. 400 nm molecules
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

equitans)
amoeba c. 600 μm molecules
largest (whale nerve, c. 30 m molecules
single-celled plants)
Molecules: 1078±2 atoms
H2 c. 50 pm 1072±2 atoms
DNA (human) 2 m (total per cell) 1021 atoms
Atoms, ions 30 pm to 300 pm 1080±2 electrons and nuclei
Aggregates bound by the weak interaction c
None
 8 measuring change with action 225

A g g r e g at e Size Obs. Constituents

(diameter) num.

Aggregates bound by the strong interaction c

Nucleus 0.9 to > 7 fm 1079±2 nucleons
Nucleon (proton, neutron) 0.9 fm 1080±2 quarks
Mesons c. 1 fm n.a. quarks
Neutron stars: see above

a. Only in 1994 was the first evidence found for objects circling stars other than our Sun; of over 400 extra-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
solar planets found so far, most are found around F, G and K stars, including neutron stars. For example,
Ref. 186 three objects circle the pulsar PSR 1257+12, and a matter ring circles the star β Pictoris. The objects seem to
be dark stars, brown dwarfs or large gas planets like Jupiter. Due to the limitations of observation systems,
none of the systems found so far form solar systems of the type we live in. In fact, only a few Earth-like
planets have been found so far.
b. The Sun is among the brightest 7 % of stars. Of all stars, 80 %, are red M dwarfs, 8 % are orange K dwarfs,
and 5 % are white D dwarfs: these are all faint. Almost all stars visible in the night sky belong to the bright
7 %. Some of these are from the rare blue O class or blue B class (such as Spica, Regulus and Rigel); 0.7 %
consist of the bright, white A class (such as Sirius, Vega and Altair); 2 % are of the yellow–white F class (such
as Canopus, Procyon and Polaris); 3.5 % are of the yellow G class (like Alpha Centauri, Capella or the Sun).
Exceptions include the few visible K giants, such as Arcturus and Aldebaran, and the rare M supergiants,
Vol. II, page 228 such as Betelgeuse and Antares. More on stars later on.
Vol. V, page 264 c. For more details on microscopic aggregates, see the table of composites..
Ref. 187 d. It is estimated that there are up to 1020 small solar system bodies (asteroids, planetoids, minor planets,
meteroids) that are heavier than 100 kg in the solar system. Incidentally, no asteroids between Mercury and
the Sun – the hypothetical Vulcanoids – have been found so far.

Curiosities and fun challenges about L agrangians

When Lagrange published his book Mécanique analytique, in 1788, it formed one of the
high points in the history of mechanics. He was proud of having written a systematic
exposition of mechanics without a single figure. Obviously the book was difficult to read
and was not a sales success. Therefore his methods took another generation to come into Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

general use.
∗∗
Given that action is the basic quantity describing motion, we can define energy as action
per unit time, and momentum as action per unit distance. The energy of a system thus
describes how much it changes over time, and the momentum how much it changes over
Challenge 411 s distance. What are angular momentum and rotational energy?
∗∗
‘In nature, effects of telekinesis or prayer are impossible, as in most cases the change
inside the brain is much smaller than the change claimed in the outside world.’ Is this
Challenge 412 s argument correct?
 226 8 measuring change with action

α air

water

β
F I G U R E 159 Refraction of light is due to travel-time optimization.

∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In Galilean physics, the Lagrangian is the difference between kinetic and potential energy.
Later on, this definition will be generalized in a way that sharpens our understanding of
this distinction: the Lagrangian becomes the difference between a term for free particles
and a term due to their interactions. In other words, particle motion is a continuous
compromise between what the particle would do if it were free and what other particles
want it to do. In this respect, particles behave a lot like humans beings.
∗∗
Challenge 413 ny How is action measured? What is the best device or method to measure action?
∗∗
Challenge 414 s Explain: why is T + U constant, whereas T − U is minimal?
∗∗
In nature, the sum T + U of kinetic and potential energy is constant during motion (for
closed systems), whereas the action is minimal. Is it possible to deduce, by combining
Challenge 415 s these two facts, that systems tend to a state with minimum potential energy?
∗∗
Another minimization principle can be used to understand the construction of animal
Ref. 188 bodies, especially their size and the proportions of their inner structures. For example,
the heart pulse and breathing frequency both vary with animal mass m as m−1/4 , and
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the dissipated power varies as m3/4 . It turns out that such exponents result from three
properties of living beings. First, they transport energy and material through the organ-
ism via a branched network of vessels: a few large ones, and increasingly many smaller
ones. Secondly, the vessels all have the same minimum size. And thirdly, the networks
are optimized in order to minimize the energy needed for transport. Together, these rela-
tions explain many additional scaling rules; they might also explain why animal lifespan
scales as m−1/4 , or why most mammals have roughly the same number of heart beats in
Page 113 a lifetime.
A competing explanation, using a different minimization principle, states that quarter
powers arise in any network built in order that the flow arrives to the destination by the
Ref. 189 most direct path.
 8 measuring change with action 227

∗∗
The minimization principle for the motion of light is even more beautiful: light always
takes the path that requires the shortest travel time. It was known long ago that this idea
describes exactly how light changes direction when it moves from air to water. In water,
light moves more slowly; the speed ratio between air and water is called the refractive
index of water. The refractive index, usually abbreviated n, is material-dependent. The
value for water is about 1.3. This speed ratio, together with the minimum-time principle,
leads to the ‘law’ of refraction, a simple relation between the sines of the two angles. Can
Challenge 416 s you deduce it?
∗∗
Can you confirm that all the mentioned minimization principles – that for the growth
of trees, that for the networks inside animals, that for the motion of light – are special

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 417 s cases of the principle of least action? In fact, this is the case for all known minimization
principles in nature. Each of them, like the principle of least action, is a principle of least
change.
∗∗
In Galilean physics, the value of the action depends on the speed of the observer, but not
on his position or orientation. But the action, when properly defined, should not depend
on the observer. All observers should agree on the value of the observed change. Only
special relativity will fulfil the requirement that action be independent of the observer’s
Challenge 418 s speed. How will the relativistic action be defined?
∗∗
Measuring all the change that is going on in the universe presupposes that the universe
Challenge 419 s is a physical system. Is this the case?
∗∗
One motion for which action is particularly well minimized in nature is dear to us: walk-
Ref. 190 ing. Extensive research efforts try to design robots which copy the energy saving func-
tioning and control of human legs. For an example, see the website by Tao Geng at cswww.
essex.ac.uk/tgeng/research.html.
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 420 d Can you prove the following integration challenge?

φ
π φ
󵐐 sec t dt = ln tan( + ) (78)
0 4 2
∗∗
What is the shape of the ideal halfpipe for skateboarding? What does ‘ideal’ imply? Which
Challenge 421 s requirement leads to a cycloid? Which requirement speaks against a cycloid?
∗∗
Page 113 As mentioned above, animal death is a physical process and occurs when an animal has
 228 8 measuring change with action

consumed or metabolized around 1 GJ/kg. Show that the total action of an animal scales
Challenge 422 e as M 5/4 .

Summary on action
Systems move by minimizing change. Change, or action, is the time average of kinetic en-
ergy minus potential energy. The statement ‘motion minimizes change’ contains motion’s
predictability, its continuity and its simplicity.
Systems move by minimizing change. Equivalently, systems move by maximizing the
elapsed time between two situations.
Systems move by minimizing change. In the next chapters we show that this is a strong
statement: change minimization implies the observer-invariance, conservation, mirror-
invariance, reversibility and relativity of motion.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 9

MOTION AND SYMMETRY

“ ”
Am Anfang war die Symmetrie.*
Ref. 191 Werner Heisenberg

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
T he second way to describe motion globally is to describe it in such a way
hat all observers agree. Now, whenever an observation stays exactly
he same when switching from one observer to another, we call the observation
invariant or absolute or symmetric. Whenever an observation changes when switching
Page 208 from one observer to another, we call it relative. To explore relativity thus means to
explore symmetry.
Symmetry is invariance after change. Change of observer or point of view is one such
possible change, as can be some change operated on the observation itself. For example,
a forget-me-not flower, shown in Figure 160, is symmetrical because it looks the same
after turning it, or after turning around it, by 72 degrees; many fruit tree flowers have the
same symmetry. One also says that under certain changes of viewpoint the flower has
an invariant property, namely its shape. If many such viewpoints are possible, one talks
about a high symmetry, otherwise a low symmetry. For example, a four-leaf clover has a
higher symmetry than a usual, three-leaf one. In physics, the viewpoints are often called
frames of reference.
When we speak about symmetry in flowers, in everyday life, in architecture or in
the arts we usually mean mirror symmetry, rotational symmetry or some combination.
These are geometric symmetries. Like all symmetries, geometric symmetries imply in-
variance under specific change operations. The complete list of geometric symmetries
Ref. 192 is known for a long time. Table 34 gives an overview of the basic types. Figure 161 and
Figure 162 give some important examples. Additional geometric symmetries include
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

colour symmetries, where colours are exchanged, and spin groups, where symmetrical ob-
jects do not contain only points but also spins, with their special behaviour under rota-
tions. Also combinations with scale symmetry, as they appear in fractals, and variations
on curved backgrounds are extension of the basic table.
A high symmetry means that many possible changes leave an observation invariant.
At first sight, not many objects or observations in nature seem to be symmetrical: after
all, geometric symmetry is more the exception than the rule. But this is a fallacy. On the
contrary, we can deduce that nature as a whole is symmetric from the simple fact that we
Challenge 423 s have the ability to talk about it! Moreover, the symmetry of nature is considerably higher

* ‘In the beginning, there was symmetry.’

 230 9 motion and symmetry

F I G U R E 160 Forget-me-not, also called

Myosotis (Boraginaceae) (© Markku

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Savela).

TA B L E 34 The classification and the number of simple geometric symmetries.

Dimension Repeti- Tr a n s l at i o n s
tion
types
0 1 2 3
point line plane s pa c e
groups groups groups groups

1 1 row 2 2 n.a. n.a.

2 5 nets 10 crystal 7 friezes 17 wall-papers n.a.
groups
3 14 lattices 32 crystal 75 rods 80 layers 230 crystal
groups structures

than that of a forget-me-not or of any other symmetry from Table 34. A consequence of
this high symmetry is, among others, the famous expression E0 = mc 2 .

Why can we think and talk about the world?

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

“
The hidden harmony is stronger than the

”
apparent.
Ref. 193 Heraclitus of Ephesus, about 500 bce

Why can we understand somebody when he is talking about the world, even though we
are not in his shoes? We can for two reasons: because most things look similar from differ-
ent viewpoints, and because most of us have already had similar experiences beforehand.
‘Similar’ means that what we and what others observe somehow correspond. In other
words, many aspects of observations do not depend on viewpoint. For example, the num-
ber of petals of a flower has the same value for all observers. We can therefore say that this
quantity has the highest possible symmetry. We will see below that mass is another such
example. Observables with the highest possible symmetry are called scalars in physics.
 9 motion and symmetry 231

The 17 wallpaper patterns and a way to identify them quickly.

Is the maximum rotation order 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6?
Is there a mirror (m)? Is there an indecomposable glide reflection (g)?
Is there a rotation axis on a mirror? Is there a rotation axis not on a mirror?

oo pg K ** pm A *o cm M

0 2222
p1
p2
T
S2222

y
*632
n n 22o

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
y
g? n
p6m g? pgg

D632 y P22
n g?
m?
y
y n
1 *2222
632 m? m?
6 max 2 n pmm
n rotation y
p6 g? D2222
order
y
3 4
S632 22*
y an axis on
m? m? n pmg
n a mirror?
an axis not y
D22
y on a mirror? n y
3*3
2*22
an axis not
p31m on a mirror? cmm
n
y n D222
D33

*333 442
p3m1 p4

D333 *442 S442

333 p3 S333 4*2 p4g D42 p4m D442
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Every pattern is identified according to three systems of notation:

442 The Conway-Thurston notation.

p4 The International Union of Crystallography notation.
S442 The Montesinos notation, as in his book
“Classical Tesselations and Three Manifolds”

F I G U R E 161 The full list of possible symmetries of wallpaper patterns, the so-called wallpaper groups,
their usual names, and a way to distinguish them (© Dror Bar-Natan).
232 9 motion and symmetry

Crystal system Crystall class or crystal group

Triclinic system
(three axes,
none at right angles)
C1 Ci

Monoclinic system
(two axes at
right angles, a C2 Cs or C1h C2h
third not)

Orthorhombic system

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
(three unequal axes
at right angles)
D2 C2v D2h

Tetragonal system
(three axes at right
angles, one
unequal)
C4 S4 C4h D4 C4v D2d D4h

Trigonal system
(three equal axes
at 120 degrees, a
fourth at right angles
with threefold C3 S6 D3 C3v D3d
symmetry)

Hexagonal system
(three equal axes
at 120 degrees, a
fourth at right
angles with sixfold C6 C3h C6h D6 C6v D3h D6h
symmetry)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Cubic or isometric
system (three equal
axes at right
angles)
T Th O Td Oh

F I G U R E 162 The full list of possible symmetries of units cells in crystals, the crystallographic point
groups or crystal groups or crystal classes (© Jonathan Goss, after Neil Ashcroft and David Mermin).
 9 motion and symmetry 233

Other aspects change from observer to observer. For example, the apparent size varies
with the distance of observation. However, the actual size is observer-independent. In
general terms, any type of viewpoint-independence is a form of symmetry, and the obser-
vation that two people looking at the same thing from different viewpoints can under-
stand each other proves that nature is symmetric. We start to explore the details of this
symmetry in this section and we will continue during most of the rest of our hike.
In the world around us, we note another general property: not only does the same
phenomenon look similar to different observers, but different phenomena look similar
to the same observer. For example, we know that if fire burns the finger in the kitchen, it
will do so outside the house as well, and also in other places and at other times. Nature
shows reproducibility. Nature shows no surprises. In fact, our memory and our thinking
Challenge 424 s are only possible because of this basic property of nature. (Can you confirm this?) As
we will see, reproducibility leads to additional strong restrictions on the description of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
nature.
Without viewpoint-independence and reproducibility, talking to others or to one-
self would be impossible. Even more importantly, we will discover that viewpoint-
independence and reproducibility do more than determine the possibility of talking to
each other: they also fix much (but not all) of the content of what we can say to each
other. In other words, we will see that most of our description of nature follows logically,
almost without choice, from the simple fact that we can talk about nature to our friends.

Viewpoints

“
Toleranz ... ist der Verdacht der andere könnte

”
Recht haben.*
Kurt Tucholsky (1890–1935), German writer

“
Toleranz – eine Stärke, die man vor allem dem

”
politischen Gegner wünscht.**
Wolfram Weidner (b. 1925) German journalist

When a young human starts to meet other people in childhood, he quickly finds out that
certain experiences are shared, while others, such as dreams, are not. Learning to make
this distinction is one of the adventures of human life. In these pages, we concentrate on
a section of the first type of experiences: physical observations. However, even among
these, distinctions are to be made. In daily life we are used to assuming that weights,
volumes, lengths and time intervals are independent of the viewpoint of the observer.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

We can talk about these observed quantities to anybody, and there are no disagreements
over their values, provided they have been measured correctly. However, other quantities
do depend on the observer. Imagine talking to a friend after he jumped from one of the
trees along our path, while he is still falling downwards. He will say that the forest floor
is approaching with high speed, whereas the observer below will maintain that the floor
is stationary. Obviously, the difference between the statements is due to their different
viewpoints. The velocity of an object (in this example that of the forest floor or of the
friend himself) is thus a less symmetric property than weight or size. Not all observers
agree on its value.
* ‘Tolerance ... is the suspicion that the other might be right.’
** ‘Tolerance – a strength one mainly wishes to political opponents.’
 234 9 motion and symmetry

In the case of viewpoint-dependent observations, understanding is still possible with

the help of a little effort: each observer can imagine observing from the point of view
of the other, and check whether the imagined result agrees with the statement of the
other.* If the statement thus imagined and the actual statement of the other observer
agree, the observations are consistent, and the difference in statements is due only to the
different viewpoints; otherwise, the difference is fundamental, and they cannot agree or
talk. Using this approach, you can even argue whether human feelings, judgements, or
Challenge 425 s tastes arise from fundamental differences or not.
The distinction between viewpoint-independent (invariant) and viewpoint-
dependent quantities is an essential one. Invariant quantities, such as mass or shape,
describe intrinsic properties, and quantities depending on the observer make up the
state of the system. Therefore, we must answer the following questions in order to find a
complete description of the state of a physical system:

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
— Which viewpoints are possible?
— How are descriptions transformed from one viewpoint to another?
— Which observables do these symmetries admit?
— What do these results tell us about motion?
In the discussion so far, we have studied viewpoints differing in location, in orientation,
in time and, most importantly, in motion. With respect to each other, observers can be at
rest, move with constant speed, or accelerate. These ‘concrete’ changes of viewpoint are
those we will study first. In this case the requirement of consistency of observations made
Page 141 by different observers is called the principle of relativity. The symmetries associated with
Page 243 this type of invariance are also called external symmetries. They are listed in Table 36.
A second class of fundamental changes of viewpoint concerns ‘abstract’ changes.
Viewpoints can differ by the mathematical description used: such changes are called
Vol. III, page 76 changes of gauge. They will be introduced first in the section on electrodynamics. Again,
it is required that all statements be consistent across different mathematical descriptions.
This requirement of consistency is called the principle of gauge invariance. The associated
symmetries are called internal symmetries.
The third class of changes, whose importance may not be evident from everyday life,
is that of the behaviour of a system under exchange of its parts. The associated invariance
is called permutation symmetry. It is a discrete symmetry, and we will encounter it when
Vol. IV, page 97 we explore quantum theory.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The three consistency requirements described above are called ‘principles’ because
these basic statements are so strong that they almost completely determine the ‘laws’
of physics, as we will see shortly. Later on we will discover that looking for a complete
description of the state of objects will also yield a complete description of their intrinsic
properties. But enough of introduction: let us come to the heart of the topic.

* Humans develop the ability to imagine that others can be in situations different from their own at the
Ref. 194 age of about four years. Therefore, before the age of four, humans are unable to conceive special relativity;
afterwards, they can.
 9 motion and symmetry 235

Symmetries and groups

Because we are looking for a description of motion that is complete, we need to under-
stand and describe the full set of symmetries of nature. But what is symmetry?
A system is said to be symmetric or to possess a symmetry if it appears identical when
observed from different viewpoints. We also say that the system possesses an invariance
under change from one viewpoint to the other. Viewpoint changes are called symmetry
operations or transformations. A symmetry is thus a transformation, or more generally, a
set of transformations that leaves a system invariant. However, a symmetry is more than
a set: the successive application of two symmetry operations is another symmetry opera-
tion. In other terms, a symmetry is a set G = {a, b, c, ...} of elements, the transformations,
together with a binary operation ∘ called concatenation or multiplication and pronounced
‘after’ or ‘times’, in which the following properties hold for all elements a, b and c:

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
associativity, i.e., (a ∘ b) ∘ c = a ∘ (b ∘ c)
a neutral element e exists such that e ∘ a = a ∘ e = a
an inverse element a−1 exists such that a−1 ∘ a = a ∘ a−1 = e . (79)

Any set that fulfils these three defining properties, or axioms, is called a (mathematical)
group. Historically, the notion of group was the first example of a mathematical struc-
ture which was defined in a completely abstract manner.* Can you give an example of a
Challenge 426 s group taken from daily life? Groups appear frequently in physics and mathematics, be-
Ref. 195 cause symmetries are almost everywhere, as we will see.** Can you list the symmetry
Challenge 428 s operations of the pattern of Figure 163?

Representations
Looking at a symmetric and composed system such as the one shown in Figure 163, we
Challenge 429 e notice that each of its parts, for example each red patch, belongs to a set of similar objects,
usually called a multiplet. Taken as a whole, the multiplet has (at least) the symmetry
properties of the whole system. For some of the coloured patches in Figure 163 we need
four objects to make up a full multiplet, whereas for others we need two, or only one, as
in the case of the central star. In fact, in any symmetric system each part can be classified
according to what type of multiplet it belongs to.
Therefore we have two challenges. Not only do we need to find all symmetries of na-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ture; throughout our mountain ascent we also need to determine the multiplet for every

* The term ‘group’ is due to Evariste Galois (1811–1832), its structure to Augustin-Louis Cauchy (1789–1857)
and the axiomatic definition to Arthur Cayley (1821–1895).
** In principle, mathematical groups need not be symmetry groups; but it can be proven that all groups can
be seen as transformation groups on some suitably defined mathematical space, so that in mathematics we
can use the terms ‘symmetry group’ and ‘group’ interchangeably.
A group is called Abelian if its concatenation operation is commutative, i.e., if a ∘ b = b ∘ a for all pairs of
elements a and b. In this case the concatenation is sometimes called addition. Do rotations form an Abelian
Challenge 427 e group?
A subset G1 ⊂ G of a group G can itself be a group; one then calls it a subgroup and often says sloppily
that G is larger than G1 or that G is a higher symmetry group than G1 .
236 9 motion and symmetry

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © 1990 Christoph Schiller

F I G U R E 163 A Hispano–Arabic ornament from the Governor’s Palace in Sevilla (© Christoph Schiller).

part of nature that we observe. Above all, we will need to do this for the smallest parts Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

found in nature, the elementary particles.

A multiplet is a set of parts that transform into each other under all symmetry trans-
formations. Mathematicians often call abstract multiplets representations. By specifying
to which multiplet a component belongs, we describe in which way the component is
part of the whole system. Let us see how this classification is achieved.
In mathematical language, symmetry transformations are often described by matrices.
For example, in the plane, a reflection along the first diagonal is represented by the matrix

0 1
D(refl) = 󶀥 󶀵 , (80)
1 0

since every point (x, y) becomes transformed to (y, x) when multiplied by the matrix
 9 motion and symmetry 237

Challenge 430 e D(refl). Therefore, for a mathematician a representation of a symmetry group G is an

assignment of a matrix D(a) to each group element a such that the representation of the
concatenation of two elements a and b is the product of the representations D of the
elements:
D(a ∘ b) = D(a)D(b) . (81)

For example, the matrix of equation (80), together with the corresponding matrices for
all the other symmetry operations, have this property.*
For every symmetry group, the construction and classification of all possible represen-
tations is an important task. It corresponds to the classification of all possible multiplets
a symmetric system can be made of. Therefore, if we understand the classification of all
multiplets and parts which can appear in Figure 163, we will also understand how to
classify all possible parts of which an object or an example of motion can be composed!

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
A representation D is called unitary if all matrices D(a) are unitary.** Almost all rep-
resentations appearing in physics, with only a handful of exceptions, are unitary: this
term is the most restrictive, since it specifies that the corresponding transformations are
one-to-one and invertible, which means that one observer never sees more or less than
another. Obviously, if an observer can talk to a second one, the second one can also talk
to the first.
The final important property of a multiplet, or representation, concerns its structure.
If a multiplet can be seen as composed of sub-multiplets, it is called reducible, else irre-
ducible; the same is said about representations. The irreducible representations obviously
cannot be decomposed any further. For example, the (almost perfect) symmetry group
of Figure 163, commonly called D4 , has eight elements. It has the general, faithful, unitary

* There are some obvious, but important, side conditions for a representation: the matrices D(a) must be
invertible, or non-singular, and the identity operation of G must be mapped to the unit matrix. In even more
compact language one says that a representation is a homomorphism from G into the group of non-singular
or invertible matrices. A matrix D is invertible if its determinant det D is not zero.
In general, if a mapping f from a group G to another G 󳰀 satisfies

f (a ∘G b) = f (a) ∘G 󳰀 f (b) , (82)

the mapping f is called an homomorphism. A homomorphism f that is one-to-one (injective) and onto
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

(surjective) is called a isomorphism. If a representation is also injective, it is called faithful, true or proper.
In the same way as groups, more complex mathematical structures such as rings, fields and associative
algebras may also be represented by suitable classes of matrices. A representation of the field of complex
Vol. IV, page 195 numbers is given later on.
** The transpose AT of a matrix A is defined element-by-element by (AT )ik = A ki . The complex conjugate
A∗ of a matrix A is defined by (A∗ )ik = (A ik )∗ . The adjoint A† of a matrix A is defined by A† = (AT )∗ .
A matrix is called symmetric if AT = A, orthogonal if AT = A−1 , Hermitean or self-adjoint (the two are
synonymous in all physical applications) if A† = A (Hermitean matrices have real eigenvalues), and unitary
if A† = A−1 . Unitary matrices have eigenvalues of norm one. Multiplication by a unitary matrix is a one-to-
one mapping; since the time evolution of physical systems is a mapping from one time to another, evolution
is always described by a unitary matrix.
An antisymmetric or skew-symmetric matrix is defined by AT = −A, an anti-Hermitean matrix by A† =
−A and an anti-unitary matrix by A† = −A−1 . All the corresponding mappings are one-to-one.
A matrix is singular, and the corresponding vector transformation is not one-to-one, if det A = 0.
 238 9 motion and symmetry

TA B L E 35 Correspondences between the symmetries of an ornament, a flower and nature as a whole.

System H i s pa n o –A r a - Flower Motion

bic
pat t e r n
Structure and set of ribbons and set of petals, stem motion path and
components patches observables
System pattern symmetry flower symmetry symmetry of Lagrangian
symmetry
Mathematical D4 C5 in Galilean relativity:
description of the position, orientation,
symmetry group instant and velocity changes

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Invariants number of multiplet petal number number of coordinates,
elements magnitude of scalars,
vectors and tensors
Representations multiplet types of multiplet types of tensors, including scalars
of the elements components and vectors
components
Most symmetric singlet part with circular scalar
representation symmetry
Simplest faithful quartet quintet vector
representation
Least symmetric quartet quintet no limit (tensor of infinite
representation rank)

Challenge 431 e and irreducible matrix representation

cos nπ/2 − sin nπ/2 −1 0 1 0 0 1 0 −1

󶀥 󶀵 n = 0..3, 󶀥 󶀵,󶀥 󶀵,󶀥 󶀵,󶀥 󶀵. (83)
sin nπ/2 cos nπ/2 0 1 0 −1 1 0 −1 0

The representation is an octet. The complete list of possible irreducible representations of

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 432 ny the group D4 also includes singlets, doublets and quartets. Can you find them all? These
representations allow the classification of all the white and black ribbons that appear in
the figure, as well as all the coloured patches. The most symmetric elements are singlets,
the least symmetric ones are members of the quartets. The complete system is always a
singlet as well.
With these concepts we are ready to talk about motion with improved precision.

Symmetries, motion and Galilean physics

Every day we experience that we are able to talk to each other about motion. It must
therefore be possible to find an invariant quantity describing it. We already know it: it is
the action, the measure of change. For example, lighting a match is a change. The mag-
 9 motion and symmetry 239

nitude of the change is the same whether the match is lit here or there, in one direction
or another, today or tomorrow. Indeed, the (Galilean) action is a number whose value is
the same for each observer at rest, independent of his orientation or the time at which
he makes his observation.
In the case of the Arabic pattern of Figure 163, the symmetry allows us to deduce the
list of multiplets, or representations, that can be its building blocks. This approach must
be possible for a moving system as well. Table 35 shows how. In the case of the Arabic
pattern, from the various possible observation viewpoints, we deduced the classification
of the ribbons into singlets, doublets, etc. For a moving system, the building blocks, cor-
responding to the ribbons, are the observables. Since we observe that nature is symmetric
under many different changes of viewpoint, we can classify all observables. To do so, we
first need to take the list of all viewpoint transformations and then deduce the list of all
their representations.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Our everyday life shows that the world stays unchanged after changes in position,
orientation and instant of observation. One also speaks of space translation invariance,
rotation invariance and time translation invariance. These transformations are different
from those of the Arabic pattern in two respects: they are continuous and they are un-
bounded. As a result, their representations will generally be continuously variable and
without bounds: they will be quantities or magnitudes. In other words, observables will
be constructed with numbers. In this way we have deduced why numbers are necessary
for any description of motion.*
Since observers can differ in orientation, most representations will be objects possess-
ing a direction. To cut a long story short, the symmetry under change of observation
position, orientation or instant leads to the result that all observables are either ‘scalars’,
‘vectors’ or higher-order ‘tensors.’**
A scalar is an observable quantity which stays the same for all observers: it corre-
sponds to a singlet. Examples are the mass or the charge of an object, the distance be-
tween two points, the distance of the horizon, and many others. Their possible values are
(usually) continuous, unbounded and without direction. Other examples of scalars are
the potential at a point and the temperature at a point. Velocity is obviously not a scalar;
Challenge 434 s nor is the coordinate of a point. Can you find more examples and counter-examples?
Energy is a puzzling observable. It is a scalar if only changes of place, orientation and
instant of observation are considered. But energy is not a scalar if changes of observer
speed are included. Nobody ever searched for a generalization of energy that is a scalar Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

also for moving observers. Only Albert Einstein discovered it, completely by accident.
More about this issue shortly.
Any quantity which has a magnitude and a direction and which ‘stays the same’ with
respect to the environment when changing viewpoint is a vector. For example, the arrow
between two fixed points on the floor is a vector. Its length is the same for all observers;
its direction changes from observer to observer, but not with respect to its environment.
On the other hand, the arrow between a tree and the place where a rainbow touches the
Earth is not a vector, since that place does not stay fixed with respect to the environment,

* Only scalars, in contrast to vectors and higher-order tensors, may also be quantities which only take a
Challenge 433 e discrete set of values, such as +1 or −1 only. In short, only scalars may be discrete observables.
** Later on, spinors will be added to, and complete, this list.
 240 9 motion and symmetry

when the observer changes.

Mathematicians say that vectors are directed entities staying invariant under coordi-
nate transformations. Velocities of objects, accelerations and field strength are examples
Challenge 435 e of vectors. (Can you confirm this?) The magnitude of a vector is a scalar: it is the same
for any observer. By the way, a famous and baffling result of nineteenth-century exper-
iments is that the velocity of a light beam is not a vector like the velocity of a car; the
velocity of a light beam is not a vector for .* This mystery will be solved shortly.
Tensors are generalized vectors. As an example, take the moment of inertia of an ob-
Page 108 ject. It specifies the dependence of the angular momentum on the angular velocity. For
any object, doubling the magnitude of angular velocity doubles the magnitude of angu-
lar momentum; however, the two vectors are not parallel to each other if the object is
Page 145 not a sphere. In general, if any two vector quantities are proportional, in the sense that
doubling the magnitude of one vector doubles the magnitude of the other, but without

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the two vectors being parallel to each other, then the proportionality ‘factor’ is a (second
order) tensor. Like all proportionality factors, tensors have a magnitude. In addition, ten-
sors have a direction and a shape: they describe the connection between the vectors they
relate. Just as vectors are the simplest quantities with a magnitude and a direction, so
tensors are the simplest quantities with a magnitude and with a direction depending on
a second, chosen direction. Vectors can be visualized as oriented arrows; tensors can be
Challenge 437 s visualized as oriented ellipsoids.** Can you name another example of tensor?
Let us get back to the description of motion. Table 35 shows that in physical systems
we always have to distinguish between the symmetry of the whole Lagrangian – cor-
responding to the symmetry of the complete pattern – and the representation of the ob-
servables – corresponding to the ribbon multiplets. Since the action must be a scalar, and
since all observables must be tensors, Lagrangians contain sums and products of tensors
only in combinations forming scalars. Lagrangians thus contain only scalar products or
generalizations thereof. In short, Lagrangians always look like

L = α ai b i + β c jk d jk + γ e lmn f lmn + ... (84)

where the indices attached to the variables a, b, c etc. always come in matching pairs
to be summed over. (Therefore summation signs are usually simply left out.) The Greek
letters represent constants. For example, the action of a free point particle in Galilean
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* Galilean transformations are changes of viewpoints from one observer to a second one, moving with re-
spect to the first. ‘Galilean transformation’ is just a term for what happens in everyday life, where velocities
add and time is the same for everybody. The term, introduced in 1908 by Philipp Frank, is mostly used as a
contrast to the Lorentz transformation that is so common in special relativity.
** A rank-n tensor is the proportionality factor between a rank-1 tensor, i.e., between a vector, and an rank-
(n − 1) tensor. Vectors and scalars are rank 1 and rank 0 tensors. Scalars can be pictured as spheres, vectors
as arrows, and rank-2 tensors as ellipsoids. Tensors of higher rank correspond to more and more complex
shapes.
A vector has the same length and direction for every observer; a tensor (of rank 2) has the same deter-
minant, the same trace, and the same sum of diagonal subdeterminants for all observers.
A vector is described mathematically by a list of components; a tensor (of rank 2) is described by a matrix
of components. The rank or order of a tensor thus gives the number of indices the observable has. Can you
Challenge 436 e show this?
 9 motion and symmetry 241

physics was given as

m
S = 󵐐 L dt = 󵐐 󰑣 2 dt (85)
2

which is indeed of the form just mentioned. We will encounter many other cases during
our study of motion.*
Galileo already understood that motion is also invariant under change of viewpoints
Page 141 with different velocity. However, the action just given does not reflect this. It took some
years to find out the correct generalization: it is given by the theory of special relativity.
But before we study it, we need to finish the present topic.

Reproducibility, conservation and Noether’s theorem

“
I will leave my mass, charge and momentum to

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
”
science.
Graffito

The reproducibility of observations, i.e., the symmetry under change of instant of time
or ‘time translation invariance’, is a case of viewpoint-independence. (That is not obvi-
Challenge 439 ny ous; can you find its irreducible representations?) The connection has several important
consequences. We have seen that symmetry implies invariance. It turns out that for con-
tinuous symmetries, such as time translation symmetry, this statement can be made more
precise: for any continuous symmetry of the Lagrangian there is an associated conserved
constant of motion and vice versa. The exact formulation of this connection is the theo-
rem of Emmy Noether.** She found the result in 1915 when helping Albert Einstein and

* By the way, is the usual list of possible observation viewpoints – namely different positions, different
observation instants, different orientations, and different velocities – also complete for the action (85)? Sur-
Ref. 196 prisingly, the answer is no. One of the first who noted this fact was Niederer, in 1972. Studying the quantum
theory of point particles, he found that even the action of a Galilean free point particle is invariant under
some additional transformations. If the two observers use the coordinates (t, x) and (τ, ξ), the action (85)
Challenge 438 ny is invariant under the transformations

rx + x0 + 󰑣t αt + β
ξ= and τ= with r T r = 1 and αδ − βγ = 1 . (86)
γt + δ γt + δ

where r describes the rotation from the orientation of one observer to the other, 󰑣 the velocity between the
two observers, and x0 the vector between the two origins at time zero. This group contains two important
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

special cases of transformations:

The connected, static Galilei group ξ = rx + x0 + 󰑣t and τ=t

x αt + β
The transformation group SL(2,R) ξ = and τ= (87)
γt + δ γt + δ

The latter, three-parameter group includes spatial inversion, dilations, time translation and a set of time-
dependent transformations such as ξ = x/t, τ = 1/t called expansions. Dilations and expansions are rarely
mentioned, as they are symmetries of point particles only, and do not apply to everyday objects and systems.
They will return to be of importance later on, however.
** Emmy Noether (b. 1882 Erlangen, d. 1935 Bryn Mawr), German mathematician. The theorem is only
a sideline in her career which she dedicated mostly to number theory. The theorem also applies to gauge
symmetries, where it states that to every gauge symmetry corresponds an identity of the equation of motion,
and vice versa.
 242 9 motion and symmetry

David Hilbert, who were both struggling and competing at constructing general relativ-
Ref. 197 ity. However, the result applies to any type of Lagrangian.
Noether investigated continuous symmetries depending on a continuous parameter b.
A viewpoint transformation is a symmetry if the action S does not depend on the value
of b. For example, changing position as

x 󳨃→ x + b (88)

leaves the action

S0 = 󵐐 T(󰑣) − U(x) dt (89)

invariant, since S(b) = S0 . This situation implies that

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∂T
= p = const . (90)
∂󰑣
In short, symmetry under change of position implies conservation of momentum. The
converse is also true.
Challenge 440 ny In the case of symmetry under shift of observation instant, we find

T + U = const . (91)

In other words, time translation invariance implies constant energy. Again, the converse
is also correct. One also says that energy and momentum are the generators of time and
space translations.
The conserved quantity for a continuous symmetry is sometimes called the Noether
charge, because the term charge is used in theoretical physics to designate conserved
extensive observables. So, energy and momentum are Noether charges. ‘Electric charge’,
‘gravitational charge’ (i.e., mass) and ‘topological charge’ are other common examples.
Challenge 441 s What is the conserved charge for rotation invariance?
We note that the expression ‘energy is conserved’ has several meanings. First of all, it
means that the energy of a single free particle is constant in time. Secondly, it means that
the total energy of any number of independent particles is constant. Finally, it means that
the energy of a system of particles, i.e., including their interactions, is constant in time.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Collisions are examples of the latter case. Noether’s theorem makes all of these points at
Challenge 442 e the same time, as you can verify using the corresponding Lagrangians.
But Noether’s theorem also makes, or rather repeats, an even stronger statement: if
energy were not conserved, time could not be defined. The whole description of nature
requires the existence of conserved quantities, as we noticed when we introduced the
Page 26 concepts of object, state and environment. For example, we defined objects as permanent
entities, that is, as entities characterized by conserved quantities. We also saw that the
Page 204 introduction of time is possible only because in nature there are ‘no surprises’. Noether’s
theorem describes exactly what such a ‘surprise’ would have to be: the non-conservation
of energy. However, energy jumps have never been observed – not even at the quantum
level.
9 motion and symmetry 243

Since symmetries are so important for the description of nature, Table 36 gives an
overview of all the symmetries of nature we will encounter. Their main properties are
also listed. Except for those marked as ‘approximate’ or ‘speculative’, an experimental
proof of incorrectness of any of them would be a big surprise indeed.

TA B L E 36 The known symmetries of nature, with their properties; also the complete list of logical
inductions used in the two fields.

Symmetry Ty pe S pa c e G r o u p P o s s i - Con- Va c - Main

[ n u m - o f a c - t o p o l -b l e se rv e d uum/ effect
ber of tion ogy repre- q ua n - m at -
pa r a m - s e nta- tity ter is
eters] tions sym-
metric

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Geometric or space-time, external, symmetries
Time and space R × R3 space, not scalars, momentum yes/yes allow
translation [4 par.] time compact vectors, and energy everyday
Rotation SO(3) space S2 tensors angular yes/yes communi-
[3 par.] momentum cation
Galilei boost R3 [3 par.] space, not scalars, velocity of yes/for relativity
time compact vectors, centre of low of motion
tensors mass speeds
Lorentz homoge- space- not tensors, energy- yes/yes constant
neous Lie time compact spinors momentum light speed
SO(3,1) T μ󰜈
[6 par.]
Poincaré inhomoge- space- not tensors, energy- yes/yes
ISL(2,C) neous Lie time compact spinors momentum
[10 par.] T μ󰜈
Dilation R+ [1 par.] space- ray n-dimen. none yes/no massless
invariance time continuum particles
Special R4 [4 par.] space- R4 n-dimen. none yes/no massless
conformal time continuum particles
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

invariance
Conformal [15 par.] space- involved massless none yes/no light cone
invariance time tensors, invariance
spinors
Dynamic, interaction-dependent symmetries: gravity
1/r 2 gravity SO(4) config. as SO(4) vector pair perihelion yes/yes closed
[6 par.] space direction orbits
Diffeomorphism [∞ par.] space- involved space- local yes/no perihelion
invariance time times energy– shift
momentum
244 9 motion and symmetry

TA B L E 36 (Continued) The known symmetries of nature, with their properties; also the complete list of
logical inductions used in the two fields.

Symmetry Ty pe S pa c e G r o u p P o s s i - Con- Va c - Main

[ n u m - o f a c - t o p o l -b l e se rv e d uum/ effect
ber of tion ogy repre- q ua n - m at -
pa r a m - s e nta- tity ter is
eters] tions sym-
metric

Dynamic, classical and quantum-mechanical motion symmetries

Motion(‘time’) discrete Hilbert discrete even, odd T-parity yes/no reversibil-

inversion T or phase ity
space

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Parity(‘spatial’) discrete Hilbert discrete even, odd P-parity yes/no mirror
inversion P or phase world
space exists
Charge global, Hilbert discrete even, odd C-parity yes/no antiparti-
conjugation C antilinear, or phase cles
anti- space exist
Hermitean
CPT discrete Hilbert discrete even CPT-parity yes/yes makes field
or phase theory
space possible
Dynamic, interaction-dependent, gauge symmetries
Electromagnetic [∞ par.] space of un- im- un- electric yes/yes massless
classical gauge fields portant important charge light
invariance
Electromagnetic Abelian Hilbert circle S1 fields electric yes/yes massless
q.m. gauge inv. Lie U(1) space charge photon
[1 par.]
Electromagnetic Abelian space of circle S1 abstract abstract yes/no none
duality Lie U(1) fields
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

[1 par.]
Weak gauge non- Hilbert as SU (3) particles weak no/
Abelian space charge approx.
Lie SU(2)
[3 par.]
Colour gauge non- Hilbert as SU (3) coloured colour yes/yes massless
Abelian space quarks gluons
Lie SU(3)
[8 par.]
Chiral discrete fermions discrete left, right helicity approxi- ‘massless’
symmetry mately fermionsa
 9 motion and symmetry 245

TA B L E 36 (Continued) The known symmetries of nature, with their properties; also the complete list of
logical inductions used in the two fields.

Symmetry Ty pe S pa c e G r o u p P o s s i - Con- Va c - Main

[ n u m - o f a c - t o p o l -b l e se rv e d uum/ effect
ber of tion ogy repre- q ua n - m at -
pa r a m - s e nta- tity ter is
eters] tions sym-
metric

Permutation symmetries
Particle discrete Fock discrete fermions none n.a./yes Gibbs’
exchange space and paradox
etc. bosons

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Vol. III, page 256 For details about the connection between symmetry and induction, see later on. The explanation
of the terms in the table will be completed in the rest of the walk. The real numbers are denoted
as R.
a. Only approximate; ‘massless’ means that m ≪ mPl , i.e., that m ≪ 22 μg.

Curiosities and fun challenges about symmetry

What is the path followed by four turtles starting on the four angles of a square, if each
Challenge 443 ny of them continuously walks at the same speed towards the next one?
∗∗
Challenge 444 s What is the symmetry of a simple oscillation? And of a wave?
∗∗
Challenge 445 s For what systems is motion reversal a symmetry transformation?
∗∗
Challenge 446 s What is the symmetry of a continuous rotation?
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

A sphere has a tensor for the moment of inertia that is diagonal with three equal numbers.
The same is true for a cube. Can you distinguish spheres and cubes by their rotation
Challenge 447 s behaviour?
∗∗
Challenge 448 s Is there a motion in nature whose symmetry is perfect?
∗∗
Can you show that in two dimensions, finite objects can have only rotation and reflec-
tion symmetry, in contrast to infinite objects, which can have also translation and glide-
reflection symmetry? Can you prove that for finite objects in two dimensions, if no ro-
 246 9 motion and symmetry

tation symmetry is present, there is only one reflection symmetry? And that all possible
rotations are always about the same centre? Can you deduce from this that at least one
Challenge 449 e point is unchanged in all symmetrical finite two-dimensional objects?
∗∗
Can you show that in three dimensions, finite objects can have only rotation, reflection,
inversion and rotatory inversion symmetry, in contrast to infinite objects, which can have
also translation, glide-reflection, and screw rotation symmetry? Can you prove that for
finite objects in three dimensions, if no rotation symmetry is present, there is only one
reflection plane? And that for all inversions or rotatory inversions the centre must lie on
a rotation axis or on a reflection plane? Can you deduce from this that at least one point
Challenge 450 e is unchanged in all symmetrical finite three-dimensional objects?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Parity and time invariance
The table of symmetries also list two so-called discrete symmetries that are important for
the discussion of motion.
The first is parity inversion, or right-left symmetry. How far can you throw a stone
with your other hand? Most people have a preferred hand, and the differences are quite
pronounced. Does nature have such a right-left preference? In everyday life, the answer
is clear: everything that happens one way can also happen in its mirrored way. This has
also been tested in precision experiments; it was found that everything due to gravita-
tion, electricity or magnetism can also happen in a mirrored way. There are no excep-
tions. For example, there are people with the heart on the right side; there are snails with
left-handed houses; there are planets that rotate the other way. Astronomy and everyday
life are mirror-invariant. One also says that gravitation and electromagnetism are parity
invariant. (Later we will discover that certain rare processes not due to gravity or electro-
Vol. V, page 182 magnetism, but to the weak nuclear interaction, violate parity.)
The other discrete symmetry is motion reversal. Can things happen backwards? This
question is not easy. A study of motion due to gravitation shows that such motion can
always also happen in the reverse direction. In case of motion due to electricity and mag-
netism, such as the behaviour of atoms in gases and liquids, the question is more in-
volved. We will discuss it in the section of thermodynamics, but we will reach the same
conclusion: motion inversion is a symmetry for all processes due to gravitation and the
electromagnetic interaction. Everyday motion is reversible. And again, certain even rarer
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

nuclear processes will provide exceptions.

Summary on symmetry
Symmetry is partial invariance to change. The simplest symmetries are geometrical: the
point symmetries of flowers or translation symmetry of infinite crystals are examples.
All possible changes that leave a system invariant – i.e., all possible symmetry trans-
formations of a system – form a mathematical group. Apart from geometrical symmetry
groups, several additional symmetry groups appear in nature.
The reproducibility and predictability of nature implies several fundamental contin-
uous symmetries: since we can talk about nature we can deduce that above all, nature
is symmetrical under time and space translations. Motion is universal. Any universal-
9 motion and symmetry 247

ity statement implies a symmetry. As further examples, everyday observations are found
to be mirror symmetric, and simple motions are found to be symmetric under motion
reversal. These are fundamental discrete symmetries.
From nature’s continuous symmetries, using Noether’s theorem, we can deduce con-
served ‘charges’. These are energy, linear momentum and angular momentum. In other
words, the definition of mass, space and time, together with their symmetry properties, is
equivalent to the conservation of energy and momenta. Conservation and symmetry are
two ways to express the same property of nature. To put it simply, our ability to talk about
nature means that energy, linear momentum and angular momentum are conserved.
The isolability of systems from their surroundings implies a symmetry valid for all
interactions: since the behaviour of isolated systems is independent from what happens
in their surroundings, interactions must have no effect at large distances.
An elegant way to uncover the ‘laws’ of nature is to search for nature’s symmetries.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In many historical cases, once this connection had been understood, physics made rapid
progress. For example, Albert Einstein discovered the theory of relativity in this way, and
Paul Dirac started off quantum electrodynamics. We will use the same method through-
out our walk; in our final leg we will uncover some symmetries which are even more
mind-boggling than those of relativity. Now, though, we will move on to the next ap-
proach to a global description of motion.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 C h a p t e r 10

SI MPLE MOTIONS OF EXTENDED

B ODI ES – OSC I LL ATIONS AND
WAV ES

T
he observation of change is a fundamental aspect of nature. Among all
hese observations, periodic change is frequent aorund us. Indeed,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
hroughout everyday life be observe oscillations and waves: Talking, singing,
hearing and seeing would be impossible without them. Exploring oscillations and waves,
the next global approach to motion, is both useful and beautiful.

Oscillations
Page 213 Oscillations are recurring changes, i.e., cyclic or periodic changes. Above, we defined
action, and thus change, as the integral of the Lagrangian, and we defined the Lagrangian
as the difference between kinetic and potential energy. One of the simplest oscillating
systems in nature is a mass m attached to a (linear) spring. The Lagrangian for the mass
position x is given by
1 1
L = m󰑣 2 − kx 2 , (92)
2 2
where k is a quantity characterizing the spring, the so-called spring constant. The La-
grangian is due to Robert Hooke, in the seventeenth century. Can you confirm the ex-
Challenge 451 e pression?
The motion that results from this Lagrangian is periodic, and shown in Figure 164.
The Lagrangian (92) thus describes the oscillation of the spring length over time. The
motion is exactly the same as that of a long pendulum at small amplitude. The motion
is called harmonic motion, because an object vibrating rapidly in this way produces a
completely pure – or harmonic – musical sound. (The musical instrument producing Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the purest harmonic waves is the transverse flute. This instrument thus gives the best
idea of how harmonic motion ‘sounds’.)
The graph of this harmonic or linear oscillation, shown in Figure 164, is called a sine
curve; it can be seen as the basic building block of all oscillations. All other, anharmonic
oscillations in nature can be composed from harmonic ones, i.e., from sine curves, as
Page 252 we shall see shortly. Any quantity x(t) that oscillates harmonically is described by its
amplitude A, its angular frequency ω and its phase φ:

x(t) = A sin(ωt + φ) . (93)

The amplitude and the phase depend on the way the oscillation is started. In contrast,
 oscillations and waves 249

A harmonically Its position over time The corresponding

oscillating phase
object position
period T

amplitude A
phase φ
time

period T

An anharmonically
oscillating
object position

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
period T

amplitude A

time

F I G U R E 164 Above: the simplest oscillation, the linear or harmonic oscillation: how position changes
over time, and how it is related to rotation. Below: an example of anharmonic oscillation.

the angular frequency is an intrinsic property of the system. Can you show that for the
Challenge 452 s mass attached to the spring, we have ω = 2π f = 2π/T = 󵀄k/m ?
Every harmonic oscillation is described by three quantities: the amplitude, the period
(the inverse of the frequency) and the phase. The phase distinguishes oscillations of the
same amplitude and period; it defines at what time the oscillation starts. Some observed
oscillation frequencies are listed in Table 37. Figure 164 shows how a harmonic oscillation Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

is related to an imaginary rotation. As a result, the phase is best described by an angle

between 0 and 2π.
Every oscillating motion continuously transforms kinetic energy into potential energy
and vice versa. This is the case for the tides, the pendulum, or any radio receiver. But
many oscillations also diminish in time: they are damped. Systems with large damping,
such as the shock absorbers in cars, are used to avoid oscillations. Systems with small
damping are useful for making precise and long-running clocks. The simplest measure
of damping is the number of oscillations a system takes to reduce its amplitude to 1/e ≈
1/2.718 times the original value. This characteristic number is the so-called Q-factor,
named after the abbreviation of ‘quality factor’. A poor Q-factor is 1 or less, an extremely
good one is 100 000 or more. (Can you write down a simple Lagrangian for a damped
Challenge 453 ny oscillation with a given Q-factor?) In nature, damped oscillations do not usually keep
250 10 simple motions of extended bodies

TA B L E 37 Some frequency values found in nature.

O b s e r va t i o n Frequency

Sound frequencies in gas emitted by black holes c. 1 fHz

Precision in measured vibration frequencies of the Sun down to 2 nHz
Vibration frequencies of the Sun down to c. 300 nHz
Vibration frequencies that disturb gravitational radiation down to 3 μHz
detection
Lowest vibration frequency of the Earth Ref. 198 309 μHz
Resonance frequency of stomach and internal organs (giv- 1 to 10 Hz
ing the ‘sound in the belly’ experience)
Common music tempo 2 Hz
Frequency used for communication by farting fish c. 10 Hz

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Sound audible to young humans 20 Hz to 20 kHz
Sound produced by loudspeaker sets (horn, electro- c. 18 Hz to over 150 kHz
magetic, piezoelectric, electret, plasma, laser)
Adult male speaking voice, fundamental 85 to 180 Hz
Adult female speaking voice, fundamental 165 to 255 Hz
Official value, or standard pitch, of musical note ‘A’ or ‘la’, 440 Hz
following ISO 16 (and of the telephone line signal in many
countries)
Common values of musical note ‘A’ or ‘la’ used by orches- 442 to 451 Hz
tras
Wing beat of tiniest flying insects c. 1000 Hz
Feather oscillation during wing beat of male club-winged c. 1000 Hz
manakin, a bird
Sound produced by various loudspeakers 30 Hz to 100 kHz
Sonar used by bats up to over 100 kHz
Sonar used by dolphins up to 150 kHz
Sound frequency used in ultrasound imaging 2 to 20 MHz
Quartz oscillator frequencies 20 kHz up to 350 MHz
Radio emission of atomic hydrogen, esp. in the universe 1420.405 751 8(1) MHz
Highest electronically generated frequency (with CMOS, 324 GHz
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

in 2007)
Phonon (sound) frequencies measured in single crystals up to 20 THz and more
oscillations and waves 251

F I G U R E 165 The interior of a commercial quartz

oscillator, a few millimetre in size, driven at high
amplitude (QuickTime film © Microcrystal)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
constant frequency; however, for the simple pendulum this remains the case to a high
degree of accuracy. The reason is that for a pendulum, the frequency does not depend
significantly on the amplitude (as long as the amplitude is smaller than about 20°). This
is one reason why pendulums are used as oscillators in mechanical clocks.
Obviously, for a good clock, the driving oscillation must not only show small damp-
ing, but must also be independent of temperature and be insensitive to other external
influences. An important development of the twentieth century was the introduction of
quartz crystals as oscillators. Technical quartzes are crystals of the size of a few grains of
sand; they can be made to oscillate by applying an electric signal. They have little temper-
ature dependence and a large Q-factor, and therefore low energy consumption, so that
precise clocks can now run on small batteries. The inside of a quartz oscillator is shown
in Figure 165.

Resonance
In most physical systems that are brought to oscillate, the amplitude depends on the fre-
quency. The selected frequencies for which the amplitude is maximal are called resonance
frequencies or simply resonances. For example, the quartz oscillator of Figure 165, or the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

usual vibration frequencies of guitar strings are resonance frequencies.

Usually, the oscillations at which a system will oscillate when triggered by a short
hit will occur at resonance frequencies. Most musical instruments are examples. Most
systems have several resonance frequencies; flutes and strings are well-known examples.
In contrast to music or electronics, resonance often needs to be avoided in other situ-
ations. In buildings, earthquakes can trigger resonances; in bridges, the wind can trigger
resonant oscillations; similarly, in many machines resonances need to be dampened or
blocked in order to avoid that the large amplitude of a resonance destroys the system.
All systems that oscillate also emit waves. In fact, resonance only occurs because all os-
cillations are in fact localized waves. Indeed, oscillations only appear in extended systems;
and oscillations are only simplified descriptions of the repetitive motion of any extended
system. The complete and general repetitive motion of an extended system is the wave.
252 10 simple motions of extended bodies

A harmonic wave
displacement
crest
or peak wavelength λ
or maximum

amplitude A

node node node

space
wavelength λ

trough
or minimum

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
An example of anharmonic signal

F I G U R E 166 Top: the main properties of a harmonic wave. Bottom: A general periodic signal, or
anharmonic wave – here a black square wave – can be decomposed uniquely into simplest, or
harmonic waves. The first three components (green, blue and red) and also their intermediate sum
(black dotted line) are shown. This is called a Fourier decomposition and the general method to do this
Fourier analysis. (© Wikimedia) Not shown: the unique decomposition into harmonic waves is even
possible for non-periodic signals.

Hum Prime Tierce Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 167 The measured fundamental vibration patterns of a bell. Bells – like every other source of
oscillations, be it an atom, a molecule, a music instrument or the human voice – show that all
oscillations in nature are due to waves. (© H. Spiess & al.).
 oscillations and waves 253

TA B L E 38 Some wave velocities.

Wa v e Ve l o c i t y

Tsunami around 0.2 km/s

Sound in most gases 0.3 ± 0.1 km/s
Sound in air at 273 K 0.331 km/s
Sound in air at 293 K 0.343 km/s
Sound in helium at 293 K 0.983 km/s
Sound in most liquids 1.2 ± 0.2 km/s
Seismic waves 1 to 14 km/s
Sound in water at 273 K 1.402 km/s
Sound in water at 293 K 1.482 km/s

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Sound in sea water at 298 K 1.531 km/s
Sound in gold 4.5 km/s
Sound in steel 5.8 to 5.960 km/s
Sound in granite 5.8 km/s
Sound in glass (longitudinal) 4 to 5.9 km/s
Sound in beryllium (longitudinal) 12.8 km/s
Sound in boron up to 15 km/s
Sound in diamond up to 18 km/s
Sound in fullerene (C60 ) up to 26 km/s
Plasma wave velocity in InGaAs 600 km/s
Light in vacuum 2.998 ⋅ 108 m/s

Waves: general and harmonic

Waves are travelling imbalances, or, equivalently, travelling oscillations. Waves move,
even though the substrate does not move. Every wave can be seen as a superposition of
harmonic waves. Every sound effect can be thought of as being composed of harmonic
waves. Harmonic waves, also called sine waves or linear waves, are the building blocks of
which all internal motions of an extended body are constructed, as shown in Figure 166.
Can you describe the difference in wave shape between a pure harmonic tone, a musical Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 454 e sound, a noise and an explosion?

Every harmonic wave is characterized by an oscillation frequency f , a propagation (or
phase) velocity c, a wavelength λ, an amplitude A and a phase φ, as can be deduced from
Figure 166. Low-amplitude water waves show this most clearly; they are harmonic. In a
harmonic wave, every position by itself performs a harmonic oscillation. The phase of a
wave specifies the position of the wave (or a crest) at a given time. It is an angle between
0 and 2π.
The phase velocity c is the speed with which a wave maximum moves. A few examples
are listed in Table 38. Can you show that frequency and wavelength in a wave are related
Challenge 455 e by f λ = c?
Waves appear inside all extended bodies, be they solids, liquids, gases or plasmas. In-
side fluid bodies, waves are longitudinal, meaning that the wave motion is in the same
 254 10 simple motions of extended bodies

Water surface:

At a depth of half the wavelength, the amplitude is negligible

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 168 The formation of the shape of deep gravity waves, on and under water, from the circular
motion of the water particles. Note the non-sinusoidal shape of the wave.

direction as the wave oscillation. Sound in air is an example of a longitudinal wave. Inside
solid bodies, waves can also be transverse; in that case the wave oscillation is perpendic-
ular to the travelling direction.
Waves appear also on interfaces between bodies: water–air interfaces are a well-known
case. Even a saltwater–freshwater interface, so-called dead water, shows waves: they can
appear even if the upper surface of the water is immobile. Any flight in an aeroplane pro-
vides an opportunity to study the regular cloud arrangements on the interface between
warm and cold air layers in the atmosphere. Seismic waves travelling along the boundary
between the sea floor and the sea water are also well-known. General surface waves are
usually neither longitudinal nor transverse, but of a mixed type.
To get a first idea about waves, we have a look at water waves.

Water waves
Water waves on water surfaces show a large range of fascinating phenomena. First of all,
there are two different types of water waves. In the first type, the force that restores the
plane surface is the surface tension of the wave. These so-called surface tension waves play
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

a role on scales up to a few centimetres. In the second, larger type of waves, the restoring
force is gravity, and one speaks of gravity waves.* The difference is easily noted by watch-
Page 253 ing them: surface tension waves have a sinusoidal shape, whereas gravity waves have a
shape with sharper maxima and broader troughs. This occurs because of the special way
the water moves in such a wave. As shown in Figure 168, the surface water for a (short)
water wave moves in circles; this leads to the typical, asymmetrical wave shape with short
sharp crests and long shallow troughs. Under the crests, the water particles move in the
direction of the wave motion; under the troughs, the water particles move against the
wave motion. As long as there is no wind and the floor below the water is horizontal,
gravity waves are also symmetric under front-to-back reflection. If the amplitude is very

* Meteorologists also know of a third type: there are large wavelength waves whose restoring force is the .
 oscillations and waves 255

F I G U R E 169 The four types of water waves: a deep water gravity wave, a shallow water gravity wave, a

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
deep water ripple and a shallow water ripple.

high, or if the wind is too strong, waves break, because a cusp angle of more than 120°
is not possible.
In addition, water waves need to be distinguished according to the depth of the water,
when compared to their wavelength. One speaks of short (or deep water) waves, when
the depth of the water is so high that the floor below plays no role; in the opposite case
one speaks of long (or shallow water) waves. It turns out that deep water waves are disper-
sive, i.e., their speed depends on their frequency, whereas shallow water waves are non-
dispersive. The transitional region between the two cases are waves whose wavelength is
between twice and twenty times the water depth.
The two classifications of water waves give four limit cases; they are shown in
Figure 170. (The figure also shows where capillary waves, long period waves, tides and
transtidal waves are located.) It is interesting to explore each of these four limit cases.
Experiments and theory show that the phase speed of gravity waves, the lower two
cases in Figure 170, depends on the wavelength λ and on the depth of the water d in the
following way:
дλ 2πd
c=󵀊 tanh , (94)
2π λ

where д is the acceleration due to gravity (and an amplitude much smaller than the wave-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

length is assumed*).The formula shows two limiting regimes. First, so-called deep water
or short gravity waves appear when the water depth is larger than about half the wave-
length; for deep water waves, the phase velocity is c ≈ 󵀄дλ/2π , thus wavelength depen-
Page 259 dent – (all) deep waves are dispersive. Shorter deep waves are thus slower. The group
velocity is half the phase velocity. The general effects of dispersion on wave groups are
shown in Figure 171.
The usual sea wave is a deep water gravity wave, so are wakes generated by ships.
Short gravity waves generated by wind are called sea they are generated by local winds,

* The expression for the phase velocity can be derived by solving for the motion of the liquid in the linear
regime, but this leads us too far from our walk.
256 10 simple motions of extended bodies

surface tension waves

sinusoidal
γk 2 /ρд

ripples in shallow water ripples in deep water

ω = γdk /ρ
2 4
ω = (γk /ρ) tanh kd ω2 = γk 3 /ρ
2 3

104

102
shallow water ω2 = (дk + γk 3 /ρ) tanh kd deep water
waves dk waves
non-dispersive 10-4 10-2 1 102 104 dispersive
ω2 = k 2 (дd + γdk 2 /ρ) ω 2
= дk + γk 3
/ρ

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
10 -2

10-4
ω = дdk
2 2
ω = дk tanh kd
2
ω2 = дk
tide, tsunami wakes, `sea’, etc.
gravity waves
non-sinusoidal

wavelength tide
(m)

tsunami dk = 1
104
storm waves
storm waves
102
on open sea
at shore

depth (m)
10-4 10-2 1 102 104
γk 2 /ρд = 1
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ripples 10-2 ripples

on thin puddle on pond
10-4

F I G U R E 170 The different types of water waves, visualized in two different diagrams using the depth d,
the wave number k and the surface tension γ = 72 mPa.
 oscillations and waves 257

F I G U R E 171 A visualisation of group velocity

(blue) and phase velocity (red) for different
types of wave dispersion (QuickTime film © ISVR,
University of Southhampton).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
and swell if they are generated by distant winds. The typical phase speed of a gravity wave
is of the order of the wind speed that generates it. Therefore, as surfers know, waves on a
shore that are due to a distant storm arrive separately: first the long period waves, then
the short period waves.
The typical wake generated by a ship is made of waves that have the phase velocity of
the ship. These waves form a wave group, and it travels with half that speed. Therefore,
from a ship’s point of view, the wake trails the ship. Wakes are behind the ship, because
Page 279 the group velocity is lower than the phase velocity. (For more about wakes, see below.)
The second limiting regime are shallow water or long gravity waves. They appear when
the depth is less than 1/20th or 5% of the wavelength; in this case, the phase velocity is
c ≈ 󵀄дd , there is no dispersion, and the group velocity is the same as the phase velocity.
In shallow water waves, water particles move on very flat elliptic paths.
For example, the tide is a shallow gravity wave. Apart from tides, the most impressive
shallow gravity waves are tsunamis, the large waves triggered by submarine earthquakes.
(The Japanese name is composed of tsu, meaning harbour, and nami, meaning wave.)
Since tsunamis are shallow waves, they show no (or little) dispersion and thus travel
over long distances; they can go round the Earth several times. Typical oscillation times
of tsunamis are between 6 and 60 minutes, giving wavelengths between 70 and 700 km Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 456 e and speeds in the open sea of 200 to 250 m/s, similar to that of a jet plane. Their ampli-
tude on the open sea is often of the order of 10 cm; however, the amplitude scales with
depth d as 1/d 4 and heights up to 40 m have been measured at the shore. This was the
order of magnitude of the large and disastrous tsunami observed in the Indian Ocean
on 26 December 2004 and the one in Japan in 2011 that destroyed several nuclear power
plants. Tsunamis can also be used to determine the ocean depth by measuring the speed
of tsunamis. This allowed to deduce, long before sonar and other high-tech systems were
available, that the North Pacific has a depth of around 4 to 4.5 km.
The upper two cases in Figure 170 are the surface tension waves. (The surface tension
of water is 72 mPa.) The first of these limit regimes are ripples on deep water. The phase
velocity is c = 󵀄γk/ρ . As mentioned above, all deep waves are dispersive. Indeed, the
Challenge 457 e group velocity of ripples on deep water is 3/2 times the phase velocity. Therefore ripples
 258 10 simple motions of extended bodies

steam ahead of a boat, whereas wakes trail behind.

The minimum speed is the reason for what we see when throw a pebble in a lake.
A typical pebble creates ripples with a wavelength of about 1 cm. For waves in this re-
gion, there is a minimum a group velocity of 17.7 cm/s and a minimum phase velocity
Challenge 458 e of around 23 cm/s. When a pebble falls into the water, it creates waves of various wave-
lengths; those with a wavelength of about 1 cm are the slowest ones are seen most clearly.
The minimum phase velocity for ripples also means that insects walking on water gener-
ate no waves if they move more slowly than the minimum phase velocity; thus they feel
little drag and can walk easily.
The final case of waves are ripples on shallow water. An example are the waves emitted
by raindrops falling in a shallow puddle, say with a depth of 1 mm or less. The phase
Challenge 459 e velocity is c = 󵀆γdk 2 /ρ ; the group velocity has twice that value. Ripples on shallow
waves are dispersive.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Figure 170 shows the four types of water waves. The general dispersion relation for
water waves is ω2 = (дk + γk 3 /ρ) tanh kd. Several other types of water waves also exist,
such as seiches, internal waves and solitons of various kinds. We will only explore the
Page 268 last case in some detail, later on.

Waves and their motion

Waves move. Therefore, any study of motion must include the study of wave motion.
We know from experience that waves can hit or even damage targets; thus every wave
carries energy and momentum, even though (on average) no matter moves along the
wave propagation direction. The energy E of a wave is the sum of its kinetic and potential
energy. The kinetic energy (density) depends on the temporal change of the displacement
u at a given spot: rapidly changing waves carry a larger kinetic energy. The potential
energy (density) depends on the gradient of the displacement, i.e., on its spatial change:
steep waves carry a larger potential energy than shallow ones. (Can you explain why the
Challenge 460 s potential energy does not depend on the displacement itself?) For harmonic waves, i.e.,
sinusoidal waves, propagating along the direction z, each type of energy is proportional
Ref. 199 to the square of its respective displacement change:

∂u 2 ∂u
E∼( ) + 󰑣 2 ( )2 . (95)
∂t ∂z Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 461 ny How is the energy density related to the frequency?

The momentum of a wave is directed along the direction of wave propagation. The
momentum value depends on both the temporal and the spatial change of displacement
u. For harmonic waves, the momentum (density) P is proportional to the product of
these two quantities:
∂u ∂u
Pz ∼ . (96)
∂t ∂z
When two linear wave trains collide or interfere, the total momentum is conserved
throughout the collision. An important consequence of momentum conservation is that
waves that are reflected by an obstacle do so with an outgoing angle equal to minus the
 oscillations and waves 259

Interference

Polarisation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Diffraction Refraction

Damping Dispersion

F I G U R E 172 The six main properties of the motion of waves.

Challenge 462 s infalling angle. What happens to the phase?

In summary, waves, like moving bodies, carry energy and momentum. In simple
terms, if you shout against a wall, the wall is hit. This hit, for example, can start avalanches
on snowy mountain slopes. In the same way, waves, like bodies, can carry also angular
Challenge 463 ny momentum. (What type of wave is necessary for this to be possible?) However, the mo-
tion of waves also differs from the motion of bodies. Six main properties distinguish the
motion of waves from the motion of bodies.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

1. Waves can add up or cancel each other out; thus they can interpenetrate each other.
These effects, called superposition and interference, are strongly tied to the linearity of
most waves.
2. Waves, such as sound, can go around corners. This is called diffraction.
3. Waves change direction when they change medium. This is called refraction.
4. Waves can have a frequency-dependent propagation speed. This is called dispersion.
5. Often, the wave amplitude decreases over time: waves show damping.
6. Transverse waves in three dimensions can oscillate in different directions: they show
polarization.
Material bodies in everyday life do not behave in these ways when they move. The six
 260 10 simple motions of extended bodies

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 173 Interference of two circular or spherical waves emitted in phase: a snapshot of the
amplitude (left), most useful to describe observations of water waves, and the distribution of the
time-averaged intensity (right), most useful to describe interference of light waves (© Rüdiger
Paschotta).

wave effects appear because wave motion is the motion of extended entities. The famous
debate whether electrons or light are waves or particles thus requires us to check whether
these effects specific to waves can be observed or not. This is one topic of quantum theory.
Before we study it, can you give an example of an observation that automatically implies
Challenge 464 s that the specific motion cannot be a wave?
As a result of having a frequency f and a propagation or phase velocity c, all sine
waves are characterized by the distance λ between two neighbouring wave crests: this
distance is called the wavelength λ. All waves obey the basic relation

λf = c . (97)

In many cases the phase velocity c depends on the wavelength of the wave. For example,
this is the case for many water waves. This change of speed with wavelength is called
dispersion. In contrast, the speed of sound in air does not depend on the wavelength Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

(to a high degree of accuracy). Sound in air shows (almost) no dispersion. Indeed, if
there were dispersion for sound, we could not understand each other’s speech at larger
distances.
Now comes a surprise. Waves can also exist in empty space. Both light and gravity
waves are examples. The exploration of electromagnetism and relativity will tell us more
about their specific properties. Here is an appetizer. Light is a wave. In everyday life
we do not experience light as a wave, because the wavelength is only around one two-
Vol. III, page 88 thousandth of a millimetre. But light shows all six effects typical of wave motion. A rain-
bow, for example, can only be understood fully when the last five wave effects are taken
into account. Diffraction and interference can even be observed with your fingers only.
Challenge 465 s Can you tell how?
Like every anharmonic oscillation, every anharmonic wave can be decomposed into
 oscillations and waves 261

Page 252 sine waves. Figure 166 gives examples. If the various sine waves contained in a distur-
bance propagate differently, the original wave will change in shape while it travels. That
is the reason why an echo does not sound exactly like the original sound; for the same
reason, a nearby thunder and a far-away one sound different. These are effects of the
weak dispersion of sound waves.
All systems which oscillate also emit waves. Any radio or TV receiver contains oscil-
lators. As a result, any such receiver is also a (weak) transmitter; indeed, in some coun-
tries the authorities search for people who listen to radio without permission listening
to the radio waves emitted by these devices. Also, inside the human ear, numerous tiny
structures, the hair cells, oscillate. As a result, the ear must also emit sound. This pre-
diction, made in 1948 by Tommy Gold, was finally confirmed in 1979 by David Kemp.
These so-called otoacoustic emissions can be detected with sensitive microphones; they
are presently being studied in order to unravel the still unknown workings of the ear and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 200 in order to diagnose various ear illnesses without the need for surgery.
Since any travelling disturbance can be decomposed into sine waves, the term ‘wave’
is used by physicists for all travelling disturbances, whether they look like sine waves or
not. In fact, the disturbances do not even have to be travelling. Take a standing wave:
is it a wave or an oscillation? Standing waves do not travel; they are oscillations. But
a standing wave can be seen as the superposition of two waves travelling in opposite
directions. In fact, in nature, any object that we call ‘oscillating’ or ‘vibrating’ is extended,
Challenge 466 e and its oscillation or vibration is always a standing wave (can you confirm this?); so we
can say that in nature, all oscillations are special forms of waves.
The most important travelling disturbances are those that are localized. Figure 166
Page 252 shows an example of a localized wave, also called a wave group or pulse, together with
its decomposition into harmonic waves. Wave groups are used to talk and as signals for
communication.

Why can we talk to each other? – Huygens’ principle

The properties of our environment often disclose their full importance only when we
ask simple questions. Why can we use the radio? Why can we talk on mobile phones?
Why can we listen to each other? It turns out that a central part of the answer to these
questions is that the space we live has an odd numbers of dimensions.
In spaces of even dimension, it is impossible to talk, because messages do not stop.
This is an important result which is easily checked by throwing a stone into a lake: even
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

after the stone has disappeared, waves are still emitted from the point at which it entered
the water. Yet, when we stop talking, no waves are emitted any more. Waves in two and
three dimensions thus behave differently.
In three dimensions, it is possible to say that the propagation of a wave happens in
the following way: Every point on a wave front (of light or of sound) can be regarded
as the source of secondary waves; the surface that is formed by the envelope of all the
secondary waves determines the future position of the wave front. The idea is illustrated
in Figure 174. It can be used to describe, without mathematics, the propagation of waves,
their reflection, their refraction, and, with an extension due to Augustin Fresnel, their
Challenge 467 e diffraction. (Try!)
This idea was first proposed by Christiaan Huygens in 1678 and is called Huygens’
262 10 simple motions of extended bodies

secondary
waves

primary envelope of
F I G U R E 174 Wave propagation as a
wave secondary waves
consequence of Huygens’ principle.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 175 An impossible
gravity water wave: the centre
is never completely flat.

principle. Almost two hundred years later, Gustav Kirchhoff showed that the principle is
a consequence of the wave equation in three dimensions, and thus, in the case of light, a
consequence of Maxwell’s field equations.
But the description of wave fronts as envelopes of secondary waves has an impor-
tant limitation. It is not correct in two dimensions (even though Figure 174 is two-
dimensional!). In particular, it does not apply to water waves. Water wave propagation
cannot be calculated in this way in an exact manner. (It is only possible if the situation is
limited to a wave of a single frequency.) It turns out that for water waves, secondary waves
do not only depend on the wave front of the primary waves, but depend also on their inte-
rior. The reason is that in two (and other even) dimensions, waves of different frequency
necessarily have different speeds. (Shallow waves are not counterexamples; they are in-
trinsically three-dimensional.) And a stone falling into water generates waves of many
frequencies. In contrast, in three (and larger odd) dimensions, waves of all frequencies
have the same speed.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

We can also say that Huygens’ principle holds if the wave equation is solved by a circu-
lar wave leaving no amplitude behind it. Mathematicians translate this by requiring that
the evolving delta function δ(c 2 t 2 − r 2 ) satisfies the wave equation, i.e., that ∂2t δ = c 2 Δδ.
The delta function is that strange ‘function’ which is zero everywhere except at the ori-
gin, where it is infinite. A few more properties describe the precise way in which this
happens.* It turns out that the delta function is a solution of the wave equation only if
the space dimension is odd and at least three. In other words, while a spherical wave
pulse is possible, a circular pulse is not: there is no way to keep the centre of an expand-
ing wave quiet. (See Figure 175.) That is exactly what the stone experiment shows. You

* The main property is ∫ δ(x) dx = 1. In mathematically precise terms, the delta ‘function’ is a distribution.
 oscillations and waves 263

can try to produce a circular pulse (a wave that has only a few crests) the next time you
are in the bathroom or near a lake: you will not succeed.
In summary, the reason a room gets dark when we switch off the light, is that we live
in a space with a number of dimensions which is odd and larger than one.

Why is music so beautiful?

Music works because it connects to emotions. And it does so, among others, by remind-
ing us of the sounds (and emotions connected to them) that we experienced before birth.
Percussion instruments remind us of the heart beat of our mother and ourselves, cord
and wind instruments remind us of all the voices we heard back then. Musical instru-
ments are especially beautiful if they are driven and modulated by the body of the player.
All classical instruments are optimized to allow this modulation and the ability to express

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
emotions in this way.
The connection between the musician and the instrument is most intense for the hu-
man voice; the next approximation are the wind instruments. In all these cases, the breath
of the singer or player does two things: it provides the energy for the sound and it gives
an input for the feedback loop that sets the pitch. While singing, the air passes the vocal
cords. The rapid air flow reduces the air pressure, which attracts the cords to each other
and thus reduces the cross section for the air flow. (This pressure reduction is described
Page 302 by the Bernoulli equation, as explained below.) As a result of the smaller cross section,
the airflow is reduced, the pressure rises again, and the vocal cords open up again. This
leads to larger airflow, and the circle starts again. The change between larger and smaller
cord distance repeats so rapidly that sound is produced; the sound is then amplified in
the mouth by the resonances that depend on the shape of the oral cavity.
Ref. 201 In reed instruments, such as the clarinet, the reed has the role of the vocal cords, and
the pipe and the mechanisms have the role of the mouth. In brass instruments, such as
the trombone, the lips play the role of the reed. In airflow instruments, such as the flute,
the feedback loop is due to another effect: at the sound-producing edge, the airflow is
deflected by the sound itself.
The second reason that music is beautiful is due to the way the frequencies of the
notes are selected. Certain frequencies sound agreeable to the ear when they are played
together or closely after each other; other produce a sense of tension. Already the an-
cient Greek had discovered that these sensations depend exclusively on the ratio of the
frequencies, or as musician say, on the interval between the pitches.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

More specifically, a frequency ratio of 2 – musicians call the interval an octave – is the
most agreeable consonance. A ratio of 3/2 (called perfect fifth) is the next most agreeable,
followed by the ratio 4/3 (a perfect fourth), the ratio 5/4 (a major third) and the ratio 6/5
(a [third, minor]minor third). The choice of the first third in a scale has an important
effect on the average emotions expressed by the music and is therefore also taken over
in the name of the scale. Songs in C major generally have a more happy tune, whereas
songs in A minor tend to sound sadder.
The least agreeable frequency ratios, the dissonances, are the tritone (7/5, also called
augmented fourth or diminished fifth or false quint) and, to a lesser extent, the major and
minor seventh (15/8 and 9/5). The tritone is used for the siren in German red cross vans.
Long sequences of dissonances have the effect to induce trance; they are common in
264 10 simple motions of extended bodies

TA B L E 39 Some signals.

System Signal Speed Sensor

Matter signals
Human voltage pulses in nerves up to 120 m/s brain,
muscles
hormones in blood stream up to 0.3 m/s molecules on
cell
membranes
immune system signals up to 0.3 m/s molecules on
cell
membranes
singing 340 m/s ear

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Elephant, insects soil trembling c. 2 km/s feet
Whale singing, sonar 1500 m/s ear
Dog chemical tracks 1 m/s nose
Butterfly chemical mating signal carried by up to 10 m/s antennae
the wind
Tree chemical signal of attack carried by up to 10 m/s leaves
the air from one tree to the next
Erratic block carried by glacier up to foot
0.1 μm/s
Post paper letters transported by trucks, up to 300 m/s mail box
ships and planes
Electromagnetic fields
Humans yawning 300 Mm/s eye
Electric eel voltage pulse up to nerves
300 Mm/s
Insects, fish, light pulse sequence up to eye
molluscs 300 Mm/s
Flag signalling orientation of flags 300 Mm/s eye
Radio transmissions electromagnetic field strength up to radio
300 Mm/s
Nuclear signals
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Supernovas neutrino pulses close to specific

300 Mm/s chemical and
radiation
detectors
Nuclear reactions glueballs, if they exist close to custom
300 Mm/s particle
detectors

Balinese music and in jazz.

After centuries of experimenting, these results lead to a standardized arrangement of
the notes and their frequencies that is shown in Figure 176. The arrangement, called the
 oscillations and waves 265

Equal-tempered frequency ratio 1 1.059 1.122 1.189 1.260 1.335 1.414 1.498 1.587 1.682 1.782 1.888 2

Just intonation frequency ratio 1 9/8 6/5 5/4 4/3 none 3/2 8/5 5/3 15/8 2

Appears as harmonic nr. 1,2,4,8 9 5, 10 3, 6 c. 7 15 1,2,4,8

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Italian and international Do Do # Re Re # Mi Fa Fa # Sol Sol # La La # Si Do
solfège names Si # Re b Mi b Fa b Mi # Sol b La b Si b Do b Si #

French names Ut Ut # Re Re # Mi Fa Fa # Sol Sol # La La # Si Ut

Si # Re b Mi b Fa b Mi # Sol b La b Si b Ut b Si #

German names C Cis D Dis E F Fis G Gis A Ais H C

His Des Es Fes Eis Ges As B Ces His

English names C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C
B# Db Eb Fb E# Gb Ab Bb Cb B#

Interval name, starting uni- min. maj. min. maj. min. maj. min. maj.
from Do / Ut / C son 2nd 2nd 3rd 3rd 4th triton 5th 6th 6th 7th 7th octave

Pianoforte keys

F I G U R E 176 The twelve notes used in music and their frequency ratios.

F I G U R E 177 A schematic
animation of a vibrating
membrane (drawn in red), from
a drum or a loudspeaker,
generating a sound wave in air,
and showing the molecular
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

motion (Wikicommons)

equal intonation or well-tempered intonation, contains approximations to all the men-

tioned intervals; the approximations have the advantage that they allow the transpos-
ition of music to lower or higher notes. This is not possible with the ideal, so-called just
Ref. 202 intonation.
The next time you sing a song that you like, you might try to determine whether you
Challenge 468 e use just or equal intonation – or a different intonation altogether. Different people have
different tastes and habits.
 266 10 simple motions of extended bodies

TA B L E 40 Selected sound intensities.

O b s e r va t i o n Sound intensity

Sound threshold at 1 kHz 0 dB or 1 pW

Human speech 25 to 35 dB
Subway entering a subway station 100 dB
Ultrasound imaging of babies over 100 dB
Conventional pain threshold 120 dB or 1 W
Rock concert with 400 000 W loudspeakers 135 to 145 dB
Fireworks up to 150 dB
Gunfire up to 155 dB
Missile launch up to 170 dB

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Blue whale singing up to 175 dB
Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, conventional bomb up to 210 dB
Large meteoroid impact, large nuclear bomb over 300 dB

F I G U R E 178 A modern ultrasound imaging system, and a common, but harmful ultrasound image of a
foetus (© General Electric, Wikimedia).

Is ultrasound imaging safe for babies? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ultrasound is used in medicine to explore the interior of human bodies. The technique,
called ultrasound imaging, is helpful, convenient and widespread, as shown in Figure 178.
However, it has a disadvantage. Studies at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota have found that
pulsed ultrasound, in contrast to continuous ultrasound, produces extremely high levels
Ref. 203 of audible sound inside the body. (Some sound intensities are listed in Table 40.)
Pulsed ultrasound is used in ultrasound imaging, and in some, but not all, foetal heart-
beat monitors. Such machines thus produce high levels of sound in the audible range.
This seems paradoxical; if you go to a gynaecologist and put the ultrasound head on your
ear or head, you will only hear a very faint noise. In fact, it is this low intensity that tricks
everybody to think that the noise level is low. The noise level is only low because the hu-
man ear is full of air. In contrast, in a foetus, the ear is filled with liquid. This fact changes
the propagation of sound completely: the sound generated by imaging machines is now
 oscillations and waves 267

fully focused and directly stimulates the inner ear. The total effect is similar to what hap-
pens if you put your finger in you ear: this can be very loud to yourself, but nobody else
can hear what happens.
Ref. 203 Recent research has shown that sound levels of over 100 dB, corresponding to a sub-
way train entering the station, are generated by ultrasound imaging systems. Indeed, ev-
ery gynecologist will confirm that imaging disturbs the foetus. Questioned about this
issue, several makers of ultrasound imaging devices confirmed that “a sound output of
only 5 mW is used”. That is ‘only’ the acoustic power of an oboe at full power! Since many
ultrasound examinations take ten minutes and more, a damage to the ear of the foetus
Ref. 204 cannot be excluded. It is not sensible to expose a baby to this level of noise without good
reason.
In short, ultrasound should be used for pregnant mothers only in case of necessity.
Ultrasound is not safe for the ears of foetuses. In all other situations, ultrasound imaging

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
seems safe. It should be noted however, that another potential problem of ultrasound
imaging, the issue of tissue damage through cavitation, has not been explored in detail
Ref. 205 yet.

Signals
A signal is the transport of information. Every signal, including those from Table 39, is
motion of energy. Signals can be either objects or waves. A thrown stone can be a signal,
as can a whistle. Waves are a more practical form of communication because they do not
require transport of matter: it is easier to use electricity in a telephone wire to transport a
statement than to send a messenger. Indeed, most modern technological advances can be
traced to the separation between signal and matter transport. Instead of transporting an
orchestra to transmit music, we can send radio signals. Instead of sending paper letters
we write email messages. Instead of going to the library we browse the internet.
The greatest advances in communication have resulted from the use of signals to trans-
port large amounts of energy. That is what electric cables do: they transport energy with-
out transporting any (noticeable) matter. We do not need to attach our kitchen machines
to the power station: we can get the energy via a copper wire.
For all these reasons, the term ‘signal’ is often meant to imply waves only. Voice, sound,
electric signals, radio and light signals are the most common examples of wave signals.
Signals are characterized by their speed and their information content. Both quantities
turn out to be limited. The limit on speed is the central topic of the theory of special
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. II, page 14 relativity.

A simple limit on information content can be expressed when noting that the infor-
mation flow is given by the detailed shape of the signal. The shape is characterized by a
frequency (or wavelength) and a position in time (or space). For every signal – and every
wave – there is a relation between the time-of-arrival error Δt and the angular frequency
error Δω:
1
Δt Δω ⩾ . (98)
2
This time–frequency indeterminacy relation expresses that, in a signal, it is impossible
to specify both the time of arrival and the frequency with full precision. The two errors
are (within a numerical factor) the inverse of each other. (One also says that the time-
 268 10 simple motions of extended bodies

bandwidth product is always larger than 1/4π.) The limitation appears because on the
one hand one needs a wave as similar as possible to a sine wave in order to precisely
determine the frequency, but on the other hand one needs a signal as narrow as possible
to precisely determine its time of arrival. The contrast in the two requirements leads to
the limit. The indeterminacy relation is thus a feature of every wave phenomenon. You
Challenge 469 e might want to test this relation with any wave in your environment.
Similarly, there is a relation between the position error Δx and the wave vector error
Δk = 2π/Δλ of a signal:
1
Δx Δk ⩾ . (99)
2
Like the previous case, also this indeterminacy relation expresses that it is impossible
to specify both the position of a signal and its wavelength with full precision. Also this

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
position–wave-vector indeterminacy relation is a feature of any wave phenomenon.
Every indeterminacy relation is the consequence of a smallest entity. In the case of
waves, the smallest entity of the phenomenon is the period (or cycle, as it used to be
called). Whenever there is a smallest unit in a natural phenomenon, an indeterminacy
relation results. We will encounter other indeterminacy relations both in relativity and
in quantum theory. As we will find out, they are due to smallest entities as well.
Whenever signals are sent, their content can be lost. Each of the six characteristics of
waves listed on page 259 can lead to content degradation. Can you provide an example
Challenge 470 ny for each case? The energy, the momentum and all other conserved properties of signals
are never lost, of course. The disappearance of signals is akin to the disappearance of
motion. When motion disappears by friction, it only seems to disappear, and is in fact
transformed into heat. Similarly, when a signal disappears, it only seems to disappear, and
is in fact transformed into noise. (Physical) noise is a collection of numerous disordered
signals, in the same way that heat is a collection of numerous disordered movements.
All signal propagation is described by a wave equation. A famous example is the set
Ref. 206 of equations found by Hodgkin and Huxley. It is a realistic approximation for the be-
haviour of electrical potential in nerves. Using facts about the behaviour of potassium
and sodium ions, they found an elaborate wave equation that describes the voltage V in
nerves, and thus the way the signals are propagated. The equation describes the charac-
teristic voltage spikes measured in nerves, shown in Figure 179. The figure clearly shows
that these waves differ from sine waves: they are not harmonic. Anharmonicity is one
result of nonlinearity. But nonlinearity can lead to even stronger effects.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Solitary waves and solitons

In August 1834, the Scottish engineer John Scott Russell (1808–1882) recorded a strange
observation in a water canal in the countryside near Edinburgh. When a boat pulled
through the channel was suddenly stopped, a strange water wave departed from it. It
consisted of a single crest, about 10 m long and 0.5 m high, moving at about 4 m/s. He
followed that crest, shown in a reconstruction in Figure 180, with his horse for several
kilometres: the wave died out only very slowly. Russell did not observe any dispersion,
as is usual in deep water waves: the width of the crest remained constant. Russell then
Ref. 207 started producing such waves in his laboratory, and extensively studied their properties.
oscillations and waves 269

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 179 The electrical signals calculated (above) and measured (below) in a nerve, following
Hodgkin and Huxley.

F I G U R E 180 A solitary
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

water wave followed by

a motor boat,
reconstructing the
discovery by Scott
Russel (© Dugald
Duncan).

He showed that the speed depended on the amplitude, in contrast to linear, harmonic
waves. He also found that the depth d of the water canal was an important parameter.
In fact, the speed 󰑣, the amplitude A and the width L of these single-crested waves are
270 10 simple motions of extended bodies

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 181 Solitons are stable against encounters (QuickTime film © Jarmo Hietarinta)

related by
A 4d 3
󰑣 = 󵀆дd 󶀤1 + 󶀴 and L=󵀌 . (100)
2d 3A

As shown by these expressions, and noted by Russell, high waves are narrow and fast,
whereas shallow waves are slow and wide. The shape of the waves is fixed during their
motion. Today, these and all other stable waves with a single crest are called solitary waves.
They appear only where the dispersion and the nonlinearity of the system exactly com-
pensate for each other. Russell also noted that the solitary waves in water channels can
cross each other unchanged, even when travelling in opposite directions; solitary waves
with this property are called solitons. In short, solitons are stable against encounters, as
shown in Figure 181, whereas solitary waves in general are not.
Only sixty years later, in 1895, Korteweg and de Vries found out that solitary waves in
water channels have a shape described by

x − 󰑣t 2
u(x, t) = A sech2 where sech x = , (101)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

L ex + e−x

and that the relation found by Russell was due to the wave equation

1 ∂u 3 ∂u d 2 ∂3 u
+ 󶀤1 + u󶀴 + =0. (102)
󵀄дd ∂t 2d ∂x 6 ∂x 3

This equation for the elongation u is called the Korteweg–de Vries equation in their hon-
our.* The surprising stability of the solitary solutions is due to the opposite effect of the

* The equation can be simplified by transforming the variable u; most concisely, it can be rewritten as ut +
uxxx = 6uux . As long as the solutions are sech functions, this and other transformed versions of the equation
 oscillations and waves 271

two terms that distinguish the equation from linear wave equations: for the solitary solu-
tions, the nonlinear term precisely compensates for the dispersion induced by the third-
derivative term.
For many decades such solitary waves were seen as mathematical and physical curiosi-
ties. The reason was simple:nobody could solve the equations. All this changed almost
a hundred years later, when it became clear that the Korteweg–de Vries equation is a
universal model for weakly nonlinear waves in the weak dispersion regime, and thus of
basic importance. This conclusion was triggered by Kruskal and Zabusky, who in 1965
proved mathematically that the solutions (101) are unchanged in collisions. This discovery
Ref. 210 prompted them to introduce the term soliton. These solutions do indeed interpenetrate
one another without changing velocity or shape: a collision only produces a small pos-
itional shift for each pulse.
Solitary waves play a role in many examples of fluid flows. They are found in ocean cur-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
rents; and even the red spot on Jupiter, which was a steady feature of Jupiter photographs
for many centuries, is an example.
Solitary waves also appear when extremely high-intensity sound is generated in solids.
Ref. 211 In these cases, they can lead to sound pulses of only a few nanometres in length. Solitary
light pulses are also used inside certain optical communication fibres, where the lack
of dispersion allows higher data transmission rates than are achievable with usual light
Ref. 207 pulses.
Towards the end of the twentieth century, mathematicians discovered that solitons
obey a nonlinear generalization of the superposition principle. (It is due to the Darboux–
Backlund transformations and the structure of the Sato Grassmannian.) The mathemat-
ics of solitons is extremely interesting. The progress in mathematics triggered a second
wave of interest in the mathematics of solitons arose, when quantum theorists became
interested in them. The reason is simple: a soliton is a ‘middle thing’ between a particle
Ref. 208 and a wave; it has features of both concepts. For this reason, solitons were often seen –
incorrectly though – as candidates for the description of elementary particles.

Curiosities and fun challenges about waves and extended bodies

“
Society is a wave. The wave moves onward, but

”
the water of which it is composed does not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance.

When the frequency of a tone is doubled, one says that the tone is higher by an octave.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Two tones that differ by an octave, when played together, sound pleasant to the ear. Two
other agreeable frequency ratios – or ‘intervals’, as musicians say – are quarts and quints.
Challenge 471 e What are the corresponding frequency ratios? (Note: the answer was one of the oldest
discoveries in physics and perception research; it is attributed to Pythagoras, around 500
bce.)
∗∗
Also the bumps of skiing slopes, the so-called ski moguls, are waves. Ski moguls are es-
Ref. 209 sential in many winter Olympic disciplines. Observation shows that ski moguls have a

are known by the same name.

 272 10 simple motions of extended bodies

wavelength of typically 5 to 6 m and that they move with an average speed of 8 cm/day.
Surprisingly, the speed is directed upwards, towards the top of the skiing slope. Can you
Challenge 472 s explain why this is so? In fact, ski moguls are also an example of self-organization; this
Page 348 topic will be covered in more detail below.
∗∗
An orchestra is playing music in a large hall. At a distance of 30 m, somebody is listening
to the music. At a distance of 3000 km, another person is listening to the music via the
Challenge 473 s radio. Who hears the music first?
∗∗
What is the period of a simple pendulum, i.e., a mass m attached to a massless string of
Challenge 474 ny length l? What is the period if the string is much longer than the radius of the Earth?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∗∗
What path is followed by a body that moves without friction on a plane, but that is at-
Challenge 475 s tached by a spring to a fixed point on the plane?
∗∗
The blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, is the loudest animal found in nature: its voice
can be heard at a distance of hundreds of kilometres.
∗∗
The exploraation of sound in the sea, from the communication of whales to the sonar of
dolphins, is a world of its own. As a start, explore the excellent www.dosits.org website.
∗∗
A device that shows how rotation and oscillation are linked is the alarm siren. Find out
Challenge 476 e how it works, and build one yourself.
∗∗
Light is a wave, as we will discover later on. As a result, light reaching the Earth from
space is refracted when it enters the atmosphere. Can you confirm that as a result, stars
Challenge 477 e appear somewhat higher in the night sky than they really are? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
What are the highest sea waves? This question has been researched systematically only
Ref. 212 recently, using satellites. The surprising result is that sea waves with a height of 25 m
and more are common: there are a few such waves on the oceans at any given time. This
result confirms the rare stories of experienced ship captains and explains many otherwise
unexplained ship sinkings.
Surfers may thus get many chances to ride 30 m waves. (The present record is just
below this height.) But maybe the most impressive waves to surf are those of the Pororoca,
a series of 4 m waves that move from the sea into the Amazon River every spring, against
the flow of the river. These waves can be surfed for tens of kilometres.
 oscillations and waves 273

air

air water

coin
F I G U R E 182 Shadows show the
refraction of light.

∗∗
Interestingly, every water surface has waves, even if it seems completely flat. As a conse-
quence of the finite temperature of water, its surface always has some roughness: there are
thermal capillary waves. For water, with a surface tension of 72 mPa, the typical rough-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ness at usual conditions is 0.2 nm. These thermal capillary waves, predicted since many
Ref. 213 centuries, have been observed only recently.
∗∗
All waves are damped, eventually. This effect is often frequency-dependent. Can you pro-
Challenge 478 s vide a confirmation of this dependence in the case of sound in air?
∗∗
When you make a hole with a needle in black paper, the hole can be used as a magnifying
Challenge 479 e lens. (Try it.) Diffraction is responsible for the lens effect. By the way, the diffraction of
light by holes was noted already by Francesco Grimaldi in the seventeenth century; he
correctly deduced that light is a wave. His observations were later discussed by Newton,
who wrongly dismissed them.
∗∗
Put an empty cup near a lamp, in such a way that the bottom of the cup remains in the
shadow. When you fill the cup with water, some of the bottom will be lit, because of the
refraction of the light from the lamp. The same effect allows us to build lenses. The same
Vol. III, page 136 effect is at the basis of instruments such as the telescope.
∗∗
Challenge 480 s Are water waves transverse or longitudinal?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
The speed of water waves limits the speeds of ships. A surface ship cannot travel (much)
faster than about 󰑣crit = 󵀆0.16дl , where д = 9.8 m/s2 , l is the boat’s length, and 0.16 is
a number determined experimentally, called the critical Froude number. This relation is
valid for all vessels, from large tankers (l = 100 m gives 󰑣crit = 13 m/s) down to ducks (l =
0.3 m gives 󰑣crit = 0.7 m/s). The critical speed is that of a wave with the same wavelength
as the ship. In fact, moving a ship at higher speeds than the critical value is possible, but
requires much more energy. (A higher speed is also possible if the ship surfs on a wave.)
Challenge 481 s How far away is the crawl olympic swimming record from the critical value?
Most water animals and ships are faster when they swim below the surface – where
 274 10 simple motions of extended bodies

the limit due to surface waves does not exist – than when they swim on the surface. For
example, ducks can swim three times as fast under water than on the surface.
∗∗
The group velocity of water waves (in deep water) is less than the velocity of the indi-
vidual wave crests, the so-called phase velocity. As a result, when a group of wave crests
travels, within the group the crests move from the back to the front: they appear at the
back, travel forward and then die out at the front. The group velocity of water waves is
lower than its phase velocity.
∗∗
One can hear the distant sea or a distant highway more clearly in the evening than in the
morning. This is an effect of refraction. Sound speed increases with temperature. In the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
evening, the ground cools more quickly than the air above. As a result, sound leaving
the ground and travelling upwards is refracted downwards, leading to the long hearing
distance typical of evenings. In the morning, usually the air is cold above and warm
below. Sound is refracted upwards, and distant sound does not reach a listener on the
ground. Refraction thus implies that mornings are quiet, and that we can hear more
distant sounds in the evenings. Elephants use the sound situation during evenings to
communicate over distances of more than 10 km. (They also use sound waves in the
ground to communicate, but that is another story.)
∗∗
Refraction also implies that there is a sound channel in the ocean, and in the atmosphere.
Sound speed increases with temperature, and increases with pressure. At an ocean depth
of 1 km, or at an atmospheric height of 13 to 17 km (that is at the top of the tallest cu-
mulonimbus clouds or equivalently, at the middle of the ozone layer) sound has minimal
speed. As a result, sound that starts from that level and tries to leave is channelled back to
it. Whales use this sound channel to communicate with each other with beautiful songs;
Challenge 482 e one can find recordings of these songs on the internet. The military successfully uses
microphones placed at the sound channel in the ocean to locate submarines, and mi-
Ref. 214 crophones on balloons in the atmospheric channel to listen for nuclear explosions. (In
fact, sound experiments conducted by the military are the main reason why whales are
deafened and lose their orientation, stranding on the shores. Similar experiments in the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

air with high-altitude balloons are often mistaken for flying saucers, as in the famous
Roswell incident.)
∗∗
Ref. 215 Also small animals communicate by sound waves. In 2003, it was found that herring
communicate using noises they produce when farting. When they pass wind, the gas
creates a ticking sound whose frequency spectrum reaches up to 20 kHz. One can even
listen to recordings of this sound on the internet. The details of the communication, such
as the differences between males and females, are still being investigated. It is possible
that the sounds may also be used by predators to detect herring, and they might even be
used by future fishing vessels.
 oscillations and waves 275

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 183 Rubik’s cube: the
complexity of simple
three-dimensional motion
(© Wikimedia).

∗∗
On windy seas, the white wave crests have several important effects. The noise stems
from tiny exploding and imploding water bubbles. The noise of waves on the open sea
is thus the superposition of many small explosions. At the same time, white crests are
the events where the seas absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and thus reduce
global warming.
∗∗
Challenge 483 s Why are there many small holes in the ceilings of many office rooms?
∗∗ Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Which quantity determines the wavelength of water waves emitted when a stone is
Challenge 484 ny thrown into a pond?
∗∗
Ref. 2 Yakov Perelman lists the following four problems in his delightful physics problem book.
(1) A stone falling into a lake produces circular waves. What is the shape of waves
Challenge 485 s produced by a stone falling into a river, where the water flows?
(2) It is possible to build a lens for sound, in the same way as it is possible to build
Challenge 486 s lenses for light. What would such a lens look like?
Challenge 487 s (3) What is the sound heard inside a shell?
(4) Light takes about eight minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth. What conse-
Challenge 488 s quence does this have for the timing of sunrise?
 276 10 simple motions of extended bodies

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 184 The human ear
(© Northwestern University).

∗∗
Every student probably knows Rubik’s cube. Can you or did you deduce how Rubik built
the cube without looking at its interior? Also for cubes with other numbers of segments?
Challenge 489 s Is there a limit to the number of segments? These puzzles are even tougher than the
search for the rearrangement of the cube.
∗∗
Typically, sound of a talking person produces a pressure variation of 20 mPa on the ear.
Challenge 490 ny How is this value determined?
The ear is indeed a sensitive device. It is now known that most cases of sea mammals,
like whales, swimming onto the shore are due to ear problems: usually some military
device (either sonar signals or explosions) has destroyed their ear so that they became Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

deaf and lose orientation.

∗∗
Why is the human ear, shown in Figure 184, so complex? The outer part, the pinna or
auricola, concentrates the sound pressure at the tympanic membrane; it produces a gain
of 3 dB. The tympanic membrane, or eardrum, is made in such a way as to always oscil-
late in fundamental mode, thus without any nodes. The tympanic membrane has a (very
wide) resonance at 3 kHz, in the region where the ear is most sensitive. The eardrum
transmits its motion, using the ossicles, into the inner ear. This mechanism thus trans-
forms air waves into water waves in the inner ear, where they are detected. (The efficiency
with which this transformation takes place is almost ideal; using the language of wave
theory, ossicles are thus above all impedance transformers.) Why does the ear transform
 oscillations and waves 277

air waves to water waves? Because the sound wavelength in liquids is much shorter, and
allows a small detector; otherwise, the ear would not fit inside the head!
∗∗
Infrasound, inaudible sound below 20 Hz, is a modern topic of research. In nature, in-
frasound is emitted by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wind, thunder, waterfalls, falling
meteorites and the surf. Glacier motion, seaquakes, avalanches and geomagnetic storms
Ref. 216 also emit infrasound. Human sources include missile launches, traffic, fuel engines and
air compressors.
It is known that high intensities of infrasound lead to vomiting or disturbances of the
sense of equilibrium (140 dB or more for 2 minutes), and even to death (170 dB for 10
minutes). The effects of lower intensities on human health are not yet known.
Infrasound can travel several times around the world before dying down, as the ex-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
plosion of the Krakatoa volcano showed in 1883. With modern infrasound detectors, sea
surf can be detected hundreds of kilometres away. Sea surf leads to a constant ‘hum’ of
the Earth’s crust at frequencies between 3 and 7 mHz. The Global infrasound Network
uses infrasound to detect nuclear weapon tests, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and
can count meteorites. Only very rarely can meteorites be heard with the human ear.
∗∗
The method used to deduce the sine waves contained in a signal, as shown in Figure 166,
is called the Fourier transformation. It is of importance throughout science and tech-
nology. In the 1980s, an interesting generalization became popular, called the wavelet
transformation. In contrast to Fourier transformations, wavelet transformations allow us
to localize signals in time. Wavelet transformations are used to compress digitally stored
images in an efficient way, to diagnose aeroplane turbine problems, and in many other
Ref. 217 applications.
∗∗
If you like engineering challenges, here is one that is still open. How can one make a
Challenge 491 r robust and efficient system that transforms the energy of sea waves into electricity?
∗∗
If you are interested in ocean waves, you might also enjoy the science of oceanography. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

For an introduction, see the open source textbooks at oceanworld.tamu.edu.

∗∗
In our description of extended bodies, we assumed that each spot of a body can be fol-
lowed separately throughout its motion. Is this assumption justified? What would happen
Challenge 492 r if it were not?
∗∗
A special type of waves appears in explosions and supersonic flight: shock waves. In a
shock wave, the density or pressure of a gas changes abruptly, on distances of a few mi-
crometers. Studying shock waves is a research field in itself; shock waves determine the
flight of bullets, the snapping of whips and the effects of detonations.
 278 10 simple motions of extended bodies

moving shock wave :

moving ‘sonic boom’

sound source
sound
moving through
waves
medium at
supersonic speed

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
supersonic
sound source

boom
moving
on ground

F I G U R E 185 The shock wave created by a body in supersonic motion leads to a ‘sonic boom’ that
moves through the air; it can be made visible by Schlieren photography or by water condensation
(photo © Andrew Davidhazy, Gary Settles, NASA).

Around a body moving with supersonic speed, the sound waves form a cone, as shown
in Figure 185. When the cone passes an observer on the ground, the cone leads to a sonic
boom. What is less well known is that the boom can be amplified. If an aeroplane accel-
erates through the sound barrier, certain observers at the ground will hear two booms
or even a so-called superboom, because cones from various speeds can superpose at cer-
Ref. 218 tain spots on the ground. A plane that performs certain manoeuvres, such as a curve at Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

high speed, can even produce a superboom at a predefined spot on the ground. In con-
trast to normal sonic booms, superbooms can destroy windows, eardrums and lead to
trauma, especially in children. Unfortunately, they are regularly produced on purpose by
frustrated military pilots in various places of the world.
∗∗
What have swimming swans and ships have in common? The wake behind them. Despite
the similarity, this phenomenon has no relation to the sonic boom. In fact, the angle of
the wake is the same for ducks and ships, and is independent of the speed they travel or
of the size of the moving body, provided the water is deep enough.
Page 254 As explained above, water waves in deep water differ from sound waves: their group
velocity is one half the phase velocity. (Can you deduce this from the dispersion relation
 oscillations and waves 279

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
T

P
α
α
A C O A
(ship
or
swan)

F I G U R E 186 The wakes behind a ship and behind a swan, and the way to deduce the shape (photos
© Wikimedia, Christopher Thorn).

ω = 󵀄дk between angular frequency and wave vector, valid for deep water waves?)
Challenge 493 e Water waves will interfere where most of the energy is transported, thus around the
group velocity. For this reason, in the graph shown in Figure 186, the diameter of each
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

wave circle is always half the distance of their leftmost point O to the apex A. As a result,
the half angle of the wake apex obeys

1
sin α = giving a wake angle 2α = 38.942° . (103)
3
Figure 186 also allows deducing the curves that make up the wave pattern of the wake,
Ref. 219 using simple geometry.
It is essential to note that the fixed wake angle is valid only in deep water, i.e., only
in water that is much deeper than the wavelength of the involved waves. In other words,
for a given depth, the wake has the fixed shape only up to a maximum source speed. For
high speeds, the wake angle narrows, and the pattern inside the wake changes.
 280 10 simple motions of extended bodies

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 187 The calculated motion of a dromion across a two-dimensional substrate (QuickTime film
© Jarmo Hietarinta)

∗∗
Bats fly at night using echolocation. Dolphins also use it. Sonar, used by fishing vessels
to look for fish, copies the system of dolphins. Less well known is that humans have the
Ref. 220 same ability. Have you ever tried to echolocate a wall in a completely dark room? You will
be surprised at how easily this is possible. Just make a loud hissing or whistling noise that
Challenge 494 e stops abruptly, and listen to the echo. You will be able to locate walls reliably.
∗∗
Birds sing. If you want to explore how this happens, look at the impressive X-ray film
found at the www.indiana.edu/~songbird/multi/cineradiography_index.html website.
∗∗
Every soliton is a one-dimensional structure. Do two-dimensional analogues exist? This
issue was open for many years. Finally, in 1988, Boiti, Leon, Martina and Pempinelli
Ref. 221 found that a certain evolution equation, the so-called Davey–Stewartson equation, can Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

have solutions that are localized in two dimensions. These results were generalized by
Fokas and Santini and further generalized by Hietarinta and Hirota. Such a solution is
today called a dromion. Dromions are bumps that are localized in two dimensions and
can move, without disappearing through diffusion, in non-linear systems. An example is
shown in Figure 187. However, so far, no such solution has be observed in experiments;
this is one of the most important experimental challenges left open in non-linear science.
∗∗
Water waves have not lost their interest to this day. Most of all, two-dimensional solutions
of solitonic water waves remain a topic of research. The mathematics is complicated, the
experiments simple, and the issue is fascinating. In two dimensions, soliton crests can
form hexagonal patterns! The relevant equation for shallow waves, the generalization of
 oscillations and waves 281

the Korteweg–de Vries equation to two dimensions, is called the Kadomtsev–Petviashvili

equation. For pictures of such extremely rare waves, see the site by Bernard Deconinck at
www.amath.washington.edu/~bernard/kp/waterwaves.html. The issue of whether rect-
angular patterns exist is still open, as are the equations and solutions for deep water waves.
Water waves have not yet yielded all their secrets.
∗∗
How does the tone produced by blowing over a bottle depend on the dimension? For
bottles that are bulky, the frequency f , the so-called cavity resonance, is found to depend
ChallengeRef.
495222
ny on the volume V of the bottle:

c A 1
f = 󵀊 or f ∼ (104)
2π V L 󵀂V

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
where c is the speed of sound, A is the area of the opening, and L is the length of the
Challenge 496 e neck of the bottle. Does the formula agree with your observations?
In fact, tone production is a complicated issue, and specialized books exist on the
Ref. 223 topic. For example, when overblowing, a saxophone produces a second harmonic, an oc-
tave, whereas a clarinet produces a third harmonic, a quint (more precisely, a twelfth).
Why is this the case? The theory is complex, but the result simple: instruments whose
cross-section increases along the tube, such as horns, trumpets, oboes or saxophones,
overblow to octaves. For air instruments that have a (mostly) cylindrical tube, the ef-
fect of overblowing depends on the tone generation mechanism. Flutes overblow to the
octave, but clarinets to the twelfth.
∗∗
Many acoustical systems do not only produce harmonics, but also subharmonics. There
is a simple way to observe production of subharmonics: sing with your ears below water,
in the bathtub. Depending on the air left in your ears, you can hear subharmonics of your
own voice. The effect is quite special.
∗∗
The origin of the sound of cracking joints, for example in the hand, is a well-known
puzzle. How would you test the conjecture that it is due to cavitation? What would you
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 497 e do to find out definitively?

∗∗
Among the most impressive sound experiences are the singing performances of coun-
tertenors and of the even higher singing male sopranos. If you ever have the chance to
hear one, do not miss the occasion.

Summary on waves and oscillations

In nature, apart from the motion of bodies, we observe also the motion of waves and
wave groups, or signals. Waves have energy, momentum and angular momentum. Waves
can interfere, diffract, refract, disperse, dampen out and, if transverse, can be polarized.
282 10 simple motions of extended bodies

Oscillations are a special case of waves; usually they are standing waves. Solitary waves,
i.e., waves with only one crest, are a special case of waves.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 C h a p t e r 11

D O EXTENDED B ODI ES EXIST?

– LIMIT S OF C ONTINUIT Y

W
e have just discussed the motion of bodies that are extended.
e have found that all extended bodies, be they solid of fluid, show

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ave motion. But are extended bodies actually found in nature? Strangely
enough, this question has been one of the most intensely discussed questions in physics.
Over the centuries, it has reappeared again and again, at each improvement of the de-
scription of motion; the answer has alternated between the affirmative and the negative.
Many thinkers have been imprisoned, and many still are being persecuted, for giving
answers that are not politically correct! In fact, the issue already arises in everyday life.

Mountains and fractals

Whenever we climb a mountain, we follow the outline of its shape. We usually describe
this outline as a curved two-dimensional surface. But is this correct? There are alternative
possibilities. The most popular is the idea that mountains are fractal surfaces. A fractal
was defined by Benoît Mandelbrot as a set that is self-similar under a countable but in-
Page 54 finite number of magnification values. We have already encountered fractal lines. An
example of an algorithm for building a (random) fractal surface is shown on the right
Ref. 224 side of Figure 188. It produces shapes which look remarkably similar to real mountains.
The results are so realistic that they are used in Hollywood films. If this description were
correct, mountains would be extended, but not continuous.
But mountains could also be fractals of a different sort, as shown in the left side of
Figure 188. Mountain surfaces could have an infinity of small and smaller holes. In fact,
we could also imagine that mountains are described as three-dimensional versions of the
left side of the figure. Mountains would then be some sort of mathematical Swiss cheese.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Can you devise an experiment to decide whether fractals provide the correct description
Challenge 498 s for mountains? To settle the issue, we study chocolate bars, bones, trees and soap bubbles.

Can a chocolate bar last forever?

“
From a drop of water a logician could predict

”
an Atlantic or a Niagara.
Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet

Any child knows how to make a chocolate bar last forever: eat half the remainder every
day. However, this method only works if matter is scale-invariant. In other words, the
method only works if matter is either fractal, as it then would be scale-invariant for a
 284 11 extended bodies

n=1
i=4

n=2

n=5

n=∞

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 188 Floors (left) and mountains (right) could be fractals; for mountains this approximation is
often used in computer graphics (image © Paul Martz).

discrete set of zoom factors, or continuous, in which case it would be scale-invariant for
any zoom factor. Which case, if either, applies to nature?
Page 53 We have already encountered a fact making continuity a questionable assumption:
continuity would allow us, as Banach and Tarski showed, to multiply food and any other
matter by clever cutting and reassembling. Continuity would allow children to eat the
same amount of chocolate every day, without ever buying a new bar. Matter is thus not
continuous. Now, fractal chocolate is not ruled out in this way; but other experiments
settle the question. Indeed, we note that melted materials do not take up much smaller
volumes than solid ones. We also find that even under the highest pressures, materials do
not shrink. Thus we conclude again that matter is not a fractal. What then is its structure?
To get an idea of the structure of matter we can take fluid chocolate, or even just some
oil – which is the main ingredient of chocolate anyway – and spread it out over a large
surface. For example, we can spread a drop of oil onto a pond on a day without rain or
wind; it is not difficult to observe which parts of the water are covered by the oil and
which are not. A small droplet of oil cannot cover a surface larger than – can you guess
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 499 s the value? The oil-covered water and the uncovered water have different colours. Trying
to spread the oil film further inevitably rips it apart. The child’s method of prolonging
chocolate thus does not work for ever: it comes to a sudden end. The oil experiment,
which can even be conducted at home, shows that there is a minimum thickness of oil
films, with a value of about 2 nm. The experiment shows* that there is a smallest size in
oil. Oil is made of tiny components. Is this valid for all matter?

* The oil experiment was popularized a few decades after Loschmidt’s determination of the size of molecules,
by Thomson-Kelvin. It is often claimed that Benjamin Franklin was the first to conduct the oil experiment;
that is wrong. Franklin did not measure the thickness, and did not even consider the question of the thick-
ness. He did pour oil on water, but missed the most important conclusion that could be drawn from it. Even
geniuses do not discover everything.
 limits of mat ter continuit y 285

The case of Galileo Galilei

After the middle ages, Galileo (1564–1642) was the first to state that all matter was made
of smallest parts, which he called piccolissimi quanti, i.e., smallest quanta. Today, they are
called atoms. However, Galileo paid dearly for this statement.
Indeed, during his life, Galileo was under attack for two reasons: because of his ideas
on the motion of the Earth, and because of his ideas about atoms.* The discovery of the
importance of both issues is the merit of the great historian Pietro Redondi, a collabo-
rator of another great historian, Pierre Costabel. One of Redondi’s research topics is the
history of the dispute between the Jesuits, who at the time defended orthodox theology,
and Galileo and the other scientists. In the 1980s, Redondi discovered a document of that
time, an anonymous denunciation called G3, that allowed him to show that the condem-
nation of Galileo to life imprisonment for his views on the Earth’s motion was organized

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
by his friend the Pope to protect him from a sure condemnation to death over a different
issue: atoms.
Page 287 Galileo defended the view, explained in detail shortly, that since matter is not scale
invariant, it must be made of ‘atoms’ or, as he called them, piccolissimi quanti. This was
and still is a heresy, because atoms of matter contradict the central Catholic idea that in
the Eucharist the sensible qualities of bread and wine exist independently of their sub-
stance. The distinction between substance and sensible qualities, introduced by Thomas
Aquinas, is essential to make sense of transubstantiation, the change of bread and wine
Ref. 225 into human flesh and blood, which is a central tenet of the Catholic faith. Indeed, a true
Catholic is still not allowed to believe in atoms to the present day, because the idea that
matter is made of atoms contradicts transubstantiation. (Protestant faith usually does not
support transubstantiation, by the way.)
In Galileo’s days, church tribunals punished heresy, i.e., personal opinions deviating
from orthodox theology, by the death sentence. But Galileo was not sentenced to death.
Galileo’s life was saved by the Pope by making sure that the issue of transubstantiation
would not be a topic of the trial, and by ensuring that the trial at the Inquisition be orga-
nized by a papal commission led by his nephew, Francesco Barberini. But the Pope also
wanted Galileo to be punished, because he felt that his own ideas had been mocked in
Galileo’s book Il Dialogo and also because, under attack for his foreign policy, he was not
able to ignore or suppress the issue.
As a result, in 1633 the seventy-year-old Galileo was condemned to a prison sentence,
‘after invoking the name of Jesus Christ’, for ‘suspicion of heresy’ (and thus not for heresy),
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 226 because he did not comply with an earlier promise not to teach that the Earth moves. In-
deed, the motion of the Earth contradicts what the Christian bible states. Galileo was
convinced that truth was determined by observation, the Inquisition that it was deter-
mined by a book – and by itself. In many letters that Galileo wrote throughout his life
he expressed his conviction that observational truth could never be a heresy. The trial
showed him the opposite: he was forced to state that he erred in teaching that the Earth
Ref. 227 moves. After a while, the Pope reduced the prison sentence to house arrest.

* To get a clear view of the matters of dispute in the case of Galileo, especially those of interest to physicists,
the best text is the excellent book by Pietro Redondi, Galileo eretico, Einaudi, 1983, translated into
English as Galileo Heretic, Princeton University Press, 1987. It is also available in many other languages; an
updated edition that includes the newest discoveries appeared in 2004.
 286 11 extended bodies

Galileo’s condemnation on the motion of the Earth was not the end of the story. In the
years after Galileo’s death, also atomism was condemned in several trials against Galileo’s
ideas and his followers. But the effects of these trials were not those planned by the In-
quisition. Only twenty years after the famous trial, around 1650, every astronomer in the
world was convinced of the motion of the Earth. And the result of the trials against atom-
ism was that at the end of the 17th century, practically every scientist in the world was
convinced that atoms exist. The trials accelerated an additional effect: after Galileo and
Descartes, the centre of scientific research and innovation shifted from Catholic coun-
tries, like Italy or France, to protestant countries. In these, such as the Netherlands, Eng-
land, Germany or the Scandinavian countries, the Inquisition had no power. This shift is
still felt today.
It is a sad story that in 1992, the Catholic church did not revoke Galileo’s condemna-
tion. In that year, Pope John Paul II gave a speech on the Galileo case. Many years before,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
he had asked a study commission to re-evaluate the trial, because he wanted to express
his regrets for what had happened and wanted to rehabilitate Galileo. The commission
Ref. 229 worked for twelve years. But the bishop that presented the final report was a crook: he
avoided citing the results of the study commission, falsely stated the position of both
parties on the subject of truth, falsely stated that Galileo’s arguments on the motion of
the Earth were weaker than those of the church, falsely summarized the past positions
of the church on the motion of the Earth, avoided stating that prison sentences are not
good arguments in issues of opinion or of heresy, made sure that rehabilitation was not
even discussed, and of course, avoided any mention of transubstantiation. At the end
of this power struggle, Galileo was thus not rehabilitated, in contrast to what the Pope
wanted and in contrast to what most press releases of the time said; the Pope only stated
that ‘errors were made on both sides’, and the crook behind all this was rewarded with a
promotion.*
But that is not the end of the story. The documents of the trial, which were kept locked
when Redondi made his discovery, were later made accessible to scholars by Pope John
Paul II. In 1999, this led to the discovery of a new document, called EE 291, an internal
expert opinion on the atom issue that was written for the trial in 1632, a few months be-
Ref. 228 fore the start of the procedure. The author of the document comes to the conclusion that
Galileo was indeed a heretic in the matter of atoms. The document thus proves that the
cover-up of the transubstantiation issue during the trial of Galileo must have been sys-
tematic and thorough, as Redondi had deduced. Indeed, church officials and the Catholic Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

catechism carefully avoid the subject of atoms even today; you can search the Vatican
website www.vatican.va for any mention of them.
But Galileo did not want to attack transubstantiation; he wanted to advance the idea
of atoms. And he did. Despite being condemned to prison in his trial, Galileo’s last book,
the Discorsi, written as a blind old man under house arrest, includes the discussion of
atoms, or piccolissimi quanti. It is an irony of history that today, quantum theory, named
by Max Born after the term used by Galileo for atoms, has become the most precise
Vol. IV, page 13 description of nature yet. Let us explore how Galileo concluded that all matter is made
of atoms.

* We should not be too indignant: the same situation happens in many commercial companies every day;
most industrial employees can tell similar stories.
 limits of mat ter continuit y 287

How high can animals jump?

Fleas can jump to heights a hundred times their size, humans only to heights about their
Ref. 230 own size. In fact, biological studies yield a simple observation: most animals, regard-
less of their size, achieve about the same jumping height, namely between 0.8 and 2.2 m,
whether they are humans, cats, grasshoppers, apes, horses or leopards. We have explained
Page 76 this fact earlier on.
At first sight, the observation of constant jumping height seems to be a simple example
of scale invariance. But let us look more closely. There are some interesting exceptions
at both ends of the mass range. At the small end, mites and other small insects do not
achieve such heights because, like all small objects, they encounter the problem of air
resistance. At the large end, elephants do not jump that high, because doing so would
break their bones. But why do bones break at all?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Why are all humans of about the same size? Why are there no giant adults with a
height of ten metres? Why aren’t there any land animals larger than elephants? Galileo
already gave the answer. The bones of which people and animals are made would not
allow such changes of scale, as the bones of giants would collapse under the weight they
have to sustain. (A human scaled up by a factor 10 would weigh 1000 times as much, but
its bones would only be 100 times as wide.) But why do bones have a finite strength at all?
There is only one explanation: because the constituents of bones stick to each other with
a finite attraction. In contrast to bones, continuous matter – which exists only in cartoons
– could not break at all, and fractal matter would be infinitely fragile. Galileo concluded
that matter breaks under finite loads because it is composed of small basic constituents.

Felling trees
The gentle lower slopes of Motion Mountain are covered by trees. Trees are fascinating
structures. Take their size. Why do trees have limited size? Already in the sixteenth cen-
tury, Galileo knew that it is not possible to increase tree height without limits: at some
point a tree would not have the strength to support its own weight. He estimated the max-
imum height to be around 90 m; the actual record, unknown to him at the time, seems
to be 150 m, for the Australian tree Eucalyptus regnans. But why does a limit exist at all?
The answer is the same as for bones: wood has a finite strength because it is not scale
invariant; and it is not scale invariant because it is made of small constituents, namely
atoms.* Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In fact, the derivation of the precise value of the height limit is more involved. Trees
must not break under strong winds. Wind resistance limits the height-to-thickness ratio
Challenge 500 ny h/d to about 50 for normal-sized trees (for 0.2 m < d < 2 m). Can you say why? Thinner
trees are limited in height to less than 10 m by the requirement that they return to the
Ref. 232 vertical after being bent by the wind.
Such studies of natural constraints also answer the question of why trees are made
from wood and not, for example, from steel. You could check for yourself that the max-
imum height of a column of a given mass is determined by the ratio E/ρ2 between the
Challenge 501 s elastic module and the square of the mass density. For a long time, wood was actually the

Ref. 231 * There is another important limiting factor: the water columns inside trees must not break. Both factors
seem to yield similar limiting heights.
 288 11 extended bodies

Ref. 233 material for which this ratio was highest. Only recently have material scientists managed
to engineer slightly better ratios: the fibre composites.
Why do materials break at all? All observations yield the same answer and confirm
Galileo’s reasoning: because there is a smallest size in materials. For example, bodies un-
der stress are torn apart at the position at which their strength is minimal. If a body were
completely homogeneous or continuous, it could not be torn apart; a crack could not
start anywhere. If a body had a fractal, Swiss-cheese structure, cracks would have places
to start, but they would need only an infinitesimal shock to do so.

Little hard balls

“
I prefer knowing the cause of a single thing to

”
being king of Persia.
Democritus

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Precise observations show that matter is neither continuous nor a fractal: all matter is
made of smallest basic particles. Galileo, who deduced their existence by thinking about
giants and trees, called them smallest quanta. Today they are called atoms, in honour
of a famous argument of the ancient Greeks. Indeed, 2500 years ago, the Greeks asked
the following question. If motion and matter are conserved, how can change and transfor-
mation exist? The philosophical school of Leucippus and Democritus of Abdera* studied
two particular observations in special detail. They noted that salt dissolves in water. They
also noted that fish can swim in water. In the first case, the volume of water does not in-
crease when the salt is dissolved. In the second case, when fish advance, they must push
water aside. Leucippus and Democritus deduced that there is only one possible explana-
tion that satisfies these two observations and also reconciles conservation with transfor-
mation: nature is made of void and of small, indivisible and conserved particles.**
In short, since matter is hard, has a shape and is divisible, Leucippus and Democritus
imagined it as being made of atoms. Atoms are particles which are hard, have a shape,
but are indivisible. The Greek thus deduced that every example of motion, change and

* Leucippus of Elea (Λευκιππος) (c. 490 to c. 430 bce), Greek philosopher; Elea was a small town south
of Naples. It lies in Italy, but used to belong to the Magna Graecia. Democritus (Δεμοκριτος) of Abdera
(c. 460 to c. 356 or 370 bce), also a Greek philosopher, was arguably the greatest philosopher who ever lived.
Together with his teacher Leucippus, he was the founder of the atomic theory; Democritus was a much
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

admired thinker, and a contemporary of Socrates. The vain Plato never even mentions him, as Democritus
was a danger to his own fame. Democritus wrote many books which all have been lost; they were not copied
during the Middle Ages because of his scientific and rational world view, which was felt to be a danger by
religious zealots who had the monopoly on the copying industry. Nowadays, it has become common to
claim – incorrectly – that Democritus had no proof for the existence of atoms. That is a typical example of
disinformation with the aim of making us feel superior to the ancients.
** The story is told by Lucretius, in full Titus Lucretius Carus, in his famous text De rerum natura, around
60 bce. (An English translation can be found on www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Lucr.+1.1.) Lu-
cretius relates many other proofs; in Book 1, he shows that there is vacuum in solids – as proven by porosity
and by density differences – and in gases – as proven by wind. He shows that smells are due to particles, and
Challenge 502 ny that so is evaporation. (Can you find more proofs?) He also explains that the particles cannot be seen due to
their small size, but that their effects can be felt and that they allow explaining all observations consistently.
Especially if we imagine particles as little balls, we cannot avoid calling this a typically male idea. (What
Challenge 503 d would be the female approach?)
 limits of mat ter continuit y 289

transformation is due to rearrangements of these particles; change and conservation are

thus reconciled.
In other words, the Greeks imagined nature as a big Lego set. Lego pieces are first of
all hard or impenetrable, i.e., repulsive at very small distances. Atoms thus explain why
solids cannot be compressed much. Lego pieces are also attractive at small distances: they
remain stuck together. Atoms this explain that solids exist. Finally, lego bricks have no
interaction at large distances. Atoms thus explain the existence of gases. (Actually, what
the Greeks called ‘atoms’ partly corresponds to what today we call ‘molecules’. The latter
term was introduced in 1811 by Amedeo Avogadro* in order to clarify the distinction. But
we can forget this detail for the moment.)
Since atoms are invisible, it took many years before all scientists were convinced by
the experiments showing their existence. In the nineteenth century, the idea of atoms
was beautifully verified by a large number of experiments, such as the discovery of the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Page 325 ‘laws’ of chemistry and those of gas behaviour. We briefly explore the most interesting
ones.

The sound of silence

Climbing the slopes of Motion Mountain, we arrive in a region of the forest covered
with deep snow. We stop for a minute and look around. It is already dark; all the animals
are asleep; there is no wind and there are no sources of sound. We stand still, without
breathing, and listen to the silence. (You can have the same experience also in a sound
studio such as those used for musical recordings, or in a quiet bedroom at night.) In
situations of complete silence, the ear automatically becomes more sensitive**; we then
have a strange experience. We hear two noises, a lower- and a higher-pitched one, which
are obviously generated inside the ear. Experiments show that the higher note is due to
the activity of the nerve cells in the inner ear. The lower note is due to pulsating blood
streaming through the head. But why do we hear a noise at all?
Many similar experiments confirm that whatever we do, we can never eliminate noise,
i.e., random fluctuations, from measurements. This unavoidable type of random fluctua-
tions is called shot noise in physics. The statistical properties of this type of noise actually
correspond precisely to what would be expected if flows, instead of being motions of
continuous matter, were transportation of a large number of equal, small and discrete
entities. Therefore, the precise measurement of noise can be used to prove that air and
liquids are made of molecules, that electric current is made of electrons, and that light is
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

made of photons. In a sense, the sound of silence is the sound of atoms. Shot noise would
not exist if matter were continuous or fractal.

How to count what cannot be seen

In everyday life, atoms cannot be counted, mainly because they cannot be seen. Interest-
Ref. 234 ingly, the progress of physics allowed to count atoms nevertheless. As mentioned, many

* Amedeo Avogadro (b. 1776 Turin, d. 1856 Turin) Piedmontese physicist and chemist. Avogadro’s number
is named for him.
** The human ear can detect, in its most sensitive mode, pressure variations at least as small as 20 μPa and
ear drum motions as small as 11 pm.
 290 11 extended bodies

of these methods use the measurement of noise.*

In physics, the term noise is not only used for the acoustical effect; it is used for any
process that is random. The most famous kind of noise is Brownian motion, the motion of
Page 326 small particles, such as dust or pollen, floating in liquids. But small particles falling in air,
such as mercury globules or selenium particles, and these fluctuations can be observed,
for example with help of air flows.
A mirror glued on a quartz fibre hanging in the air, especially at low pressure, changes
orientation randomly, by small amounts, due to the collision of the air molecules. The
random orientation changes, again a kind of noise, can be followed by reflecting a beam
of light on the mirror and watching the light spot at a large distance.
Also density fluctuations, critical opalescence, and critical miscibility of liquids are
forms of noise. In fact, density fluctuations are important for the formation of the colour
of the sky, because the density fluctuations of air molecules are the actual source of the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
scattering of light. The colour of the sky is a noise effect.
It turns out that every kind of noise can be used to count atoms. The reason is that
all noise in nature is related to the particle nature of matter or radiation. Indeed, all the
mentioned methods have been use to count atoms and molecules, and to determine their
sizes. Since the colour of the sky is a noise effect, one can indeed count air molecules by
looking at the sky!
The result of all these measurements is that a mol of matter – for any gas, that is the
amount of matter contained in 22.4 l of that gas at standard pressure – always contains
the same number of atoms.

⊳ A mol contains 6.0 ⋅ 1023 particles.

The number is called Avogadro’s number, after the first man who understood that volumes
of gases have equal number of molecules, or Loschmidt’s number, after the first man who
measured it.** All the methods to determine Avogadro’s number also allow us to deduce
that most atoms have a size in the range between 0.1 and 0.3 nm. Molecules are composed
of several or many atoms and are correspondingly larger.
How did Joseph Loschmidt*** manage to be the first to determine his and Avogadro’s
number, and be the first to determine reliably the size of the components of matter?
Loschmidt knew that the dynamic viscosity μ of a gas was given by μ = ρl󰑣/3, where
ρ is the density of the gas, 󰑣 the average speed of the components and l their mean
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

free path. With Avogadro’s prediction (made in 1811 without specifying any value) that a
volume V of any gas always contains the same number N of components, one also has
l = V /󵀄2πN σ 2 , where σ is the cross-section of the components. (The cross-section is
roughly the area of the shadow of an object.) Loschmidt then assumed that when the
gas is liquefied, the volume of the liquid is the sum of the volumes of the particles. He

* There are also various methods to count atoms by using electrolysis and determining the electron charge,
by using radioactivity, X-ray scattering or by determining Planck’s constant ħ. We leave them aside here,
because these methods actually count atoms. They are more precise, but also less interesting.
** The term ‘Loschmidt’s number’ is sometimes also used to designate the number of molecules in one cubic
centimetre of gas.
*** Joseph Loschmidt (b. 1821 Putschirn, d. 1895 Vienna) Austrian chemist and physicist.
 limits of mat ter continuit y 291

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 189 Soap bubbles show visible effects of molecular size: before bursting, soap bubbles show
small transparent spots; they appear black in this picture due to a black background. These spots are
regions where the bubble has a thickness of only two molecules, with no liquid in between (© LordV).

then measured all the involved quantities, for mercury, and determined N. He thus deter-
mined the number of particles in one mole of matter, in one cubic centimetre of matter,
and also the size of these particles.

Experiencing atoms
Matter is not continuous nor fractal. Matter contains smallest components with a char-
acteristic size. Can we see effects of single atoms or molecules in everyday life? Yes, we
can. We just need to watch soap bubbles. Soap bubbles have colours. But just before they
burst, on the upper side of the bubble, the colours are interrupted by small transparent Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

spots, as shown in Figure 189. Why? Inside a bubble, the liquid flows downwards, so that
over time, the bubble gets thicker at the bottom and thinner at the top. After a while, in
some regions all the liquid is gone, and in these regions, the bubble consists only of two
molecular layers of soap molecules.
In fact, the arrangement of soap or oil molecules on water surfaces can be used to
measure Avogadro’s number. This has been done in various ingenious ways, and yields
Ref. 234 an extremely precise value with very simple means.
A simple experiment showing that solids have smallest components is shown in
Figure 190. A cylindrical rod of pure, single crystal aluminium shows a surprising be-
haviour when it is illuminated from the side: its brightness depends on how the rod
is oriented, even though it is completely round. This angular dependence is due to the
atomic arrangement of the aluminium atoms in the rod.
 292 11 extended bodies

three
mono-
atomic
steps

lamp eye

F I G U R E 190 Atoms exist: rotating an F I G U R E 191 Atomic steps in broken gallium

illuminated, perfectly round single arsenide crystals (wafers) can be seen under a
crystal aluminium rod leads to light microscope.
brightness oscillations because of the
atoms that make it up

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 192 An effect of atoms: steps on single crystal surfaces – here silicon carbide grown on a
carbon-terminated substrate (left) and on a silicon terminated substrate (right) observed in a simple
light microscope (© Dietmar Siche).

It is not difficult to confirm experimentally the existence of smallest size in crystals.

It is sufficient to break a single crystal, such as a gallium arsenide wafer, in two. The
breaking surface is either completely flat or shows extremely small steps, as shown in
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 504 ny Figure 191. These steps are visible under a normal light microscope. (Why?) Similarly,
Figure 192 shows a defect that appeared in crystal growth. It turns out that all such step
heights are multiples of a smallest height: its value is about 0.2 nm. The existence of a
smallest height, corresponding to the height of an atom, contradicts all possibilities of
scale invariance in matter.

Seeing atoms
Nowadays, with advances in technology, single atoms can be seen, photographed, holo-
Ref. 235, Ref. 236 grammed, counted, touched, moved, lifted, levitated, and thrown around. And all these
manipulations confirm that like everyday matter, atoms have mass, size, shape and colour.
Ref. 237 Single atoms have even been used as lamps and as lasers. Some experimental results are
limits of mat ter continuit y 293

F I G U R E 193 A single barium ion

levitated in a Paul trap (image size
around 2 mm) at the centre of the
picture, visible also to the naked eye in
the original experiment, performed in
1985 (© Werner Neuhauser).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 194 The atoms on the surface F I G U R E 195 The result of moving helium atoms on
of a silicon crystal, mapped with an a metallic surface. Both the moving and the
atomic force microscope (© Universität imaging was performed with an atomic force
Augsburg) microscope (© IBM).

position-sensitive
laser
(segmented)
diode
photo- lens
detector
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

vertical cantilever
piezo
controller tip

horizontal sample
piezo
controllers

F I G U R E 196 The principle and a realization of an atomic force microscope (photograph © Nanosurf).

shown in Figure 193, Figure 194, Figure 194 and Figure 195.
 294 11 extended bodies

The Greek imagined nature as a Lego set. And indeed, many modern researchers in
several fields have fun playing with atoms in the same way that children play with Lego.
A beautiful demonstration of these possibilities is provided by the many applications of
Ref. 238 the atomic force microscope. If you ever have the opportunity to use one, do not miss
it! An atomic force microscope is a simple table-top device which follows the surface of
an object with an atomically sharp needle;* such needles, usually of tungsten, are easily
Ref. 239 manufactured with a simple etching method. The changes in the height of the needle
along its path over the surface are recorded with the help of a deflected light ray, as shown
in Figure 196. With a little care, the atoms of the object can be felt and made visible on
a computer screen. With special types of such microscopes, the needle can be used to
move atoms one by one to specified places on the surface. It is also possible to scan a
surface, pick up a given atom and throw it towards a mass spectrometer to determine
Ref. 240 what sort of atom it is.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Incidentally, the construction of atomic force microscopes is only a small improve-
ment on what nature is building already by the millions; when we use our ears to listen,
we are actually detecting changes in eardrum position of down to 11 pm. In other words,
we all have two ‘atomic force microscopes’ built into our heads.
Why is it useful to know that matter is made of atoms? Given only the size of atoms,
it is possible to deduce many material properties. The mass density, the elastic modulus,
the surface tension, the thermal expansion coefficient, the heat of vaporization, the heat
of fusion, the viscosity, the specific heat, the thermal diffusivity and the thermal conduc-
Challenge 505 s tivity. Just try.

Curiosities and fun challenges about solids

Glass is a solid. Nevertheless, many textbooks say that glass is a liquid. This error has been
propagated for about a hundred years, probably originating from a mistranslation of a
sentence in a German textbook published in 1933 by Gustav Tamman, Der Glaszustand.
Challenge 506 s Can you give at least three reasons why glass is a solid and not a liquid?
∗∗
What is the maximum length of a vertically hanging wire? Could a wire be lowered from
Challenge 507 s a suspended geostationary satellite down to the Earth? This would mean we could realize
a space ‘lift’. How long would the cable have to be? How heavy would it be? How would
you build such a system? What dangers would it face?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Physics is often good to win bets. See Figure 213 for a way to do so, due to Wolfgang
Stalla.
∗∗
Matter is made of atoms. Over the centuries the stubborn resistance of many people
to this idea has lead to the loss of many treasures. For over a thousand years, people
thought that genuine pearls could be distinguished from false ones by hitting them with a
* A cheap version costs only a few thousand euro, and will allow you to study the difference between a
silicon wafer – crystalline – a flour wafer – granular-amorphous – and a consecrated wafer.
 limits of mat ter continuit y 295

hammer: only false pearls would break. However, all pearls break. (Also diamonds break
in this situation.) Due to this belief, over the past centuries, all the most beautiful pearls
in the world have been smashed to pieces.
∗∗
Comic books have difficulties with the concept of atoms. Could Asterix really throw Ro-
mans into the air using his fist? Are Lucky Luke’s precise revolver shots possible? Can
Spiderman’s silk support him in his swings from building to building? Can the Roadrun-
ner stop running in three steps? Can the Sun be made to stop in the sky by command?
Can space-ships hover using fuel? Take any comic-book hero and ask yourself whether
Challenge 508 e matter made of atoms would allow him the feats he seems capable of. You will find that
most cartoons are comic precisely because they assume that matter is not made of atoms,
but continuous! In a sense, atoms make life a serious adventure.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∗∗
Can humans start earthquakes? What would happen if 1000 million Indians were to jump
Challenge 509 s at the same time from the kitchen table to the floor?
In fact, several strong earthquakes have been triggered by humans. This has happened
when water dams have been filled, or when water has been injected into drilling holes. It
has also been suggested that the extraction of deep underground water also causes earth-
quakes. If this is confirmed by future research, a sizeable proportion of all earthquakes
could be human-triggered.
∗∗
Challenge 510 s How can a tip of a stalactite be distinguished from a tip of a stalagmite? Does the differ-
ence exist also for icicles?
∗∗
Fractals do not exist. Which structures approximate them most closely? One candidate is
the lung. Its bronchi divide over and over, between 26 and 28 times. Each end then arrives
at one of the 300 million alveoli, the 0.25 mm cavities in which oxygen is absorbed into
the blood and carbon dioxide is expelled in to the air.
∗∗ Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

How much more weight would your bathroom scales show if you stood on them in a
Challenge 511 s vacuum?
∗∗
One of the most complex extended bodies is the human body. In modern simulations
of the behaviour of humans in car accidents, the most advanced models include ribs,
vertebrae, all other bones and the various organs. For each part, its specific deformation
properties are taken into account. With such models and simulations, the protection of
passengers and drivers in cars can be optimized.
∗∗
The human body is a remarkable structure. It is stiff and flexible, as the situation demands.
 296 11 extended bodies

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 197 A stiff structure in which no rigid piece is attached to any
other one (© Kenneth Snelson).

Additionally, most stiff parts, the bones, are not attached to other stiff parts. Since a few
years, artists and architects have started exploring such structures. An example of such a
structure, a tower, is shown in Figure 197. It turns out that similar structures – sometimes
called tensegrity structures – are good models for the human spine, for example. Just
search the internet for more examples. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
The deepest hole ever drilled into the Earth is 12 km deep. In 2003, somebody proposed
to enlarge such a hole and then to pour millions of tons of liquid iron into it. He claimed
that the iron would sink towards the centre of the Earth. If a measurement device com-
munication were dropped into the iron, it could send its observations to the surface using
Challenge 512 s sound waves. Can you give some reasons why this would not work?
∗∗
The economic power of a nation has long been associated with its capacity to produce
high-quality steel. Indeed, the Industrial Revolution started with the mass production of
steel. Every scientist should know the basics facts about steel. Steel is a combination of
 limits of mat ter continuit y 297

TA B L E 41 Steel types, properties and uses.

Ferritic steel Aust e n i t i c st e e l Martensitic steel

Definition
‘usual’ steel ‘soft’ steel hardened steel, brittle
body centred cubic (bcc) face centred cubic (fcc) body centred tetragonal (bct)
iron and carbon iron, chromium, nickel, carbon steel and alloys
manganese, carbon
Examples
construction steel most stainless (18/8 Cr/Ni) knife edges
steels
car sheet steel kitchenware drill surfaces
ship steel food industry spring steel, crankshafts

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
12 % Cr stainless ferrite Cr/V steels for nuclear
reactors
Properties
phases described by the phases described by the phases described by the
iron-carbon phase diagram Schaeffler diagram iron-carbon diagram and the
TTT (time–temperature
transformation) diagram
in equilibrium at RT some alloys in equilibrium at not in equilibrium at RT, but
RT stable
mechanical properties and mechanical properties and mechanical properties and
grain size depend on heat grain size depend on grain size strongly depend on
treatment thermo-mechanical heat treatment
pre-treatment
hardened by reducing grain hardened by cold working hard anyway – made by laser
size, by forging, by increasing only irradiation, induction heating,
carbon content or by nitration etc.
grains of ferrite and paerlite, grains of austenite grains of martensite
with cementite (Fe3 C)
ferromagnetic not magnetic or weakly ferromagnetic
magnetic
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

iron and carbon to which other elements, mostly metals, may be added as well. One can
distinguish three main types of steel, depending on the crystalline structure. Ferritic steels
have a body-centred cubic structure, as shown in Figure 198, austenitic steels have a face-
centred cubic structure, and martensitic steels have a body-centred tetragonal structure.
Table 41 gives further details.
∗∗
A simple phenomenon which requires a complex explanation is the cracking of a whip.
Ref. 241 Since the experimental work of Peter Krehl it has been known that the whip cracks when
Challenge 513 ny the tip reaches a velocity of twice the speed of sound. Can you imagine why?
 298 11 extended bodies

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 198 Ferritic steels are bcc (body centred cubic), as shown by the famous Atomium in Brussels, a
section of an iron crystal magnified to a height of over 100 m (photo and building are © Asbl Atomium
Vzw – SABAM Belgium 2007).

∗∗
A bicycle chain is an extended object with no stiffness. However, if it is made to rotate
rapidly, it acquires dynamical stiffness, and can roll down an inclined plane or along
the floor. This surprising effect can be watched at the www.iwf.de/iwf/medien/infothek?
Signatur=C+14825 website.
∗∗
Mechanical devices are not covered in this text. There is a lot of progress in the area even
Ref. 242 at present. For example, people have built robots that are able to ride a unicycle. But
Ref. 243 even the physics of human unicycling is not simple. Try it; it is an excellent exercise to
stay young. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
There are many arguments against the existence of atoms as hard balls. Thomson-Kelvin
Ref. 244 put it in writing: “the monstrous assumption of infinitely strong and infinitely rigid pieces
Challenge 514 s of matter.” Even though Thomson was right in his comment, atoms do exist. Why?
∗∗
Sand has many surprising ways to move, and new discoveries are still made regularly. In
Ref. 245 2001, Sigurdur Thoroddsen and Amy Shen discovered that a steel ball falling on a bed of
sand produces, after the ball has sunk in, a granular jet that jumps out upwards from the
sand. Figure 199 shows a sequence of photographs of the effect. The discovery has led to
a stream of subsequent research.
limits of mat ter continuit y 299

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 199 An example of motion of
sand: granular jets (© Amy Shen).

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 200 Modern engineering highlights: a lithography machine for the production of integrated
circuits and a paper machine (© ASML, Voith).

∗∗
Engineering is not a part of this text. Nevertheless, it is an interesting topic. A few exam-
ples of what engineers do are shown in Figure 200 and Figure 201.
 300 11 extended bodies

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 201 Sometimes unusual moving objects cross German roads (© RWE).

Summary on atoms
In summary, matter is not scale invariant: in particular, it is neither smooth (continu-
ous) nor fractal. There are no arbitrary small parts in matter. Everyday matter is made of
countable components: everyday matter is made of atoms. This has been confirmed for
all solids, liquids and gases. Pictures from atomic force microscopes show that the size
and arrangement of atoms produce the shape and the extension of objects, confirming
the Lego model of matter due to the ancient Greek. Different types of atoms, as well as
their various combinations, produce different types of substances. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Studying matter in even more detail – as will be done later on – yields the now
well-known idea that matter, at higher and higher magnifications, is made of molecules,
atoms, nuclei, protons and neutrons, and finally, quarks. Atoms also contain electrons. A
final type of matter, neutrinos, is observed coming from the Sun and from certain types
of radioactive materials. Even though the fundamental bricks have become somewhat
smaller in the twentieth century, this will not happen in the future. The basic idea of the
ancient Greek remains: matter is made of smallest entities, nowadays called elementary
Vol. V, page 193 particles. In the parts on quantum theory of our mountain ascent we will explore the
consequences in detail. We will discover later on that the discreteness of matter is itself
a consequence of the existence of a smallest change in nature.
Due to the existence of atoms, the description of everyday motion of extended objects
can be reduced to the description of the motion of their atoms. Atomic motion will be
limits of mat ter continuit y 301

a major theme in the following pages. Two of its consequences are especially important:
pressure and heat. We study them now.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 C h a p t e r 12

FLUIDS AND THEIR MOTION

F
luids can be liquids or gases, including plasmas. And the motion of
Ref. 246 luids can be exceedingly intricate, as Figure 202 shows. In fact,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
luid motion is so common – think about breathing, blood circulation or the
weather – that exploring is worthwhile.

The state of a fluid

To describe motion means to describe the state of a system. For most fluids, the state at
every point in space is described by composition, velocity, temperature and pressure. We
Page 319 will explore temperature below. We thus have one new observable:

⊳ The pressure at a point in a fluid is the force per area that a body of negligible
size feels at that point.

Pressure is measured with the help of barometers or similar instruments. The unit of
pressure is the pascal: 1 Pa is 1 N/m2 . A selection of pressure values found in nature is
given in Table 42.
Pressure is not a simple property. Can you explain the observations of Figure 204? If
the hydrostatic paradox would not be true, it would be easy to make perpetuum mobiles.
Challenge 515 e Can you think about an example?
Air has a considerable pressure, of the order of 100 kPa. As a result, human forces are
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

often to weak to overcome it, as Figure 205 shows.

The state of a fluid

Like all motion, fluid motion obeys energy conservation. In the case that no energy is
transformed into heat, the conservation of energy is particularly simple. Motion that
does not generate heat implies the lack of vortices; such fluid motion is called laminar. If
the speed of the fluid does not depend on time at all positions, it is called stationary. For
motion that is both laminar and stationary, energy conservation can be expressed with
speed 󰑣 and pressure p:
1 2
ρ󰑣 + p + ρдh = const (105)
2
12 fluids and their motion 303

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 202 Examples of fluid motion: a vertical water jet striking a horizontal impactor, two jets of a
glycerol–water mixture colliding at an oblique angle, a water jet impinging on a reservoir, a glass of
wine showing tears (all © John Bush, MIT) and a dripping water tap (© Andrew Davidhazy).
304 12 fluids and their motion

TA B L E 42 Some measured pressure values.

O b s e r va t i o n Pressure

Record negative pressure (tension) measured in −140 MPa

water, after careful purification Ref. 247 = −1400 bar
Negative pressure measured in tree sap up to
(xylem) Ref. 248, Ref. 232 −10 MPa
= −100 bar
Negative pressure in gases does not exist
Negative pressure in solids is called
tension
Record vacuum pressure achieved in laboratory 10 pPa
(10−13 torr)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Pressure variation at hearing threshold 20 μPa
Pressure variation at hearing pain 100 Pa
Atmospheric pressure in La Paz, Bolivia 51 kPa
Atmospheric pressure in cruising passenger aircraft 75 kPa
Time-averaged pressure in pleural cavity in human 0.5 kPa
thorax 5 mbar below
atmospheric
pressure
Standard sea-level atmospheric pressure 101.325 kPa
or
1013.25 mbar
or 760 torr
Healthy human arterial blood pressure at height of 17 kPa,11 kPa
the heart: systolic, diastolic above
atmospheric
pressure
Record pressure produced in laboratory, using a c. 200 GPa
diamond anvil
Pressure at the centre of the Earth c. 370(20) GPa
Pressure at the centre of the Sun c. 24 PPa
Pressure at the centre of a neutron star c. 4 ⋅ 1033 Pa
4.6 ⋅ 10113 Pa
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Planck pressure (maximum pressure possible in

nature)

where h is the height above ground. This is called Bernoulli’s equation.* In this equation,
the last term is only important if the fluid rises against ground. The first term is the
* Daniel Bernoulli (b. 1700 Bâle, d. 1782 Bâle), important Swiss mathematician and physicist. His father
Johann and his uncle Jakob were famous mathematicians, as were his brothers and some of his nephews.
Daniel Bernoulli published many mathematical and physical results. In physics, he studied the separation
of compound motion into translation and rotation. In 1738 he published the Hydrodynamique, in which
he deduced all results from a single principle, namely the conservation of energy. The so-called Bernoulli
equation states that (and how) the pressure of a fluid decreases when its speed increases. He studied the tides
and many complex mechanical problems, and explained the Boyle–Mariotte gas ‘law’. For his publications
 12 fluids and their motion 305

F I G U R E 203 Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 204 The hydrostatic and the hydrodynamic paradox.

kinetic energy (per volume) of the fluid, and the other two terms are potential energies
(per volume). Indeed, the second term is the potential energy (per volume) resulting
Challenge 516 e from the compression of the fluid. This is due to a second way to define pressure:

⊳ Pressure is potential energy per volume

Energy conservation implies that the lower the pressure is, the larger the speed of a
fluid becomes. We can use this relation to measure the speed of a stationary water flow
in a tube. We just have to narrow the tube somewhat at one location along the tube, and
measure the pressure difference before and at the tube restriction. The speed 󰑣 far from
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 517 s the constriction is then given as 󰑣 = k󵀆p1 − p2 . (What is the constant k?) A device using
this method is called a Venturi gauge.
If the geometry of a system is kept fixed and the fluid speed is increased, at a certain
speed one observes a transition: the liquid loses its clarity, the flow is not stationary any
more. This is seen whenever a water tap is opened. At a certain speed, the flow changes
from laminar to turbulent. At this point, Bernoulli’s equation is not valid any more.
The description of turbulence might be the toughest of all problems in physics. When
the young Werner Heisenberg was asked to continue research on turbulence, he refused

he won the prestigious prize of the French Academy of Sciences – a forerunner of the Nobel Prize – ten
times.
 306 12 fluids and their motion

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 205 The pressure of air is stronger than humans for sufficiently large objects that enclose a
vacuum (© Kornelia Möller).

– rightly so – saying it was too difficult; he turned to something easier and he discovered
and developed quantum mechanics instead. Turbulence is such a vast topic, with many of
its concepts still not settled, that despite the number and importance of its applications,
only now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, are its secrets beginning to be
Ref. 249 unravelled.
It is thought that the equations of motion describing fluids, the so-called Navier–
Stokes equations, are sufficient to understand turbulence.* But the mathematics behind
them is mind-boggling. There is even a prize of one million dollars offered by the Clay
Mathematics Institute for the completion of certain steps on the way to solving the equa-
tions.
Important systems which show laminar flow, vortices and turbulence at the same time
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

are wings and sails. (See Figure 206.) All wings work best in laminar mode. The essence
of a wing is that it imparts air a downward velocity with as little turbulence as possible.
(The aim to minimize turbulence is the reason that wings are curved. If the engine is
very powerful, a flat wing at an angle also works. Strong turbulence is also of advantage
for landing safely.) The downward velocity of the trailing air leads to a centrifugal force
Ref. 250 acting on the air that passes above the wing. This leads to a lower pressure, and thus to
lift. (Wings thus do not rely on the Bernoulli equation, where lower pressure along the

* They are named after Claude Navier (b. 1785 Dijon, d. 1836 Paris), important French engineer and bridge
builder, and Georges Gabriel Stokes (b. 1819 Skreen, d. 1903 Cambridge), important Irish physicist and math-
ematician.
 12 fluids and their motion 307

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 206 The moth sailing class: a 30 kg boat that sails above the water using hydrofoils, i.e.,
underwater wings (© Bladerider International).

Getting water from A to B

A (1) the Roman solution: an aqueduct

B

A
B

(2) the cost-effective solution: a tube F I G U R E 207 Wasting

money because of lack
of knowledge about
fluids.

flow leads to higher air speed, as unfortunately, many books used to say. Above a wing,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the higher speed is related to lower pressure across the flow.)

The different speeds of the air above and below the wing lead to vortices at the end
of every wing. These vortices are especially important for the take-off of any insect, bird
Vol. V, page 206 and aeroplane. More details on wings are discussed later on.

Curiosities and fun challenges about fluids

What happens if people do not know the rules of nature? The answer is the same since
2000 years ago: taxpayer’s money is wasted or health is in danger. One of the oldest ex-
amples, the aqueducts from Roman time, is shown in Figure 207. They only exist because
Romans did not know how fluids move. Now you know why there are no aqueducts any
more. But using a 1 or 2 m water hose in this way to transport gasoline can be dangerous.
 308 12 fluids and their motion

Challenge 518 s Why?

∗∗
Your bathtub is full of water. You have an unmarked 3-litre container and an unmarked
Challenge 519 e 5-litre container. How can you get 4 litres of water from the bathtub?
∗∗
The easiest way to create a supersonic jet of air is to drop a billiard ball into a bucket full
Ref. 251 of water.
∗∗
Where did the water in the oceans come from? Interestingly enough, this question is not
fully settled! In the early age of the Earth, the high temperatures made all water evaporate

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
and escape into space. So where did today’s water come from? (For example, could the
hydrogen come from the radioactivity of the Earth’s core?) The most plausible proposal
is that the water comes from comets. Comets are made, to a large degree, of ice. Comets
hitting the Earth in the distant past seem have formed the oceans. In 2011, it was shown
Ref. 252 for the first time, by the Herschel infrared space telescope of the European Space Agency,
that comets from the Kuiper belt – in contrast to comets from the inner solar system
– have ice of the same isotope composition as the Earth’s oceans. The comet origin of
oceans seems near final confirmation.
∗∗
The physics of under water diving, in particular of apnoea diving, is full of wonders and
Ref. 253 of effects that are not yet understood. For example, every apnoea champion known that
it is quite hard to hold the breath for five or six minutes while sitting in a chair. But if
the same is done in a swimming pool, the feat becomes readily achievable for modern
apnoea champions. (It is not fully clear why this is the case.) There are many apnoea
diving disciplines. In 2009,the no-limit diving record is at the incredible depth of 214 m,
achieved by Herbert Nitsch.
When an apnoea diver reaches a depth of 100 m, the water pressure corresponds to a
weight of over 11 kg on each square centimetre of his skin. To avoid the problems of ear
pressure compensation at great depths, a diver has to flood the mouth and the trachea
with water. His lungs have shrunk to one eleventh of their original size, to the size of ap- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ples. The water pressure shifts almost all blood from the legs and arms into the thorax and
the brain. At 150 m, there is no light, and no sound – only the heart beat. And the heart
beat is slow: there is only a beat every seven or eight seconds. He becomes relaxed and
euphoric at the same time. None of these fascinating observations is fully understood.
∗∗
What is the speed record for motion under water? Probably nobody knows: it is a military
secret. In fact, the answer needs to be split. The fastest published speed for a projectile
under water, almost fully enclosed in a gas bubble, is 1550 m/s, faster than the speed of
sound in water, achieved over a distance of a few metres in a military laboratory in the
1990s. The fastest system with an engine seems to be a torpedo, also moving mainly in
a gas bubble, that reaches over 120 m/s, thus faster than any formula 1 racing car. The
 12 fluids and their motion 309

exact speed achieved is higher and secret. (The method of enclosing objects under water
in gas bubbles, called supercavitation, is a research topic of military engineers all over the
world.) The fastest fish, the sailfish Istiophorus platypterus, reaches 22 m/s, but speeds up
to 30 m are suspected. The fastest manned objects are military submarines, whose speeds
are secret, but believed to be around 21 m/s. (All military naval engineers in this world,
with the enormous budgets they have, are not able to make submarines that are faster
than fish. The reason that aeroplanes are faster than birds is evident: aeroplanes were not
developed by military engineers.) The fastest human-powered submarines reach around
4 m/s. One can guess that if human-powered submarine developers had the same de-
velopment budget as military engineers, their machines would probably be faster than
nuclear submarines.
There are no record lists for swimming under water. Underwater swimming is known
to be faster than above-water breast stroke, back stroke or dolphin stroke: that is the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
reason that swimming underwater over long distances is forbidden in competitions in
these styles. However, it is not known whether crawl-style records are faster or slower
than records for the fastest swimming style below water. Which one is faster in your own
Challenge 520 e case?
∗∗
How much water is necessary to moisten the air in a room in winter? At 0°C, the vapour
pressure of water is 6 mbar, 20°C it is 23 mbar. As a result, heating air in the winter gives
Challenge 521 e at most a humidity of 25%. To increase the humidity by 50%, one thus needs about 1 litre
of water per 100 m3 .
∗∗
Fluid motion is of vital importance. There are at least four fluid circulation systems in-
side the human body. First, air is circulated inside the lungs by the diaphragm and other
chest muscles. Second, blood flows through the blood system by the heart. Third, lymph
flows through the lymphatic vessels, moved passively by body muscles. Fourth, the cere-
brospinal fluid circulates around the brain and the spine, moved by motions of the head.
For this reason, medical doctors like the simple statement: every illness is ultimately due
to bad circulation.
Why do animals have blood and other circulation systems? Because fluid diffusion is
Challenge 522 e too slow. Can you detail the argument?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
All animals have similar blood circulation speeds, namely between 0.2 m/s and 0.4 m/s.
Challenge 523 ny Why?
∗∗
Liquid pressure depends on height. If the average human blood pressure at the height of
Challenge 524 s the heart is 13.3 kPa, can you guess what it is inside the feet when standing?
∗∗
The human heart pumps blood at a rate of about 0.1 l/s. A typical capillary has the di-
 310 12 fluids and their motion

ameter of a red blood cell, around 7 μm, and in it the blood moves at a speed of half a
Challenge 525 s millimetre per second. How many capillaries are there in a human?
∗∗
You are in a boat on a pond with a stone, a bucket of water and a piece of wood. What
happens to the water level of the pond after you throw the stone in it? After you throw
Challenge 526 s the water into the pond? After you throw the piece of wood?
∗∗
Challenge 527 s A ship leaves a river and enters the sea. What happens?
∗∗
Put a rubber air balloon over the end of a bottle and let it hang inside the bottle. How

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 528 e much can you blow up the balloon inside the bottle?
∗∗
Put a small paper ball into the neck of a horizontal bottle and try to blow it into the bottle.
Challenge 529 e The paper will fly towards you. Why?
∗∗
It is possible to blow an egg from one egg-cup to a second one just behind it. Can you
Challenge 530 e perform this trick?
∗∗
In the seventeenth century, engineers who needed to pump water faced a challenge. To
pump water from mine shafts to the surface, no water pump managed more than 10 m
of height difference. For twice that height, one always needed two pumps in series, con-
Challenge 531 s nected by an intermediate reservoir. Why? How then do trees manage to pump water
upwards for larger heights?
∗∗
When hydrogen and oxygen are combined to form water, the amount of hydrogen
needed is exactly twice the amount of oxygen, if no gas is to be left over after the reaction.
Challenge 532 s How does this observation confirm the existence of atoms? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Challenge 533 s How are alcohol-filled chocolate pralines made? Note that the alcohol is not injected into
them afterwards, because there would be no way to keep the result tight enough.
∗∗
How often can a stone jump when it is thrown over the surface of water? The present
world record was achieved in 2002: 40 jumps. More information is known about the pre-
Ref. 254 vious world record, achieved in 1992: a palm-sized, triangular and flat stone was thrown
with a speed of 12 m/s (others say 20 m/s) and a rotation speed of about 14 revolutions
per second along a river, covering about 100 m with 38 jumps. (The sequence was filmed
with a video recorder from a bridge.)
 12 fluids and their motion 311

water
F I G U R E 208 What is your
personal stone-skipping
record?

water
jet

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 209 Heron’s fountain in operation.

What would be necessary to increase the number of jumps? Can you build a machine
Challenge 534 r that is a better thrower than yourself?
∗∗
The most abundant component of air is nitrogen (about 78 %). The second component
Challenge 535 s is oxygen (about 21 %). What is the third one? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Which everyday system has a pressure lower than that of the atmosphere and usually
Challenge 536 s kills a person if the pressure is raised to the usual atmospheric value?
∗∗
Water can flow uphill: Heron’s fountain shows this most clearly. Heron of Alexandria
(c. 10 to c. 70) described it 2000 years ago; it is easily built at home, using some plastic
Challenge 537 s bottles and a little tubing. How does it work? How is it started?
∗∗
A light bulb is placed, underwater, in a stable steel cylinder with a diameter of 16 cm.
 312 12 fluids and their motion

An original Fiat Cinquecento car (500 kg) is placed on a piston pushing onto the water
Challenge 538 s surface. Will the bulb resist?
∗∗
Challenge 539 s What is the most dense gas? The most dense vapour?
∗∗
Every year, the Institute of Maritime Systems of the University of Rostock organizes a
contest. The challenge is to build a paper boat with the highest carrying capacity. The
paper boat must weigh at most 10 g and fulfil a few additional conditions; the carrying
capacity is measured by pouring small lead shot onto it, until the boat sinks. The 2008
Challenge 540 e record stands at 5.1 kg. Can you achieve this value? (For more information, see the www.
paperboat.de website.)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∗∗
A modern version of an old question – already posed by Daniel Colladon (1802–1893) –
is the following. A ship of mass m in a river is pulled by horses walking along the river
bank attached by ropes. If the river is of superfluid helium, meaning that there is no
friction between ship and river, what energy is necessary to pull the ship upstream along
Challenge 541 s the river until a height h has been gained?
∗∗
An urban legend pretends that at the bottom of large waterfalls there is not enough air
Challenge 542 e to breathe. Why is this wrong?
∗∗
The Swiss physicist and inventor Auguste Piccard (1884–1962) was a famous explorer.
Among others, he explored the stratosphere: he reached the record height of 16 km in
his aerostat, a hydrogen gas balloon. Inside the airtight cabin hanging under his balloon,
he had normal air pressure. However, he needed to introduce several ropes attached at
the balloon into the cabin, in order to be able to pull and release them, as they controlled
his balloon. How did he get the ropes into the cabin while at the same time preventing
Challenge 543 s air from leaving?
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

A human cannot breathe at any depth under water, even if he has a tube going to the
surface. At a few metres of depth, trying to do so is inevitably fatal! Even at a depth of
60 cm only, the human body can only breathe in this way for a few minutes, and can get
Challenge 544 s hurt. Why?
∗∗
A human in air falls with a limiting speed of about 50 m/s (the precise value depends
on clothing). How long does it take to fall from a plane at 3000 m down to a height of
Challenge 545 ny 200 m?
∗∗
 12 fluids and their motion 313

F I G U R E 210 Which funnel empties more rapidly?

To get an idea of the size of Avogadro’s and Loschmidt’s number, two questions are usually

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
asked. First, on average, how many molecules or atoms that you breathe in with every
breath have previously been exhaled by Caesar? Second, on average, how many atoms
Challenge 546 s of Jesus do you eat every day? Even though the Earth is large, the resulting numbers are
still telling.
∗∗
A few drops of tea usually flow along the underside of the spout of a teapot (or fall
onto the table). This phenomenon has even been simulated using supercomputer simula-
Ref. 255 tions of the motion of liquids, by Kistler and Scriven, using the Navier–Stokes equations.
Teapots are still shedding drops, though.
∗∗
The best giant soap bubbles can be made by mixing 1.5 l of water, 200 ml of corn syrup
and 450 ml of washing-up liquid. Mix everything together and then let it rest for four
hours. You can then make the largest bubbles by dipping a metal ring of up to 100 mm
Challenge 547 s diameter into the mixture. But why do soap bubbles burst?
∗∗
A drop of water that falls into a pan containing hot oil dances on the surface for a con-
siderable time, if the oil is above 220°C. Cooks test the temperature of oil in this way.
Challenge 548 s Why does this so-called Leidenfrost effect* take place? The Leidenfrost effect allows one
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

to plunge the bare hand into molten lead, to keep liquid nitrogen in one’s mouth, to check
whether a pressing iron is hot, or to walk over hot coal – if one follows several safety rules,
Ref. 256 as explained by Jearl Walker. (Do not try this yourself! Many things can go wrong.) The
main condition is that the hand, the mouth or the feet must be wet. Walker lost two teeth
in a demonstration and badly burned his feet in a walk when the condition was not met.
∗∗
Challenge 549 s Why don’t air molecules fall towards the bottom of the container and stay there?
∗∗

* It is named after Johann Gottlieb Leidenfrost (1715–1794), German physician.

 314 12 fluids and their motion

Challenge 550 s Which of the two water funnels in Figure 210 is emptied more rapidly? Apply energy
Ref. 257 conservation to the fluid’s motion (the Bernoulli equation) to find the answer.
∗∗
As we have seen, fast flow generates an underpressure. How do fish prevent their eyes
Challenge 551 s from popping when they swim rapidly?
∗∗
Golf balls have dimples for the same reasons that tennis balls are hairy and that shark
and dolphin skin is not flat: deviations from flatness reduce the flow resistance because
Challenge 552 ny many small eddies produce less friction than a few large ones. Why?
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The recognized record height reached by a helicopter is 12 442 m above sea level, though
12 954 m has also been claimed. (The first height was reached in 1972, the second in 2002,
both by French pilots in French helicopters.) Why, then, do people still continue to use
their legs in order to reach the top of Mount Sagarmatha, the highest mountain in the
Challenge 553 s world?
∗∗
A loosely knotted sewing thread lies on the surface of a bowl filled with water. Putting
a bit of washing-up liquid into the area surrounded by the thread makes it immediately
Challenge 554 e become circular. Why?
∗∗
Challenge 555 s How can you put a handkerchief under water using a glass, while keeping it dry?
∗∗
Are you able to blow a ping-pong ball out of a funnel? What happens if you blow through
a funnel towards a burning candle?
∗∗
The fall of a leaf, with its complex path, is still a topic of investigation. We are far from
being able to predict the time a leaf will take to reach the ground; the motion of the air Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

around a leaf is not easy to describe. One of the simplest phenomena of hydrodynamics
remains one of its most difficult problems.
∗∗
Fluids exhibit many interesting effects. Soap bubbles in air are made of a thin spherical
film of liquid with air on both sides. In 1932, anti-bubbles, thin spherical films of air with
Ref. 258 liquid on both sides, were first observed. In 2004, the Belgian physicist Stéphane Dorbolo
and his team showed that it is possible to produce them in simple experiments, and in
particular, in Belgian beer.
∗∗
Have you ever dropped a Mentos candy into a Diet Coca Cola bottle? You will get an
 12 fluids and their motion 315

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 211 A smoke ring, around 100 m in size, ejected
from Mt. Etna’s Bocca Nova in 2000 (© Daniela Szczepanski at
www.vulkanarchiv.de and www.vulkane.net).

F I G U R E 212 Two leapfrogging vortex rings (QuickTime film © Lim Tee Tai)

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 556 e interesting effect. (Do it at your own risk...) Is it possible to build a rocket in this way?
∗∗
Challenge 557 e A needle can swim on water, if you put it there carefully. Just try, using a fork. Why does
it float?
∗∗
The Rhine emits about 2 300 m3 /s of water into the North Sea, the Amazon River about
Challenge 558 e 120 000 m3 /s into the Atlantic. How much is this less than c 3 /4G?
∗∗
Fluids exhibit many complex motions. To see an overview, have a look at the beautiful col-
 316 12 fluids and their motion

2-Euro coin
cigarette

beer mat
glass

F I G U R E 213 How can you move the coin into the glass without
touching anything?

Challenge 559 e lection on the web site serve.me.nus.edu.sg/limtt. Among fluid motion, vortex rings, as
emitted by smokers or volcanoes, have often triggered the imagination. (See Figure 211.)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
One of the most famous examples of fluid motion is the leapfrogging of vortex rings,
shown in Figure 212. Lim Tee Tai explains that more than two leapfrogs are extremely
hard to achieve, because the slightest vortex ring misalignment leads to the collapse of
Ref. 259 the system.
∗∗
A surprising effect can be observed when pouring shampoo on a plate: sometimes a thin
stream is ejected from the region where the shampoo hits the plate. This so-called Kaye
effect is best enjoyed in the beautiful movie produced by the University of Twente found
on the youtube.com/watch?v=GX4_3cV_3Mw website.
∗∗
Aeroplanes toilets are dangerous places. In the 1990s, a fat person sat on the toilet seat
and pushed the ‘flush’ button while sitting. (Never try this yourself.) The underpressure
exerted by the toilet was so strong that it pulled out the intestine and the person had to
be brought into hospital. (Everything ended well, by the way.)
∗∗
If one surrounds water droplets with the correct type of dust, the droplets can roll along
inclined planes. They can roll with a speed of up to 1 m/s, whereas on the same surface,
water would flow hundred times more slowly. When the droplets get too fast, they be-
come flat disks; at even higher speed, they get a doughnut shape. Such droplets can even
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 260 jump and swim.

What can move in nature? – Flows

Before we continue with the next way to describe motion globally, we have a look at the
possibilities of motion in everyday life. One overview is given in Table 43. The domains
that belong to everyday life – motion of fluids, of matter, of matter types, of heat, of light
and of charge – are the domains of continuum physics.
Within continuum physics, there are three domains we have not yet studied: the mo-
tion of charge and light, called electrodynamics, the motion of heat, called thermodynam-
ics, and the motion of the vacuum. Once we have explored these domains, we will have
12 fluids and their motion 317

TA B L E 43 Extensive quantities in nature, i.e., quantities that flow and accumulate.

Domain Extensive Current Inten- Energy R e s i s ta n c e

q ua n t i t y sive flow to
q ua n t i t y transport
(energy (flow (driving (power) (intensity
carrier) intensity) strength) of entropy
genera-
tion)

Rivers mass m mass flow m/t height P = дh m/t Rm = дht/m

difference дh [m2 /s kg]
Gases volume V volume flow V /t pressure p P = pV /t RV = pt/V
[kg/s m5 ]

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Mechanics momentum p force F = dp/dt velocity 󰑣 P = 󰑣F Rp = ΔV /F =
t/m [s/kg]
angular torque angular P = ωM RL = t/mr 2
momentum L M = dL/dt velocity ω [s/kg m2 ]
Chemistry amount of substance flow chemical P = μ In Rn = μt/n
substance n In = dn/dt potential μ [Js/mol2 ]
Thermo- entropy S entropy flow temperature P = T IS RS = T t/S
dynamics IS = dS/dt T [K2 /W]
Light like all massless radiation, it can flow but cannot accumulate
Electricity charge q electrical current electrical P =UI R = U /I
I = dq/dt potential U [Ω]
Magnetism no accumulable magnetic sources are found in nature
Nuclear extensive quantities exist, but do not appear in everyday life
physics
Gravitation empty space can move and flow, but the motion is not observed in everyday life

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

completed the first step of our description of motion: continuum physics. In continuum
physics, motion and moving entities are described with continuous quantities that can
take any value, including arbitrarily small or arbitrarily large values.
But nature is not continuous. We have already seen that matter cannot be indefinitely
divided into ever-smaller entities. In fact, we will discover that there are precise experi-
ments that provide limits to the observed values for every domain of continuum physics.
There is a limit to mass, to speed, to angular momentum, to force, to entropy and to
change of charge. The consequences of these discoveries lead to the next legs of our de-
scription of motion: relativity and quantum theory. Relativity is based on upper limits,
quantum theory on lower limits. The last leg of our description of motion will be formed
by the unification of quantum theory and general relativity.
Every domain of physics, regardless of which one of the above legs it belongs to, de-
 318 12 fluids and their motion

scribes change in terms of two quantities: energy, and an extensive quantity characteristic
Ref. 272 of the domain. An observable quantity is called extensive if it increases with system size.
Table 43 provides an overview. The extensive and intensive quantities fro fluids – what
flows and why it flows – are volume and pressure. The extensive and intensive quantities
corresponding to what in everyday language is called ‘heat’ – what flows and why it flows
– are entropy and temperature.
The analogies of the table can be carried even further. In all domains, the capacity of a
system is defined by the extensive quantity divided by the intensive quantity. The capacity
measures, how much easily stuff flows into the system. For electric charge the capacity is
the usual electric capacity. For momentum, the capacity is called mass. Mass measures,
how easily one can put momentum into a system. Can you determine the quantities that
Challenge 560 e measure capacity in the other cases?
Similarly, in all fields it is possible to store energy by using the intensive quantity –

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
such as E = CU 2 /2 in a capacitor or E = m󰑣 2 /2 in a moving body – or by using the
extensive quantity – such as E = LI 2 /2 in a coil or E = F 2 /2k in a spring. Combining
Challenge 561 e the two, we get oscillations. Can you extend the analogy to the other cases?

Summary on fluids
The motion of fluids is the motion of its constituent particles. Fluid motion can be lam-
inar or turbulent. Laminar motion is described by Bernoulli’s equation, i.e., by energy
conservation. The motion of fluids allows for swimming, flying, vortices and turbulence.
The exact description of fluid motion is the most complicated problem of physics.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 C h a p t e r 13

FROM HEAT TO TIME-INVARIANC E

S
pilled milk never returns into its container by itself. Any hot object, left alone,
tarts to cool down with time; it never heats up. These and many other observations

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
how that numerous processes in nature are irreversible. Further observations show
that irreversibility is only found in systems composed of a many particles, and that all
irreversible systems involve heat.
We are thus led to explore the next global approach for the description of motion:
statistical physics. Statistical physics, which includes themodynamics, the study of tem-
perature and heat, explains the origin of irreversibility and of many material properties.
Does irreversibility mean that motion, at a fundamental level, is not invariant under
reversal, as Nobel Prize winner Ilya Prigogine, one of the fathers of self-organization,
thought? In this chapter we show that he was wrong.* To deduce this result, we first need
to know the basic facts about temperature and heat; then we discuss irreversibility and
Ref. 261 motion reversal.

Temperature
Macroscopic bodies, i.e., bodies made of many atoms, have temperature. Bodies made
of few atoms do not have a temperature. Ovens have high temperature, refrigerators low
temperature. Temperature changes have important effects: matter changes from solid to
liquid to gaseous to plasma state. With a change in temperature, matter also changes size,
colour, magnetic properties, stiffness and many more.
Temperature is an aspect of the state of a body. In other words, two identical bodies
can be characterized and distinguished by their temperature. This is well-known to crim-
inal organizations around the world that rig lotteries. When a blind-folded child is asked
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

to draw a numbered ball from a set of such balls, such as in Figure 215, it is often told
beforehand to draw only hot or cold balls. The blindfolding also helps to hide the tears
Ref. 263 due to the pain.
The temperature of a macroscopic body is an aspect of its state. In particular, temper-
ature is an intensive quantity or variable. In short, temperature describes the intensity of
heat. An overview of temperatures is given in Table 44.

* Many even less serious thinkers often ask the question in the following term: is motion time-invariant?
The cheap press goes even further, and asks whether motion has an ‘arrow’ or whether time has a preferred
Page 47 ‘direction of flow’. We have already shown above that this is nonsense and steer clear of such phrases in the
following.
 320 13 from heat to time-invariance

F I G U R E 214 Braking generates heat on the floor and in the tire (© Klaus-Peter Möllmann and Michael
Vollmer).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 215 A rigged lottery shows that temperature is
an aspect of the state of a body (© ISTA).

We observe that any two bodies in contact tend towards the same temperature: tem-
perature is contagious. In other words, temperature describes an equilibrium situation.
The existence and contagiousness of temperature is often called the zeroth principle of
thermodynamics. We call heating the increase of temperature, and cooling its decrease. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

How is temperature measured? The eighteenth century produced the clearest answer:
temperature is best defined and measured by the expansion of gases. For the simplest, so-
called ideal gases, the product of pressure p and volume V is proportional to temperature:

pV ∼ T . (106)

The proportionality constant is fixed by the amount of gas used. (More about it shortly.)
The ideal gas relation allows us to determine temperature by measuring pressure and vol-
ume. This is the way (absolute) temperature has been defined and measured for about a
Ref. 262 century. To define the unit of temperature, we only have to fix the amount of gas used. It
Page 383 is customary to fix the amount of gas at 1 mol; for oxygen this is 32 g. The proportionality
constant for 1 mol, called the ideal gas constant R, is defined to be R = 8.3145 J/mol K.
 13 from heat to time-invariance 321

This number has been chosen in order to yield the best approximation to the indepen-
dently defined Celsius temperature scale. Fixing the ideal gas constant in this way defines
1 K, or one Kelvin, as the unit of temperature. In simple terms, a temperature increase of
one Kelvin is defined as the temperature increase that makes the volume of an ideal gas
Challenge 562 e increase – keeping the pressure fixed – by a fraction of 1/273.15 or 0.3661 %.
In general, if we need to determine the temperature of an object, we take a mole of
gas, put it in contact with the object, wait a while, and then measure the pressure and the
volume of the gas. The ideal gas relation (106) then gives the temperature.
Most importantly, the ideal gas relation shows that there is a lowest temperature in
nature, namely that temperature at which an ideal gas would have a vanishing volume.
That would happen at T = 0 K, i.e., at −273.15°C. In reality, other effects, like the volume
of the atoms themselves, prevent the volume of the gas from ever reaching zero exactly.
In fact, the unattainability of absolute zero is called the third principle of thermodynamics.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In fact, the temperatures achieved by a civilization can be used as a measure of its
technological achievements. We can define the Bronze Age (1.1 kK, 3500 bce) , the Iron
Age (1.8 kK, 1000 bce), the Electric Age (3 kK from c. 1880) and the Atomic Age (several
MK, from 1944) in this way. Taking into account also the quest for lower temperatures, we
Ref. 264 can define the Quantum Age (4 K, starting 1908). But what exactly is heating or cooling?
What happens in these processes?

Thermal energy
Heating and cooling is the flow of disordered energy. For example, friction slows down
moving bodies, and, while doing so, heats them up. The ‘creation’ of heat by friction can
Ref. 265 be tested experimentally. An example is shown in Figure 214. Heat can be generated from
friction, just by continuous rubbing, without any limit. This endless ‘creation’ of heat im-
plies that heat is not a material fluid or substance extracted from the body – which in
this case would be consumed after a certain time – but something else. Indeed, today we
know that heat, even though it behaves in some ways like a fluid, is due to disordered
motion of particles. The conclusion of these studies is simple. Friction is the transfor-
mation of mechanical (i.e., ordered) energy into (disordered) thermal energy, i.e., into
disordered motion of the particles making up a material.
In order to increase the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 K using friction, 4.2 kJ of me-
chanical energy must be supplied. The first to measure this quantity with precision was,
in 1842, the German physician Julius Robert Mayer (1814–1878). He described his exper-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

iments as proofs of the conservation of energy; indeed, he was the first person to state
energy conservation! It is something of an embarrassment to modern physics that a med-
ical doctor was the first to show the conservation of energy, and furthermore, that he was
ridiculed by most physicists of his time. Worse, conservation of energy was accepted by
scientists only when it was publicized many years later by two authorities: Hermann von
Helmholtz – himself also a physician turned physicist – and William Thomson, who also
cited similar, but later experiments by James Joule.* All of them acknowledged Mayer’s

* Hermann von Helmholtz (b. 1821 Potsdam, d. 1894 Berlin), important Prussian scientist. William
Thomson-Kelvin (b. 1824 Belfast, d. 1907 Netherhall), important Irish physicist. James Prescott Joule (b. 1818
Salford, d. 1889 Sale), English physicist. Joule is pronounced so that it rhymes with ‘cool’, as his descendants
like to stress. (The pronunciation of the name ‘Joule’ varies from family to family.)
322 13 from heat to time-invariance

TA B L E 44 Some temperature values.

O b s e r va t i o n Te m p e r at u r e

Lowest, but unattainable, temperature 0 K = −273.15°C

In the context of lasers, it sometimes makes (almost) sense to
talk about negative temperature.
Temperature a perfect vacuum would have at Earth’s surface 40 zK
Vol. V, Page 102
Sodium gas in certain laboratory experiments – coldest mat- 0.45 nK
ter system achieved by man and possibly in the universe
Temperature of neutrino background in the universe c. 2 K
Temperature of photon gas background (or background radi- 2.7 K
ation) in the universe

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Liquid helium 4.2 K
Oxygen triple point 54.3584 K
Liquid nitrogen 77 K
Coldest weather ever measured (Antarctic) 185 K = −88°C
Freezing point of water at standard pressure 273.15 K = 0.00°C
Triple point of water 273.16 K = 0.01°C
Average temperature of the Earth’s surface 287.2 K
Smallest uncomfortable skin temperature 316 K (10 K above normal)
Interior of human body 310.0 ± 0.5 K = 36.8 ± 0.5°C
Temperature of most land mammals 310 ± 3 K = 36.8 ± 2°C
Hottest weather ever measured 343.8 K = 70.7°C
Boiling point of water at standard pressure 373.13 K or 99.975°C
Temperature of hottest living things: thermophile bacteria 395 K = 122°C
Large wood fire c. 1100 K
Liquid bronze c. 1100 K
Freezing point of gold 1337.33 K
Liquid, pure iron 1810 K
Bunsen burner flame up to 1870 K
Light bulb filament 2.9 kK
Earth’s centre 4 kK
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Melting point of hafnium carbide 4.16 kK

Sun’s surface 5.8 kK
Air in lightning bolt 30 kK
Hottest star’s surface (centre of NGC 2240) 250 kK
Space between Earth and Moon (no typo) up to 1 MK
Centre of white dwarf 5 to 20 MK
Sun’s centre 20 MK
Centre of the accretion disk in X-ray binary stars 10 to 100 MK
Inside the JET fusion tokamak 100 MK
Centre of hottest stars 1 GK
Maximum temperature of systems without electron–positron ca. 6 GK
pair generation
Universe when it was 1 s old 100 GK
Hagedorn temperature 1.9 TK
Heavy ion collisions – highest man-made value up to 3.6 TK
Planck temperature – nature’s upper temperature limit 1032 K
13 from heat to time-invariance 323

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 216 Thermometers: a Galilean thermometer (left), the row of infrared sensors in the jaw of the
emerald tree boa Corallus caninus, an infrared thermometer to measure body temperature in the ear, a
nautical thermometer using a bimetal, a mercury thermometer, and a thermocouple that is attached to
a voltmeter for read-out (© Wikimedia, Ron Marcus, Braun GmbH, Universum, Wikimedia,
Thermodevices).
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

priority. Marketing by William Thomson eventually led to the naming of the unit of en-
ergy after Joule.
In summary, two medical doctors proved:

⊳ In a closed system, the sum of mechanical energy and thermal energy is con-
stant. This is usually called the first principle of thermodynamics.

Equivalently, it is impossible to produce mechanical energy without paying for it with

some other form of energy. This is an important statement, because among others it
means that humanity will stop living one day. Indeed, we live mostly on energy from
the Sun; since the Sun is of finite size, its energy content will eventually be consumed.
 324 13 from heat to time-invariance

F I G U R E 217 Which balloon wins when the tap is

opened?

Challenge 563 s Can you estimate when this will happen?

Page 101 The first principle of thermodynamics, the conservation of energy, implies that there is
no perpetuum mobile of the first kind: no machine can run without energy input. For the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
same reason, we need food to eat: the energy in the food keeps us alive. If we stop eating,
we die. The conservation of energy also makes most so-called ‘wonders’ impossible: in
nature, energy cannot be created, but is conserved.
Thermal energy is a form of energy. Thermal energy can be stored, accumulated, trans-
ferred, transformed into mechanical energy, electrical energy or light. In short, thermal
energy can be transformed into motion, into work, and thus into money.
The first principle of thermodynamics also allows us to formulate what a car engine
achieves. Car engines are devices that transform hot matter – the hot exploding fuel
inside the cylinders – into motion of the car wheels. Car engines, like steam engines, are
thus examples of heat engines.
The study of heat and temperature is called thermostatics if the systems concerned
are at equilibrium, and thermodynamics if they are not. In the latter case, we distinguish
situations near equilibrium, when equilibrium concepts such as temperature can still be
used, from situations far from equilibrium, such as self-organization, where such con-
Page 348 cepts often cannot be applied.
Does it make sense to distinguish between thermal energy and heat? It does. Many
older texts use the term ‘heat’ to mean the same as thermal energy. However, this is con-
fusing; in this text, ‘heat’ is used, in accordance with modern approaches, as the everyday
term for entropy. Both thermal energy and heat flow from one body to another, and both
accumulate. Both have no measurable mass.* Both the amount of thermal energy and the
amount of heat inside a body increase with increasing temperature. The precise relation
will be given shortly. But heat has many other interesting properties and stories to tell. Of
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

these, two are particularly important: first, heat is due to particles; and secondly, heat is
at the heart of the difference between past and future. These two stories are intertwined.

Why do balloons take up space? – The end of continuity

Heat properties are material-dependent. Studying thermal properties therefore should
enable us to understand something about the constituents of matter. Now, the simplest

* This might change in future, when mass measurements improve in precision, thus allowing the detection
Vol. II, page 65 of relativistic effects. In this case, temperature increase may be detected through its related mass increase.
However, such changes are noticeable only with twelve or more digits of precision in mass measurements.
 13 from heat to time-invariance 325

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 218 What happened here? (© Johan de Jong)

materials of all are gases.* Gases need space: any amount of gas has pressure and volume.
It did not take a long time to show that gases could not be continuous. One of the first
scientists to think about gases as made up of atoms or molecules was Daniel Bernoulli.
Bernoulli reasoned that if gases are made up of small particles, with mass and momen-
tum, he should be able to make quantitative predictions about the behaviour of gases,
and check them with experiment. If the particles fly around in a gas, then the pressure of
a gas in a container is produced by the steady flow of particles hitting the wall. It was then
easy to conclude that if the particles are assumed to behave as tiny, hard and perfectly
Challenge 564 ny elastic balls, the pressure p, the volume V and the temperature T must be related by

pV = kNT (107)

where N is the number of particles contained in the gas. (The Boltzmann constant k, one
of the fundamental constants of nature, is defined below.) A gas made of particles with
such textbook behaviour is called an ideal gas. Relation (107), often called the ideal gas
‘law’, has been confirmed by experiments at room and higher temperatures, for all known
gases.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Bernoulli thus derived the ideal gas relation, with a specific prediction for the pro-
portionality constant, from the single assumption that gases are made of small massive
particles. This derivation provides a clear argument for the existence of atoms and for
their behaviour as normal, though small objects. We have already seen above how N can
Page 289 be determined experimentally.
The ideal gas model helps us to answer questions such as the one illustrated in
Figure 217. Two identical rubber balloons, one filled up to a larger size than the other,
Challenge 565 s are connected via a pipe and a valve. The valve is opened. Which one deflates?
* By the way, the word gas is a modern construct. It was coined by the Brussels alchemist and physician
Johan Baptista van Helmont (1579–1644), to sound similar to ‘chaos’. It is one of the few words which have
been invented by one person and then adopted all over the world.
 326 13 from heat to time-invariance

The ideal gas relation states that hotter gases, at given pressure, need more volume.
Challenge 566 e The relation thus explains why winds and storms exist, why hot air balloons rise – even
those of Figure 218 – why car engines work, why the ozone layer is destroyed by certain
gases, or why during the extremely hot summer of 2001 in the south of Turkey, oxygen
masks were necessary to walk outside during the day.
The ideal gas relation also explains why on the 21st of August 1986, over a thousand
people and three-thousand livestock where found dead in their homes in Cameroon.
They were living below a volcano whose crater contains a lake, Lake Nyos. It turns out that
the volcano continuously emits carbon dioxide, or CO2 , into the lake. The carbon dioxide
is usually dissolved in the water. But in August 1986, an unknown event triggered the
release of a bubble of around one million tons of CO2 , about a cubic kilometre, into the
atmosphere. Because carbon dioxide (2.0 kg/m3 ) is denser than air (1.2 kg/m3 ), the gas
flowed down into the valleys and villages below the volcano. The gas has no colour and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
smell, and it leads to asphyxiation. It is unclear whether the outgassing system installed
in the lake after the event is sufficiently powerful to avoid a recurrence of the event.
Using the ideal gas relation you are now able to explain why balloons increase in size
as they rise high up in the atmosphere, even though the air is colder there. The largest
balloon built so far had a diameter, at high altitude, of 170 m, but only a fraction of that
Challenge 567 ny value at take-off. How much?
Now you can also take up the following challenge: how can you measure the weight
Challenge 568 s of a car or a bicycle with a ruler only?
The picture of gases as being made of hard constituents without any long-distance
interactions breaks down at very low temperatures. However, the ideal gas relation (107)
Ref. 266 can be improved to overcome these limitations, by taking into account the deviations due
to interactions between atoms or molecules. This approach is now standard practice and
Ref. 267 allows us to measure temperatures even at extremely low values. The effects observed
below 80 K, such as the solidification of air, frictionless transport of electrical current, or
Vol. V, page 62 frictionless flow of liquids, form a fascinating world of their own, the beautiful domain
Vol. V, page 70 of low-temperature physics. The field will be explored later on.

Brownian motion
If fluids are made of particles moving randomly, this random motion should have observ-
able effects. Indeed, under a microscope it is easy to observe that small particles, such as
coal dust, in or on a liquid never come to rest. An example of the observed motion is
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

shown in Figure 220. The particles seem to follow a random zig zag movement. This was
first described by Lucretius, in the year 60 bce, in his poem De natura rerum. He de-
scribes what everybody has seen: the dance of dust particles in air that is illuminated by
the Sun.
In 1785, Jan Ingenhousz saw that coal dust particles never come to rest. He discovered
what is called Brownian motion today. 40 years after him, the botanist Robert Brown was
the first Englishman to repeat the observation, this time for small particles floating in
vacuoles inside pollen. Further experiments showed that the observation of a random
motion is independent of the type of particle and of the type of liquid. In other words,
Ingenhousz had discovered a fundamental form of noise in nature. Around 1860, the ran-
dom motion of particles in liquids was attributed to the molecules of the liquid colliding
 13 from heat to time-invariance 327

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Vol. III, page 151 F I G U R E 219 An image of pollen grains – field size about 0.3 mm – made with an electron microscope
(Wikimedia).

with the particles by various people. In 1905 and 1906, Marian von Smoluchowski and,
Ref. 268 independently, Albert Einstein argued that this attribution could be tested experimen-
tally, even though at that time nobody was able to observe molecules directly. The test
makes use of the specific properties of thermal noise.
It had already been clear for a long time that if molecules, i.e., indivisible matter par-
ticles, really existed, then thermal energy had to be disordered motion of these con-
stituents and temperature had to be the average energy per degree of freedom of the
constituents. Bernoulli’s model of Figure 223 implies that for monatomic gases the ki-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 569 ny netic energy Tkin per particle is given by

3
Tkin = kT (108)
2

where T is temperature. The so-called Boltzmann constant k = 1.4 ⋅ 10−23 J/K is the
standard conversion factor between temperature and energy.* At a room temperature
of 293 K, the kinetic energy of a particle is thus 6 zJ.
* The Boltzmann constant k was discovered and named by Max Planck, in the same work in which he also
discovered what is now called Planck’s constant ħ, the quantum of action. For more details on Max Planck,
Vol. III, page 125 see later on.
Planck named the Boltzmann constant after the important Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann (b.
 328 13 from heat to time-invariance

probability density evolution

F I G U R E 220 Example paths for particles in Brownian motion and their displacement distribution.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Using relation (108) to calculate the speed of air molecules at room temperature yields
Challenge 570 e values of several hundred metres per second, about the speed of sound! Given this large
speed, why does smoke from a candle take so long to diffuse through a room? Rudolph
Clausius (1822–1888) answered this question in the mid-nineteenth century: smoke dif-
fusion is slowed by the collisions with air molecules, in the same way as pollen particles
collide with molecules in liquids.
The description of Brownian motion can be tested by following the displacement of
pollen particles under the microscope. At first sight, we might guess that the average
distance the pollen particle has moved after n collisions should be zero, because the
molecule velocities are random. However, this is wrong, as experiment shows.
An increasing average square displacement, written ⟨d 2 ⟩, is observed for the pollen
particle. It cannot be predicted in which direction the particle will move, but it does move.
If the distance the particle moves after one collision is l, the average square displacement
Challenge 571 ny after n collisions is given, as you should be able to show yourself, by

⟨d 2 ⟩ = nl 2 . (109)

For molecules with an average velocity 󰑣 over time t this gives

⟨d 2 ⟩ = nl 2 = 󰑣lt . (110)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In other words, the average square displacement increases proportionally with time. Of
course, this is only valid because the liquid is made of separate molecules. Repeatedly
measuring the position of a particle should give the distribution shown in Figure 220
for the probability that the particle is found at a given distance from the starting point.
Ref. 269 This is called the (Gaussian) normal distribution. In 1908, Jean Perrin* performed ex-

1844 Vienna, d. 1906 Duino), who is most famous for his work on thermodynamics. Boltzmann he ex-
plained all thermodynamic phenomena and observables, above all entropy itself, as results of the behaviour
of molecules. It is said that Boltzmann committed suicide partly because of the animosities of his fellow
physicists towards his ideas and himself. Nowadays, his work is standard textbook material.
* Jean Perrin (1870–1942), important French physicist, devoted most of his career to the experimental
 13 from heat to time-invariance 329

tensive experiments in order to test this prediction. He found that equation (110) cor-
responded completely with observations, thus convincing everybody that Brownian mo-
tion is indeed due to collisions with the molecules of the surrounding liquid, as had been
expected.* Perrin received the 1926 Nobel Prize for these experiments.
Einstein also showed that the same experiment could be used to determine the num-
ber of molecules in a litre of water (or equivalently, the Boltzmann constant k). Can you
Challenge 572 d work out how he did this?

Why stones can be neither smooth nor fractal, nor made of

little hard balls
The exploration of temperature yields another interesting result. Researchers first stud-
ied gases, and measured how much energy was needed to heat them by 1 K. The result
is simple: all gases share only a few values, when the number of molecules N is taken

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
into account. Monatomic gases (in a container with constant volume) require 3N k/2, di-
atomic gases (and those with a linear molecule) 5N k/2, and almost all other gases 3N k,
Page 327 where k = 1.4 ⋅ 10−23 J/K is the Boltzmann constant.
The explanation of this result was soon forthcoming: each thermodynamic degree of
freedom** contributes the energy kT/2 to the total energy, where T is the temperature.
So the number of degrees of freedom in physical bodies is finite. Bodies are not contin-
uous, nor are they fractals: if they were, their specific thermal energy would be infinite.
Matter is indeed made of small basic entities.
All degrees of freedom contribute to the specific thermal energy. At least, this is what
classical physics predicts. Solids, like stones, have 6 thermodynamic degrees of freedom
and should show a specific thermal energy of 3N k. At high temperatures, this is indeed
observed. But measurements of solids at room temperature yield lower values, and the
lower the temperature, the lower the values become. Even gases show values lower than
those just mentioned, when the temperature is sufficiently low. In other words, molecules
and atoms behave differently at low energies: atoms are not immutable little hard balls.
The deviation of these values is one of the first hints of quantum theory.

Entropy

“
– It’s irreversible.

”
– Like my raincoat!
Mel Brooks, Spaceballs, 1987
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

proof of the atomic hypothesis and the determination of Avogadro’s number; in pursuit of this aim he
perfected the use of emulsions, Brownian motion and oil films. His Nobel Prize speech (nobelprize.org/
physics/laureates/1926/perrin-lecture.html) tells the interesting story of his research. He wrote the influen-
tial book Les atomes and founded the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. He was also the first to
speculate, in 1901, that an atom is similar to a small solar system.
Ref. 270 * In a delightful piece of research, Pierre Gaspard and his team showed in 1998 that Brownian motion is
Page 357 also chaotic, in the strict physical sense given later on.
** A thermodynamic degree of freedom is, for each particle in a system, the number of dimensions in which
it can move plus the number of dimensions in which it is kept in a potential. Atoms in a solid have six,
particles in monatomic gases have only three; particles in diatomic gases or rigid linear molecules have five.
Ref. 271 The number of degrees of freedom of larger molecules depends on their shape.
 330 13 from heat to time-invariance

match
head

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 221 The fire pump.

Every domain of physics describes change in terms of three quantities: energy, as well
Ref. 272 as an intensive and an extensive quantity characteristic of the domain. In the domain of
thermal physics, the intensive quantity is temperature. What is the corresponding exten-
sive quantity?
The obvious guess would be ‘heat’. Unfortunately, the quantity that physicists usually
call ‘heat’ is not the same as what we call ‘heat’ in our everyday speech. For this historical
reason, we need to introduce a new term. The extensive quantity corresponding to what
we call ‘heat’ in everyday speech is called entropy in physics.*
Entropy describes the amount of everyday heat. Entropy is measured in joule per
kelvin or J/K; some example values (per amount of matter) are listed in Table 45 and
Table 46. Entropy describes everyday heat in the same way as momentum describes
everyday motion. Entropy describes the amount of heat in the same way that momentum
describes the amount of motion. Correspondingly, temperature describes the intensity of
heat, in the same way that speed describes the intensity of motion.
When two objects of different speeds collide, a flow of momentum takes place between
them. Similarly, when two objects differing in temperature are brought into contact, an
entropy flow takes place between them. We now define the concept of entropy – ‘everyday
heat’ – more precisely and explore its properties in some more detail.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Entropy measures the degree to which energy is mixed up inside a system, that is, the
degree to which energy is spread or shared among the components of a system. When
all components of a system – usually the molecules or atoms – move in the same way,
in concert, the entropy of the system is low. When the components of the system move
completely independently, randomly, the entropy is large. In short, entropy measures the
amount of disordered energy content per temperature in a system. That is the reason that
it is measured in J/K.
* The term ‘entropy’ was invented by the German physicist Rudolph Clausius (b. 1822 Köslin, d. 1888 Bonn)
in 1865. He formed it from the Greek ἐν ‘in’ and τρόπος ‘direction’, to make it sound similar to ‘energy’. The
term entropy has always had the meaning given here.
In contrast, what physicists call ‘heat’ is a form of energy and not an extensive quantity in general.
13 from heat to time-invariance 331

TA B L E 45 Some measured specific entropy values.

Process/System E n t r o p y va l u e

Melting of ice 1.21 kJ/K kg = 21.99 J/K mol

Iron under standard conditions 27.2 J/K mol
Water under standard conditions 70.1 J/K mol
Boiling of 1 kg of liquid water at 101.3 kPa 6.03 kJ/K= 110 J/K mol
Oxygen under standard conditions 161.1 J/K mol

TA B L E 46 Some typical entropy values per particle at

standard temperature and pressure as multiples of the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Boltzmann constant.

M at e r i a l E n t r o p y p e r pa r -
ticle

Monatomic solids 0.3 k to 10 k

Diamond 0.29 k
Graphite 0.68 k
Lead 7.79 k
Monatomic gases 15-25 k
Helium 15.2 k
Radon 21.2 k
Diatomic gases 15 k to 30 k
Polyatomic solids 10 k to 60 k
Polyatomic liquids 10 k to 80 k
Polyatomic gases 20 k to 60 k
Icosane 112 k

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Since entropy measures an amount, an extensive quantity, and not an intensity, en-
tropy adds up when identical systems are composed into one. When two one-litre bottles
of water at the same temperature are poured together, the entropy of the water adds up.
Again, this corresponds to the behaviour of momentum: it also adds up when systems
are composed. In contrast to
Like any other extensive quantity, entropy can be accumulated in a body, and entropy
can flow into or out of bodies. When we transform water into steam by heating it, we say
that we add entropy to the water. After the water has become steam, the added entropy
is contained in the steam. In short, entropy is the exact term for what we call ‘heat’ in
everyday speech.
When we dissolve a block of salt in water, the entropy of the total system must increase,
because the disorder increases. We now explore this effect.
 332 13 from heat to time-invariance

Entropy from particles

Once it had become clear that heat and temperature are due to the motion of microscopic
particles, people asked what entropy was microscopically. The answer can be formulated
in various ways. The two most extreme answers are:

⊳ Entropy measures the (logarithm of the) number W of possible microscopic

states. A given macroscopic state can have many microscopic realizations.
The logarithm of this number, multiplied by the Boltzmann constant k, gives
the entropy.*
⊳ Entropy is the expected number of yes-or-no questions, multiplied by k ln 2,
the answers of which would tell us everything about the system, i.e., about
its microscopic state.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In short, the higher the entropy, the more microstates are possible. Through either of
these definitions, entropy measures the quantity of randomness in a system. In other
words, entropy measures the transformability of energy: higher entropy means lower
transformability. Alternatively, entropy measures the freedom in the choice of microstate
that a system has. High entropy means high freedom of choice for the microstate. For ex-
ample, when a molecule of glucose (a type of sugar) is produced by photosynthesis, about
40 bits of entropy are released. This means that after the glucose is formed, 40 additional
yes-or-no questions must be answered in order to determine the full microscopic state
of the system. Physicists often use a macroscopic unit; most systems of interest are large,
and thus an entropy of 1023 bits is written as 1 J/K. (This is only approximate. Can you
Challenge 573 ny find the precise value?)
To sum up, entropy is thus a specific measure for the characterization of disorder of
Ref. 273 thermal systems. Three points are worth making here. First of all, entropy is not the mea-
sure of disorder, but one measure of disorder. It is therefore not correct to use entropy as
a synonym for the concept of disorder, as is often done in the popular literature. Entropy
is only defined for systems that have a temperature, in other words, only for systems that
are in or near equilibrium. (For systems far from equilibrium, no measure of disorder
has been found yet; probably none is possible.) In fact, the use of the term entropy has
degenerated so much that sometimes one has to call it thermodynamic entropy for clarity.
Secondly, entropy is related to information only if information is defined also as
−k ln W. To make this point clear, take a book with a mass of one kilogram. At room
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

temperature, its entropy content is about 4 kJ/K. The printed information inside a book,
say 500 pages of 40 lines with each containing 80 characters out of 64 possibilities, cor-
responds to an entropy of 4 ⋅ 10−17 J/K. In short, what is usually called ‘information’ in
everyday life is a negligible fraction of what a physicist calls information. Entropy is de-
fined using the physical concept of information.
Finally, entropy is not a measure for what in normal life is called the complexity of a
Ref. 274 situation. In fact, nobody has yet found a quantity describing this everyday notion. The
Challenge 574 ny task is surprisingly difficult. Have a try!

* When Max Planck went to Austria to search for the anonymous tomb of Boltzmann in order to get him
buried in a proper grave, he inscribed the formula S = k ln W on the tombstone. (Which physicist would
finance the tomb of another, nowadays?)
 13 from heat to time-invariance 333

In summary, if you hear the term entropy used with a different meaning than the
expression S = k ln W, beware. Somebody is trying to get you, probably with some ide-
ology.

The minimum entropy of nature – the quantum of information

Before we complete our discussion of thermal physics we must point out in another way
the importance of the Boltzmann constant k. We have seen that this constant appears
whenever the granularity of matter plays a role; it expresses the fact that matter is made
of small basic entities. The most striking way to put this statement is the following:

⊳ There is a smallest entropy in nature. Indeed, for all systems, the entropy
obeys
S⩾k.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
(111)

This result is almost 100 years old; it was stated most clearly (with a different numerical
Ref. 275 factor) by the Hungarian–German physicist Leo Szilard. The same point was made by the
Ref. 276 French physicist Léon Brillouin (again with a different numerical factor). The statement
can also be taken as the definition of the Boltzmann constant.
The existence of a smallest entropy in nature is a strong idea. It eliminates the possi-
bility of the continuity of matter and also that of its fractality. A smallest entropy implies
that matter is made of a finite number of small components. The lower limit to entropy
expresses the fact that matter is made of particles.* The limit to entropy also shows that
Galilean physics cannot be correct: Galilean physics assumes that arbitrarily small quan-
tities do exist. The entropy limit is the first of several limits to motion that we will en-
counter in our adventure. After we have found all limits, we can start the final leg that
leads to the unified description of motion.
The existence of a smallest quantity implies a limit on the precision of measurements.
Measurements cannot have infinite precision. This limitation is usually stated in the form
of an indeterminacy relation. Indeed, the existence of a smallest entropy can be rephrased
as an indeterminacy relation between the temperature T and the inner energy U of a
system:

1 k
Δ ΔU ⩾ . (112)
T 2
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 278 This relation** was given by Niels Bohr; it was discussed by Werner Heisenberg, who
Vol. VI, page 27 called it one of the basic indeterminacy relations of nature. The Boltzmann constant (di-
Ref. 279 vided by 2) thus fixes the smallest possible entropy value in nature. For this reason, Gilles
Ref. 276 Cohen-Tannoudji calls it the quantum of information and Herbert Zimmermann calls it
the quantum of entropy.

* The minimum entropy implies that matter is made of tiny spheres; the minimum action, which we will
encounter in quantum theory, implies that these spheres are actually small clouds.
Ref. 277 ** It seems that the historical value for the right hand side, k, has to be corrected to k/2, for the same reason
that the quantum of action ħ appears with a factor 1/2 in Heisenberg’s indeterminacy relations.
 334 13 from heat to time-invariance

The relation (112) points towards a more general pattern. For every minimum value for
an observable, there is a corresponding indeterminacy relation. We will come across this
several times in the rest of our adventure, most importantly in the case of the quantum
Vol. IV, page 13 of action and Heisenberg’s indeterminacy relation.
The existence of a smallest entropy has numerous consequences. First of all, it sheds
light on the third principle of thermodynamics. A smallest entropy implies that absolute
zero temperature is not achievable. Secondly, a smallest entropy explains why entropy
values are finite instead of infinite. Thirdly, it fixes the absolute value of entropy for ev-
ery system; in continuum physics, entropy, like energy, is only defined up to an additive
constant. The quantum of entropy settles all these issues.
The existence of a minimum value for an observable implies that an indeterminacy
relation appears for any two quantities whose product yields that observable. For exam-
ple, entropy production rate and time are such a pair. Indeed, an indeterminacy relation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
connects the entropy production rate P = dS/dt and the time t:

k
ΔP Δt ⩾ . (113)
2
From this and the previous relation (112) it is possible to deduce all of statistical physics,
Ref. 279, Ref. 277 i.e., the precise theory of thermostatics and thermodynamics. We will not explore this fur-
ther here. (Can you show that the zeroth and third principle follows from the existence
Challenge 575 ny of a smallest entropy?) We will limit ourselves to one of the cornerstones of thermody-
namics: the second principle.

Is everything made of particles?

“
A physicist is the atom’s way of knowing about

”
atoms.
Ref. 280 George Wald

Historically, the study of statistical mechanics has been of fundamental importance for
physics. It provided the first demonstration that physical objects are made of interacting
particles. The story of this topic is in fact a long chain of arguments showing that all the
properties we ascribe to objects, such as size, stiffness, colour, mass density, magnetism,
thermal or electrical conductivity, result from the interaction of the many particles they
consist of. The discovery that all objects are made of interacting particles has often been
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

called the main result of modern science.

Page 317 How was this discovery made? Table 43 listed the main extensive quantities used in
physics. Extensive quantities are able to flow. It turns out that all flows in nature are
composed of elementary processes, as shown in Table 47. We have seen that flows of mass,
volume, charge, entropy and substance are composed. Later, quantum theory will show
the same for flows of angular momentum and of the nuclear quantum numbers. All flows
are made of particles.
This success of this idea has led many people to generalize it to the statement: ‘Ev-
erything we observe is made of parts.’ This approach has been applied with success to
Ref. 281 chemistry with molecules, materials science and geology with crystals, electricity with
electrons, atoms with elementary particles, space with points, time with instants, light
 13 from heat to time-invariance 335

TA B L E 47 Some minimum flow values found in nature.

O b s e r va t i o n Minimum flow

Matter flow one molecule or one atom or one particle

Volume flow one molecule or one atom or one particle
Angular momentum flow Planck’s quantum of action
Chemical amount of substance one molecule, one atom or one particle
Entropy flow the minimum entropy
Charge flow one elementary charge
Light flow one single photon, Planck’s quantum of action

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 222 A 111 crystal
surface of a gold single crystal,
every bright dot being an atom,
with a surface dislocation
(© CNRS).

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

with photons, biology with cells, genetics with genes, neurology with neurons, mathe-
matics with sets and relations, logic with elementary propositions, and even to linguis-
tics with morphemes and phonemes. All these sciences have flourished on the idea that
everything is made of related parts. The basic idea seems so self-evident that we find it
Challenge 576 ny difficult even to formulate an alternative. Just try!
However, in the case of the whole of nature, the idea that nature is a sum of related
Vol. VI, page 99 parts is incorrect. It turns out to be a prejudice, and a prejudice so entrenched that it
retarded further developments in physics in the latter decades of the twentieth century. In
particular, it does not apply to elementary particles or to space-time. Finding the correct
description for the whole of nature is the biggest challenge of our adventure, as it requires
a complete change in thinking habits. There is a lot of fun ahead.
 336 13 from heat to time-invariance

“
Jede Aussage über Komplexe läßt sich in eine
Aussage über deren Bestandteile und in
diejenigen Sätze zerlegen, welche die Komplexe

”
vollständig beschreiben.*
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 2.0201

The second principle of thermodynamics

In contrast to several other important extensive quantities, entropy is not conserved. On
the one hand, in closed systems, entropy accumulates and never decreases; the sharing
or mixing of energy among the components of a system cannot be undone. On the other
hand, the sharing or mixing can increase spontaneously over time. Entropy is thus only
‘half conserved’. What we call thermal equilibrium is simply the result of the highest pos-
sible mixing. Entropy allows us to define the concept of equilibrium more precisely as

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the state of maximum entropy, or maximum energy sharing among the components of a
system. In short, the entropy of a closed system increases until it reaches the maximum
possible value, the equilibrium value.
The non-conservation of entropy has far-reaching consequences. When a piece of
rock is detached from a mountain, it falls, tumbles into the valley, heating up a bit, and
eventually stops. The opposite process, whereby a rock cools and tumbles upwards, is
never observed. Why? We could argue that the opposite motion does not contradict any
Challenge 577 s rule or pattern about motion that we have deduced so far.
Rocks never fall upwards because mountains, valleys and rocks are made of many
particles. Motions of many-particle systems, especially in the domain of thermodynam-
ics, are called processes. Central to thermodynamics is the distinction between reversible
processes, such as the flight of a thrown stone, and irreversible processes, such as the
afore-mentioned tumbling rock. Irreversible processes are all those processes in which
friction and its generalizations play a role. Irreversible processes are those processes that
increase the sharing or mixing of energy. They are important: if there were no friction,
Ref. 282 shirt buttons and shoelaces would not stay fastened, we could not walk or run, coffee
machines would not make coffee, and maybe most importantly of all, we would have no
Vol. IV, page 137 memory.
Irreversible processes, in the sense in which the term is used in thermodynamics,
transform macroscopic motion into the disorganized motion of all the small microscopic
components involved: they increase the sharing and mixing of energy. Irreversible pro-
cesses are therefore not strictly irreversible – but their reversal is extremely improbable.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

We can say that entropy measures the ‘amount of irreversibility’: it measures the degree
of mixing or decay that a collective motion has undergone.
Entropy is not conserved. Indeed, entropy – ‘heat’ – can appear out of nowhere, spon-
taneously, because energy sharing or mixing can happen by itself. For example, when
two different liquids of the same temperature are mixed – such as water and sulphuric
acid – the final temperature of the mix can differ. Similarly, when electrical current flows
through material at room temperature, the system can heat up or cool down, depending
on the material.

* ‘Every statement about complexes can be resolved into a statement about their constituents and into the
propositions that describe the complexes completely.’
 13 from heat to time-invariance 337

The second principle of thermodynamics states

The entropy in a closed system tends towards its maximum.

In sloppy terms, ‘entropy ain’t what it used to be.’ Here, a closed system is a system that
does not exchange energy or matter with its environment. Can you think of an example?
Challenge 578 ny
In a closed system, entropy never decreases. Even everyday life shows us that in a
closed system, such as a room, the disorder increases with time, until it reaches some
maximum. To reduce disorder, we need effort, i.e., work and energy. In other words, in
order to reduce the disorder in a system, we need to connect the system to an energy
source in some clever way. For this reason, refrigerators need electrical current or some
other energy source.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 283 In 1866, Ludwig Boltzmann showed that the second principle of thermodynamics re-
sults from the principle of least action. Can you imagine and sketch the general ideas?
Challenge 579 ny
Because entropy never decreases in closed systems, white colour does not last. When-
ever disorder increases, the colour white becomes ‘dirty’, usually grey or brown. Perhaps
for this reason white objects, such as white clothes, white houses and white underwear,
are valued in our society. White objects defy decay.
The second principle implies that heat cannot be transformed to work completely. In
other words, every heat engine needs cooling: that is the reason for the holes in the front
of cars. The first principle of thermodynamics then states that the mechanical power of
a heat engine is the difference between the inflow of thermal energy at high temperature
and the outflow of thermal energy at low temperature. If the cooling is insufficient – for
example, because the weather is too hot or the car speed too low – the power of the
engine is reduced. Every driver knows this from experience.
In summary, the concept of entropy, corresponding to what is called ‘heat’ in everyday
life – but not to what is called ‘heat’ in physics! – describes the randomness of the internal
motion in matter. Entropy is not conserved: in a closed system, entropy never decreases,
but it can increase until it reaches a maximum value. The non-conservation of entropy is
due to the many components inside everyday systems. The large number of components
lead to the non-conservation of entropy and therefore explain, among many other things,
that many processes in nature never occur backwards, even though they could do so in
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

principle.

Why can’t we remember the future?

“
It’s a poor sort of memory which only works

”
backwards.
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Page 39 When we first discussed time, we ignored the difference between past and future. But
obviously, a difference exists, as we do not have the ability to remember the future. This
is not a limitation of our brain alone. All the devices we have invented, such as tape
recorders, photographic cameras, newspapers and books, only tell us about the past. Is
there a way to build a video recorder with a ‘future’ button? Such a device would have to
 338 13 from heat to time-invariance

Challenge 580 ny solve a deep problem: how would it distinguish between the near and the far future? It
does not take much thought to see that any way to do this would conflict with the second
principle of thermodynamics. That is unfortunate, as we would need precisely the same
Challenge 581 ny device to show that there is faster-than-light motion. Can you find the connection?
In summary, the future cannot be remembered because entropy in closed systems
tends towards a maximum. Put even more simply, memory exists because the brain is
made of many particles, and so the brain is limited to the past. However, for the most
simple types of motion, when only a few particles are involved, the difference between
past and future disappears. For few-particle systems, there is no difference between times
gone by and times approaching. We could say that the future differs from the past only
in our brain, or equivalently, only because of friction. Therefore the difference between
the past and the future is not mentioned frequently in this walk, even though it is an
essential part of our human experience. But the fun of the present adventure is precisely

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
to overcome our limitations.

Flow of entropy
We know from daily experience that transport of an extensive quantity always involves
friction. Friction implies generation of entropy. In particular, the flow of entropy itself
produces additional entropy. For example, when a house is heated, entropy is produced
in the wall. Heating means to keep a temperature difference ΔT between the interior and
the exterior of the house. The heat flow J traversing a square metre of wall is given by

J = κΔT = κ(Ti − Te ) (114)

where κ is a constant characterizing the ability of the wall to conduct heat. While con-
ducting heat, the wall also produces entropy. The entropy production σ is proportional
to the difference between the interior and the exterior entropy flows. In other words, one
has
J J (T − Te )2
σ= − =κ i . (115)
Te Ti Ti Te

Note that we have assumed in this calculation that everything is near equilibrium in
each slice parallel to the wall, a reasonable assumption in everyday life. A typical case of
a good wall has κ = 1 W/m2 K in the temperature range between 273 K and 293 K. With
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

this value, one gets an entropy production of

σ = 5 ⋅ 10−3 W/m2 K . (116)

Can you compare the amount of entropy that is produced in the flow with the amount
Challenge 582 ny that is transported? In comparison, a good goose-feather duvet has κ = 1.5 W/m2 K,
which in shops is also called 15 tog.*

* That unit is not as bad as the official (not a joke) BthU ⋅ h/sqft/cm/°F used in some remote provinces of
our galaxy.
The insulation power of materials is usually measured by the constant λ = κd which is independent of
the thickness d of the insulating layer. Values in nature range from about 2000 W/K m for diamond, which
 13 from heat to time-invariance 339

F I G U R E 223 The basic idea of

statistical mechanics about
gases: gases are systems of
moving particles, and pressure
is due to their collisions with
the container.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Entropy can be transported in three ways: through heat conduction, as just mentioned,
via convection, used for heating houses, and through radiation, which is possible also
through empty space. For example, the Earth radiates about 1.2 W/m2 K into space, in
total thus about 0.51 PW/K. The entropy is (almost) the same that the Earth receives
from the Sun. If more entropy had to be radiated away than received, the temperature
of the surface of the Earth would have to increase. This is called the greenhouse effect or
global warming. Let’s hope that it remains small in the near future.

Do isolated systems exist?

In all our discussions so far, we have assumed that we can distinguish the system under
investigation from its environment. But do such isolated or closed systems, i.e., systems
not interacting with their environment, actually exist? Probably our own human condi-
tion was the original model for the concept: we do experience having the possibility to
act independently of our environment. An isolated system may be simply defined as a
system not exchanging any energy or matter with its environment. For many centuries,
scientists saw no reason to question this definition.
The concept of an isolated system had to be refined somewhat with the advent of
quantum mechanics. Nevertheless, the concept provides useful and precise descriptions
of nature also in that domain. Only in the final part of our walk will the situation change
drastically. There, the investigation of whether the universe is an isolated system will lead
Challenge 583 s to surprising results. (What do you think? A strange hint: your answer is almost surely
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

wrong.) We’ll take the first steps towards the answer shortly.

Curiosities and fun challenges about heat and reversibility

Compression of air increases its temperature. This is shown directly by the fire pump, a
variation of a bicycle pump, shown in Figure 221. (For a working example, see the web
page www.de-monstrare.nl). A match head at the bottom of an air pump made of trans-
parent material is easily ignited by the compression of the air above it. The temperature
of the air after compression is so high that the match head ignites spontaneously.

is the best conductor of all, down to between 0.1 W/K m and 0.2 W/K m for wood, between 0.015 W/K m
and 0.05 W/K m for wools, cork and foams, and the small value of 5 ⋅ 10−3 W/K m for krypton gas.
 340 13 from heat to time-invariance

∗∗
Running backwards is an interesting sport. The 2006 world records for running back-
wards can be found on www.recordholders.org/en/list/backwards-running.html. You
will be astonished how much these records are faster than your best personal forward-
Challenge 584 e running time.
∗∗
If heat really is disordered motion of atoms, a big problem appears. When two atoms
collide head-on, in the instant of smallest distance, neither atom has velocity. Where does
the kinetic energy go? Obviously, it is transformed into potential energy. But that implies
that atoms can be deformed, that they have internal structure, that they have parts, and
thus that they can in principle be split. In short, if heat is disordered atomic motion,
atoms are not indivisible! In the nineteenth century this argument was put forward in

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
order to show that heat cannot be atomic motion, but must be some sort of fluid. But
since we know that heat really is kinetic energy, atoms must indeed be divisible, even
though their name means ‘indivisible’. We do not need an expensive experiment to show
this.
∗∗
How long does it take to cook an egg? This issue has been researched in many details;
of course, the time depends on what type of cooked egg you want, how large it is, and
whether it comes from the fridge or not. There is even a formula for calculating the
Ref. 284 cooking time! Egg white starts hardening at 62°, the yolk starts hardening at 65°. The
best-tasting hard eggs are formed at 69°, half-hard eggs at 65°, and soft eggs at 63°. If
you cook eggs at 100° (for a long time) , the white gets the consistency of rubber and
the yolk gets a green surface that smells badly, because the high temperature leads to the
formation of the smelly H2 S, which then bonds to iron and forms the green FeS. Note
that when temperature is controlled, the time plays no role; ‘cooking’ an egg at 65° for 10
minutes or 10 hours gives the same result.
∗∗
It is easy to cook an egg in such a way that the white is hard but the yolk remains liquid.
Challenge 585 s Can you achieve the opposite? Research has even shown how you can cook an egg so
Challenge 586 e that the yolk remains at the centre. Can you imagine the method? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Ref. 285 In 1912, Emile Borel noted that if a gram of matter on Sirius was displaced by one cen-
timetre, it would change the gravitational field on Earth by a tiny amount only. But this
tiny change would be sufficient to make it impossible to calculate the path of molecules
in a gas after a fraction of a second.
∗∗
Not only gases, but also most other materials expand when the temperature rises. As
a result, the electrical wires supported by pylons hang much lower in summer than in
Challenge 587 s winter. True?
 13 from heat to time-invariance 341

1 2 3 4

F I G U R E 224 Can you boil water in this paper cup?

∗∗
Ref. 286 The following is a famous problem asked by Fermi. Given that a human corpse cools

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
down in four hours after death, what is the minimum number of calories needed per day
Challenge 588 ny in our food?
∗∗
The energy contained in thermal motion is not negligible. A 1 g bullet travelling at the
speed of sound has a kinetic energy of only 0.01 kcal.
∗∗
Challenge 589 s How does a typical, 1500 m3 hot-air balloon work?
∗∗
If you do not like this text, here is a proposal. You can use the paper to make a cup, as
shown in Figure 224, and boil water in it over an open flame. However, to succeed, you
Challenge 590 s have to be a little careful. Can you find out in what way?
∗∗
Mixing 1 kg of water at 0°C and 1 kg of water at 100°C gives 2 kg of water at 50°C. What
Challenge 591 ny is the result of mixing 1 kg of ice at 0°C and 1 kg of water at 100°C?
∗∗
Ref. 287 The highest recorded air temperature in which a man has survived is 127°C. This was Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tested in 1775 in London, by the secretary of the Royal Society, Charles Blagden, together
with a few friends, who remained in a room at that temperature for 45 minutes. Interest-
ingly, the raw steak which he had taken in with him was cooked (‘well done’) when he
and his friends left the room. What condition had to be strictly met in order to avoid
Challenge 592 s cooking the people in the same way as the steak?
∗∗
The Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744) originally set the freezing point of
water at 100 degrees and the boiling point at 0 degrees. Shortly afterwards, the scale was
Ref. 288 reversed to the one in use now. However, this is not the whole story. With the official
definition of the kelvin and the degree Celsius, at the standard pressure of 101 325 Pa,
Challenge 593 s water boils at 99.974°C. Can you explain why it is not 100°C any more?
 342 13 from heat to time-invariance

invisible pulsed
laser beam
emitting sound

laser
cable
to amplifier

F I G U R E 225 The invisible loudspeaker.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∗∗
Challenge 594 s Can you fill a bottle precisely with 1 ± 10−30 kg of water?
∗∗
One gram of fat, either butter or human fat, contains 38 kJ of chemical energy (or, in
ancient units more familiar to nutritionists, 9 kcal). That is the same value as that of petrol.
Challenge 595 s Why are people and butter less dangerous than petrol?
∗∗
In 1992, the Dutch physicist Martin van der Mark invented a loudspeaker which works by
heating air with a laser beam. He demonstrated that with the right wavelength and with
a suitable modulation of the intensity, a laser beam in air can generate sound. The effect
at the basis of this device, called the photoacoustic effect, appears in many materials. The
best laser wavelength for air is in the infrared domain, on one of the few absorption lines
of water vapour. In other words, a properly modulated infrared laser beam that shines
through the air generates sound. Such light can be emitted from a small matchbox-sized
semiconductor laser hidden in the ceiling and shining downwards. The sound is emitted
in all directions perpendicular to the beam. Since infrared laser light is not visible, Mar- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tin van der Mark thus invented an invisible loudspeaker! Unfortunately, the efficiency of
present versions is still low, so that the power of the speaker is not yet sufficient for prac-
tical applications. Progress in laser technology should change this, so that in the future
we should be able to hear sound that is emitted from the centre of an otherwise empty
room.
∗∗
A famous exam question: How can you measure the height of a building with a barometer,
Challenge 596 s a rope and a ruler? Find at least six different ways.
∗∗
What is the approximate probability that out of one million throws of a coin you get
 13 from heat to time-invariance 343

Challenge 597 ny exactly 500 000 heads and as many tails? You may want to use Stirling’s formula n! ≈
󵀂2πn (n/e)n to calculate the result.*
∗∗
Challenge 598 s Does it make sense to talk about the entropy of the universe?
∗∗
Challenge 599 ny Can a helium balloon lift the tank which filled it?
∗∗
All friction processes, such as osmosis, diffusion, evaporation, or decay, are slow. They
take a characteristic time. It turns out that any (macroscopic) process with a time-scale
is irreversible. This is no real surprise: we know intuitively that undoing things always

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
takes more time than doing them. That is again the second principle of thermodynamics.
∗∗
It turns out that storing information is possible with negligible entropy generation. How-
Ref. 289 ever, erasing information requires entropy. This is the main reason why computers, as
well as brains, require energy sources and cooling systems, even if their mechanisms
would otherwise need no energy at all.
∗∗
When mixing hot rum and cold water, how does the increase in entropy due to the mix-
Challenge 600 ny ing compare with the entropy increase due to the temperature difference?
∗∗
Why aren’t there any small humans, say 10 mm in size, as in many fairy tales? In fact,
Challenge 601 s there are no warm-blooded animals of that size at all. Why not?
∗∗
Shining a light onto a body and repeatedly switching it on and off produces sound. This
is called the photoacoustic effect, and is due to the thermal expansion of the material.
By changing the frequency of the light, and measuring the intensity of the noise, one
reveals a characteristic photoacoustic spectrum for the material. This method allows us
to detect gas concentrations in air of one part in 109 . It is used, among other methods, to
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

study the gases emitted by plants. Plants emit methane, alcohol and acetaldehyde in small
quantities; the photoacoustic effect can detect these gases and help us to understand the
processes behind their emission.
∗∗
What is the rough probability that all oxygen molecules in the air would move away from
Challenge 602 ny a given city for a few minutes, killing all inhabitants?

* There are many improvements to Stirling’s formula. A simple one is Gosper’s formula n! ≈
󵀄(2n + 1/3)π (n/e)n . Another is 󵀂2πn (n/e)n e1/(12n+1) < n! < 󵀂2πn (n/e)n e1/(12n) .
 344 13 from heat to time-invariance

∗∗
If you pour a litre of water into the sea, stir thoroughly through all the oceans and then
Challenge 603 ny take out a litre of the mixture, how many of the original atoms will you find?
∗∗
Challenge 604 ny How long would you go on breathing in the room you are in if it were airtight?
∗∗
What happens if you put some ash onto a piece of sugar and set fire to the whole?
Challenge 605 ny (Warning: this is dangerous and not for kids.)
∗∗
Entropy calculations are often surprising. For a system of N particles with two states each,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
there are Wall = 2N states. For its most probable configuration, with exactly half the par-
ticles in one state, and the other half in the other state, we have Wmax = N !/((N/2)!)2 .
Now, for a macroscopic system of particles, we might typically have N = 1024 . That gives
Wall ≫ Wmax ; indeed, the former is 1012 times larger than the latter. On the other hand,
Challenge 606 ny we find that ln Wall and ln Wmax agree for the first 20 digits! Even though the configura-
tion with exactly half the particles in each state is much more rare than the general case,
Challenge 607 ny where the ratio is allowed to vary, the entropy turns out to be the same. Why?
∗∗
If heat is due to motion of atoms, our built-in senses of heat and cold are simply detectors
Challenge 608 ny of motion. How could they work?
By the way, the senses of smell and taste can also be seen as motion detectors, as they
Challenge 609 ny signal the presence of molecules flying around in air or in liquids. Do you agree?
∗∗
The Moon has an atmosphere, although an extremely thin one, consisting of sodium
(Na) and potassium (K). This atmosphere has been detected up to nine Moon radii from
its surface. The atmosphere of the Moon is generated at the surface by the ultraviolet
Challenge 610 s radiation from the Sun. Can you estimate the Moon’s atmospheric density?
∗∗ Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Does it make sense to add a line in Table 43 for the quantity of physical action? A column?
Challenge 611 ny Why?
∗∗
Diffusion provides a length scale. For example, insects take in oxygen through their skin.
As a result, the interiors of their bodies cannot be much more distant from the surface
than about a centimetre. Can you list some other length scales in nature implied by dif-
Challenge 612 s fusion processes?
∗∗
Rising warm air is the reason why many insects are found in tall clouds in the evening.
Many insects, especially that seek out blood in animals, are attracted to warm and humid
 13 from heat to time-invariance 345

cold air

hot air hot air

(exhaust valve) exhaust

room temperature compressed

(compressed) air air cold air

F I G U R E 226 The design of the Wirbelrohr or Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube, and a commercial version,
about 40 cm in size, used to cool manufacturing processes (© Coolquip).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
air.
∗∗
Thermometers based on mercury can reach 750°C. How is this possible, given that mer-
Challenge 613 s cury boils at 357°C?
∗∗
Challenge 614 s What does a burning candle look like in weightless conditions?
∗∗
It is possible to build a power station by building a large chimney, so that air heated by
the Sun flows upwards in it, driving a turbine as it does so. It is also possible to make a
power station by building a long vertical tube, and letting a gas such as ammonia rise into
it which is then liquefied at the top by the low temperatures in the upper atmosphere; as
it falls back down a second tube as a liquid – just like rain – it drives a turbine. Why are
Challenge 615 s such schemes, which are almost completely non-polluting, not used yet?
∗∗
One of the most surprising devices ever invented is the Wirbelrohr or Ranque–Hilsch
vortex tube. By blowing compressed air at room temperature into it at its midpoint, two
flows of air are formed at its ends. One is extremely cold, easily as low as −50°C, and one
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

extremely hot, up to 200°C. No moving parts and no heating devices are found inside.
Challenge 616 s How does it work?
∗∗
Thermoacoustic engines, pumps and refrigerators provide many strange and fascinating
applications of heat. For example, it is possible to use loud sound in closed metal cham-
bers to move heat from a cold place to a hot one. Such devices have few moving parts
Ref. 290 and are being studied in the hope of finding practical applications in the future.
∗∗
Challenge 617 ny Does a closed few-particle system contradict the second principle of thermodynamics?
 346 13 from heat to time-invariance

ink droplets

ink stripe

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 227 What happens to the ink stripe if the
inner cylinder is turned a few times in one direction,
and then turned back by the same amount?

∗∗
What happens to entropy when gravitation is taken into account? We carefully left gravi-
tation out of our discussion. In fact, gravitation leads to many new problems – just try to
think about the issue. For example, Jacob Bekenstein has discovered that matter reaches
Challenge 618 ny its highest possible entropy when it forms a black hole. Can you confirm this?
∗∗
The numerical values (but not the units!) of the Boltzmann constant k = 1.38 ⋅ 10−23 J/K
and the combination h/ce agree in their exponent and in their first three digits, where h is
Planck’s constant and e is the electron charge. Can you dismiss this as mere coincidence?
Challenge 619 ny

∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Mixing is not always easy to perform. The experiment of Figure 227 gives completely
Challenge 620 s different results with water and glycerine. Can you guess them?
∗∗
Challenge 621 s How do you get rid of chewing gum in clothes?
∗∗
There are less-well known arguments about atoms. In fact, two everyday prove the exis-
Challenge 622 ny tence of atoms: reproduction and memory. Why?
In the context of lasers and of spin systems, it is fun to talk about negative temperature.
Challenge 623 s Why is this not really sensible?
13 from heat to time-invariance 347

Summary on heat and time-invariance

Microscopic motion due to gravity and electric interactions, thus all microscopic mo-
tion in everyday life, is reversible: such motion can occur backwards in time. In other
words, motion due to gravity and electromagnetism is time-reversal-invariant or motion-
reversal-invariant.
Nevertheless, everyday motion is irreversible, because there are no completely closed
systems in everyday life. Lack of closure leads to fluctuations; fluctuations lead to fric-
tion. Equivalently, irreversibility results from the extremely low probabilities required to
perform a motion inversion. Macroscopic irreversibility does not contradict microscopic
reversibility.
For these reasons, in everyday life, entropy in closed systems always increases. This
leads to a famous issue: how can biological evolution be reconciled with entropy increase?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Let us have a look.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 C h a p t e r 14

SELF- ORGANI Z ATION AND C HAOS

– THE SI MPLICIT Y OF C OMPLEXIT Y

“
To speak of non-linear physics is like calling

”
zoology the study of non-elephant animals.
Ref. 291 Stanislaw Ulam

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Page 208

Ref. 292 I n our list of global descriptions of motion, the the study of self-organization
s the high point. Self-organization is the appearance of order. In physics, order
s a term that includes shapes, such as the complex symmetry of snowflakes; pat-
terns, such as the stripes of zebras and the ripples on sand; and cycles, such as the cre-
ation of sound when singing. When we look around us, we note that every example of
Challenge 624 s what we call beauty is a combination of shapes, patterns and cycles. (Do you agree?) Self-
organization can thus be called the study of the origin of beauty. Table 48 shows how
frequently the appearance of order shapes our environment.

TA B L E 48 Some rhythms, patterns and shapes observed in nature.

O b s e r va t i o n Driving ‘Restoring T y p. S c a l e
‘force’ force’
Fingerprint chemical reactions diffusion 0.1 mm
Clock ticking falling weight friction 1s
Chalk squeaking due to motion friction 600 Hz
stick-slip instability
Musical note generation in bow motion friction 600 Hz
violin
Musical note generation in air flow turbulence 400 Hz
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

flute
Train oscillations motion friction 0.3 Hz
transversally to the track
Flow structures in water flow turbulence 10 cm
waterfalls and fountains
Jerky detachment of scotch pulling speed sticking friction 0.1 Hz
tape
Radius oscillations in extrusion speed friction 10 cm
spaghetti and polymer fibre
production
Patterns on buckled metal deformation stiffness depend on thickness
plates and foils
the simplicit y of complexit y 349

TA B L E 48 (Continued) Some rhytms, patterns and shapes observed in nature.

O b s e r va t i o n Driving ‘Restoring T y p. S c a l e
‘force’ force’
Flapping of flags in steady air flow stiffness 20 cm
wind
Dripping of water tap water flow surface tension 1 Hz
Bubble stream from a beer dissolved gas surface tension 0.1 Hz, 1 mm
glass irregularity pressure
Raleigh–Bénard instability temperature diffusion 0.1 Hz, 1 mm
gradient
Couette–Taylor flow speed gradient friction 0.1 Hz, 1 mm
Bénard–Marangoni flow, ... ... 0.1 Hz, 1 mm

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
sea wave generation
Karman wakes, Emmon ... ... ...
spots, Osborne-Reynolds
flow
Regular bangs in a car flow pressure resonances 0.3 Hz
exhaustion pipe
Regular cloud flow diffusion 0.5 km
arrangements
El Niño flow diffusion 5 to 7 years
Wine arcs on glass walls surface tension binary mixture 0.1 Hz, 1 mm
Ferrofluids surfaces in magnetic energy gravity 3 mm
magnetic fields
Patterns in liquid crystals electric energy stress 1 mm, 3 s
Flickering of aging electron flow diffusion 1 Hz
fluorescence lights
Surface instabilities of electron flow diffusion 1 cm
welding
Tokamak plasma electron flow diffusion 10 s
instabilities
Snowflake formation and concentration surface diffusion 10 μm
other dendritic growth gradient
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

processes
Solidification interface entropy flow 1 mm
patterns, e.g. in CBr4
Periodic layers in metal concentration diffusion 10 μm
corrosion gradients
Hardening of steel by cold strain dislocation motion 5 μm
working
Labyrinth structures in particle flow dislocation motion 5 μm
proton irradiated metals
Patterns in laser irradiated laser irradiation diffusion 50 μm
Cd-Se alloys
350 14 self-organization and chaos

TA B L E 48 (Continued) Some rhytms, patterns and shapes observed in nature.

O b s e r va t i o n Driving ‘Restoring T y p. S c a l e
‘force’ force’
Dislocation patterns and strain dislocation motion 10 μm 100 s
density oscillations in
fatigued Cu single crystals
Laser light emission, its pumping energy light losses 10 ps to 1 ms
cycles and chaotic regimes
Rotating patterns from light energy diffusion 1 mm
shining laser light on the
surface of certain
electrolytes

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Belousov-Zhabotinski concentration diffusion 1 mm, 10 s
reaction patterns and gradients
cycles
Flickering of a burning heat and thermal and substance 0.1 s
candle concentration diffusion
gradients
Regular sequence of hot heat and thermal and substance 1 cm
and cold flames in concentration diffusion
carbohydrate combustion gradients
Feedback whistle from amplifiers electric losses 1 kHz
microphone to loudspeaker
Any electronic oscillator in power supply resistive losses 1 kHz to 30 GHz
radio sets, television sets,
computers, mobile phones,
etc.
Periodic geysir eruptions underground evaporation 10 min
heating
Periodic earthquakes at tectonic motion ruptures 1 Ms
certain faults
Hexagonal patterns in heating heat diffusion 1m
basalt rocks
Hexagonal patterns on dry regular temperature water diffusion 0.5 m
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

soil changes
Periodic intensity changes nuclear fusion energy emission 3 Ms
of the Cepheids and other
stars
Convection cells on the nuclear fusion energy emission 1000 km
surface of the Sun
Formation and oscillations charge separation resistive losses 100 ka
of the magnetic field of the due to convection
Earth and other celestial and friction
bodies
Wrinkling/crumpling strain stiffness 1 mm
transition
 the simplicit y of complexit y 351

TA B L E 48 (Continued) Some rhytms, patterns and shapes observed in nature.

O b s e r va t i o n Driving ‘Restoring T y p. S c a l e
‘force’ force’
Patterns of animal furs chemical diffusion 1 cm
concentration
Growth of fingers and chemical diffusion 1 cm
limbs concentration
Symmetry breaking in probably molecular diffusion 1m
embryogenesis, such as the chirality plus
heart on the left chemical
concentration
Cell differentiation and chemical diffusion 10 μm to 30 m

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
appearance of organs concentration
during growth
Prey–predator oscillations reproduction hunger 3 to 17 a
Thinking neuron firing heat dissipation 1 ms, 100 μm

Appearance of order
The appearance of order is a general observation across nature. Fluids in particular ex-
hibit many phenomena where order appears and disappears. Examples include the more
or less regular flickering of a burning candle, the flapping of a flag in the wind, the regular
stream of bubbles emerging from small irregularities in the surface of a champagne glass,
Page 303 and the regular or irregular dripping of a water tap. Figure 202 shows some additional
examples, and so do the figures in this chapter. Other examples include the appearance
of clouds and of regular cloud arrangements in the sky. It can be fascinating to ponder,
during an otherwise boring flight, the mechanisms behind the formation of the cloud
Challenge 625 e shapes and patterns you see from the aeroplane.
Other cases of self-organization are mechanical, such as the formation of mountain
ranges when continents move, the creation of earthquakes, or the formation of laughing
fold at the corners of human eyes.
All growth processes are self-organization phenomena. The appearance of order is
found from the cell differentiation in an embryo inside a woman’s body; the formation
of colour patterns on tigers, tropical fish and butterflies; the symmetrical arrangements
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 45 of flower petals; the formation of biological rhythms; and so on.

Have you ever pondered the incredible way in which teeth grow? A practically in-
organic material forms shapes in the upper and the lower rows fitting exactly into each
Vol. III, page 187 other. How this process is controlled is still a topic of research. Also the formation, before
and after birth, of neural networks in the brain is another process of self-organization.
Even the physical processes at the basis of thinking, involving changing electrical signals,
is to be described in terms of self-organization.
Biological evolution is a special case of growth. Take the evolution of animal shapes.
It turns out that snake tongues are forked because that is the most efficient shape for
Ref. 293 following chemical trails left by prey and other snakes of the same species. (Snakes smell
with the help of their tongue.) The fixed numbers of fingers in human hands or of petals
 352 14 self-organization and chaos

a funnel

y
digital video
camera
x

b
d

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
c

F I G U R E 228 Examples of self-organization for sand: spontaneous appearance of a temporal cycle (a

and b), spontaneous appearance of a periodic pattern (b and c), spontaneous appearance of a
spatiotemporal pattern, namely solitary waves (right) (© Ernesto Altshuler et al.). Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. III, page 334 of flowers are also consequences of self-organization.

Studies into the conditions required for the appearance or disappearance of order have
shown that their description requires only a few common concepts, independently of the
details of the physical system. This is best seen looking at a few simple examples.

Self-organization in sand
All the richness of self-organization reveals itself in the study of plain sand. Why do sand
dunes have ripples, as does the sand floor at the bottom of the sea? How do avalanches
occur on steep heaps of sand? How does sand behave in hourglasses, in mixers, or in
vibrating containers? The results are often surprising.
 the simplicit y of complexit y 353

TA B L E 49 Patterns and a cycle on horizontal sand and on sand-like surfaces in the sea and on land.

Pa t t e r n / c y c l e P e r i o d Amplitude Origin

Under water
Ripples 5 cm 5 mm water waves
Megaripples 1m 0.1 m tides
Sand waves 100 to 800 m 5m tides
Sand banks 2 to 10 km 2 to 20 m tides
In air
Ripples 0.1 m 0.05 m wind
Singing sand 65 to 110 Hz up to 105 dB wind on sand dunes, avalanches

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
making the dune vibrate
Road 0.3 to 0.9 m 0.05 m wheels
corrugations
Ski moguls 5 to 6 m up to 1 m skiers
Elsewhere
On Mars a few km few tens of m wind

F I G U R E 229 Road corrugations

(courtesy David Mays).
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

An overview of self-organization in sand is given in Table 49. For example, as recently

Ref. 294 as 2006, the Cuban research group of Ernesto Altshuler and his colleagues discovered
solitary waves on sand flows (shown in Figure 228). They had already discovered the
revolving river effect on sand piles, shown in the same figure, in 2002. Even more sur-
prisingly, these effects occur only for Cuban sand, and a few rare other types of sand.
The reasons are still unclear.
Ref. 295 Similarly, in 1996 Paul Umbanhowar and his colleagues found that when a flat con-
tainer holding tiny bronze balls (around 0.165 mm in diameter) is shaken up and down
in vacuum at certain frequencies, the surface of this bronze ‘sand’ forms stable heaps.
 354 14 self-organization and chaos

n = 21

n = 23

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
time

F I G U R E 230 Oscillons formed by shaken F I G U R E 231 Magic numbers: 21 spheres, when swirled
bronze balls; horizontal size is about 2 cm in a dish, behave differently from non-magic numbers,
(© Paul Umbanhowar) like 23, of spheres (redrawn from photographs
© Karsten Kötter).

They are shown in Figure 230. These heaps, so-called oscillons, also bob up and down.
The oscillons can move and interact with one another.
Oscillons in bronze sand are a simple example for a general effect in nature: discrete
Ref. 296 systems with nonlinear interactions can exhibit localized excitations. This fascinating
topic is just beginning to be researched. It might well be that one day it will yield results
relevant to our understanding of the growth of organisms.
Sand shows many other pattern-forming processes.
— A mixture of sand and sugar, when poured onto a heap, forms regular layered struc-
tures that in cross section look like zebra stripes.
— Horizontally rotating cylinders with binary mixtures inside them separate the mix- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ture out over time.

— Take a container with two compartments separated by a 1 cm wall. Fill both halves
with sand and rapidly shake the whole container with a machine. Over time, all the
sand will spontaneously accumulate in one half of the container.
— In sand, people have studied the various types of sand dunes that ‘sing’ when the wind
Ref. 297 blows over them.
— Also the corrugations formed by traffic on roads without tarmac, the washboard
roads shown in Figure 229, are an example of self-organization. These corrugation
Challenge
Ref.626
298s patterns move, over time, against the traffic direction. Can you explain why? The
Page 271 moving ski moguls mentioned above also belong here.
In fact, the behaviour of sand and dust is proving to be such a beautiful and fascinating
topic that the prospect of each human returning to dust does not look so grim after all.
 the simplicit y of complexit y 355

F I G U R E 232 Self-organization: a growing snow flake (QuickTime film © Kenneth Libbrecht)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Self-organization of spheres
A stunningly simple and beautiful example of self-organization is the effect discovered in
Ref. 299 1999 by Karsten Kötter and his group. They found that the behaviour of a set of spheres
swirled in a dish depends on the number of spheres used. Usually, all the spheres get
continuously mixed up. But for certain ‘magic’ numbers, such as 21, stable ring patterns
emerge, for which the outside spheres remain outside and the inside ones remain inside.
The rings, best seen by colouring the spheres, are shown in Figure 231.

Appearance of order
The many studies of self-organizing systems have changed our understanding of nature
in a number of ways. First of all, they have shown that patterns and shapes are similar to
cycles: all are due to motion. Without motion, and thus without history, there is no order,
Ref. 300 neither patterns nor shapes nor rhythms. Every pattern has a history; every pattern is a
result of motion. As an example, Figure 232 shows how a snowflake grows.
Secondly, patterns, shapes and rhythms are due to the organized motion of large num-
bers of small constituents. Systems which self-organize are always composite: they are
cooperative structures.
Thirdly, all these systems obey evolution equations which are nonlinear in the macro- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

scopic configuration variables. Linear systems do not self-organize.

Fourthly, the appearance and disappearance of order depends on the strength of a
driving force, the so-called order parameter. Moreover, all order and all structure appears
when two general types of motion compete with each other, namely a ‘driving’, energy-
adding process, and a ‘dissipating’, braking mechanism. Thermodynamics thus plays a
role in all self-organization. Self-organizing systems are always dissipative systems, and
are always far from equilibrium. When the driving and the dissipation are of the same
order of magnitude, and when the key behaviour of the system is not a linear function
of the driving action, order may appear.*

* To describe the ‘mystery’ of human life, terms like ‘fire’, ‘river’ or ‘tree’ are often used as analogies. These
are all examples of self-organized systems: they have many degrees of freedom, have competing driving
 356 14 self-organization and chaos

The mathematics of order appearance

Every pattern, every shape and every rhythm or cycle can be described by some observ-
able A that describes the amplitude of the pattern, shape or rhythm. For example, the
amplitude A can be a length for sand patterns, or a chemical concentration for biological
systems, or a sound pressure for sound appearance.
Order appears when the amplitude A differs from zero. To understand the appearance
of order, one has to understand the evolution of the amplitude A. The study of order has
shown that this amplitude always follows similar evolution equations, independently of
the physical mechanism of system. This surprising result unifies the whole field of self-
organization.
All self-organizing systems at the onset of order appearance can be described by equa-
tions for the pattern amplitude A of the general form

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∂A(t, x)
= λA − μ|A|2 A + κ ΔA + higher orders . (117)
∂t
Here, the observable A – which can be a real or a complex number, in order to describe
phase effects – is the observable that appears when order appears, such as the oscillation
amplitude or the pattern amplitude. The first term λA is the driving term, in which λ is a
parameter describing the strength of the driving. The next term is a typical nonlinearity in
A, with μ a parameter that describes its strength, and the third term κ ΔA = κ(∂2 A/∂x 2 +
∂2 A/∂y 2 + ∂2 A/∂z 2 ) is a typical diffusive and thus dissipative term.
We can distinguish two main situations. In cases where the dissipative term plays no
role (κ = 0), we find that when the driving parameter λ increases above zero, a temporal
Challenge 627 ny oscillation appears, i.e., a stable cycle with non-vanishing amplitude. In cases where the
diffusive term does play a role, equation (117) describes how an amplitude for a spatial
oscillation appears when the driving parameter λ becomes positive, as the solution A = 0
Challenge 628 ny then becomes spatially unstable.
In both cases, the onset of order is called a bifurcation, because at this critical value of
the driving parameter λ the situation with amplitude zero, i.e., the homogeneous (or un-
ordered) state, becomes unstable, and the ordered state becomes stable. In nonlinear sys-
tems, order is stable. This is the main conceptual result of the field. Equation (117) and its
numerous variations allow us to describe many phenomena, ranging from spirals, waves,
Ref. 301 hexagonal patterns, and topological defects, to some forms of turbulence. For every phys-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ical system under study, the main task is to distil the observable A and the parameters λ,
μ and κ from the underlying physical processes.
Self-organization is a vast field which is yielding new results almost by the week. To
discover new topics of study, it is often sufficient to keep one’s eye open; most effects are
Challenge 629 ny comprehensible without advanced mathematics. Enjoy the hunting!

and braking forces, depend critically on their initial conditions, show chaos and irregular behaviour, and
sometimes show cycles and regular behaviour. Humans and human life resemble them in all these respects;
thus there is a solid basis to their use as metaphors. We could even go further and speculate that pure beauty
is pure self-organization. The lack of beauty indeed often results from a disturbed equilibrium between
external braking and external driving.
 the simplicit y of complexit y 357

oscillation, quasiperiodic
fixed point limit cycle motion chaotic motion

configuration variables configuration variables

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 233 Examples of different types of motion in configuration space.

Chaos
Most systems that show self-organization also show another type of motion. When the
driving parameter of a self-organizing system is increased to higher and higher values,
order becomes more and more irregular, and in the end one usually finds chaos.
For physicists, c ha o T c motion is the most irregular type of motion.* Chaos can be
i

defined independently of self-organization, namely as that motion of systems for which

small changes in initial conditions evolve into large changes of the motion (exponentially
with time). This is illustrated in Figure 234. More precisely, chaos is irregular motion char-
acterized by a positive Lyapounov exponent in the presence of a strictly valid evolution.
A simple chaotic system is the damped pendulum above three magnets. Figure 235
shows how regions of predictability (around the three magnet positions) gradually
change into a chaotic region, i.e., a region of effective unpredictability, for higher ini-
tial amplitudes. The weather is also a chaotic system, as are dripping water-taps, the fall
of dice, and many other everyday systems. For example, research on the mechanisms
by which the heart beat is generated has shown that the heart is not an oscillator, but a
chaotic system with irregular cycles. This allows the heart to be continuously ready for
demands for changes in beat rate which arise once the body needs to increase or decrease
Ref. 302 its efforts.
There is chaotic motion also in machines: chaos appears in the motion of trains on the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

rails, in gear mechanisms, and in fire-fighter’s hoses. The precise study of the motion in
Challenge 630 ny a zippo cigarette lighter will probably also yield an example of chaos. The mathematical
description of chaos – simple for some textbook examples, but extremely involved for
others – remains an important topic of research.
Incidentally, can you give a simple argument to show that the so-called butterfly effect
Challenge 631 s does not exist? This ‘effect’ is often cited in newspapers. The claim is that nonlinearities

* On the topic of chaos, see the beautiful book by H. -O. Peitgen, H. Jürgens & D. Saupe, Chaos and
Fractals, Springer Verlag, 1992. It includes stunning pictures, the necessary mathematical background, and
some computer programs allowing personal exploration of the topic. ‘Chaos’ is an old word: according to
Greek mythology, the first goddess, Gaia, i.e., the Earth, emerged from the chaos existing at the beginning.
She then gave birth to the other gods, the animals and the first humans.
 358 14 self-organization and chaos

state value
initial condition 1

initial condition 2

time

F I G U R E 234 Chaos as sensitivity to initial conditions.

The final position of the pendulum depends

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
on the exact initial position:

damped predictable
pendulum region
with metal
weight

chaotic
three colour-coded magnets region

F I G U R E 235 A simple chaotic system: a metal pendulum over three magnets (fractal © Paul Nylander).

imply that a small change in initial conditions can lead to large effects; thus a butterfly
wing beat is alleged to be able to induce a tornado. Even though nonlinearities do indeed
lead to growth of disturbances, the butterfly ‘effect’ has never been observed. Thus it does
not exist. This ‘effect’ exists only to sell books and to get funding.
All the steps from disorder to order, quasiperiodicity and finally to chaos, are exam-
ples of self-organization. These types of motion, illustrated in Figure 233, are observed
in many fluid systems. Their study should lead, one day, to a deeper understanding of
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 303 the mysteries of turbulence. Despite the fascination of this topic, we will not explore it
further, because it does not lead towards the top of Motion Mountain.

Emergence
Self-organization is of interest also for a more general reason. It is sometimes said that
our ability to formulate the patterns or rules of nature from observation does not imply
the ability to predict all observations from these rules. According to this view, so-called
‘emergent’ properties exist, i.e., properties appearing in complex systems as something
new that cannot be deduced from the properties of their parts and their interactions.
(The ideological backdrop to this view is obvious; it is the latest attempt to fight the idea
of determinism.) The study of self-organization has definitely settled this debate. The
 the simplicit y of complexit y 359

properties of water molecules do allow us to predict Niagara Falls.* Similarly, the diffu-
sion of signal molecules do determine the development of a single cell into a full human
being: in particular, cooperative phenomena determine the places where arms and legs
are formed; they ensure the (approximate) right–left symmetry of human bodies, prevent
mix-ups of connections when the cells in the retina are wired to the brain, and explain
the fur patterns on zebras and leopards, to cite only a few examples. Similarly, the mech-
anisms at the origin of the heart beat and many other cycles have been deciphered.
Self-organization provides general principles which allow us in principle to predict
the behaviour of complex systems of any kind. They are presently being applied to the
most complex system in the known universe: the human brain. The details of how it
learns to coordinate the motion of the body, and how it extracts information from the
images in the eye, are being studied intensely. The ongoing work in this domain is fasci-
Ref. 305 nating. (A neglected case of self-organization is humour.) If you plan to become a scien-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 633 ny tist, consider taking this path.
Self-organization research provided the final arguments that confirmed what J. Offrey
de la Mettrie stated and explored in his famous book L’homme machine in 1748: humans
are complex machines. Indeed, the lack of understanding of complex systems in the past
was due mainly to the restrictive teaching of the subject of motion, which usually concen-
trated – as we do in this walk – on examples of motion in simple systems. The concepts
of self-organization allow us to understand and to describe what happens during the
functioning and the growth of organisms.
Even though the subject of self-organization provides fascinating insights, and will do
so for many years to come, we now leave it. We continue with our own adventure, namely
to explore the basics of motion.

“
Ich sage euch: man muss noch Chaos in sich
haben, um einen tanzenden Stern gebären zu
können. Ich sage euch: ihr habt noch Chaos in

”
euch.**
Friedrich Nietzsche, Also sprach Zarathustra.

Curiosities and fun challenges about self-organization

All icicles have a wavy surface, with a crest-to-crest distance of about 1 cm, as shown in
Ref. 306 Figure 236. The distance is determined by the interplay between water flow and surface
Challenge 634 ny cooling. How? (Indeed, stalagtites do not show the effect.)
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

When a fine stream of water leaves a water tap, putting a finger in the stream leads to a
Challenge 635 ny wavy shape, as shown in Figure 237. Why?
∗∗
The research on sand has shown that it is often useful to introduce the concept of granular
* Already small versions of Niagara Falls, namely dripping water taps, show a large range of cooperative
Ref. 304 phenomena, including the chaotic, i.e., non-periodic, fall of water drops. This happens when the water flow
Challenge 632 ny has the correct value, as you can verify in your own kitchen. Several cooperative fluid phenomena have been
simulated even on the molecular level.
** ‘I tell you: one must have chaos inside oneself, in order to give birth to a dancing star. I tell you: you still
have chaos inside you.’
 360 14 self-organization and chaos

water
pipe

pearls
λ finger

F I G U R E 236 F I G U R E 237
The wavy Water pearls.
surface of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
icicles.

F I G U R E 238 A
braiding water stream
(© Vakhtang
Putkaradze).

temperature, which quantifies how fast a region of sand moves. Research into this field
is still in full swing.
∗∗
When water emerges from a oblong opening, the stream forms a braid pattern, as shown
in Figure 238. This effect results from the interplay and competition between inertia and
Ref. 307 surface tension: inertia tends to widen the stream, while surface tension tends to narrow
it. Predicting the distance from one narrow region to the next is still a topic of research.
If the experiment is done in free air, without a plate, one usually observes an additional
effect: there is a chiral braiding at the narrow regions, induced by the asymmetries of the
water flow. You can observe this effect in the toilet! Scientific curiosity knows no limits: Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 636 e are you a right-turner or a left-turner, or both? On every day?

∗∗
When wine is made to swirl in a wine glass, after the motion has calmed down, the wine
flowing down the glass walls forms little arcs. Can you explain in a few words what forms
Challenge 637 ny them?
∗∗
How does the average distance between cars parked along a street change over time, as-
Challenge 638 ny suming a constant rate of cars leaving and arriving?
∗∗
 the simplicit y of complexit y 361

F I G U R E 239 The Belousov-Zhabotinski

reaction: the liquid periodically changes
colour, both in space and time
(© Yamaguchi University).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
A famous case of order appearance is the Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction. This mixture
of chemicals spontaneously produces spatial and temporal patterns. Thin layers pro-
duce slowly rotating spiral patterns, as shown in Figure 239; Large, stirred volumes
oscillate back and forth between two colours. A beautiful movie of the oscillations
can be found on www.uni-r.de/Fakultaeten/nat_Fak_IV/Organische_Chemie/Didaktik/
Keusch/D-oscill-d.htm. The exploration of this reaction led to the Nobel Prize in Chem-
istry for Ilya Prigogine in 1997.
∗∗
Gerhard Müller has discovered a simple but beautiful way to observe self-organization in
solids. His system also provides a model for a famous geological process, the formation of
hexagonal columns in basalt, such as the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. Similar
formations are found in many other places of the Earth. Just take some rice flour or
Ref. 308 corn starch, mix it with about half the same amount of water, put the mixture into a
Challenge 639 e pan and dry it with a lamp: hexagonal columns form. The analogy with basalt structures
is possible because the drying of starch and the cooling of lava are diffusive processes
governed by the same equations, because the boundary conditions are the same, and
because both materials respond to cooling with a small reduction in volume.
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Water flow in pipes can be laminar (smooth) or turbulent (irregular and disordered).
The transition depends on the diameter d of the pipe and the speed 󰑣 of the water. The
transition usually happens when the so-called Reynolds number – defined as R = 󰑣d/η
(η being the kinematic viscosity of the water, around 1 mm2 /s) – becomes greater than
about 2000. (The dynamic viscosity μ is defined as μ = ηρ, where ρ is the density of
Ref. 309 the fluid.) However, careful experiments show that with proper handling, laminar flows
can be produced up to R = 100 000. A linear analysis of the equations of motion of the
fluid, the Navier–Stokes equations, even predicts stability of laminar flow for all Reynolds
numbers. This riddle was solved only in the years 2003 and 2004. First, a complex mathe-
matical analysis showed that the laminar flow is not always stable, and that the transition
to turbulence in a long pipe occurs with travelling waves. Then, in 2004, careful experi-
 362 14 self-organization and chaos

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 240 A famous correspondence: on the left, hexagonal columns in starch, grown in a kitchen
pan (the red lines are 1 cm in length), and on the right, hexagonal columns in basalt, grown from lava in
Northern Ireland (top right, view of around 300 m, and middle right, view of around 40 m) and in
Iceland (view of about 30 m, bottom right) (© Gerhard Müller, Raphael Kessler - www.raphaelk.co.uk,
Bob Pohlad, and Cédric Hüsler). Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ments showed that these travelling waves indeed appear when water is flowing through
Ref. 310 a pipe at large Reynolds numbers.
∗∗
For more beautiful pictures on self-organization in fluids, see the mentioned serve.me.
nus.edu.sg/limtt website.
∗∗
Also dance is an example of self-organization. This type of self-organization takes place in
the brain. Like for all complex movements, learning them is often a challenge. Nowadays
 the simplicit y of complexit y 363

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 241 How the shape of snow crystals depend on temperature and saturation (© Kenneth
Libbrecht).

Ref. 311 there are beautiful books that tell how physics can help you improve your dancing skills
and the grace of your movements.
∗∗
Do you want to enjoy working on your PhD? Go into a scientific toy shop, and look for
any toy that moves in a complex way. There are high chances that the motion is chaotic;
explore the motion and present a thesis about it. For example, go to the extreme: explore Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the motion of a hanging rope whose upper end is externally driven. This simple system
is fascinating in its range of complex motion behaviours.
∗∗
Self-organization is also observed in liquid corn starch–water mixtures. Enjoy the
film at www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2XQ97XHjVw and watch even more bizarre effects,
for humans walking over a pool filled with the liquid, on www.youtube.com/watch?
v=nq3ZjY0Uf-g.
∗∗
Snow flakes and snow crystals have already been mentioned as examples of self-
organization. Figure 241 shows the general connection. To learn more about this fasci-
 364 14 self-organization and chaos

nating topic, explore the wonderful website snowcrystals.com by Kenneth Libbrecht. A

Ref. 312 complete classification of snow crystals has also been developed.
∗∗
A famous example of self-organization whose mechanisms are not well-known so far, is
the hiccup. It is known that the vagus nerve plays a role in it. Like for many other exam-
ples of self-organization, it takes quite some energy to get rid of a hiccup. Modern exper-
imental research has shown that orgasms, which strongly stimulate the vagus nerve, are
excellent ways to overcome hiccups. One of these researchers has won the 2006 IgNobel
Prize for medicine for his work.
∗∗
Another important example of self-organization is the weather. If you want to know more

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
about the known connections between the weather and the quality of human life on
Ref. 313 Earth, free of any ideology, read the wonderful book by Reichholf. It explains how the
weather between the continents is connected and describes how and why the weather
changed in the last one thousand years.
∗∗
Does self-organization or biological evolution contradict the second principle of thermo-
dynamics? Of course not. Self-organization can even be shown to follow from the second
principle, as any textbook on the topic will explain. Also for evolution there is no contra-
Ref. 314 diction, as the Earth is not a closed thermodynamic system. Statements of the opposite
are only made by crooks.
∗∗
Are systems that show self-organization the most complex ones that can be studied with
evolution equations? No. The most complex systems are those that consist of many in-
teracting self-organizing systems. The obvious example are swarms. Swarms of birds, as
Ref. 315 shown in Figure 242, of fish, of insects and of people – for example in a stadium or in
cars on a highway – have been studied extensively and are still a subject of research. Their
beauty is fascinating.
The other example of many interconnected self-organized systems is the brain; the
exploration of how the interconnected neurons work will occupy researchers for many Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

years. We will explore some aspects in the next volumes.

Summary on self-organization and chaos

Appearance of order, in form of patterns, shapes and cycles, is not due to a decrease
in entropy, but to a competition between driving causes and dissipative effects in open
systems. Such appearance of order is predictable with (quite) simple equations. Also bi-
ological evolution is the appearance of order. It occurs automatically and obeys simple
equations.
Chaos, the sensitivity to initial conditions, is common in strongly driven open sys-
tems, is at the basis of everyday chance, and often is described by simple equations. In
nature, complexity is apparent. Motion is simple.
 Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
365

F I G U R E 242 A

that visitors in

observe every
typical swarm

fall (© Andrea

agna/Physics
of starlings

Rome can

Today).
Cav-
the simplicit y of complexit y
 C h a p t e r 15

FROM THE LIMITATIONS OF PHYSIC S

TO THE LIMIT S OF MOTION

“ ”
I only know that I know nothing.
Socrates, as cited by Plato

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
W
e have explored, so far, the everyday concept of motion.
e called this exploration of moving objects and fluids Galilean physics.
e found that in all these cases, motion is predictable: nature shows no
surprises and no miracles. In particular, we have found six important aspects of this
predictability:

1. Everyday motion is continuous. Motion allows us to define space and time.

2. Everyday motion conserves mass, momentum, energy and angular momentum. Noth-
ing appears out of nothing.
3. Everyday motion is relative: motion depends on the observer.
4. Everyday motion is reversible: everyday motion can occur backwards.
5. Everyday motion is mirror-invariant: everyday motion can occur in a mirror-reversed
way.

The last property is the most important, and in addition contains the previous ones:

6. Everyday motion is lazy: motion happens in a way that minimizes change, i.e., phys-
ical action.

This Galilean description of nature made engineering possible: textile machines, steam
engines, combustion motors, kitchen appliances, many children toys, fitness machines
and all the progress in the quality of life that came with these devices are due to the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

results of Galilean physics. But despite these successes, Socrates’ saying, cited above, still
applies to Galilean physics. Let us see why.

Research topics in classical dynamics

Even though mechanics and thermodynamics are now several hundred years old, re-
search into its details is still ongoing. For example, we have already mentioned above
that it is unclear whether the solar system is stable. The long-term future of the planets is
unknown! In general, the behaviour of few-body systems interacting through gravitation
Ref. 316 is still a research topic of mathematical physics. Answering the simple question of how
long a given set of bodies gravitating around each other will stay together is a formidable
challenge. The history of this so-called many-body problem is long and involved. Interest-
 to the limits of motion 367

TA B L E 50 Examples of errors in state-of-the art measurements (numbers in brackets give one standard
deviation in the last digits), partly taken from physics.nist.gov/constants.

O b s e r va t i o n Measurement Precision /
accuracy

Highest precision achieved: ratio between −1.001 159 652 180 76(24) 2.6 ⋅ 10−13
the electron magnetic moment and the
Bohr magneton μe /μB
High precision: Rydberg constant 10 973 731.568 539(55) m−1 5.0 ⋅ 10−12
High precision: astronomical unit 149 597 870.691(30) km 2.0 ⋅ 10−10
Industrial precision: part dimension 1 μm of 20 cm 5 ⋅ 10−6
tolerance in an automobile engine
Low precision: gravitational constant G 6.674 28(67) ⋅ 10−11 Nm2 /kg2 1.0 ⋅ 10−4

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Everyday precision: human circadian 15 h to 75 h 2
clock governing sleep

ing progress has been achieved, but the final answer still eludes us.
Many challenges remain in the fields of self-organization, of nonlinear evolution equa-
tions, and of chaotic motion. In these fields, turbulence is the most famous example: a pre-
cise description of turbulence has not yet been achieved. This and the other challenges
motivate numerous researchers in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine
and the other natural sciences.
But apart from these research topics, classical physics leaves unanswered several basic
questions.

What is contact?

“
Democritus declared that there is a unique sort

”
of motion: that ensuing from collision.
Simplicius, Commentary on the Physics of
Ref. 317 Aristotle, 42, 10

Of the questions unanswered by classical physics, the details of contact and collisions are
among the most pressing. Indeed, we defined mass in terms of velocity changes during Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 92 collisions. But why do objects change their motion in such instances? Why are collisions
between two balls made of chewing gum different from those between two stainless-steel
balls? What happens during those moments of contact?
Contact is related to material properties, which in turn influence motion in a complex
way. The complexity is such that the sciences of material properties developed indepen-
dently from the rest of physics for a long time; for example, the techniques of metallurgy
(often called the oldest science of all), of chemistry and of cooking were related to the
properties of motion only in the twentieth century, after having been independently pur-
sued for thousands of years. Since material properties determine the essence of contact,
we need knowledge about matter and about materials to understand the notion of mass,
and thus of motion. The parts of our mountain ascent that deal with quantum theory
will reveal these connections.
 368 15 from the limitations of physics

Precision and accuracy

Ref. 318 Precision has its own fascination. How many digits of π, the ratio between circumference
Challenge 640 e and diameter of a circle, do you know by heart? What is the largest number of digits of
π you have calculated yourself?
Is it possible to draw or cut a rectangle for which the ratio of lengths is a real number,
Challenge 641 s e.g. of the form 0.131520091514001315211420010914..., whose digits encode a book? (A
simple method would code a space as 00, the letter ‘a’ as 01, ‘b’ as 02, ‘c’ as 03, etc. Even
more interestingly, could the number be printed inside its own book?)
Why are so many measurement results, such as those of Table 50, of limited precision,
even if the budget is almost unlimited? These are questions about precision.
When we started climbing Motion Mountain, we explained that gaining height means
increasing the precision of our description of nature. To make even this statement itself

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
more precise, we distinguish between two terms: precision is the degree of reproducibil-
ity; accuracy is the degree of correspondence to the actual situation. Both concepts apply
to measurements,* to statements and to physical concepts.
Statements with false accuracy and false precision abound. What should we think
of a car company – Ford – who claim that the drag coefficient cw of a certain model
Challenge 642 s is 0.375? Or of the official claim that the world record in fuel consumption for cars is
2315.473 km/l? Or of the statement that 70.3 % of all citizens share a certain opinion?
One lesson we learn from investigations into measurement errors is that we should never
provide more digits for a result than we can put our hand into fire for.
Page 383 In short, precision and accuracy are limited. At present, the record number of reliable
digits ever measured for a physical quantity is 13. Why so few? Classical physics doesn’t
provide an answer at all. What is the maximum number of digits we can expect in mea-
surements; what determines it; and how can we achieve it? These questions are still open
at this point in our ascent; they will be covered in the parts on quantum theory.
In our walk we aim for highest possible precision and accuracy, while avoiding false
accuracy. Therefore, concepts have mainly to be precise, and descriptions have to be accu-
rate. Any inaccuracy is a proof of lack of understanding. To put it bluntly, in our adven-
ture, ‘inaccurate’ means wrong. Increasing the accuracy and precision of our description
of nature implies leaving behind us all the mistakes we have made so far. This quest raises
several issues.

Can all of nature be described in a book?

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Could the perfect physics publication, one that describes all of nature, exist? If it does, it
must also describe itself, its own production – including its readers and its author – and
most important of all, its own contents. Is such a book possible? Using the concept of
information, we can state that such a book should contain all information contained in
the universe. Is this possible? Let us check the options.
If nature requires an infinitely long book to be fully described, such a publication ob-
viously cannot exist. In this case, only approximate descriptions of nature are possible
and a perfect physics book is impossible.

* For measurements, both precision and accuracy are best described by their standard deviation, as ex-
plained on page 388.
 to the limits of motion 369

If nature requires a finite amount of information for its description, there are two op-
tions. One is that the information of the universe is so large that it cannot be summarized
in a book; then a perfect physics book is again impossible. The other option is that the
universe does contain a finite amount of information and that it can be summarized in
a few short statements. This would imply that the rest of the universe would not add to
the information already contained in the perfect physics book. But in this case, it seems
that the entropy of the book and the entropy of the universe must be similar. This is also
impossible, or at least unlikely.
We note that the answer to this puzzle also implies the answer to another puzzle:
whether a brain can contain a full description of nature. In other words, the real question
is: can we understand nature? Is our hike to the top of motion mountain possible? We
usually believe this.
But the arguments just given imply that we believe something which seems unlikely:

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
we believe that the universe does not contain more information than what our brain
could contain or even contains already. Do we have an error in our arguments? Yes, we
do. The terms ‘universe’ and ‘information’ are not used correctly in the above reasoning,
Vol. III, page 102 as you might want to verify. We will solve this puzzle later in our adventure. Until then,
Challenge 643 e do make up your own mind.

Something is wrong about our description of motion

“
Darum kann es in der Logik auch nie

”
Überraschungen geben.*
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 6.1251

We described nature in a rather simple way. Objects are permanent and massive entities
localized in space-time. States are changing properties of objects, described by position
in space and instant in time, by energy and momentum, and by their rotational equiv-
alents. Time is the relation between events measured by a clock. Clocks are devices in
undisturbed motion whose position can be observed. Space and position is the relation
between objects measured by a metre stick. Metre sticks are devices whose shape is subdi-
vided by some marks, fixed in an invariant and observable manner. Motion is change of
position with time (times mass); it is determined, does not show surprises, is conserved
(even in death), and is due to gravitation and other interactions.
Even though this description works rather well in practice, it contains a circular def-
Challenge 644 s inition. Can you spot it? Each of the two central concepts of motion is defined with the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

help of the other. Physicists worked for about 200 years on classical mechanics without
noticing or wanting to notice the situation. Even thinkers with an interest in discredit-
ing science did not point it out. Can an exact science be based on a circular definition?
Challenge 645 s Obviously yes, and physics has done quite well so far. Is the situation unavoidable in prin-
ciple? Undoing this logical loop is one of the aims of the rest of our walk. We will achieve
the solution in the last leg of our adventure. To achieve the solution, we need to increase
substantially the level of precision in our description of motion.
Whenever precision is increased, imagination is restricted. We will discover that many
types of motion that seem possible are not. Motion is limited. Nature limits speed, size,

* ‘Hence there can never be surprises in logic.’

 370 15 from the limitations of physics

acceleration, mass, force, power and many other quantities. Continue reading the other
parts of this adventure only if you are prepared to exchange fantasy for precision. It will
be no loss, because exploring the precise working of nature will turn out to be more
fascinating than any fantasy.

Why is measurement possible?

In the description of gravity given so far, the one that everybody learns – or should learn
– at school, acceleration is connected to mass and distance via a = GM/r 2 . That’s all.
But this simplicity is deceiving. In order to check whether this description is correct, we
have to measure lengths and times. However, it is impossible to measure lengths and time
intervals with any clock or any ruler based on the gravitational interaction alone! Try
Challenge 646 s to conceive such an apparatus and you will be inevitably be disappointed. You always

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
need a non-gravitational method to start and stop the stopwatch. Similarly, when you
measure length, e.g. of a table, you have to hold a ruler or some other device near it. The
interaction necessary to line up the ruler and the table cannot be gravitational.
A similar limitation applies even to mass measurements. Try to measure mass using
Challenge 647 s gravitation alone. Any scale or balance needs other – usually mechanical, electromag-
netic or optical – interactions to achieve its function. Can you confirm that the same
Challenge 648 s applies to speed and to angle measurements? In summary, whatever method we use, in
order to measure velocity, length, time, and mass, interactions other than gravity are needed.
Our ability to measure shows that gravity is not all there is.
In short, Galilean physics does not explain our ability to measure. In fact, it does not
even explain the existence of measurement standards. Why do objects have fixed lengths?
Why do clocks work with regularity? Galilean physics cannot explain these observations;
we will need relativity and quantum physics to find out.

Is motion unlimited?
Galilean physics suggests that motion could go on forever. In fact, Galilean physics makes
no clear statements on the universe as a whole. It tacitly suggests that it is infinite. Indeed,
finitude does not fit with the Galilean description of motion. On the other hand, we know
Challenge 649 e that the universe is not infinite: if it were infinite, the night would not be dark. Galilean
physics is thus limited in its explanations because it disregards this and other limits to
motion. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In particular, Galilean physics suggests that speeds can have any value. But the ex-
istence of infinite speeds in nature would not allow us to define time sequences. Clocks
would be impossible. In other words, a description of nature that allows unlimited speeds
is not precise. Precision requires limits. To achieve the highest possible precision, we
need to discover all limits to motion. So far, we have discovered only one: there is a
smallest entropy. We now turn to another, more striking one: the limit for speed of en-
ergy, objects and signals. To understand this limit, in the next volume we will explore the
most rapid motion of energy, objects and signals that we know: the motion of light.
 Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
371
to the limits of motion
 Appendix A

NOTATION AND C ONV ENTIONS

N
ewly introduced concepts are indicated, throughout this text, by italic typeface.
ew definitions are also referred to in the index. In this text,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
aturally we use the international SI units; they are defined in Appendix B.
Page 383 Experimental results are cited with limited precision, usually only two digits, as this is
almost always sufficient for our purposes. High-precision reference values for important
Page 383 quantities can also be found in Appendix B. Additional precision values on composite
Vol. V, page 264 physical systems are given in volume V.
But the information that is provided in this volume uses some additional conventions
that are worth a second look.

The L atin alphabet

“
What is written without effort is in general read

”
Ref. 319 without pleasure.
Samuel Johnson

Books are collections of symbols. Writing was probably invented between 3400 and 3300
bce by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia (though other possibilities are also discussed). It
then took over a thousand years before people started using symbols to represent sounds
instead of concepts: this is the way in which the first alphabet was created. This happened
between 2000 and 1600 bce (possibly in Egypt) and led to the Semitic alphabet. The use
of an alphabet had so many advantages that it was quickly adopted in all neighbouring
cultures, though in different forms. As a result, the Semitic alphabet is the forefather of
all alphabets used in the world.
This text is written using the Latin alphabet. At first sight, this seems to imply that
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

its pronunciation cannot be explained in print, in contrast to the pronunciation of other

alphabets or of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). (They can be explained using
the alphabet of the main text.) However, it is in principle possible to write a text that
describes exactly how to move lips, mouth and tongue for each letter, using physical con-
cepts where necessary. The descriptions of pronunciations found in dictionaries make
indirect use of this method: they refer to the memory of pronounced words or sounds
found in nature.
Historically, the Latin alphabet was derived from the Etruscan, which itself was a
derivation of the Greek alphabet. There are two main forms.
 a notation and conventions 373

The ancient Latin alphabet,

used from the sixth century bce onwards:
A B C D E F Z H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X

The classical Latin alphabet,

used from the second century bce until the eleventh century:
A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z

The letter G was added in the third century bce by the first Roman to run a fee-paying
school, Spurius Carvilius Ruga. He added a horizontal bar to the letter C and substituted
the letter Z, which was not used in Latin any more, for this new letter. In the second
century bce, after the conquest of Greece, the Romans included the letters Y and Z from

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the Greek alphabet at the end of their own (therefore effectively reintroducing the Z) in
order to be able to write Greek words. This classical Latin alphabet was stable for the next
thousand years.*
The classical Latin alphabet was spread around Europe, Africa and Asia by the Ro-
mans during their conquests; due to its simplicity it began to be used for writing in nu-
merous other languages. Most modern ‘Latin’ alphabets include a few other letters. The
letter W was introduced in the eleventh century in French and was then adopted in most
European languages.** The letter U was introduced in the mid fifteenth century in Italy,
Ref. 320 the letter J at the end of that century in Spain, to distinguish certain sounds which had
previously been represented by V and I. The distinction proved a success and was already
common in most European languages in the sixteenth century. The contractions æ and
œ date from the Middle Ages. The German alphabet includes the sharp s, written ß, a
contraction of ‘ss’ or ‘sz’, and the Nordic alphabets added thorn, written Þ or þ, and eth,
Ref. 321 written Ð or ð, both taken from the futhorc,*** and other signs.
Lower-case letters were not used in classical Latin; they date only from the Middle
Ages, from the time of Charlemagne. Like most accents, such as ê, ç or ä, which were
also first used in the Middle Ages, lower-case letters were introduced to save the then
expensive paper surface by shortening written words.

“
Outside a dog, a book is a man’s best friend.

”
Inside a dog, it’s too dark to read.
Groucho Marx
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* To meet Latin speakers and writers, go to www.alcuinus.net.

** In Turkey, still in 2008, you can be convoked in front of a judge if you use the letters w, q or x in an official
letter; these letters only exist in the Kurdish language, not in Turkish. Using them is ‘unturkish’ behaviour
and punishable by law. It is not generally known how physics teachers cope with this situation.
*** The Runic script, also called Futhark or Futhorc, a type of alphabet used in the Middle Ages in Germanic,
Anglo–Saxon and Nordic countries, probably also derives from the Etruscan alphabet. The name derives
from the first six letters: f, u, th, a (or o), r, k (or c). The third letter is the letter thorn mentioned above; it is
often written ‘Y’ in Old English, as in ‘Ye Olde Shoppe.’ From the runic alphabet Old English also took the
Ref. 322 letter wyn to represent the ‘w’ sound, and the already mentioned eth. (The other letters used in Old English
– not from futhorc – were the yogh, an ancient variant of g, and the ligatures æ or Æ, called ash, and œ or
Œ, called ethel.)
 374 a notation and conventions

TA B L E 51 The ancient and classical Greek alphabets, and the correspondence with Latin and Indian
digits.

Anc. Cl ass. Name Corresp. Anc. Cl ass. Name Corresp.

Α Α α alpha a 1 Ν Ν ν nu n 50
Β Β β beta b 2 Ξ Ξ ξ xi x 60
Γ Γ γ gamma g, n1 3 Ο Ο ο omicron o 70
Δ Δ δ delta d 4 Π Π π pi p 80
Ε Ε ε epsilon e 5 P Ϟ, qoppa3 q 90
F ϝ, Ϛ digamma, w 6 Ρ Ρ ρ rho r, rh 100
stigma2 Σ Σ σ, ς sigma4 s 200
Ζ Ζ ζ zeta z 7 Τ Τ τ tau t 300
y, u5

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Η Η η eta e 8 Υ υ upsilon 400
Θ Θ θ theta th 9 Φ φ phi ph, f 500
Ι Ι ι iota i, j 10 Χ χ chi ch 600
Κ Κ κ kappa k 20 Ψ ψ psi ps 700
Λ Λ λ lambda l 30 Ω ω omega o 800
Μ Μ μ mu m 40 Λ Ϡ
v sampi6 s 900

The regional archaic letters yot, sha and san are not included in the table. The letter san was the ancestor of
sampi.
1. Only if before velars, i.e., before kappa, gamma, xi and chi.
2. ‘Digamma’ is the name used for the F-shaped form. It was mainly used as a letter (but also sometimes,
in its lower-case form, as a number), whereas the shape and name ‘stigma’ is used only for the number.
Both names were derived from the respective shapes; in fact, the stigma is a medieval, uncial version of the
digamma. The name ‘stigma’ is derived from the fact that the letter looks like a sigma with a tau attached un-
der it – though unfortunately not in all modern fonts. The original letter name, also giving its pronunciation,
was ‘waw’.
3. The version of qoppa that looks like a reversed and rotated z is still in occasional use in modern Greek.
Unicode calls this version ‘koppa’.
4. The second variant of sigma is used only at the end of words.
5. Uspilon corresponds to ‘u’ only as the second letter in diphthongs.
6. In older times, the letter sampi was positioned between pi and qoppa.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The Greek alphabet

The Latin alphabet was derived from the Etruscan; the Etruscan from the Greek. The
Greek alphabet was itself derived from the Phoenician or a similar northern Semitic al-
Ref. 323 phabet in the tenth century bce. The Greek alphabet, for the first time, included letters
also for vowels, which the Semitic alphabets lacked (and often still lack). In the Phoeni-
cian alphabet and in many of its derivatives, such as the Greek alphabet, each letter has a
proper name. This is in contrast to the Etruscan and Latin alphabets. The first two Greek
letter names are, of course, the origin of the term alphabet itself.
In the tenth century bce, the Ionian or ancient (eastern) Greek alphabet consisted of
the upper-case letters only. In the sixth century bce several letters were dropped, while
a few new ones and the lower-case versions were added, giving the classical Greek alpha-
a notation and conventions 375

bet. Still later, accents, subscripts and breathings were introduced. Table 51 also gives the
values signified by the letters took when they were used as numbers. For this special use,
the obsolete ancient letters were kept during the classical period; thus they also acquired
lower-case forms.
The Latin correspondence in the table is the standard classical one, used for writing
Greek words. The question of the correct pronunciation of Greek has been hotly debated
in specialist circles; the traditional Erasmian pronunciation does not correspond either
to the results of linguistic research, or to modern Greek. In classical Greek, the sound that
sheep make was βη–βη. (Erasmian pronunciation wrongly insists on a narrow η; modern
Greek pronunciation is different for β, which is now pronounced ‘v’, and for η, which is
now pronounced as ‘i:’ – a long ‘i’.) Obviously, the pronunciation of Greek varied from
region to region and over time. For Attic Greek, the main dialect spoken in the classical
period, the question is now settled. Linguistic research has shown that chi, phi and theta

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
were less aspirated than usually pronounced in English and sounded more like the initial
sounds of ‘cat’, ‘perfect’ and ‘tin’; moreover, the zeta seems to have been pronounced more
like ‘zd’ as in ‘buzzed’. As for the vowels, contrary to tradition, epsilon is closed and short
whereas eta is open and long; omicron is closed and short whereas omega is wide and
long, and upsilon is really a sound like a French ‘u’ or German ‘ü.’
The Greek vowels can have rough or smooth breathings, subscripts, and acute, grave,
circumflex or diaeresis accents. Breathings – used also on ρ – determine whether the
letter is aspirated. Accents, which were interpreted as stresses in the Erasmian pronunci-
ation, actually represented pitches. Classical Greek could have up to three of these added
signs per letter; modern Greek never has more than one.
Another descendant of the Greek alphabet* is the Cyrillic alphabet, which is used
with slight variations, in many Slavic languages, such as Russian and Bulgarian. How-
ever, there is no standard transcription from Cyrillic to Latin, so that often the same
Russian name is spelled differently in different countries or even in the same country on
different occasions.
TA B L E 52 The beginning of the Hebrew abjad.

L et ter Name Correspondence

ℵ aleph a 1
ℶ beth b 2
ℷ gimel g 3
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ℸ daleth d 4
etc.

* The Greek alphabet is also the origin of the Gothic alphabet, which was defined in the fourth century by
Wulfila for the Gothic language, using also a few signs from the Latin and futhorc scripts.
The Gothic alphabet is not to be confused with the so-called Gothic letters, a style of the Latin alphabet
used all over Europe from the eleventh century onwards. In Latin countries, Gothic letters were replaced
in the sixteenth century by the Antiqua, the ancestor of the type in which this text is set. In other countries,
Gothic letters remained in use for much longer. They were used in type and handwriting in Germany until
1941, when the National Socialist government suddenly abolished them, in order to comply with popular de-
mand. They remain in sporadic use across Europe. In many physics and mathematics books, Gothic letters
are used to denote vector quantities.
 376 a notation and conventions

The Hebrew alphabet and other scripts

The Phoenician alphabet is also the origin of the Hebrew consonant alphabet or abjad. Its
Ref. 324 first letters are given in Table 52. Only the letter aleph is commonly used in mathematics,
Vol. III, page 226 though others have been proposed.
Around one hundred writing systems are in use throughout the world. Experts clas-
sify them into five groups. Phonemic alphabets, such as Latin or Greek, have a sign for
each consonant and vowel. Abjads or consonant alphabets, such as Hebrew or Arabic,
have a sign for each consonant (sometimes including some vowels, such as aleph), and
do not write (most) vowels; most abjads are written from right to left. Abugidas, also
called syllabic alphabets or alphasyllabaries, such as Balinese, Burmese, Devanagari, Taga-
log, Thai, Tibetan or Lao, write consonants and vowels; each consonant has an inherent
vowel which can be changed into the others by diacritics. Syllabaries, such as Hiragana

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
or Ethiopic, have a sign for each syllable of the language. Finally, complex scripts, such
as Chinese, Mayan or the Egyptian hieroglyphs, use signs which have both sound and
meaning. Writing systems can have text flowing from right to left, from bottom to top,
and can count book pages in the opposite sense to this book.
Even though there are about 7000 languages on Earth, there are only about one hun-
Ref. 325 dred writing systems used today. About fifty other writing systems have fallen out of use.*
For physical and mathematical formulae, though, the sign system used in this text, based
on Latin and Greek letters, written from left to right and from top to bottom, is a standard
the world over. It is used independently of the writing system of the text containing it.

Numbers and the Indian digits

Both the digits and the method used in this text to write numbers originated in India.
Ref. 326 They were brought to the Mediterranean by Arabic mathematicians in the Middle Ages.
The number system used in this text is thus much younger than the alphabet.** The In-
dian numbers were made popular in Europe by Leonardo of Pisa, called Fibonacci,***
in his book Liber Abaci or ‘Book of Calculation’, which he published in 1202. That book
revolutionized mathematics. Anybody with paper and a pen (the pencil had not yet been
invented) was now able to calculate and write down numbers as large as reason allowed,
or even larger, and to perform calculations with them. Fibonacci’s book started:

Novem figure indorum he sunt 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. Cum his itaque novem fig-

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

uris, et cum hoc signo 0, quod arabice zephirum appellatur, scribitur quilibet
numerus, ut inferius demonstratur.****

* A well-designed website on the topic is www.omniglot.com. The main present and past writing systems
are encoded in the Unicode standard, which at present contains 52 writing systems. See www.unicode.org.
** It is not correct to call the digits 0 to 9 Arabic. Both the digits used in Arabic texts and the digits used in
Latin texts such as this one derive from the Indian digits. Only the digits 0, 2, 3 and 7 resemble those used
in Arabic writing, and then only if they are turned clockwise by 90°.
*** Leonardo di Pisa, called Fibonacci (b. c. 1175 Pisa, d. 1250 Pisa), Italian mathematician, and the most
important mathematician of his time.
**** ‘The nine figures of the Indians are: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. With these nine figures, and with this sign 0 which
in Arabic is called zephirum, any number can be written, as will be demonstrated below.’
 a notation and conventions 377

The Indian method of writing numbers, the Indian number system, introduced two innov-
ations: a large one, the positional system, and a small one, the digit zero. The positional
system, as described by Fibonacci, was so much more efficient that it completely replaced
the previous Roman number system, which writes 1996 as IVMM or MCMIVC or MCMXCVI,
as well as the Greek number system, in which the Greek letters were used for numbers in
the way shown in Table 51, thus writing 1996 as ͵αϠϞϚʹ. Compared to these systems, the
Indian numbers are a much better technology.
The Indian number system proved so practical that calculations done on paper com-
pletely eliminated the need for the abacus, which therefore fell into disuse. The abacus is
still in use only in those countries which do not use a positional system to write numbers.
The Indian number system also eliminated the need for systems to represent numbers
with fingers. Such ancient systems, which could show numbers up to 10 000 and more,
have left only one trace: the term ‘digit’ itself, which derives from the Latin word for

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
finger.
The power of the positional number system is often forgotten. But only a positional
number system allows mental calculations and makes calculating prodigies possible.*

The symbols used in the text

“
To avoide the tediouse repetition of these
woordes: is equalle to: I will sette as I doe often
in woorke use, a paire of paralleles, or Gemowe
lines of one lengthe, thus: = , bicause noe .2.

”
thynges, can be moare equalle.
Robert Recorde**

Besides text and numbers, physics books contain other symbols. Most symbols have
been developed over hundreds of years, so that only the clearest and simplest are now
in use. In this mountain ascent, the symbols used as abbreviations for physical quantities
are all taken from the Latin or Greek alphabets and are always defined in the context
where they are used. The symbols designating units, constants and particles are defined
Page 383 in Appendix B and in Appendix B of volume V. There is an international standard for
them (ISO 80000, formerly ISO 31), but it is shamefully expensive and thus virtually inac-
Ref. 324 cessible; the symbols used in this text therefore are those in common use.
The mathematical symbols used in this text, in particular those for operations and
relations, are given in the following list, together with their origins. The details of their
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 328 history have been extensively studied in the literature.

* Currently, the shortest time for finding the thirteenth (integer) root of a hundred-digit (integer) number,
a result with 8 digits, is 11.8 seconds. For more about the stories and the methods of calculating prodigies,
Ref. 327 see the bibliography.
** Robert Recorde (c. 1510–1558), English mathematician and physician; he died in prison because of debts.
The quotation is from his The Whetstone of Witte, 1557. An image showing the quote can be found at en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Equals_sign. It is usually suggested that the quote is the first introduction of the equal
sign; claims that Italian mathematicians used the equal sign before Recorde are not backed up by convincing
Ref. 328 examples.
378 a notation and conventions

Symbol Meaning Origin

+, − plus, minus Johannes Widmann 1489; the plus sign

is derived from Latin ‘et’.
󵀂 read as ‘square root’ used by Christoff Rudolff in 1525; the
sign evolved from a point.
= equal to Robert Recorde 1557
{ }, [ ], ( ) grouping symbols use starts in the sixteenth century
>, < larger than, smaller than Thomas Harriot 1631
× multiplied with, times England c. 1600, made popular by
William Oughtred 1631
an a to the power n, a ⋅ ... ⋅ a (n factors) René Descartes 1637
x, y, z coordinates, unknowns René Descartes 1637

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ax +by + c = 0 constants and equations for unknowns René Descartes 1637
∞ infinity John Wallis 1655
d/dx, dx, derivative, differential, integral Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 1675
∫ y dx
: divided by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 1684
⋅ multiplied with, times Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz c. 1690
a1 , an indices Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz c. 1690
similar to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz c. 1690
π circle number, 4 arctan 1 William Jones 1706
φx function of x Johann Bernoulli 1718
f x, f (x) function of x Leonhard Euler 1734
e ∑∞ 1
n=0 n! = lim n→∞ (1 + 1/n) n
Leonhard Euler 1736
󳰀
f (x) derivative of function at x Giseppe Lagrangia 1770
Δx, ∑ difference, sum Leonhard Euler 1755
i imaginary unit, +󵀂−1 Leonhard Euler 1777
̸= is different from Leonhard Euler eighteenth century
∂/∂x partial derivative, read like ‘d/dx’ it was derived from a cursive form of ‘d’
or of the letter ‘dey’ of the Cyrillic alpha-
bet by Adrien-Marie Legendre in 1786
and made popular by Carl Gustav Jacobi
in 1841
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

n! faculty, 1 ⋅ 2 ⋅ ...⋅ Christian Kramp 1808

Δ Laplace operator Robert Murphy 1833
|x| absolute value Karl Weierstrass 1841
∇ read as ‘nabla’ (or ‘del’) introduced by William Hamilton in
1853 and Peter Tait in 1867, named after
the shape of an old Egyptian musical in-
strument
⊂, ⊃ set inclusion Ernst Schröder in 1890
∪, ∩ set union and intersection Giuseppe Peano 1888
∈ element of Giuseppe Peano 1888
⊗ dyadic product or tensor product or unknown
outer product
⟨ψ|, |ψ⟩ bra and ket state vectors Paul Dirac 1930
0 empty set André Weil as member of the Nicolas
Bourbaki group in the early twentieth
century
[x] the measurement unit of a quantity x twentieth century
 a notation and conventions 379

Other signs used here have more complicated origins. The & sign is a contraction of Latin
Ref. 329 et meaning ‘and’, as is often more clearly visible in its variations, such as &, the common
italic form.
Each of the punctuation signs used in sentences with modern Latin alphabets, such
as , . ; : ! ? ‘ ’ » « – ( ) ... has its own history. Many are from ancient Greece, but the
Ref. 330 question mark is from the court of Charlemagne, and exclamation marks appear first in
the sixteenth century.* The @ or at-sign probably stems from a medieval abbreviation
Ref. 331 of Latin ad, meaning ‘at’, similarly to how the & sign evolved from Latin et. In recent
years, the smiley :-) and its variations have become popular. The smiley is in fact a new
version of the ‘point of irony’ which had been formerly proposed, without success, by
A. de Brahm (1868–1942).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The section sign § dates from the thirteenth century in northern Italy, as was shown
Ref. 332 by the German palaeographer Paul Lehmann. It was derived from ornamental versions
of the capital letter C for capitulum, i.e., ‘little head’ or ‘chapter.’ The sign appeared first
in legal texts, where it is still used today, and then spread into other domains.
The paragraph sign ¶ was derived from a simpler ancient form looking like the Greek
letter Γ, a sign which was used in manuscripts from ancient Greece until well into the
Middle Ages to mark the start of a new text paragraph. In the Middle Ages it took the
modern form, probably because a letter c for caput was added in front of it.
Ref. 333 One of the most important signs of all, the white space separating words, was due to
Celtic and Germanic influences when these people started using the Latin alphabet. It
became commonplace between the ninth and the thirteenth century, depending on the
language in question.

Calendars
The many ways to keep track of time differ greatly from civilization to civilization. The
most common calendar, and the one used in this text, is also one of the most absurd, as
it is a compromise between various political forces who tried to shape it.
In ancient times, independent localized entities, such as tribes or cities, preferred lu-
nar calendars, because lunar timekeeping is easily organized locally. This led to the use
of the month as a calendar unit. Centralized states imposed solar calendars, based on the
year. Solar calendars require astronomers, and thus a central authority to finance them.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

For various reasons, farmers, politicians, tax collectors, astronomers, and some, but not
all, religious groups wanted the calendar to follow the solar year as precisely as possible.
The compromises necessary between days and years are the origin of leap days. The com-
promises necessary between months and year led to the varying lengths of the months;
they are different in different calendars. The most commonly used year–month structure
was organized over 2000 years ago by Gaius Julius Caesar, and is thus called the Julian
calendar.
The system was destroyed only a few years later: August was lengthened to 31 days
when it was named after Augustus. Originally, the month was only 30 days long; but in
order to show that Augustus was as important as Caesar, after whom July is named, all

* On the parenthesis see the beautiful book by J. L ennard, But I Digress, Oxford University Press, 1991.
 380 a notation and conventions

month lengths in the second half of the year were changed, and February was shortened
by one additional day.
Ref. 334 The week is an invention of Babylonia. One day in the Babylonian week was ‘evil’ or
‘unlucky’, so it was better to do nothing on that day. The modern week cycle with its
resting day descends from that superstition. (The way astrological superstition and as-
Page 191 tronomy cooperated to determine the order of the weekdays is explained in the section
on gravitation.) Although about three thousand years old, the week was fully included
into the Julian calendar only around the year 300, towards the end of the Western Ro-
man Empire. The final change in the Julian calendar took place between 1582 and 1917
(depending on the country), when more precise measurements of the solar year were
used to set a new method to determine leap days, a method still in use today. Together
with a reset of the date and the fixation of the week rhythm, this standard is called the
Gregorian calendar or simply the modern calendar. It is used by a majority of the world’s

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
population.
Despite its complexity, the modern calendar does allow you to determine the day of
the week of a given date in your head. Just execute the following six steps:
1. take the last two digits of the year, and divide by 4, discarding any fraction;
2. add the last two digits of the year;
3. subtract 1 for January or February of a leap year;
4. add 6 for 2000s or 1600s, 4 for 1700s or 2100s,
2 for 1800s and 2200s, and 0 for 1900s or 1500s;
5. add the day of the month;
6. add the month key value, namely 144 025 036 146 for JFM AMJ JAS OND.
The remainder after division by 7 gives the day of the week, with the correspondence 1-2-
3-4-5-6-0 meaning Sunday-Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday.*
When to start counting the years is a matter of choice. The oldest method not attached
to political power structures was that used in ancient Greece, when years were counted
from the first Olympic games. People used to say, for example, that they were born in the
first year of the twenty-third Olympiad. Later, political powers always imposed the count-
ing of years from some important event onwards.** Maybe reintroducing the Olympic
counting is worth considering?
* Remembering the intermediate result for the current year can simplify things even more, especially since
the dates 4.4, 6.6, 8.8, 10.10, 12.12, 9.5, 5.9, 7.11, 11.7 and the last day of February all fall on the same day of
the week, namely on the year’s intermediate result plus 4.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

** The present counting of years was defined in the Middle Ages by setting the date for the foundation of
Rome to the year 753 bce, or 753 before the Common Era, and then counting backwards, so that the bce
years behave almost like negative numbers. However, the year 1 follows directly after the year 1 bce: there
was no year 0.
Some other standards set by the Roman Empire explain several abbreviations used in the text:
- c. is a Latin abbreviation for circa and means ‘roughly’;
- i.e. is a Latin abbreviation for id est and means ‘that is’;
- e.g. is a Latin abbreviation for exempli gratia and means ‘for the sake of example’;
- ibid. is a Latin abbreviation for ibidem and means ‘at that same place’;
- inf. is a Latin abbreviation for infra and means ‘(see) below’;
- op. cit. is a Latin abbreviation for opus citatum and means ‘the cited work’;
- et al. is a Latin abbreviation for et alii and means ‘and others’.
By the way, idem means ‘the same’ and passim means ‘here and there’ or ‘throughout’. Many terms used in
physics, like frequency, acceleration, velocity, mass, force, momentum, inertia, gravitation and temperature,
 a notation and conventions 381

People Names
In the Far East, such as Corea*, Japan or China, family names are put in front of the
given name. For example, the first Japanese winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics was
Yukawa Hideki. In India, often, but not always, there is no family name; in those cases,
the father’s first name is used. In Russia, the family name is rarely used in conversation;
instead, the first name of the father is. For example, Lev Landau was addressed as Lev
Davidovich (‘son of David’). In addition, Russian transliteration is not standardized; it
varies from country to country and from tradition to tradition. For example, one finds
the spellings Dostojewski, Dostoevskij, Dostoïevski and Dostoyevsky for the same per-
son. In the Netherlands, the official given names are never used; every person has a semi-
official first name by which he is called. For example, Gerard ’t Hooft’s official given name
is Gerardus. In Germany, some family names have special pronunciations. For example,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Voigt is pronounced ‘Fohgt’. In Italy, during the Middle Age and the Renaissance, people
were called by their first name only, such as Michelangelo or Galileo, or often by first
name plus a personal surname that was not their family name, but was used like one,
such as Niccolò Tartaglia or Leonardo Fibonacci. In ancient Rome, the name by which
people are known is usually their surname. The family name was the middle name. For
example, Cicero’s family name was Tullius. The law introduced by Cicero was therefore
known as ‘lex Tullia’. In ancient Greece, there were no family names. People had only
one name. In the English language, the Latin version of the Greek name is used, such as
Democritus.

Abbreviations and eponyms or concepts?

Sentences like the following are the scourge of modern physics:

The EPR paradox in the Bohm formulation can perhaps be resolved using the GRW
approach, using the WKB approximation of the Schrödinger equation.

Using such vocabulary is the best way to make language unintelligible to outsiders. (In
fact, the sentence is nonsense anyway, because the ‘GRW approach’ is false.) First of
all, the sentence uses abbreviations, which is a shame. On top of this, the sentence uses
people’s names to characterize concepts, i.e., it uses eponyms. Originally, eponyms were
intended as tributes to outstanding achievements. Today, when formulating radical new
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

laws or variables has become nearly impossible, the spread of eponyms intelligible to a
steadily decreasing number of people simply reflects an increasingly ineffective drive to
fame.

are derived from Latin. In fact, it is arguable that the language of science has been Latin for over two thou-
sand years. In Roman times it was Latin vocabulary with Latin grammar, in modern times it switched to
Latin vocabulary with French grammar, then for a short time to Latin vocabulary with German grammar,
after which it changed to Latin vocabulary with British/American grammar.
Many units of measurement also date from Roman times, as explained in the next appendix. Even the
Ref. 335 infatuation with Greek technical terms, as shown in coinages such as ‘gyroscope’, ‘entropy’ or ‘proton’, dates
from Roman times.
* Corea was temporarily forced to change its spelling to ‘Korea’ by the Japanese Army because the generals
could not bear the fact that Corea preceded Japan in the alphabet. This is not a joke.
 382 a notation and conventions

Eponyms are a proof of scientist’s lack of imagination. We avoid them as much as pos-
sible in our walk and give common names to mathematical equations or entities wherever
possible. People’s names are then used as appositions to these names. For example, ‘New-
ton’s equation of motion’ is never called ‘Newton’s equation’; ‘Einstein’s field equations’
is used instead of ‘Einstein’s equations’; and ‘Heisenberg’s equation of motion’ is used
instead of ‘Heisenberg’s equation’.
However, some exceptions are inevitable: certain terms used in modern physics have
no real alternatives. The Boltzmann constant, the Planck scale, the Compton wavelength,
the Casimir effect and Lie groups are examples. In compensation, the text makes sure that
you can look up the definitions of these concepts using the index. In addition, the text
Ref. 336 tries to provide pleasurable reading.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Appendix B

UNIT S, MEA SUREMENT S AND

C ON STAN T S

M
easurements are comparisons with standards. Standards are based on units.
any different systems of units have been used throughout the world.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ost standards confer power to the organization in charge of them. Such
power can be misused; this is the case today, for example in the computer industry, and
was so in the distant past. The solution is the same in both cases: organize an independent
and global standard. For measurement units, this happened in the eighteenth century: in
order to avoid misuse by authoritarian institutions, to eliminate problems with differing,
changing and irreproducible standards, and – this is not a joke – to simplify tax collec-
tion and to make it more just, a group of scientists, politicians and economists agreed
on a set of units. It is called the Système International d’Unités, abbreviated SI, and is
defined by an international treaty, the ‘Convention du Mètre’. The units are maintained
by an international organization, the ‘Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures’, and
its daughter organizations, the ‘Commission Internationale des Poids et Mesures’ and
the ‘Bureau International des Poids et Mesures’ (BIPM). All originated in the times just
Ref. 337 before the French revolution.

SI units
All SI units are built from seven base units, whose official definitions, translated from
French into English, are given below, together with the dates of their formulation:
‘The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding
to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133
atom.’ (1967)* Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

‘The metre is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time inter-
val of 1/299 792 458 of a second.’ (1983)*
‘The kilogram is the unit of mass; it is equal to the mass of the international prototype
of the kilogram.’ (1901)*
‘The ampere is that constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel con-
ductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1 metre apart in
vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2 ⋅ 10−7 newton per
metre of length.’ (1948)*
‘The kelvin, unit of thermodynamic temperature, is the fraction 1/273.16 of the ther-
modynamic temperature of the triple point of water.’ (1967)*
‘The mole is the amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary
entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilogram of carbon 12.’ (1971)*
 384 b units, measurements and constants

‘The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits
monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 ⋅ 1012 hertz and has a radiant intensity in that
direction of (1/683) watt per steradian.’ (1979)*
Note that both time and length units are defined as certain properties of a standard ex-
ample of motion, namely light. In other words, also the Conférence Générale des Poids
et Mesures makes the point that the observation of motion is a prerequisite for the defini-
tion and construction of time and space. Motion is the fundament each observation and
measurements. By the way, the use of light in the definitions had been proposed already
in 1827 by Jacques Babinet.**
From these basic units, all other units are defined by multiplication and division. Thus,
all SI units have the following properties:
SI units form a system with state-of-the-art precision: all units are defined with a pre-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
cision that is higher than the precision of commonly used measurements. Moreover, the
precision of the definitions is regularly being improved. The present relative uncertainty
of the definition of the second is around 10−14 , for the metre about 10−10 , for the kilo-
gram about 10−9 , for the ampere 10−7 , for the mole less than 10−6 , for the kelvin 10−6 and
for the candela 10−3 .
SI units form an absolute system: all units are defined in such a way that they can
be reproduced in every suitably equipped laboratory, independently, and with high pre-
cision. This avoids as much as possible any misuse by the standard-setting organization.
(The kilogram, still defined with the help of an artefact, is the last exception to this re-
quirement; extensive research is under way to eliminate this artefact from the definition
– an international race that will take a few more years. There are two approaches: count-
ing particles, or fixing ħ. The former can be achieved in crystals, the latter using any
formula where ħ appears, such as the formula for the de Broglie wavelength or that of
the Josephson effect.)
SI units form a practical system: the base units are quantities of everyday magni-
tude. Frequently used units have standard names and abbreviations. The complete list
includes the seven base units just given, the supplementary units, the derived units and
the admitted units.
The supplementary SI units are two: the unit for (plane) angle, defined as the ratio
of arc length to radius, is the radian (rad). For solid angle, defined as the ratio of the
subtended area to the square of the radius, the unit is the steradian (sr).
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The derived units with special names, in their official English spelling, i.e., without
capital letters and accents, are:

* The respective symbols are s, m, kg, A, K, mol and cd. The international prototype of the kilogram is
Page 92 a platinum–iridium cylinder kept at the BIPM in Sèvres, in France. For more details on the levels of the
Ref. 338 caesium atom, consult a book on atomic physics. The Celsius scale of temperature θ is defined as: θ/°C =
T/K − 273.15; note the small difference with the number appearing in the definition of the kelvin. SI also
states: ‘When the mole is used, the elementary entities must be specified and may be atoms, molecules, ions,
electrons, other particles, or specified groups of such particles.’ In the definition of the mole, it is understood
that the carbon 12 atoms are unbound, at rest and in their ground state. In the definition of the candela, the
frequency of the light corresponds to 555.5 nm, i.e., green colour, around the wavelength to which the eye
is most sensitive.
** Jacques Babinet (1794–1874), French physicist who published important work in optics.
 b units, measurements and constants 385

Name A b b r e v i at i o n Name A b b r e v i at i o n

hertz Hz = 1/s newton N = kg m/s2

pascal Pa = N/m2 = kg/m s2 joule J = Nm = kg m2 /s2
watt W = kg m2 /s3 coulomb C = As
volt V = kg m2 /As3 farad F = As/V = A2 s4 /kg m2
ohm Ω = V/A = kg m2 /A2 s3 siemens S = 1/Ω
weber Wb = Vs = kg m2 /As2 tesla T = Wb/m2 = kg/As2 = kg/Cs
henry H = Vs/A = kg m2 /A2 s2 degree Celsius °C (see definition of kelvin)
lumen lm = cd sr lux lx = lm/m2 = cd sr/m2
becquerel Bq = 1/s gray Gy = J/kg = m2 /s2
sievert Sv = J/kg = m2 /s2 katal kat = mol/s

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
We note that in all definitions of units, the kilogram only appears to the powers of 1,
Challenge 650 s 0 and −1. Can you try to formulate the reason?
The admitted non-SI units are minute, hour, day (for time), degree 1∘ = π/180 rad,
minute 1󳰀 = π/10 800 rad, second 1󳰀󳰀 = π/648 000 rad (for angles), litre and tonne. All
other units are to be avoided.
All SI units are made more practical by the introduction of standard names and ab-
breviations for the powers of ten, the so-called prefixes:*

Power Name Power Name Power Name Power Name

101 deca da 10−1 deci d 1018 Exa E 10−18 atto a
102 hecto h 10−2 centi c 1021 Zetta Z 10−21 zepto z
103 kilo k 10−3 milli m 1024 Yotta Y 10−24 yocto y
106 Mega M 10−6 micro μ unofficial: Ref. 339
109 Giga G 10−9 nano n 1027 Xenta X 10−27 xenno x
1012 Tera T 10−12 pico p 1030 Wekta W 10−30 weko w
1015 Peta P 10−15 femto f 1033 Vendekta V 10−33 vendeko v
1036 Udekta U 10−36 udeko u

SI units form a complete system: they cover in a systematic way the full set of ob-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

servables of physics. Moreover, they fix the units of measurement for all other sciences
as well.

* Some of these names are invented (yocto to sound similar to Latin octo ‘eight’, zepto to sound similar
to Latin septem, yotta and zetta to resemble them, exa and peta to sound like the Greek words ἑξάκις and
πεντάκις for ‘six times’ and ‘five times’, the unofficial ones to sound similar to the Greek words for nine,
ten, eleven and twelve); some are from Danish/Norwegian (atto from atten ‘eighteen’, femto from femten
‘fifteen’); some are from Latin (from mille ‘thousand’, from centum ‘hundred’, from decem ‘ten’, from nanus
‘dwarf ’); some are from Italian (from piccolo ‘small’); some are Greek (micro is from μικρός ‘small’, deca/deka
from δέκα ‘ten’, hecto from ἑκατόν ‘hundred’, kilo from χίλιοι ‘thousand’, mega from μέγας ‘large’, giga from
γίγας ‘giant’, tera from τέρας ‘monster’).
Translate: I was caught in such a traffic jam that I needed a microcentury for a picoparsec and that my
Challenge 651 e car’s fuel consumption was two tenths of a square millimetre.
 386 b units, measurements and constants

SI units form a universal system: they can be used in trade, in industry, in commerce,
at home, in education and in research. They could even be used by extraterrestrial civi-
lizations, if they existed.
SI units form a coherent system: the product or quotient of two SI units is also an SI
unit. This means that in principle, the same abbreviation, e.g. ‘SI’, could be used for every
unit.
The SI units are not the only possible set that could fulfil all these requirements, but they
are the only existing system that does so.*

The meaning of measurement

Every measurement is a comparison with a standard. Therefore, any measurement re-
Challenge 652 e quires matter to realize the standard (even for a speed standard), and radiation to achieve

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the comparison. The concept of measurement thus assumes that matter and radiation ex-
ist and can be clearly separated from each other.
Every measurement is a comparison. Measuring thus implies that space and time exist,
and that they differ from each other.
Every measurement produces a measurement result. Therefore, every measurement
implies the storage of the result. The process of measurement thus implies that the sit-
uation before and after the measurement can be distinguished. In other terms, every
measurement is an irreversible process.
Every measurement is a process. Thus every measurement takes a certain amount of
time and a certain amount of space.
All these properties of measurements are simple but important. Beware of anybody
who denies them.

Curiosities and fun challenges about units

Not using SI units can be expensive. In 1999, NASA lost a satellite on Mars because some
software programmers had used provincial units instead of SI units in part of the code.
As a result of using feet instead of meters, the Mars Climate Orbiter crashed into the
planet, instead of orbiting it; the loss was around 100 million euro.**
∗∗
The second does not correspond to 1/86 400th of the day any more, though it did in the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

year 1900; the Earth now takes about 86 400.002 s for a rotation, so that the International
Earth Rotation Service must regularly introduce a leap second to ensure that the Sun is

* Apart from international units, there are also provincial units. Most provincial units still in use are of
Roman origin. The mile comes from milia passum, which used to be one thousand (double) strides of about
1480 mm each; today a nautical mile, once defined as minute of arc on the Earth’s surface, is exactly 1852 m).
The inch comes from uncia/onzia (a twelfth – now of a foot). The pound (from pondere ‘to weigh’) is used
as a translation of libra – balance – which is the origin of its abbreviation lb. Even the habit of counting
in dozens instead of tens is Roman in origin. These and all other similarly funny units – like the system
in which all units start with ‘f ’, and which uses furlong/fortnight as its unit of velocity – are now officially
defined as multiples of SI units.
** This story revived an old but false urban legend that states that only three countries in the world do not
use SI units: Liberia, the USA and Myanmar.
 b units, measurements and constants 387

at the highest point in the sky at 12 o’clock sharp.* The time so defined is called Universal
Time Coordinate. The speed of rotation of the Earth also changes irregularly from day to
day due to the weather; the average rotation speed even changes from winter to summer
because of the changes in the polar ice caps; and in addition that average decreases over
time, because of the friction produced by the tides. The rate of insertion of leap seconds
is therefore higher than once every 500 days, and not constant in time.
∗∗
The most precise clock ever built, using microwaves, had a stability of 10−16 during a
Ref. 340 running time of 500 s. For longer time periods, the record in 1997 was about 10−15 ; but
Ref. 341 values around 10−17 seem within technological reach. The precision of clocks is limited
for short measuring times by noise, and for long measuring times by drifts, i.e., by sys-
tematic effects. The region of highest stability depends on the clock type; it usually lies

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
between 1 ms for optical clocks and 5000 s for masers. Pulsars are the only type of clock
for which this region is not known yet; it certainly lies at more than 20 years, the time
elapsed at the time of writing since their discovery.
∗∗
The least precisely measured of the fundamental constants of physics are the gravitational
constant G and the strong coupling constant αs . Even less precisely known are the age of
Page 395 the universe and its density (see Table 57).
∗∗
The precision of mass measurements of solids is limited by such simple effects as the
adsorption of water. Can you estimate the mass of a monolayer of water – a layer with
Challenge 653 s thickness of one molecule – on a metal weight of 1 kg?
∗∗
In the previous millennium, thermal energy used to be measured using the unit calorie,
written as cal. 1 cal is the energy needed to heat 1 g of water by 1 K. To confuse matters,
1 kcal was often written 1 Cal. (One also spoke of a large and a small calorie.) The value
of 1 kcal is 4.1868 kJ.
∗∗ Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

SI units are adapted to humans: the values of heartbeat, human size, human weight, hu-
man temperature and human substance are no more than a couple of orders of magni-
tude near the unit value. SI units thus (roughly) confirm what Protagoras said 25 cen-
turies ago: ‘Man is the measure of all things.’
∗∗
Some units systems are particularly badly adapted to humans. The most infamous is shoe

* Their website at hpiers.obspm.fr gives more information on the details of these insertions, as does maia.
usno.navy.mil, one of the few useful military websites. See also www.bipm.fr, the site of the BIPM.
 388 b units, measurements and constants

size S. It is a pure number calculated as

SFrance = 1.5 cm−1 (l + (1 ± 1) cm)

Scentral Europe = 1.5748 cm−1 (l + (1 ± 1) cm)
SAnglosaxon men = 1.181 cm−1 (l + (1 ± 1) cm) − 22 (118)

where l is the length of a foot and the correction length depends on the manufactur-
ing company. In addition, the Anglosaxon formula is not valid for women and children,
where the first factor depends, for marketing reasons, both on manufacturer and size
itself. The ISO standard for shoe size requires, unsurprisingly, to use foot length in mil-
limetres.
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The table of SI prefixes covers 72 orders of magnitude. How many additional prefixes will
be needed? Even an extended list will include only a small part of the infinite range of
possibilities. Will the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures have to go on forever,
Challenge 654 s defining an infinite number of SI prefixes? Why?
∗∗
The French philosopher Voltaire, after meeting Newton, publicized the now famous story
that the connection between the fall of objects and the motion of the Moon was discov-
ered by Newton when he saw an apple falling from a tree. More than a century later,
just before the French Revolution, a committee of scientists decided to take as the unit
of force precisely the force exerted by gravity on a standard apple, and to name it after
the English scientist. After extensive study, it was found that the mass of the standard
apple was 101.9716 g; its weight was called 1 newton. Since then, visitors to the museum
in Sèvres near Paris have been able to admire the standard metre, the standard kilogram
and the standard apple.*

Precision and accuracy of measurements

Measurements are the basis of physics. Every measurement has an error. Errors are due
to lack of precision or to lack of accuracy. Precision means how well a result is reproduced
when the measurement is repeated; accuracy is the degree to which a measurement cor-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

responds to the actual value.

Lack of precision is due to accidental or random errors; they are best measured by the
standard deviation, usually abbreviated σ; it is defined through

1 n
σ2 = 󵠈(x − x̄)2 , (119)
n − 1 i=1 i

* To be clear, this is a joke; no standard apple exists. It is not a joke however, that owners of several apple
trees in Britain and in the US claim descent, by rerooting, from the original tree under which Newton had
Ref. 342 his insight. DNA tests have even been performed to decide if all these derive from the same tree. The result
was, unsurprisingly, that the tree at MIT, in contrast to the British ones, is a fake.
 b units, measurements and constants 389

N
number of measurements

standard deviation

full width at half maximum

(FWHM)

limit curve for a large number

of measurements: the
Gaussian distribution

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
x x
average value measured values

F I G U R E 243 A precision experiment and its measurement distribution. The precision is high if the
width of the distribution is narrow; the accuracy is high if the centre of the distribution agrees with the
actual value.

where x̄ is the average of the measurements xi . (Can you imagine why n − 1 is used in
Challenge 655 s the formula instead of n?)
For most experiments, the distribution of measurement values tends towards a nor-
mal distribution, also called Gaussian distribution, whenever the number of measure-
ments is increased. The distribution, shown in Figure 243, is described by the expression

(󰑥−󰑥̄)2
N(x) ≈ e− 2󰜎 2 . (120)

The square σ 2 of the standard deviation is also called the variance. For a Gaussian distri-
Challenge 656 e bution of measurement values, 2.35σ is the full width at half maximum.
Lack of accuracy is due to systematic errors; usually these can only be estimated. This
estimate is often added to the random errors to produce a total experimental error, some-
Ref. 343 times also called total uncertainty. The relative error or uncertainty is the ratio between
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the error and the measured value.

For example, a professional measurement will give a result such as 0.312(6) m. The
number between the parentheses is the standard deviation σ, in units of the last digits.
As above, a Gaussian distribution for the measurement results is assumed. Therefore, a
Challenge 657 e value of 0.312(6) m implies that the actual value is expected to lie

— within 1σ with 68.3% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.006 m;
— within 2σ with 95.4% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.012 m;
— within 3σ with 99.73% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.018 m;
— within 4σ with 99.9937% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.024 m;
— within 5σ with 99.999 943% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.030 m;
— within 6σ with 99.999 999 80% probability, thus in this example within
 390 b units, measurements and constants

0.312 ± 0.036 m;
— within 7σ with 99.999 999 999 74% probability, thus in this example within
0.312 ± 0.041 m.

Challenge 658 s (Do the latter numbers make sense?)

Note that standard deviations have one digit; you must be a world expert to use two,
and a fool to use more. If no standard deviation is given, a (1) is assumed. As a result,
among professionals, 1 km and 1000 m are not the same length!
What happens to the errors, if two measured values A and B are added or subtracted?
If the all measurements are independent – or uncorrelated – the standard deviation of
the sum and that of difference is given by σ = 󵀆σA2 + σB2 . For both the product or ratio
of two measured and uncorrelated values C and D, the result is ρ = 󵀆 ρC2 + ρ2D , where
the ρ terms are the relative standard deviations.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Assume you measure that an object moves 1.0 m in 3.0 s: what is the measured speed
Challenge 659 s value?

Limits to precision
What are the limits to accuracy and precision? There is no way, even in principle, to
measure a length x to a precision higher than about 61 digits, because in nature, the ratio
between the largest and the smallest measurable length is Δx/x > lPl /dhorizon = 10−61 .
Challenge 660 e (Is this ratio valid also for force or for volume?) In the final volume of our text, studies
Vol. VI, page 87 of clocks and metre bars strengthen this theoretical limit.
But it is not difficult to deduce more stringent practical limits. No imaginable machine
can measure quantities with a higher precision than measuring the diameter of the Earth
within the smallest length ever measured, about 10−19 m; that is about 26 digits of preci-
sion. Using a more realistic limit of a 1000 m sized machine implies a limit of 22 digits.
If, as predicted above, time measurements really achieve 17 digits of precision, then they
are nearing the practical limit, because apart from size, there is an additional practical
restriction: cost. Indeed, an additional digit in measurement precision often means an
additional digit in equipment cost.

Physical constants
In physics, general observations are deduced from more fundamental ones. As a conse- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

quence, many measurements can be deduced from more fundamental ones. The most
fundamental measurements are those of the physical constants.
The following tables give the world’s best values of the most important physical con-
stants and particle properties – in SI units and in a few other common units – as pub-
Ref. 344 lished in the standard references. The values are the world averages of the best measure-
ments made up to the present. As usual, experimental errors, including both random
and estimated systematic errors, are expressed by giving the standard deviation in the
last digits. In fact, behind each of the numbers in the following tables there is a long
Ref. 345 story which is worth telling, but for which there is not enough room here.
Ref. 344 In principle, all quantitative properties of matter can be calculated with quantum the-
ory and the values of certain physical constants. For example, colour, density and elastic
properties can be predicted using the equations of the standard model of high-energy
 b units, measurements and constants 391

Vol. V, page 193 physics and the values of the following basic constants.

TA B L E 54 Basic physical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e i n S I u n i t s U n c e r t. a

Number of space-time dimensions 3+1 0b

Vacuum speed of lightc c 299 792 458 m/s 0
Vacuum permeabilityc μ0 4π ⋅ 10−7 H/m 0
= 1.256 637 061 435 ... μH/m0
Vacuum permittivityc ε0 = 1/μ0 c 2 8.854 187 817 620 ... pF/m 0
Original Planck constant h 6.626 068 76(52) ⋅ 10−34 Js 7.8 ⋅ 10−8
Reduced Planck constant ħ 1.054 571 596(82) ⋅ 10 Js 7.8 ⋅ 10−8
−34

3.9 ⋅ 10−8

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Positron charge e 0.160 217 646 2(63) aC
Boltzmann constant k 1.380 6503(24) ⋅ 10 J/K 1.7 ⋅ 10−6
−23

Gravitational constant G 6.673(10) ⋅ 10−11 Nm2 /kg2 1.5 ⋅ 10−3

Gravitational coupling constantκ = 8πG/c 4 2.076(3) ⋅ 10−43 s2 /kg m 1.5 ⋅ 10−3
2
Fine structure constant, d α = 4πεe ħc 1/137.035 999 76(50) 3.7 ⋅ 10−9
0

e.m. coupling constant = дem (me2 c 2 ) = 0.007 297 352 533(27) 3.7 ⋅ 10−9
Fermi coupling constant, d GF /(ħc)3 1.166 39(1) ⋅ 10−5 GeV−2 8.6 ⋅ 10−6
weak coupling constant αw (MZ ) = дw2 /4π 1/30.1(3) 1 ⋅ 10−2
Weak mixing angle sin2 θW (MS) 0.231 24(24) 1.0 ⋅ 10−3
sin2 θW (on shell) 0.2224(19) 8.7 ⋅ 10−3
= 1 − (mW /mZ )2
Strong coupling constant d αs (MZ ) = дs2 /4π 0.118(3) 25 ⋅ 10−3
Electron mass me 9.109 381 88(72) ⋅ 10−31 kg 7.9 ⋅ 10−8
5.485 799 110(12) ⋅ 10−4 u 2.1 ⋅ 10−9
0.510 998 902(21) MeV 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Muon mass mμ 1.883 531 09(16) ⋅ 10−28 kg 8.4 ⋅ 10−8
0.113 428 9168(34) u 3.0 ⋅ 10−8
105, 658 3568(52) MeV 4.9 ⋅ 10−8
Proton mass mp 1, 672 621 58(13) ⋅ 10−27 kg 7.9 ⋅ 10−8
1.007 276 466 88(13) u 1.3 ⋅ 10−10
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

938, 271 998(38) MeV 4.0 ⋅ 10−8

Neutron mass mn 1, 674 927 16(13) ⋅ 10−27 kg 7.9 ⋅ 10−8
1.008 664 915 78(55) u 5.4 ⋅ 10−10
939, 565 330(38) MeV 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Atomic mass unit mu = m( C)/12 = 1 u1.660 538 73(13) yg
12
7.9 ⋅ 10−8

a. Uncertainty: standard deviation of measurement errors.

b. Only down to 10−19 m and up to 1026 m.
c. Defining constant.
d. All coupling constants depend on the 4-momentum transfer, as explained in the section on
Page 88 renormalization. Fine structure constant is the traditional name for the electromagnetic coupling con-
 392 b units, measurements and constants

stant дem in the case of a 4-momentum transfer of Q 2 = me2 c 2 , which is the smallest one possible. At higher
momentum transfers it has larger values, e.g. дem (Q 2 = MW 2 2
c ) ≈ 1/128. In contrast, the strong coupling
constant has lover values at higher momentum transfers; e.g., αs (34 GeV) = 0.14(2).

Why do all these basic constants have the values they have? For any basic constant
with a dimension, such as the quantum of action ħ, the numerical value has only histori-
cal meaning. It is 1.054 ⋅ 10−34 Js because of the SI definition of the joule and the second.
The question why the value of a dimensional constant is not larger or smaller therefore
always requires one to understand the origin of some dimensionless number giving the
ratio between the constant and the corresponding natural unit that is defined with c, G, ħ
Vol. IV, page 181 and α. More details and the values of the natural units are given later. Understanding the
sizes of atoms, people, trees and stars, the duration of molecular and atomic processes,
or the mass of nuclei and mountains, implies understanding the ratios between these

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
values and the corresponding natural units. The key to understanding nature is thus the
understanding of all ratios, and thus of all dimensionless constants. The quest of under-
standing all ratios, including the fine structure constant α itself, is completed only in the
final volume of our adventure.
The basic constants yield the following useful high-precision observations.

TA B L E 55 Derived physical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e i n S I u n i t s U n c e r t.

Vacuum wave resistance Z0 = 󵀄μ0 /ε0 376.730 313 461 77... Ω 0

Avogadro’s number NA 6.022 141 99(47) ⋅ 1023 7.9 ⋅ 10−8
Loschmidt’s number NL 2.686 7775(25) ⋅ 1023 1.7 ⋅ 10−6
Faraday’s constant F = NA e 96 485.3415(39) C/mol 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Universal gas constant R = NA k 8.314 472(15) J/mol K 1.7 ⋅ 10−6
Molar volume of an ideal gas V = RT /p 22.413 996(39) l/mol 1.7 ⋅ 10−6
at 273.15 K and 101 325 Pa
Rydberg constant a R∞ = me cα 2 /2h 10 973 731.568 549(83) m−1 7.6 ⋅ 10−12
Conductance quantum G0 = 2e 2 /h 77.480 916 96(28) μS 3.7 ⋅ 10−9
Magnetic flux quantum φ0 = h/2e 2.067 833 636(81) pWb 3.9 ⋅ 10−8
Josephson frequency ratio 2e/h 483.597 898(19) THz/V 3.9 ⋅ 10−8
Von Klitzing constant h/e 2 = μ0 c/2α 25 812.807 572(95) Ω 3.7 ⋅ 10−9
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

e 2 /h 3.874 045 848(14) ⋅ 10−5 S 3.7 ⋅ 10−9

Bohr magneton μB = eħ/2me 9.274 008 99(37) yJ/T 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Cyclotron frequency fc /B = e/2πme 27.992 4925(11) GHz/T 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
of the electron
Classical electron radius re = e 2 /4πε0 me c 2 2.817 940 285(31) fm 1.1 ⋅ 10−8
Compton wavelength λC = h/me c 2.426 310 215(18) pm 7.3 ⋅ 10−9
of the electron λc = ħ/me c = re /α 0.386 159 264 2(28) pm 7.3 ⋅ 10−9
Bohr radius a a∞ = re /α 2 52.917 720 83(19) pm 3.7 ⋅ 10−9
Quantum of circulation h/2me 3.636 947 516(27) ⋅ 10−4 m2 /s 7.3 ⋅ 10−9
Specific positron charge e/me 1.758 820 174(71) ⋅ 1011 C/kg 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Electron magnetic moment μe −9.284 763 62(37) ⋅ 10−24 J/T 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
b units, measurements and constants 393

TA B L E 55 (Continued) Derived physical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e i n S I u n i t s U n c e r t.

μe /μB −1.001 159 652 1869(41) 4.1 ⋅ 10−12

μe /μN −1.838 281 9660(39) ⋅ 103 2.1 ⋅ 10−9
Electron g-factor дe −2.002 319 304 3737(82) 4.1 ⋅ 10−12
Muon magnetic moment μμ −9.284 763 62(37) ⋅ 10−24 J/T 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
muon g-factor дμ −2.002 331 8320(13) 6.4 ⋅ 10−10
Proton–electron mass ratio mp /me 1 836.152 6675(39) 2.1 ⋅ 10−9
Proton–muon mass ratio mp /mμ 8.880 244 08(27) 3.0 ⋅ 10−8
Specific proton charge e/mp 9, 578 834 08(38) ⋅ 107 C/kg 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Proton Compton wavelength λC,p = h/mp c 1.321 409 847(10) fm 7.6 ⋅ 10−9

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Nuclear magneton μN = eħ/2mp 5.050 783 17(20) ⋅ 10−27 J/T 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Proton magnetic moment μp 1.410 606 633(58) ⋅ 10−26 J/T 4.1 ⋅ 10−8
μp /μB 1.521 032 203(15) ⋅ 10−3 1.0 ⋅ 10−8
μp /μN 2.792 847 337(29) 1.0 ⋅ 10−8
Proton gyromagnetic ratio γp = 2μ p /ħ 2.675 222 12(11) ⋅ 108 Hz/T 4.1 ⋅ 10−8
Neutron–electron mass ratio mn /me 1 838.683 6550(40) 2.2 ⋅ 10−9
Neutron–proton mass ratio mn /mp 1.001 378 418 87(58) 5.8 ⋅ 10−10
Neutron Compton wavelength λC,n = h/mn c 1.319 590 898(10) fm 7.6 ⋅ 10−9
Neutron magnetic moment μn −0.966 236 40(23) ⋅ 10−26 J/T 2.4 ⋅ 10−7
μn /μB −1.041 875 63(25) ⋅ 10−3 2.4 ⋅ 10−7
μn /μN −1.913 042 72(45) 2.4 ⋅ 10−7
Stefan–Boltzmann constant σ = π2 k 4 /60ħ3 c 2 56.704 00(40) nW/m2 K4 7.0 ⋅ 10−6
Wien’s displacement constant b = λmax T 2.897 768 6(51) mmK 1.7 ⋅ 10−6
Electron volt eV 1.602 176 462(63) ⋅ 10−19 J 3.9 ⋅ 10−8
Bits to entropy conversion const. 1023 bit = 0.956 994 5(17) J/K 1.7 ⋅ 10−6
TNT energy content 3.7 to 4.0 MJ/kg 4 ⋅ 10−2

a. For infinite mass of the nucleus.

Some useful properties of our local environment are given in the following table.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

TA B L E 56 Astronomical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Tropical year 1900 a a 31 556 925.974 7 s

Tropical year 1994 a 31 556 925.2 s
Mean sidereal day d 23h 56󳰀 4.090 53󳰀󳰀
Astronomical unit b AU 149 597 870.691(30) km
Light year al 9.460 528 173 ... Pm
Parsec pc 30.856 775 806 Pm = 3.261 634 al
Earth’s mass M♁ 5.973(1) ⋅ 1024 kg
394 b units, measurements and constants

TA B L E 56 (Continued) Astronomical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Geocentric gravitational constant GM 3.986 004 418(8) ⋅ 1014 m3 /s2

Earth’s gravitational length l♁ = 2GM/c 8.870 056 078(16) mm
2

Earth’s equatorial radius c R♁eq 6378.1366(1) km

Earth’s polar radius c R♁p 6356.752(1) km
c
Equator–pole distance 10 001.966 km (average)
Earth’s flattening c e♁ 1/298.25642(1)
Earth’s av. density ρ♁ 5.5 Mg/m3
Earth’s age T♁ 4.50(4) Ga = 142(2) Ps
Earth’s normal gravity д 9.806 65 m/s2

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Earth’s standard atmospheric pressure p0 101 325 Pa
Moon’s radius Rv 1738 km in direction of Earth
Moon’s radius Rh 1737.4 km in other two directions
Moon’s mass M 7.35 ⋅ 1022 kg
Moon’s mean distance d d 384 401 km
d
Moon’s distance at perigee typically 363 Mm, historical minimum
359 861 km
Moon’s distance at apogee d typically 404 Mm, historical maximum
406 720 km
Moon’s angular size e average 0.5181∘ = 31.08󳰀 , minimum 0.49∘ ,
maximum - shortens line 0.55∘
Moon’s average density ρ 3.3 Mg/m3
Moon’s surface gravity д 1.62 m/s2
Moons’s atmospheric pressure p from 10−10 Pa (night) to 10−7 Pa (day)
Jupiter’s mass M 1.90 ⋅ 1027 kg
Jupiter’s radius, equatorial R 71.398 Mm
Jupiter’s radius, polar R 67.1(1) Mm
Jupiter’s average distance from Sun D 778 412 020 km
Jupiter’s surface gravity д 24.9 m/s2
Jupiter’s atmospheric pressure p from 20 kPa to 200 kPa
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Sun’s mass M⊙ 1.988 43(3) ⋅ 1030 kg

Sun’s gravitational length l⊙ = 2GM⊙ /c 2.953 250 08 km
2

Sun’s luminosity L⊙ 384.6 YW

Solar equatorial radius R⊙ 695.98(7) Mm
Sun’s angular size 0.53∘ average; minimum on fourth of July
(aphelion) 1888󳰀󳰀 , maximum on fourth of
January (perihelion) 1952󳰀󳰀
Sun’s average density ρ⊙ 1.4 Mg/m3
Sun’s average distance AU 149 597 870.691(30) km
Sun’s age T⊙ 4.6 Ga
Solar velocity 󰑣⊙g 220(20) km/s
 b units, measurements and constants 395

TA B L E 56 (Continued) Astronomical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

around centre of galaxy

Solar velocity 󰑣⊙b 370.6(5) km/s
against cosmic background
Sun’s surface gravity д⊙ 274 m/s2
Sun’s lower photospheric pressure p⊙ 15 kPa
Distance to Milky Way’s centre 8.0(5) kpc = 26.1(1.6) kal
Milky Way’s age 13.6 Ga
Milky Way’s size c. 1021 m or 100 kal
Milky Way’s mass 1012 solar masses, c. 2 ⋅ 1042 kg

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Most distant galaxy cluster known SXDF-XCLJ 9.6 ⋅ 109 al
0218-0510

a. Defining constant, from vernal equinox to vernal equinox; it was once used to define the second. (Remem-
ber: π seconds is about a nanocentury.) The value for 1990 is about 0.7 s less, corresponding to a slowdown
Challenge 661 s of roughly 0.2 ms/a. (Watch out: why?) There is even an empirical formula for the change of the length of
Ref. 346 the year over time.
b. Average distance Earth–Sun. The truly amazing precision of 30 m results from time averages of signals
sent from Viking orbiters and Mars landers taken over a period of over twenty years.
c. The shape of the Earth is described most precisely with the World Geodetic System. The last edition dates
from 1984. For an extensive presentation of its background and its details, see the www.wgs84.com website.
The International Geodesic Union refined the data in 2000. The radii and the flattening given here are those
for the ‘mean tide system’. They differ from those of the ‘zero tide system’ and other systems by about 0.7 m.
The details constitute a science in itself.
d. Measured centre to centre. To find the precise position of the Moon in the sky at a given date, see the
www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/moon_ap_per.html page. For the planets, see the page www.fourmilab.ch/
solar/solar.html and the other pages on the same site.
e. Angles are defined as follows: 1 degree = 1∘ = π/180 rad, 1 (first) minute = 1󳰀 = 1∘ /60, 1 second (minute)
= 1󳰀󳰀 = 1󳰀 /60. The ancient units ‘third minute’ and ‘fourth minute’, each 1/60th of the preceding, are not in
use any more. (‘Minute’ originally means ‘very small’, as it still does in modern English.)

Some properties of nature at large are listed in the following table. (If you want a chal-
Challenge 662 s lenge, can you determine whether any property of the universe itself is listed?) Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

TA B L E 57 Astrophysical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Cosmological constant Λ c. 1 ⋅ 10−52 m−2

Age of the universe a t0 4.333(53) ⋅ 1017 s = 13.73(0.17) ⋅ 109 a
(determined from space-time, via expansion, using general relativity)
Age of the universe a t0 over 3.5(4) ⋅ 1017 s = 11.5(1.5) ⋅ 109 a
(determined from matter, via galaxies and stars, using quantum theory)
Hubble parameter a H0 2.3(2) ⋅ 10−18 s−1 = 0.73(4) ⋅ 10−10 a−1
= h0 ⋅ 100 km/s Mpc = h0 ⋅ 1.0227 ⋅ 10−10 a−1
Reduced Hubble parameter a h0 0.71(4)
 396 b units, measurements and constants

TA B L E 57 (Continued) Astrophysical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Deceleration parameter a q0 = −(̈

a/a)0 /H02 −0.66(10)
Universe’s horizon distance a d0 = 3ct0 40.0(6) ⋅ 1026 m = 13.0(2) Gpc
Universe’s topology trivial up to 1026 m
Number of space dimensions 3, for distances up to 1026 m
Critical density ρc = 3H02 /8πG h02 ⋅ 1.878 82(24) ⋅ 10−26 kg/m3
of the universe = 0.95(12) ⋅ 10−26 kg/m3
(Total) density parameter a Ω0 = ρ0 /ρc 1.02(2)
Baryon density parameter a ΩB0 = ρB0 /ρc 0.044(4)
Cold dark matter density parameter a ΩCDM0 = ρCDM0 /ρc 0.23(4)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Neutrino density parameter a Ω󰜈0 = ρ󰜈0 /ρc 0.001 to 0.05
Dark energy density parameter a ΩX0 = ρX0 /ρc 0.73(4)
Dark energy state parameter 󰑤 = pX /ρX −1.0(2)
Baryon mass mb 1.67 ⋅ 10−27 kg
Baryon number density 0.25(1) /m3
Luminous matter density 3.8(2) ⋅ 10−28 kg/m3
Stars in the universe ns 1022±1
Baryons in the universe nb 1081±1
Microwave background temperature b T0 2.725(1) K
Photons in the universe nγ 1089
Photon energy density ργ = π2 k 4 /15T04 4.6 ⋅ 10−31 kg/m3
Photon number density 410.89 /cm3 or 400 /cm3 (T0 /2.7 K)3
Density perturbation amplitude 󵀂S 5.6(1.5) ⋅ 10−6
Gravity wave amplitude 󵀂T < 0.71󵀂S
Mass fluctuations on 8 Mpc σ8 0.84(4)
Scalar index n 0.93(3)
Running of scalar index dn/d ln k -0.03(2)
Planck length lPl = 󵀆 ħG/c 3 1.62 ⋅ 10−35 m
Planck time tPl = 󵀆 ħG/c 5 5.39 ⋅ 10−44 s
mPl = 󵀄 ħc/G
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Planck mass 21.8 μg

Instants in history a t0 /tPl 8.7(2.8) ⋅ 1060
Space-time points N0 = (R0 /lPl )3 ⋅ 10244±1
inside the horizon a (t0 /tPl )
Mass inside horizon M 1054±1 kg

a. The index 0 indicates present-day values.

b. The radiation originated when the universe was 380 000 years old and had a temperature of about 3000 K;
Vol. II, page 211 the fluctuations ΔT0 which led to galaxy formation are today about 16 ± 4 μK = 6(2) ⋅ 10−6 T0 .
 b units, measurements and constants 397

Useful numbers

π 3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 375105
e 2.71828 18284 59045 23536 02874 71352 66249 77572 47093 699959
γ 0.57721 56649 01532 86060 65120 90082 40243 10421 59335 939923
Ref. 318
ln 2 0.69314 71805 59945 30941 72321 21458 17656 80755 00134 360255
ln 10 2.30258 50929 94045 68401 79914 54684 36420 76011 01488 628772
󵀂10 3.16227 76601 68379 33199 88935 44432 71853 37195 55139 325216

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
Appendix C

SOURCES OF I NFOR MATION ON

MOTION

“
No place affords a more striking conviction of

”
the vanity of human hopes than a public library.
Samuel Johnson

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
“
In a consumer society there are inevitably two
kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and

”
the prisoners of envy.
Ivan Illich*

I
n the text, good books that introduce neighbouring domains are presented
n the bibliography. The bibliography also points to journals and websites,
n order to satisfy any additional curiosity about what is encountered in this ad-
venture. All citations can also be found by looking up the author in the name index. To
find additional information, either libraries or the internet can help.
In a library, review articles of recent research appear in journals such as Reviews of
Modern Physics, Reports on Progress in Physics, Contemporary Physics and Advances in
Physics. Good pedagogical introductions are found in the American Journal of Physics,
the European Journal of Physics and Physik in unserer Zeit.
Overviews on research trends occasionally appear in magazines such as Physics
World, Physics Today, Europhysics Journal, Physik Journal and Nederlands tijdschrift
voor natuurkunde. For coverage of all the sciences together, the best sources are the mag-
azines Nature, New Scientist, Naturwissenschaften, La Recherche and Science News.
Research papers on the foundations of motion appear mainly in Physics Letters B,
Nuclear Physics B, Physical Review D, Physical Review Letters, Classical and Quantum
Gravity, General Relativity and Gravitation, International Journal of Modern Physics and
Modern Physics Letters. The newest results and speculative ideas are found in conference
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

proceedings, such as the Nuclear Physics B Supplements. Research articles also appear
in Fortschritte der Physik, European Physical Journal, La Rivista del Nuovo Cimento,
Europhysics Letters, Communications in Mathematical Physics, Journal of Mathematical
Physics, Foundations of Physics, International Journal of Theoretical Physics and Journal
of Physics G.
But by far the simplest and most efficient way to keep in touch with ongoing research
on motion and modern physics is to use the internet, the international computer network.
To start using the web, ask a friend who knows.**

* Ivan Illich (b. 1926 Vienna, d. 2002 Bremen), Austrian theologian and social and political thinker.
** It is also possible to use the internet and to download files through FTP with the help of email only. But
c sources of information on motion 399

In the last decade of the twentieth century, the internet expanded into a combination
of library, business tool, discussion platform, media collection and, above all, addiction
provider. Do not use it too much. Commerce, advertising and – unfortunately – addictive
material for children, youth and adults, as well as crime of all kind are also an integral part
of the web. With a personal computer, a modem and free browser software, one can look
for information in millions of pages of documents or destroy one’s professional career
through addiction. The various parts of the documents are located in various computers
around the world, but the user does not need to be aware of this.*
Most theoretical physics papers are available free of charge, as preprints, i.e., before
official publication and checking by referees, at the arxiv.org website. A service for finding
subsequent preprints that cite a given one is also available.
There are a few internet physics journals: One is Living Reviews in Relativity, found
at www.livingreviews.org, the other is the New Journal of Physics, which can be found

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
at the www.njp.org website.
On the internet, papers on the description of motion without time and space which
appear after this text is published can be found via the Web of Science, a site accessible
only from libraries. It allows one to search for all publications which cite a given paper.
Searching the web for authors, organizations, books, publications, companies or sim-
ple keywords using search engines can be a rewarding experience or an episode of addic-
tion, depending entirely on yourself. A selection of interesting servers are given below.

TA B L E 58 Some interesting sites on the world-wide web.

To p i c We b s i t e a d d r e s s

General knowledge
Wikipedia www.wikipedia.org
Usenet discssions groups.google.com

the tools change too often to give a stable guide here. Ask your friend.
* Several decades ago, the provocative book by Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society, Harper & Row, 1971,
listed four basic ingredients for any educational system:
1. access to resources for learning, e.g. books, equipment, games, etc. at an affordable price, for everybody,
at any time in their life;
2. for all who want to learn, access to peers in the same learning situation, for discussion, comparison,
cooperation and competition;
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

3. access to elders, e.g. teachers, for their care and criticism towards those who are learning;
4. exchanges between students and performers in the field of interest, so that the latter can be models for
the former. For example, there should be the possibility to listen to professional musicians and reading the
works of specialist writers. This also gives performers the possibility to share, advertise and use their skills.
Illich develops the idea that if such a system were informal – he then calls it a ‘learning web’ or ‘opportu-
nity web’ – it would be superior to formal, state-financed institutions, such as conventional schools, for the
development of mature human beings. These ideas are deepened in his following works, Deschooling Our
Lives, Penguin, 1976, and Tools for Conviviality, Penguin, 1973.
Today, any networked computer offers email (electronic mail), FTP (file transfer to and from another
computer), access to usenet (the discussion groups on specific topics, such as particle physics), and the
world-wide web. (Roughly speaking, each of those includes the ones before.) In a rather unexpected way, all
these facilities of the internet have transformed it into the backbone of the ‘opportunity web’ discussed by
Illich. However, as in any school, it strongly depends on the user’s discipline whether the internet actually
does provide a learning web or an entry into addiction.
400 c sources of information on motion

To p i c We b s i t e a d d r e s s

Frequently asked questions on www.faqs.org

physics and other topics
Book collections www.ulib.org
books.google.com
Science News www.sciencenews.org
Interesting science www.max-wissen.de
Entertaining and professional thehappyscientist.com
science education by Robert
Krampf
Innovation in science and www.innovations-report.de
technology

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Physics
Learning physics with toys www.arvindguptatoys.com
from rubbish
Official SI unit website www.bipm.fr
Unit conversion www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/chemistry/general/units.html
Particle data pdg.web.cern.ch
Engineering data and formulae www.efunda.com
Information on relativity math.ucr.edu/home/baez/relativity.html
Research preprints arxiv.org
www.slac.stanford.edu/spires
Abstracts of papers in physics www.osti.gov
journals
Physics news, weekly www.aip.org/physnews/update
Physics news, daily www.innovations-report.de/berichte/physik.php
Physics problems by Yacov www.tau.ac.il/~kantor/QUIZ/
KantorKantor, Yacov
Physics problems by Henry www.phy.duke.edu/~hsg/physics-challenges/challenges.html
Greenside
Physics ‘question of the week’ www.physics.umd.edu/lecdem/outreach/QOTW/active
Physics ‘miniproblem’ www.nyteknik.se/miniproblemet
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Physics stack exchange physics.stackexchange.com

‘Ask the experts’ www.sciam.com/askexpert_directory.cfm
Nobel Prize winners www.nobel.se/physics/laureates
Pictures of physicists www.if.ufrj.br/famous/physlist.html
Physics organizations www.cern.ch
www.hep.net
www.nikhef.nl
www.het.brown.edu/physics/review/index.html
Physics textbooks on the web www.plasma.uu.se/CED/Book
www.biophysics.org/education/resources.htm
c sources of information on motion 401

To p i c We b s i t e a d d r e s s

www.lightandmatter.com
www.motionmountain.net
Three beautiful French sets of feynman.phy.ulaval.ca/marleau/notesdecours.htm
notes on classical mechanics
and particle theory
The excellent Radical www.physics.nmt.edu/~raymond/teaching.html
Freshman Physics by David
Raymond
Physics course scripts from ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/index.html
MIT
Physics lecture scripts in www.akleon.de

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
German and English
‘World lecture hall’ wlh.webhost.utexas.edu
Living Reviews in Relativity www.livingreviews.org
Wissenschaft in die Schulen www.wissenschaft-schulen.de
Mathematics
‘Math forum’ internet resource mathforum.org/library
collection
Biographies of mathematicians www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/BiogIndex.html
Purdue math problem of the www.math.purdue.edu/academics/pow
week
Macalester College maths mathforum.org/wagon
problem of the week
Mathematical formulae dlmf.nist.gov
Weisstein’s World of mathworld.wolfram.com
Mathematics
Functions functions.wolfram.com
Symbolic integration www.integrals.com
Algebraic surfaces www.mathematik.uni-kl.de/~hunt/drawings.html
Astronomy
ESA sci.esa.int
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

NASA www.nasa.gov
Hubble space telescope hubble.nasa.gov
Sloan Digital Sky Survey skyserver.sdss.org
The ‘cosmic mirror’ www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~dfischer/mirror
Solar system simulator space.jpl.nasa.gov
Observable satellites liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTime/JPass/20
Astronomy picture of the day antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
The Earth from space www.visibleearth.nasa.gov
From Stargazers to Starships www.phy6.org/stargaze/Sintro.htm
Current solar data www.n3kl.org/sun
402 c sources of information on motion

To p i c We b s i t e a d d r e s s

Specific topics
Minerals webmineral.com
www.mindat.org
Geological Maps onegeology.org
Optical illusions www.sandlotscience.com
Petit’s science comics www.jp-petit.org
Physical toys www.e20.physik.tu-muenchen.de/~cucke/toylinke.htm
Physics humour www.dctech.com/physics/humor/biglist.php
Literature on magic www.faqs.org/faqs/magic-faq/part2
Making paper aeroplanes www.pchelp.net/paper_ac.htm

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
www.ivic.qc.ca/~aleexpert/aluniversite/klinevogelmann.html
Small flying helicopters pixelito.reference.be
Science curiosities www.wundersamessammelsurium.info
Ten thousand year clock www.longnow.org
Gesellschaft Deutscher www.gdnae.de
Naturforscher und Ärzte
Pseudoscience suhep.phy.syr.edu/courses/modules/PSEUDO/pseudo_main.
html
Crackpots www.crank.net
Mathematical quotations math.furman.edu/mwoodard/~mquot.html
The ‘World Question Center’ www.edge.org/questioncenter.html
Plagiarism www.plagiarized.com
Hoaxes www.museumofhoaxes.com

Do you want to study physics without actually going to university? Nowadays it is possi-
ble to do so via email and internet, in German, at the University of Kaiserslautern.* In the
near future, a nationwide project in Britain should allow the same for English-speaking
students. As an introduction, use the latest update of this physics text!

“
Das Internet ist die offenste Form der

”
geschlossenen Anstalt.**
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Matthias Deutschmann

“ ”
Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.***
After Boethius.

* See the www.fernstudium-physik.de website.

** ‘The internet is the most open form of a closed institution.’
*** ‘If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher.’ After the story Boethius (c. 480–c. 525)
tells in De consolatione philosophiae, 2.7, 67 ff.
 CHALLENGE HINT S AND SOLUTIONS

“
Never make a calculation before you know the

”
answer.
John Wheeler’s motto

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
John Wheeler wanted people to estimate, to try and to guess; but not saying the guess out
loud. A correct guess reinforces the physics instinct, whereas a wrong one leads to the
pleasure of surprise. Guessing is thus an important first step in solving every problem.
Teachers have other criteria to keep in mind. Good problems can be solved on differ-
ent levels of difficulty, can be solved with words or with images or with formulae, activate
knowledge, concern real world applications, and are open.

Challenge 1, page 9: Do not hesitate to be demanding and strict. The next edition of the text will
benefit from it.
Challenge 2, page 16: There are many ways to distinguish real motion from an illusion of mo-
tion: for example, only real motion can be used to set something else into motion. In addition,
the motion illusions of the figures show an important failure; nothing moves if the head and the
paper remain fixed with respect to each other. In other words, the illusion only amplifies existing
motion, it does not create motion from nothing.
Challenge 3, page 17: Without detailed and precise experiments, both sides can find examples
to prove their point. Creation is supported by the appearance of mould or bacteria in a glass
of water; creation is also supported by its opposite, namely traceless disappearance, such as the
disappearance of motion. However, conservation is supported and creation falsified by all those
investigations that explore assumed cases of appearance or disappearance in full detail.
Challenge 4, page 19: The amount of water depends on the shape of the bucket. The system
chooses the option (tilt or straight) for which the centre of gravity is lowest.
Challenge 5, page 19: Political parties, sects, helping organizations and therapists of all kinds are
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

typical for this behaviour.

Challenge 6, page 24: The issue is not yet completely settled for the motion of empty space, such
as in the case of gravitational waves. Thus, the motion of empty space might be an exception. In
any case, empty space is not made of small particles of finite size, as this would contradict the
transversality of gravity waves.
Challenge 7, page 26: The circular definition is: objects are defined as what moves with respect
to the background, and the background is defined as what stays when objects change. We shall
Page 369 return to this important issue several times in our adventure. It will require a certain amount of
patience to solve it, though.
Challenge 8, page 27: Holes are not physical systems, because in general they cannot be tracked.
Vol. IV, page 146 Challenge 9, page 27: See the discussion in volume IV, on quantum theory.
 404 challenge hints and solu tions

F I G U R E 244
A soap

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
bubble while
bursting
(© Peter
Wienerroither).

Challenge 10, page 29: Hint: yes, there is such a point.

Challenge 11, page 30: See Figure 244 for an intermediate step. A bubble bursts at a point, and
then the rim of the hole increases rapidly, until it disappears on the antipodes. During that pro-
cess the remaining of the bubble keeps its spherical shape, as shown in the figure. For a film of the
process, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpcXtmkk26Q. In other words, the final droplets that
are ejected stem from the point of the bubble which is opposite to the point of puncture; they are
never ejected from the centre of the bubble.
Challenge 12, page 30: A ghost can be a moving image; it cannot be a moving object, as objects
Vol. IV, page 117 cannot interpenetrate.
Challenge 13, page 30: If something could stop moving, motion could disappear into nothing.
For a precise proof, one would have to show that no atom moves any more. So far, this has never
been observed: motion is conserved. (Nothing in nature can disappear into nothing.)
Challenge 14, page 30: This would indeed mean that space is infinite; however, it is impossible
to observe that something moves “forever”: nobody lives that long. In short, there is no way to
prove that space is infinite in this way. In fact, there is no way to prove that space if infinite in
any other way either.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 15, page 30: The necessary rope length is nh, where n is the number of wheels/pulleys.
And yes, the farmer is indeed doing something sensible.
Challenge 16, page 30: How would you measure this?
Challenge 17, page 30: The number of reliable digits of a measurement result is a simple quan-
tification of precision. More details can be found by looking up ‘standard deviation’ in the index.
Challenge 18, page 30: No; memory is needed for observation and measurements. This is the
case for humans and measurement apparatus. Quantum theory will make this particularly clear.
Challenge 19, page 30: Note that you never have observed zero speed. There is always some mea-
surement error which prevents one to say that something is zero. No exceptions!
Challenge 20, page 30: (264 − 1) = 18 446 744 073 700 551 615 grains of wheat, with a grain
weight of 40 mg, are 738 thousand million tons. Given a world harvest in 2006 of 606 million
challenge hints and solu tions 405

tons, the grains amount to about 1200 years of the world’s wheat harvests.
The grain number calculation is simplified by using the formula 1 + m + m2 + m3 + ...mn =
(m − 1)/(m − 1), that gives the sum of the so-called geometric sequence. (The name is historical
n+1

and is used as a contrast to the arithmetic sequence 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + ...n = n(n + 1)/2.) Can you
prove the two expressions?
The chess legend is mentioned first by Abu-l ’Abbas Ahmand Ibn Khallikan (1211–1282).. King
Shiram and king Balhait, also mentioned in the legend, are historical figures that lived between
the second and fourth century CE. The legend appears to have combined two different stories.
Indeed, the calculation of grains appears already in the year 947, in the famous text Meadows of
Gold and Mines of Precious Stones by Abu ul-Hasan ’Ali ibn Husayn ibn ’Ali ul-Mas’udi.
Challenge 21, page 30: In clean experiments, the flame leans inwards. But such experiments are
not easy, and sometimes the flame leans outwards. Just try it. Can you explain both observations?
Challenge 22, page 30: Accelerometers are the simplest motion detectors. They exist in form of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
piezoelectric devices that produce a signal whenever the box is accelerated and can cost as little as
one euro. Another accelerometer that might have a future is an interference accelerometer that
makes use of the motion of an interference grating; this device might be integrated in silicon.
Other, more precise accelerometers use gyroscopes or laser beams running in circles.
Velocimeters and position detectors can also detect motion; they need a wheel or at least an
optical way to look out of the box. Tachographs in cars are examples of velocimeters, computer
mice are examples of position detectors.
A cheap enough device would be perfect to measure the speed of skiers or skaters. No such
device exists yet.
Challenge 23, page 31: The ball rolls (or slides) towards the centre of the table, as the table centre
is somewhat nearer to the centre of the Earth than the border; then the ball shoots over, perform-
ing an oscillation around the table centre. The period is 84 min, as shown in challenge 355. (This
has never been observed, so far. Why?)
Challenge 24, page 31: Only if the acceleration never vanishes. Accelerations can be felt. Ac-
celerometers are devices that measure accelerations and then deduce the position. They are used
in aeroplanes when flying over the atlantic. If the box does not accelerate, it is impossible to say
whether it moves or sits still. It is even impossible to say in which direction one moves. (Close
your eyes in a train at night to confirm this.)
Challenge 25, page 31: The block moves twice as fast as the cylinders, independently of their
radius.
Challenge 26, page 31: This methods is known to work with other fears as well.
Challenge 27, page 31: Three couples require 11 passages. Two couples require 5. For four or
more couples there is no solution. What is the solution if there are n couples and n − 1 places on
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the boat?
Challenge 28, page 32: Hint: there is an infinite number of such shapes. These curves are called
also Reuleaux curves. Another hint: The 20 p and 50 p coins in the UK have such shapes. And yes,
other shapes than cylinders are also possible: take a twisted square bar, for example.
Challenge 29, page 32: Conservation, relativity and minimization are valid generally. In some
rare processes in nuclear physics, motion invariance is broken, as is mirror invariance. Continuity
is known not to be valid at smallest length and time intervals, but no experiments has yet probed
those domains, so that it is still valid in practice.
Challenge 30, page 33: In everyday life, this is correct; what happens when quantum effects are
taken into account?
Challenge 31, page 35: Take the average distance change of two neighbouring atoms in a piece
 406 challenge hints and solu tions

of quartz over the last million years. Do you know something still slower?
Challenge 32, page 36: There is only one way: compare the velocity to be measured with the
speed of light. In fact, almost all physics textbooks, both for schools and for university, start
with the definition of space and time. Otherwise excellent relativity textbooks have difficulties
avoiding this habit, even those that introduce the now standard k-calculus (which is in fact the
approach mentioned here). Starting with speed is the logically cleanest approach.
Challenge 33, page 36: There is no way to sense your own motion if you are in vacuum. No way
Page 141 in principle. This result is often called the principle of relativity.
In fact, there is a way to measure your motion in space (though not in vacuum): measure your
speed with respect to the cosmic background radiation. So we have to be careful about what is
implied by the question.
Challenge 34, page 36: The wing load W/A, the ratio between weight W and wing area A, is
obviously proportional to the third root of the weight. (Indeed, W ∼ l 3 , A ∼ l 2 , l being the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
dimension of the flying object.) This relation gives the green trend line.
The wing load W/A, the ratio between weight W and wing area A, is, like all forces in fluids,
proportional to the square of the cruise speed 󰑣: we have W/A = 󰑣 2 0.38 kg/m3 . The unexplained
factor contains the density of air and a general numerical coefficient that is difficult to calculate.
This relation connects the upper and lower horizontal scales in the graph.
As a result, the cruise speed scales as the sixth root of weight: 󰑣 ∼ W 1/6 . In other words, an
Airbus A380 is 750 000 million times heavier than a fruit fly, but only a hundred times as fast.
Challenge 35, page 40: Equivalently: do points in space exist? The final part of our ascent studies
Vol. VI, page 59 this issue in detail..
Challenge 36, page 41: All electricity sources must use the same phase when they feed electric
power into the net. Clocks of computers on the internet must be synchronized.
Challenge 37, page 41: Note that the shift increases quadratically with time, not linearly.
Challenge 38, page 41: Natural time is measured with natural motion. Natural motion is the mo-
tion of light. Natural time is thus defined with the motion of light.
Challenge 39, page 42: Galileo measured time with a scale (and with other methods). His stop-
watch was a water tube that he kept closed with his thumb, pointing into a bucket. To start the
stopwatch, he removed his thumb, to stop it, he put it back on. The volume of water in the bucket
then gave him a measure of the time interval. This is told in his famous book Galileo Galilei,
Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze attenenti alla mecanica e i movi-
menti locali, usually simply called the ‘Discorsi’, which he published in 1638 with Louis Elsevier
in Leiden, in the Netherlands.
Challenge 40, page 47: There is no way to define a local time at the poles that is consistent with
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

all neighbouring points. (For curious people, check the website www.arctic.noaa.gov/gallery_np.
html.)
Challenge 42, page 48: The forest is full of light and thus of light rays: they are straight, as shown
by the sunbeams in Figure 245.
Challenge 43, page 49: One pair of muscles moves the lens along the third axis by deforming
the eye from prolate to spherical to oblate.
Challenge 44, page 49: You can solve this problem by trying to think in four dimensions. (Train
using the well-known three-dimensional projections of four-dimensional cubes.) Try to imagine
how to switch the sequence when two pieces cross. Note: it is usually not correct, in this domain,
to use time instead of a fourth spatial dimension!
Challenge 45, page 51: Measure distances using light.
 challenge hints and solu tions 407

F I G U R E 245 Sunbeams in a forest

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
(© Fritz Bieri and Heinz Rieder).

Challenge 48, page 54: It is easier to work with the unit torus. Take the unit interval [0, 1] and
equate the end points. Define a set B in which the elements are a given real number b from the
interval plus all those numbers who differ from that real by a rational number. The unit circle
can be thought as the union of all the sets B. (In fact, every set B is a shifted copy of the rational
numbers ℚ.) Now build a set A by taking one element from each set B. Then build the set family
consisting of the set A and its copies A q shifted by a rational q. The union of all these sets is
the unit torus. The set family is countably infinite. Then divide it into two countably infinite set
families. It is easy to see that each of the two families can be renumbered and its elements shifted
in such a way that each of the two families forms a unit torus.
Ref. 41 Mathematicians say that there is no countably infinitely additive measure of ℝn or that sets
such as A are non-measurable. As a result of their existence, the ‘multiplication’ of lengths is
possible. Later on we shall explore whether bread or gold can be multiplied in this way.
Challenge 49, page 55: Hint: start with triangles.
Challenge 50, page 55: An example is the region between the x-axis and the function which as-
signs 1 to every transcendental and 0 to every non-transcendental number.
Challenge 51, page 56: We use the definition of the function of the text. The dihedral angle of a
regular tetrahedron is an irrational multiple of π, so the tetrahedron has a non-vanishing Dehn
invariant. The cube has a dihedral angle of π/2, so the Dehn invariant of the cube is 0. Therefore,
the cube is not equidecomposable with the regular tetrahedron.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 52, page 56: If you think you can show that empty space is continuous, you are wrong.
Check your arguments. If you think you can prove the opposite, you might be right – but only if
you already know what is explained in the final part of the text. If that is not the case, check your
arguments.
Challenge 53, page 57: Obviously, we use light to check that the plumb line is straight, so the two
definitions must be the same. This is the case because the field lines of gravity are also possible
paths for the motion of light. However, this is not always the case; can you spot the exceptions?
Another way to check straightness is along the surface of calm water.
A third, less precise way, way is to make use of the straightness sensors on the brain. The
human brain has a built-in faculty to determine whether an objects seen with the eyes is straight.
There are special cells in the brain that fire when this is the case. Any book on vision perception
tells more about this topic.
408 challenge hints and solu tions

paper discs
F I G U R E 246 A simple way to measure bullet speeds.

do not cut

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
cut first,
through cut last
both sides

do not cut
F I G U R E 247 How to make a hole
in a postcard that allows stepping
through it.

Challenge 54, page 58: The hollow Earth theory is correct if the distance formula is used consis-
tently. In particular, one has to make the assumption that objects get smaller as they approach the
centre of the hollow sphere. Good explanations of all events are found on www.geocities.com/
inversedearth. Quite some material can be found on the internet, also under the names of cele-
strocentric system, inner world theory or concave Earth theory. There is no way to prefer one
description over the other, except possibly for reasons of simplicity or intellectual laziness.
Challenge 56, page 58: A hint is given in Figure 246. For the measurement of the speed of light
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

with almost the same method, see volume II, on page 18.
Challenge 57, page 58: A fast motorbike is faster: a driver can catch an arrow, a stunt that was
shown on a television show in Germany around the year 2000.
Challenge 58, page 59: 72 stairs.
Challenge 61, page 59: See Figure 247.
Challenge 62, page 60: Within 1 per cent, one fifth of the height must be empty, and four fifths
must be filled; the exact value follows from 󵀂3 2 = 1.25992...
Challenge 63, page 60: One pencil draws a line of between 20 and 80 km, if no lead is lost when
sharpening. Numbers for the newly invented plastic, flexible pencils are unknown.
Challenge 64, page 60: The bear is white, because the obvious spot of the house is at the North
pole. But there are infinitely many additional spots (without bears) near the South pole: can you
challenge hints and solu tions 409

rope h = Δl/2π rope H

R R

Earth Earth

Δl = 2(󵀆(R + H)2 − R2 − R arccos R+H

R
)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 248 Two ways to lengthen a rope around the Earth.

find them?
Challenge 65, page 60: We call L the initial length of the rubber band, 󰑣 the speed of the snail
relative to the band and V the speed of the horse relative to the floor. The speed of the snail
relative to the floor is given as
ds s
= 󰑣 +V . (121)
dt L + Vt
This is a so-called differential equation for the unknown snail position s(t). You can check – by
simple insertion – that its solution is given by
󰑣
s(t) = (L + Vt) ln(1 + Vt/L) . (122)
V
Therefore, the snail reaches the horse at a time
L V /󰑣
treaching = (e − 1) (123)
V
which is finite for all values of L, V and 󰑣. You can check however, that the time is very large
indeed, if realistic speed values are used.
Challenge 66, page 61: Colour is a property that applies only to objects, not to boundaries. In
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the mentioned case, only spots and backgrounds have colours. The question shows that it is easy
to ask questions that make no sense also in physics.
Challenge 67, page 61: You can do this easily yourself. You can even find websites on the topic.
Challenge 69, page 61: Clocks with two hands: 22 times. Clocks with three hands: 2 times.
Challenge 70, page 61: For two hands, the answer is 143 times.
Challenge 71, page 61: The Earth rotates with 15 minutes per minute.
Challenge 72, page 61: You might be astonished, but no reliable data exist on this question. The
highest speed of a throw measured so far seems to be a 45 m/s cricket bowl. By the way, much
more data are available for speeds achieved with the help of rackets. The c. 70 m/s of fast bad-
minton smashes seem to be a good candidate for record racket speed; similar speeds are achieved
by golf balls.
 410 challenge hints and solu tions

d b

L
R

F I G U R E 249 Leaving a parking

space – the outer turning radius.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 73, page 61: A spread out lengthening by 1 m allows even many cats to slip through,
as shown on the left side of Figure 248. But the right side of the figure shows a better way to
use the extra rope length, as Dimitri Yatsenko points out: a localized lengthening by 1 mm then
already yields a height of 1.25 m, allowing a child to walk through. In fact, a lengthening by 1 m
performed in this way yields a peak height of 121 m!
Challenge 74, page 61: 1.8 km/h or 0.5 m/s.
Challenge 76, page 62: The different usage reflects the idea that we are able to determine our
position by ourselves, but not the time in which we are. The section on determinism will show
Page 204 how wrong this distinction is.
Challenge 77, page 62: Yes, there is. However, this is not obvious, as it implies that space and
time are not continuous, in contrast to what we learn in primary school. The answer will be
found in the final part of this text.
Challenge 78, page 62: For a curve, use, at each point, the curvature radius of the circle approx-
imating the curve in that point; for a surface, define two directions in each point and use two
such circles along these directions.
Challenge 79, page 62: It moves about 1 cm in 50 ms.
Challenge 80, page 62: The surface area of the lung is between 100 and 200 m2 , depending on
the literature source, and that of the intestines is between 200 and 400 m2 .
Challenge 81, page 63: A limit does not exist in classical physics; however, there is one in nature
which appears as soon as quantum effects are taken into account.
Challenge 82, page 63: The final shape is a full cube without any hole.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 83, page 63: The required gap d is

d = 󵀊(L − b)2 − 󰑤 2 + 2󰑤 󵀆R2 − (L − b)2 − L + b , (124)

as deduced from Figure 249. See also R. Hoyle, Requirements for a perfect s-shaped parallel
parking maneuvre in a simple mathematical model, 2003.
Challenge 84, page 63: A smallest gap does not exist: any value will do! Can you show this?
Challenge 85, page 63: The following solution was proposed by Daniel Hawkins.
Assume you are sitting in car A, parked behind car B, as shown in Figure 250. There are two
basic methods for exiting a parking space that requires the reverse gear: rotating the car to move
the centre of rotation away from (to the right of) car B, and shifting the car downward to move the
challenge hints and solu tions 411

d
Assumed motion (schematic)
of car A:
m

second point of rotation

(straightening phase)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
car B car A
󰑤
T

R
x

b b

L
first point of rotation
(turning phase)

F I G U R E 250 Solving the car parking puzzle (© Daniel Hawkins).

centre of rotation away from (farther below) car B. The first method requires car A to be partially
diagonal, which means that the method will not work for d less than a certain value, essentially
the value given above, when no reverse gear is needed. We will concern ourselves with the second
method (pictured), which will work for an infinitesimal d.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In the case where the distance d is less than the minimum required distance to turn out of the
parking space without using the reverse gear for a given geometry L, 󰑤, b, R, an attempt to turn
out of the parking space will result in the corner of car A touching car B at a distance T away
from the edge of car B, as shown in Figure 250. This distance T is the amount by which car A
must be translated downward in order to successfully turn out of the parking space.
The method to leave the parking space, shown in the top left corner of Figure 250, requires
two phases to be successful: the initial turning phase, and the straightening phase. By turning
and straightening out, we achieve a vertical shift downward and a horizontal shift left, while
preserving the original orientation. That last part is key because if we attempted to turn until
the corner of car A touched car B, car A would be rotated, and any attempt to straighten out
would just follow the same arc backward to the initial position, while turning the wheel the other
direction would rotate the car even more, as in the first method described above.
412 challenge hints and solu tions

Our goal is to turn as far as we can and still be able to completely straighten out by time car A
touches car B. To analyse just how much this turn should be, we must first look at the properties
of a turning car.
Ackermann steering is the principle that in order for a car to turn smoothly, all four wheels
must rotate about the same point. This was patented by Rudolph Ackermann in 1817. Some prop-
erties of Ackermann steering in relation to this problem are as follows:

• The back wheels stay in alignment, but the front wheels (which we control), must turn
different amounts to rotate about the same centre.

• The centres of rotation for left and right turns are on opposite sides of the car

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
• For equal magnitudes of left and right turns, the centres of rotation are equidistant from
the nearest edge of the car. Figure 250 makes this much clearer.

• All possible centres of rotation are on the same line, which also always passes through the
back wheels.

• When the back wheels are “straight” (straight will always mean in the same orientation as
the initial position), they will be vertically aligned with the centres of rotation.

• When the car is turning about one centre, say the one associated with the maximum left
turn, then the potential centre associated with the maximum right turn will rotate along
with the car. Similarly, when the cars turns about the right centre, the left centre rotates.

Now that we know the properties of Ackermann steering, we can say that in order to maximize
the shift downward while preserving the orientation, we must turn left about the 1st centre such
that the 2nd centre rotates a horizontal distance d, as shown in Figure 250. When this is achieved,
we brake, and turn the steering wheel the complete opposite direction so that we are now turning
right about the 2nd centre. Because we shifted leftward d, we will straighten out at the exact
moment car A comes in contact with car B. This results in our goal, a downward shift m and
leftward shift d while preserving the orientation of car A. A similar process can be performed in
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

reverse to achieve another downward shift m and a rightward shift d, effectively moving car A
from its initial position (before any movement) downward 2m while preserving its orientation.
This can be done indefinitely, which is why it is possible to get out of a parking space with an
infinitesimal d between car A and car B. To determine how many times this procedure (both
sets of turning and straightening) must be performed, we must only divide T (remember T is
the amount by which car A must be shifted downward in order to turn out of the parking spot
normally) by 2m, the total downward shift for one iteration of the procedure. Symbolically,

T
n= . (125)
2m

In order to get an expression for n in terms of the geometry of the car, we must solve for T and
challenge hints and solu tions 413

F I G U R E 251 A simple drawing – one of F I G U R E 252 The trajectory of the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the many possible one – that allows middle point between the two ends
proving Pythagoras’ theorem. of the hands of a clock.

2m. To simplify the derivations we define a new length x, also shown in Figure 250.

x = 󵀆R2 − (L − b)2

T = 󵀆R2 − (L − b + d)2 − x + 󰑤

= 󵀆R2 − (L − b + d)2 − 󵀆R2 − (L − b)2 + 󰑤

m = 2x − 󰑤 − 󵀆(2x − 󰑤)2 − d 2

= 2󵀆R2 − (L − b)2 − 󰑤 − 󵀊(2󵀆R2 − (L − b)2 − 󰑤)2 − d 2

= 2󵀆R2 − (L − b)2 − 󰑤 − 󵀊4(R2 − (L − b)2 ) − 4󰑤 󵀆R2 − (L − b)2 + 󰑤 2 − d 2

= 2󵀆R2 − (L − b)2 − 󰑤 − 󵀊4R2 − 4(L − b)2 − 4󰑤 󵀆R2 − (L − b)2 + 󰑤 2 − d 2

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

We then get

T 󵀆R2 − (L − b + d)2 − 󵀆R2 − (L − b)2 + 󰑤

n= = .
2m
4󵀆R − (L − b) − 2󰑤 − 2󵀊4R2 − 4(L − b)2 − 4󰑤 󵀆R2 − (L − b)2 + 󰑤 2 − d 2
2 2

The value of n must always be rounded up to the next integer to determine how many times one
must go backward and forward to leave the parking spot.
Challenge 86, page 63: Nothing, neither a proof nor a disproof.
Challenge 87, page 64: See volume II, on page 18. On extreme shutters, see also the discussion
in Volume VI, on page 111.
414 challenge hints and solu tions

1°
4°
3° 6°

3° 2° 3°

10°

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 253 The angles defined by the hands against the sky, when the arms are extended.

Challenge 88, page 64: A hint for the solution is given in Figure 251.
Challenge 89, page 64: Because they are or were liquid.
Challenge 90, page 64: The shape is shown in Figure 252; it has eleven lobes.
Challenge 91, page 65: The cone angle φ, the angle between the cone axis and the cone border (or
equivalently, half the apex angle of the cone) is related to the solid angle Ω through the relation
Ω = 2π(1 − cos φ). Use the surface area of a spherical cap to confirm this result.
Challenge 93, page 65: See Figure 253.
Challenge 97, page 66: Hint: draw all objects involved.
Challenge 98, page 66: The curve is obviously called a catenary, from Latin ‘catena’ for chain.
The formula for a catenary is y = a cosh(x/a). If you approximate the chain by short straight
segments, you can make wooden blocks that can form an arch without any need for glue. The
St. Louis arch is in shape of a catenary. A suspension bridge has the shape of a catenary before
it is loaded, i.e., before the track is attached to it. When the bridge is finished, the shape is in
between a catenary and a parabola.
Challenge 99, page 67: The inverse radii, or curvatures, obey a2 +b2 +c 2 +d 2 = (1/2)(a+b+c+d)2 .
This formula was discovered by René Descartes. If one continues putting circles in the remaining
spaces, one gets so-called circle packings, a pretty domain of recreational mathematics. They have
many strange properties, such as intriguing relations between the coordinates of the circle centres
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

and their curvatures.

Challenge 100, page 67: One option: use the three-dimensional analogue of Pythagoras’s theo-
rem. The answer is 9.
Challenge 101, page 68: There are two solutions. (Why?) They are the two positive solutions of
l 2 = (b + x)2 + (b + b2 /x)2 ; the height is then given as h = b + x. The two solutions are 4.84 m
and 1.26 m. There are closed formulas for the solutions; can you find them?
Challenge 102, page 68: The best way is to calculate first the height B at which the blue ladder
touches the wall. It is given as a solution of B 4 − 2hB 3 − (r 2 − b2 )B 2 + 2h(r 2 − b2 )B − h2 (r 2 − b2 ) = 0.
Integer-valued solutions are discussed in Martin Gardner, Mathematical Circus, Spectrum,
1996.
Challenge 103, page 68: Draw a logarithmic scale, i.e., put every number at a distance corre-
sponding to its natural logarithm. Such a device, called a slide rule, is shown in Figure 254. Slide
challenge hints and solu tions 415

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 254 A high-end slide rule, around 1970 (© Jörn Lütjens).

rules were the precursors of electronic calculators; they were used all over the world in prehistoric
times, i.e., until around 1970. See also the web page www.oughtred.org.
Challenge 104, page 68: Two more. Build yourself a model of the Sun and the Earth to verify
this.
Challenge 105, page 68: The Sun is exactly behind the back of the observer; it is setting, and the
rays are coming from behind and reach deep into the sky in the direction opposite to that of the
Sun.
1
Challenge 107, page 69: The volume is given by V = ∫ Adx = ∫−1 4(1 − x 2 )dx = 16/3.
Challenge 108, page 69: Yes. Try it with a paper model.
Challenge 109, page 69: Problems appear when quantum effects are added. A two-dimensional
universe would have no matter, since matter is made of spin 1/2 particles. But spin 1/2 particles
do not exist in two dimensions. Can you find other reasons?
Challenge 110, page 70: Two dimensions do not allow ordering of events. To say ‘before’ and ‘af-
terwards’ becomes impossible. In everyday life and all domains accessible to measurement, time
is surely one-dimensional.
Challenge 111, page 70: No experiment has ever found any hint. Can this be nevertheless? Prob-
ably not, as argued in the last volume of Motion Mountain.
Challenge 112, page 70: The best solution seems to be 23 extra lines. Can you deduce it? To avoid
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

spoiling the fun of searching, no solution is given here. You can find solutions on blog.vixra.org/
2010/12/26/a-christmas-puzzle.
Challenge 113, page 70: If you solve this so-called ropelength problem, you will become a fam-
ous mathematician. The length is known only with about 6 decimals of precision. No exact for-
mula is known, and the exact shape of such ideal knots is unknown for all non-trivial knots. The
problem is also unsolved for all non-trivial ideal closed knots, for which the two ends are glued
together.
Challenge 114, page 73: From x = дt 2 /2 you get the following rule: square the number of sec-
onds, multiply by five and you get the depth in metres.
Challenge 115, page 73: Just experiment.
Challenge 116, page 74: The Academicians suspended one cannon ball with a thin wire just in
front of the mouth of the cannon. When the shot was released, the second, flying cannon ball
416 challenge hints and solu tions

flew through the wire, thus ensuring that both balls started at the same time. An observer from
far away then tried to determine whether both balls touched the Earth at the same time. The
experiment is not easy, as small errors in the angle and air resistance confuse the results.
Challenge 117, page 74: A parabola has a so-called focus or focal point. All light emitted from
that point and reflected exits in the same direction: all light ray are emitted in parallel. The name
‘focus’ – Latin for fireplace – expresses that it is the hottest spot when a parabolic mirror is illumi-
nated. Where is the focus of the parabola y = x 2 ? (Ellipses have two foci, with a slightly different
definition. Can you find it?)
Challenge 118, page 75: The long jump record could surely be increased by getting rid of the
sand stripe and by measuring the true jumping distance with a photographic camera; that would
allow jumpers to run more closely to their top speed. The record could also be increased by a
small inclined step or by a spring-suspended board at the take-off location, to increase the take-
off angle.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 119, page 75: Walk or run in the rain, measure your own speed 󰑣 and the angle from
the vertical α with which the rain appears to fall. Then the speed of the rain is 󰑣rain = 󰑣/ tan α.
Challenge 121, page 76: Neglecting air resistance and approximating the angle by 45°, we get
󰑣 = 󵀄d д , or about 3.8 m/s. This speed is created by a steady pressure build-up, using blood
pressure, which is suddenly released with a mechanical system at the end of the digestive canal.
The cited reference tells more about the details.
Challenge 122, page 76: On horizontal ground, for a speed 󰑣 and an angle from the horizontal
α, neglecting air resistance and the height of the thrower, the distance d is d = 󰑣 2 sin 2α/д.
Challenge 123, page 76: Check your calculation with the information that the 1998 world record
is juggling with 9 balls.
Challenge 124, page 76: It is said so, as rain drops would then be ice spheres and fall with high
speed.
Challenge 125, page 76: There are conflicting statements in the literature. But it is a fact that
people have gone to hospital and even died because a falling bullet went straight through their
head. (See S. Mirsky, It is high, it is far, Scientific American p. 86, February 2004, or C. Tuijn,
Vallende kogels, Nederlands tijdschrift voor natuurkunde 71, pp. 224–225, 2005.) In addition, the
lead in bullets is bad for the environment.
Challenge 126, page 76: This is a true story. The answer can only be given if it is known whether
the person had the chance to jump while running or not. In the case described by R. Cross,
Forensic physics 101: falls from a height, American Journal of Physics 76, pp. 833–837, 2008, there
was no way to run, so that the answer was: murder.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 127, page 76: For jumps of an animal of mass m the necessary energy E is given as
E = mдh, and the work available to a muscle is roughly speaking proportional to its mass W ∼ m.
Thus one gets that the height h is independent of the mass of the animal. In other words, the
specific mechanical energy of animals is around 1.5 ± 0.7 J/kg.
Challenge 128, page 77: Stones never follow parabolas: when studied in detail, i.e., when the
change of д with height is taken into account, their precise path turns out to be an ellipse. This
shape appears most clearly for long throws, such as throws around a sizeable part of the Earth,
or for orbiting objects. In short, stones follow parabolas only if the Earth is assumed to be flat. If
its curvature is taken into account, they follow ellipses.
Challenge 129, page 77: The set of all rotations around a point in a plane is indeed a vector
space. What about the set of all rotations around all points in a plane? And what about the three-
dimensional cases?
challenge hints and solu tions 417

Challenge 132, page 78: The scalar product between two vectors a and b is given by

ab = ab cos 󳈂(a, b) . (126)

How does this differ from the vector product?
Challenge 135, page 81: A candidate for low acceleration of a physical system might be the ac-
celerations measured by gravitational wave detectors. They are below 10−13 m/s2 .
Challenge 136, page 82: In free fall (when no air is present) or inside a space station orbiting the
Earth, one is accelerated but does not feel anything. In fact, this indistinguishability or equiva-
lence between acceleration and ‘feeling nothing’ was an essential step for Albert Einstein in his
development of general relativity.
Challenge 137, page 82: Professor to student: What is the derivative of velocity? Acceleration!
What is the derivative of acceleration? I don’t know. Jerk! The fourth, fifth and sixth derivatives
of position are sometimes called snap, crackle and pop.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 139, page 84: One can argue that any source of light must have finite size.
Challenge 141, page 85: What the unaided human eye perceives as a tiny black point is usually
about 50 μm in diameter.
Challenge 142, page 85: See volume III, page 142.
Challenge 143, page 85: One has to check carefully whether the conceptual steps that lead us to
extract the concept of point from observations are correct. It will be shown in the final part of
the adventure that this is not the case.
Challenge 144, page 85: One can rotate the hand in a way that the arm makes the motion de-
scribed. See also volume IV, page 114.
Challenge 145, page 85: Any number, without limit.
Challenge 146, page 85: The blood and nerve supply is not possible if the wheel has an axle. The
method shown to avoid tangling up connections only works when the rotating part has no axle:
the ‘wheel’ must float or be kept in place by other means. It thus becomes impossible to make a
wheel axle using a single piece of skin. And if a wheel without an axle could be built (which might
be possible), then the wheel would periodically run over the connection. Could such a axle-free
connection realize a propeller?
By the way, it is still thinkable that animals have wheels on axles, if the wheel is a ‘dead’ object.
Even if blood supply technologies like continuous flow reactors were used, animals could not
make such a detached wheel grow in a way tuned to the rest of the body and they would have
difficulties repairing a damaged wheel. Detached wheels cannot be grown on animals; they must
be dead.
Challenge 147, page 87: The brain in the skull, the blood factories inside bones or the growth of
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the eye are examples.

Challenge 148, page 87: In 2007, the largest big wheels for passengers are around 150 m in di-
ameter. The largest wind turbines are around 125 m in diameter. Cement kilns are the longest
wheels: they can be over 300 m along their axis.
Challenge 149, page 87: Air resistance reduces the maximum distance, which is achieved for an
angle of about π/4 = 45°, from around 󰑣 2 /д = 91.7 m down to around 50 m.
Challenge 153, page 90: One can also add the Sun, the sky and the landscape to the list.
Challenge 154, page 91: There is no third option. Ghosts, hallucinations, Elvis sightings, or ex-
traterrestrials must all be objects or images. Also shadows are only special types of images.
Challenge 155, page 91: The issue was hotly discussed in the seventeenth century; even Galileo
argued for them being images. However, they are objects, as they can collide with other objects,
418 challenge hints and solu tions

Bicycle motion
6

(stable at negative values, unstable at positive values)

Imaginary part
4
Weave
Magnitude of eigenvalues [1/s]

2
measured
values
Real part
0

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
–2
Capsize
Real part

–4
Castering

–6
0 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9
speed [m/s]
Unstable speeds Stable speed range Unstable
speeds

F I G U R E 255 The measured (black bars) and calculated behaviour (coloured lines) – more precisely, the
dynamical eigenvalues – of a bicycle as a function of its speed (© Arend Schwab).

as the spectacular collision between Jupiter and the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994 showed. In
the meantime, satellites have been made to collide with comets and even to shoot at them (and
hitting).
Challenge 156, page 92: The minimum speed is roughly the one at which it is possible to ride
without hands. If you do so, and then gently push on the steering wheel, you can make the expe-
rience described above. Watch out: too strong a push will make you fall badly.
The bicycle is one of the most complex mechanical systems of everyday life, and it is still a
subject of research. And obviously, the world experts are Dutch. An overview of the behaviour
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

of a bicycle is given in Figure 255. The main result is that the bicycle is stable in the upright
position at a range of medium speeds. Only at low and at large speeds must the rider actively
steer to ensure upright position of the bicycle.
For more details, see J. P. Meijaard, J. M. Papad opoulos, A. Ruina & A. L. S chwab,
Linearized dynamics equations for the balance and steer of a bicycle: a benchmark and re-
view, Proceedings of the Royal Society A 463, pp. 1955–1982, 2007, and J. D. G. Ko oijman,
A. L. S chwab & J. P. Meijaard, Experimental validation of a model of an uncontrolled bicy-
cle, Multibody System Dynamics 19, pp. 115–132, 2008. See also the audiophile.tam.cornell.edu/
~als93/Bicycle/index.htm website.
Challenge 157, page 94: The weight decreased due to the evaporated water lost by sweating and,
to a minor degree, due to the exhaled carbon bound in carbon dioxide.
Challenge 158, page 95: If the moving ball is not rotating, after the collision the two balls will
 challenge hints and solu tions 419

depart with a right angle between them.

Challenge 159, page 95: Part of the energy is converted into heat; the rest is transferred as kinetic
energy of the concrete block. As the block is heavy, its speed is small and easily stopped by the
human body. This effect works also with anvils, it seems. In another common variation the person
does not lie on nails, but on air: he just keeps himself horizontal, with head and shoulders on one
chair, and the feet on a second one.
Challenge 160, page 96: Yes, the definition of mass works also for magnetism, because the pre-
cise condition is not that the interaction is central, but that the interaction realizes a more general
condition that includes accelerations such as those produced by magnetism. Can you deduce the
condition from the definition of mass as that quantity that keeps momentum conserved?
Challenge 161, page 97: Rather than using the inertial effects of the Earth, it is easier to deduce
Page 159 its mass from its gravitational effects.
Challenge 165, page 98: At first sight, relativity implies that tachyons have imaginary mass; how-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ever, the imaginary factor can be extracted from the mass–energy and mass–momentum relation,
so that one can define a real mass value for tachyons; as a result, faster tachyons have smaller en-
ergy and smaller momentum. Both momentum and energy can be a negative number of any
size.
Challenge 166, page 100: The leftmost situation has a tiny effect, the second makes the car role
forward and backward, the right two pictures show ways to open wine bottles without bottle
opener.
Challenge 167, page 100: Legs are never perfectly vertical; they would immediately glide away.
Once the cat or the person is on the floor, it is almost impossible to stand up again.
Challenge 168, page 100: Momentum (or centre of mass) conservation would imply that the en-
vironment would be accelerated into the opposite direction. Energy conservation would imply
that a huge amount of energy would be transferred between the two locations, melting everything
in between. Teleportation would thus contradict energy and momentum conservation.
Challenge 169, page 101: The part of the tides due to the Sun, the solar wind, and the interac-
tions between both magnetic fields are examples of friction mechanisms between the Earth and
the Sun.
Challenge 170, page 101: With the factor 1/2, increase of (physical) kinetic energy is equal to
the (physical) work performed on a system: total energy is thus conserved only if the factor 1/2
is added.
Challenge 172, page 103: It is a smart application of momentum conservation.
Challenge 173, page 103: Neither. With brakes on, the damage is higher, but still equal for both
cars.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 174, page 104: Heating systems, transport engines, engines in factories, steel plants,
electricity generators covering the losses in the power grid, etc. By the way, the richest countries
in the world, such as Sweden or Switzerland, consume only half the energy per inhabitant as the
USA. This waste is one of the reasons for the lower average standard of living in the USA.
Challenge 179, page 108: Just throw it into the air and compare the dexterity needed to make it
turn around various axes.
Challenge 180, page 108: Use the definition of the moment of inertia and Pythagoras’ theorem
for every mass element of the body.
Challenge 181, page 108: Hang up the body, attaching the rope in two different points. The cross-
ing point of the prolonged rope lines is the centre of mass.
Challenge 182, page 108: See Tables 19 and 20.
420 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 183, page 108: Spheres have an orientation, because we can always add a tiny spot
on their surface. This possibility is not given for microscopic objects, and we shall study this
situation in the part on quantum theory.
Challenge 184, page 111: Yes, the ape can reach the banana. The ape just has to turn around its
own axis. For every turn, the plate will rotate a bit towards the banana. Of course, other methods,
like blowing at a right angle to the axis, peeing, etc., are also possible.
Challenge 185, page 111: Self-propelled linear motion contradicts the conservation of momen-
tum; self-propelled change of orientation (as long as the motion stops again) does not contradict
any conservation law. But the deep, final reason for the difference will be unveiled in the final
part of our adventure.
Challenge 187, page 112: The points that move exactly along the radial direction of the wheel
form a circle below the axis and above the rim. They are the points that are sharp in Figure 70 of
page 112.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 188, page 112: Use the conservation of angular momentum around the point of con-
tact. If all the wheel’s mass is assumed in the rim, the final rotation speed is half the initial one;
it is independent of the friction coefficient.
Challenge 190, page 113: Probably the ‘rest of the universe’ was meant by the writer. Indeed, a
moving a part never shifts the centre of gravity of a closed system. But is the universe closed? Or
a system? The last part of our adventure covers these issues.
Challenge 191, page 113: The human body is more energy-efficient at low and medium power
output. The topic is still subject of research, as detailed in the cited reference. The critical slope
is estimated to be around 16° for uphill walkers, but should differ for downhill walkers.
Challenge 192, page 114: Hint: an energy per distance is a force.
Challenge 193, page 114: The conservation of angular momentum saves the glass. Try it.
Challenge 194, page 114: First of all, MacDougall’s experimental data is flawed. In the six cases
MacDougall examined, he did not know the exact timing of death. His claim of a mass decrease
cannot be deduced from his own data. Modern measurements on dying sheep, about the same
mass as humans, have shown no mass change, but clear weight pulses of a few dozen grams
when the heart stopped. This temporary weight decrease could be due to the expelling of air or
moisture, to the relaxing of muscles, or to the halting of blood circulation. The question is not
settled.
Challenge 196, page 115: Assuming a square mountain, the height h above the surrounding
crust and the depth d below are related by
h ρm − ρc
= (127)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

d ρc
where ρc is the density of the crust and ρm is the density of the mantle. For the density values
given, the ratio is 6.7, leading to an additional depth of 6.7 km below the mountain.
Challenge 200, page 116: The behaviour of the spheres can only be explained by noting that elas-
tic waves propagate through the chain of balls. Only the propagation of these elastic waves, in
particular their reflection at the end of the chain, explains that the same number of balls that hit
on one side are lifted up on the other. For long times, friction makes all spheres oscillate in phase.
Can you confirm this?
Challenge 201, page 116: When the short cylinder hits the long one, two compression waves
start to run from the point of contact through the two cylinders. When each compression wave
arrives at the end, it is reflected as an expansion wave. If the geometry is well chosen, the expan-
sion wave coming back from the short cylinder can continue into the long one (which is still in
challenge hints and solu tions 421

his compression phase). For sufficiently long contact times, waves from the short cylinder can
thus depose much of their energy into the long cylinder. Momentum is conserved, as is energy;
the long cylinder is oscillating in length when it detaches, so that not all its energy is transla-
tional energy. This oscillation is then used to drive nails or drills into stone walls. In commercial
hammer drills, length ratios of 1:10 are typically used.
Challenge 202, page 117: The momentum transfer to the wall is double when the ball rebounds
perfectly.
Challenge 203, page 117: If the cork is in its intended position: take the plastic cover off the cork,
put the cloth around the bottle (this is for protection reasons only) and repeatedly hit the bottle
on the floor or a fall in an inclined way, as shown in Figure 64 on page 100. With each hit, the
cork will come out a bit.
If the cork has fallen inside the bottle: put half the cloth inside the bottle; shake until the cork
falls unto the cloth. Pull the cloth out: first slowly, until the cloth almost surround the cork, and
then strongly.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 205, page 117: The atomic force microscope.
Challenge 207, page 118: Running man: E ≈ 0.5 ⋅ 80 kg ⋅ (5 m/s)2 = 1 kJ; rifle bullet: E ≈ 0.5 ⋅
0.04 kg ⋅ (500 m/s)2 = 5 kJ.
Challenge 208, page 118: It almost doubles in size.
Challenge 209, page 118: At the highest point, the acceleration is д sin α, where α is the angle
of the pendulum at the highest point. At the lowest point, the acceleration is 󰑣 2 /l, where l is
the length of the pendulum. Conservation of energy implies that 󰑣 2 = 2дl(1 − cos α). Thus the
problem requires that sin α = 2(1 − cos α). This results in cos α = 3/5.
Challenge 210, page 118: One needs the mass change equation dm/dt = πρvapour r 2 |󰑣| due to the
vapour and the drop speed evolution m d󰑣/dt = mд − 󰑣 dm/dt. These two equations yield
d󰑣 2 2д 󰑣2
= −6 (128)
dr C r
where C = ρvapour /4ρwater . The trick is to show that this can be rewritten as

d 󰑣 2 2д 󰑣2
r = −7 . (129)
dr r C r
For large times, all physically sensible solutions approach 󰑣 2 /r = 2д/7C; this implies that for
large times,
d󰑣 󰑣 2 д дC 2
= and r = t . (130)
dt r 7 14
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

About this famous problem, see for example, B. F. Edwards, J. W. Wilder & E. E. S cime,
Dynamics of falling raindrops, European Journal of Physics 22, pp. 113–118, 2001, or A. D. S okal,
The falling raindrop, revisited, preprint at arxiv.org/abs/09080090.
Challenge 213, page 118: Weigh the bullet and shoot it against a mass hanging from the ceiling.
From the mass and the angle it is deflected to, the momentum of the bullet can be determined.
Challenge 215, page 119: The curve described by the midpoint of a ladder sliding down a wall
is a circle.
Challenge 216, page 119: The switched use the power that is received when the switch is pushed
and feed it to a small transmitter that acts a high frequency remote control to switch on the light.
Challenge 217, page 119: A clever arrangement of bimetals is used. They move every time the
temperature changes from day to night – and vice versa – and wind up a clock spring. The clock
itself is a mechanical clock with low energy consumption.
422 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 218, page 119: The weight of the lift does not change at all when a ship enters it. A
twin lift, i.e., a system in which both lifts are mechanically or hydraulically connected, needs no
engine at all: it is sufficient to fill the upper lift with a bit of additional water every time a ship
enters it. Such ship lifts without engines at all used to exist in the part.
Challenge 220, page 121: This is not easy; a combination of friction and torques play a role. See
for example the article J. Sauer, E. S chörner & C. L ennerz, Real-time rigid body simula-
tion of some classical mechanical toys, 10th European Simulation and Symposium and Exhibition
(ESS ’98) 1998, pp. 93–98, or http//www.lennerz.de/paper_ess98.pdf.
Challenge 223, page 126: The Coriolis effect can be seen as the sum two different effects of equal
magnitude. The first effect is the following: on a rotating background, velocity changes over time.
What an inertial (nonrotating) observer sees as a constant velocity will be seen a velocity that
changes over time by the rotating observer. The acceleration seen by the rotating observer is neg-
ative, and is proportional to the angular velocity and to the velocity.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The second effect is change of velocity in space. In a rotating frame of reference, different
points have different velocities. The effect is negative, and proportional to the angular velocity
and to the velocity.
In total, the Coriolis acceleration (or Coriolis effect) is thus aC = −2ω × 󰑣.
Challenge 224, page 127: A short pendulum of length L that swings in two dimensions (with
amplitude ρ and orientation φ) shows two additional terms in the Lagrangian L:

1 2 ρ2 l2 1 ρ2
L = T −V = m ρ̇ 󶀦1 + 2 󶀶 + z 2 − mω02 ρ2 (1 + ) (131)
2 L 2mρ 2 4 L2

where as usual the basic frequency is ω02 = д/L and the angular momentum is lz = mρ2 φ. ̇ The
two additional terms disappear when L → ∞; in that case, if the system oscillates in an ellipse
with semiaxes a and b, the ellipse is fixed in space, and the frequency is ω0 . For finite pendulum
length L, the frequency changes to

a2 + b 2
ω = ω0 󶀦1 − 󶀶 . (132)
16 L2

The ellipse turns with a frequency

3 ab
Ω=ω . (133)
8 L2
These formulae can be derived using the least action principle, as shown by C. G. Gray,
G. Karl & V. A. Novikov, Progress in classical and quantum variational principles, arxiv.org/
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

abs/physics/0312071. In other words, a short pendulum in elliptical motion shows a precession

even without the Coriolis effect. Since this precession frequency diminishes with 1/L2 , the effect
is small for long pendulums, where only the Coriolis effect is left over. To see the Coriolis effect
in a short pendulum, one thus has to avoid that it starts swinging in an elliptical orbit by adding
a mechanism that suppresses elliptical motion.
Challenge 225, page 128: The Coriolis acceleration is the reason for the deviation from the
straight line. The Coriolis acceleration is due to the change of speed with distance from the rota-
tion axis. Now think about a pendulum, located in Paris, swinging in the North-South direction
with amplitude A. At the Southern end of the swing, the pendulum is further from the axis by
A sin φ, where φ is the latitude. At that end of the swing, the central support point overtakes the
pendulum bob with a relative horizontal speed given by 󰑣 = 2πA sin φ/23 h56 min. The period
of precession is given by TF = 󰑣/2πA, where 2πA is the circumference 2πA of the envelope of the
challenge hints and solu tions 423

light
source
Ωt

F I G U R E 256 Deducing
the expression for the
t=0 t = 2πR/c Sagnac effect.

pendulum’s path (relative to the Earth). This yields TF = 23 h56 min/ sin φ. Why is the value that
appears in the formula not 24 h, but 23 h56 min?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 226, page 128: The axis stays fixed with respect to distant stars, not with respect to
absolute space (which is an entity that cannot be observed at all).
Challenge 227, page 128: Rotation leads to a small frequency and thus colour changes of the
circulating light.
Challenge 228, page 128: The weight changes when going east or when moving west due to the
Coriolis acceleration. If the rotation speed is tuned to the oscillation frequency of the balance,
the effect is increased by resonance. This trick was also used by Eötvös.
Challenge 229, page 128: The Coriolis acceleration makes the bar turn, as every moving body is
deflected to the side, and the two deflections add up in this case. The direction of the deflection
depends on whether the experiments is performed on the northern or the southern hemisphere.
Challenge 230, page 130: When rotated by π around an east–west axis, the Coriolis force pro-
duces a drift velocity of the liquid around the tube. It has the value

󰑣 = 2ωr sin θ, (134)

as long as friction is negligible. Here ω is the angular velocity of the Earth, θ the latitude and r
the (larger) radius of the torus. For a tube with 1 m diameter in continental Europe, this gives a
speed of about 6.3 ⋅ 10−5 m/s.
The measurement can be made easier if the tube is restricted in diameter at one spot, so that
the velocity is increased there. A restriction by an area factor of 100 increases the speed by the
same factor. When the experiment is performed, one has to carefully avoid any other effects that
lead to moving water, such as temperature gradients across the system.
Challenge 231, page 130: Imagine a circular light path (for example, inside a circular glass fibre)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

and two beams moving in opposite directions along it, as shown in Figure 256. If the fibre path
rotates with rotation frequency Ω, we can deduce that, after one turn, the difference ΔL in path
length is
4πR2 Ω
ΔL = 2RΩt = . (135)
c
The phase difference is thus
8π2 R2
Δφ = Ω (136)
cλ
if the refractive index is 1. This is the required formula for the main case of the Sagnac effect.
It is regularly suggested that the Sagnac effect can only be understood with help of general
relativity; this is wrong. As just done, the effect is easily deduced from the invariance of the speed
of light c. The effect is a consequence of special relativity.
424 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 232, page 131: The metal rod is slightly longer on one side of the axis. When the wire
keeping it up is burned with a candle, its moment of inertia decreases by a factor of 104 ; thus it
starts to rotate with (ideally) 104 times the rotation rate of the Earth, a rate which is easily visible
by shining a light beam on the mirror and observing how its reflection moves on the wall.
Challenge 233, page 137: The original result by Bessel was 0.3136 󳰀󳰀 , or 657.7 thousand orbital
radii, which he thought to be 10.3 light years or 97.5 Pm.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 257 How the night sky, and our galaxy in particular, looks in the near infrared (NASA false
colour image).

Challenge 235, page 140: The galaxy forms a stripe in the sky. The galaxy is thus a flattened struc-
ture. This is even clearer in the infrared, as shown more clearly in Figure 257. From the flattening
(and its circular symmetry) we can deduce that the galaxy must be rotating. Thus other matter
must exist in the universe.
Challenge 237, page 142: See page 163.
Challenge 239, page 143: The scale reacts to your heartbeat. The weight is almost constant over
time, except when the heart beats: for a short duration of time, the weight is somewhat lowered
at each beat. Apparently it is due to the blood hitting the aortic arch when the heart pumps it
upwards. The speed of the blood is about 0.3 m/s at the maximum contraction of the left ventricle.
The distance to the aortic arch is a few centimetres. The time between the contraction and the
reversal of direction is about 15 ms. And the measured weight is not even constant for a dead
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

person, as air currents disturb the measurement.

Challenge 240, page 143: Use Figure 85 on page 126 for the second half of the trajectory, and
think carefully about the first half.
Challenge 241, page 143: Hint: starting rockets at the Equator saves a lot of energy, thus of fuel
and of weight.
Challenge 243, page 144: The flame leans towards the inside.
Challenge 245, page 144: For your exam it is better to say that centrifugal force does not exist.
But since in each stationary system there is a force balance, the discussion is somewhat a red
herring.
Challenge 247, page 144: Place the tea in cups on a board and attach the board to four long ropes
that you keep in your hand.
challenge hints and solu tions 425

Challenge 248, page 145: The ball leans in the direction it is accelerated to. As a result, one could
imagine that the ball in a glass at rest pulls upwards because the floor is accelerated upwards. We
will come back to this issue in the section of general relativity.
Challenge 249, page 145: The friction of the tides on Earth are the main cause.
Challenge 250, page 145: An earthquake with Richter magnitude of 12 is 1000 times the energy
of the 1960 Chile quake with magnitude 10; the latter was due to a crack throughout the full 40 km
of the Earth’s crust along a length of 1000 km in which both sides slipped by 10 m with respect
to each other. Only the impact of a meteorite could lead to larger values than 12.
Challenge 252, page 145: If a wedding ring rotates on an axis that is not a principal one, angular
momentum and velocity are not parallel.
Challenge 253, page 146: Yes; it happens twice a year. To minimize the damage, dishes should
be dark in colour.
Challenge 254, page 146: A rocket fired from the back would be a perfect defence against planes

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
attacking from behind. However, when released, the rocket is effectively flying backwards with
respect to the air, thus turns around and then becomes a danger to the plane that launched it.
Engineers who did not think about this effect almost killed a pilot during the first such tests.
Challenge 255, page 146: Whatever the ape does, whether it climbs up or down or even lets him-
self fall, it remains at the same height as the mass. Now, what happens if there is friction at the
wheel?
Challenge 256, page 146: Yes, if he moves at a large enough angle to the direction of the boat’s
motion.
2
Challenge 257, page 146: The moment of inertia is Θ = 5 mr 2 .
Challenge 258, page 146: The moments of inertia are equal also for the cube, but the values are
Θ = 16 ml 2 . The efforts required to put a sphere and a cube into rotation are thus different.
Challenge 259, page 146: See the article by C. Ucke & H. -J. S chlichting, Faszinierendes
Dynabee, Physik in unserer Zeit 33, pp. 230–231, 2002.
Challenge 260, page 146: See the article by C. Ucke & H. -J. S chlichting, Die kreisende
Büroklammer, Physik in unserer Zeit 36, pp. 33–35, 2005.
Challenge 261, page 147: Yes. Can you imagine what happens for an observer on the Equator?
Challenge 262, page 147: A straight line at the zenith, and circles getting smaller at both sides.
See an example on the website antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021115.html.
Challenge 264, page 148: The plane is described in the websites cited; for a standing human the
plane is the vertical plane containing the two eyes. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 265, page 148: As said before, legs are simpler than wheels to grow, to maintain and
to repair; in addition, legs do not require flat surfaces (so-called ‘streets’) to work.
Challenge 266, page 150: The staircase formula is an empirical result found by experiment, used
by engineers world-wide. Its origin and explanation seems to be lost in history.
Challenge 267, page 150: Classical or everyday nature is right-left symmetric and thus requires
an even number of legs. Walking on two-dimensional surfaces naturally leads to a minimum of
four legs. Starfish, snails, slugs, clams, eels and snakes are among the most important exceptions
for which the arguments are not valid.
Challenge 269, page 151: The length of the day changes with latitude. So does the length of a
shadow or the elevation of stars at night, facts that are easily checked by telephoning a friend.
Ships appear at the horizon first be showing only their masts. These arguments, together with
the round shadow of the earth during a lunar eclipse and the observation that everything falls
 426 challenge hints and solu tions

downwards everywhere, were all given already by Aristotle, in his text On the Heavens. It is now
known that everybody in the last 2500 years knew that the Earth is s sphere. The myth that many
people used to believe in a flat Earth was put into the world – as rhetorical polemic – by Coperni-
cus. The story then continued to be exaggerated more and more during the following centuries,
Vol. III, page 250 because a new device for spreading lies had just been invented: book printing. Fact is that for
2500 years the vast majority of people knew that the Earth is a sphere.
Challenge 270, page 151: Robert Peary had forgotten that on the date he claimed to be at the
North Pole, 6th of April 1909, the Sun is very low on the horizon, casting very long shadows,
about ten times the height of objects. But on his photograph the shadows are much shorter. (In
fact, the picture is taken in such a way to hide all shadows as carefully as possible.) Interestingly,
he had even convinced the US congress to officially declare him the first man on the North Pole
in 1911. (A rival crook had claimed to have reached it before Peary, but his photograph has the
same mistake.) Peary also cheated on the travelled distances of the last few days; he also failed
to mention that the last days he was pulled by his partner, Matthew Henson, because he was not

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
able to walk any more. In fact Matthew Henson deserves more credit for that adventure than
Peary. Henson, however, did not know that Peary cheated on the position they had reached.
Challenge 271, page 151: Yes, the effect has been measured for skyscrapers. Can you estimate
the values?
Challenge 272, page 153: The tip of the velocity arrow, when drawn over time, produces a circle
around the centre of motion.
Challenge 273, page 154: Draw a figure of the situation.
Challenge 274, page 154: Again, draw a figure of the situation.
Challenge 275, page 154: The value of the product GM for the Earth is 4.0 ⋅ 1014 m3 /s2 .
Challenge 276, page 155: All points can be reached for general inclinations; but when shooting
horizontally in one given direction, only points on the first half of the circumference can be
reached.
Challenge 277, page 156: On the moon, the gravitational acceleration is 1.6 m/s2 , about one
sixth of the value on Earth. The surface values for the gravitational acceleration for the planets
can be found on many internet sites.
Challenge 278, page 157: The Atwood machine is the answer: two almost equal masses m1 and
m2 connected by a string hanging from a well-oiled wheel of negligible mass. The heavier one
falls very slowly. Can show that the acceleration a of this ‘unfree’ fall is given by a = д(m1 −
m2 )/(m1 + m2 )? In other words, the smaller the mass difference is, the slower the fall is.
Challenge 279, page 157: You should absolutely try to understand the origin of this expression.
It allows understanding many important concepts of mechanics. The idea is that for small ampli-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tudes, the acceleration of a pendulum of length l is due to gravity. Drawing a force diagram for
a pendulum at a general angle α shows that

ma = −mд sin α
d2 α
ml = −mд sin α
dt 2
d2 α
l 2 = −д sin α . (137)
dt
For the mentioned small amplitudes (below 15°) we can approximate this to

d2 α
l = −дα . (138)
dt 2
challenge hints and solu tions 427

This is the equation for a harmonic oscillation (i.e., a sinusoidal oscillation). The resulting motion
is:
α(t) = A sin(ωt + φ) . (139)
The amplitude A and the phase φ depend on the initial conditions; however, the oscillation fre-
quency is given by the length of the pendulum and the acceleration of gravity (check it!):

l
ω=󵀌 . (140)
д

(For arbitrary amplitudes, the formula is much more complex; see the internet or special mechan-
ics books for more details.)
Challenge 280, page 157: Walking speed is proportional to l/T , which makes it proportional to
l 1/2 . The relation is also true for animals in general. Indeed, measurements show that the maxi-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
mum walking speed (thus not the running speed) across all animals is given by

󰑣maxwalking = (2.2 ± 0.2) m1/2 /s 󵀂 l . (141)

Challenge 283, page 159: The acceleration due to gravity is a = Gm/r 2 ≈ 5 nm/s2 for a mass
of 75 kg. For a fly with mass mfly = 0.1 g landing on a person with a speed of 󰑣fly = 1 cm/s
and deforming the skin (without energy loss) by d = 0.3 mm, a person would be accelerated by
a = (󰑣 2 /d)(mfly /m) = 0.4 μm/s2 . The energy loss of the inelastic collision reduces this value at
least by a factor of ten.
Challenge 284, page 161: The calculation shows that a surprisingly high energy value is stored
in thermal motion.
Challenge 287, page 162: The easiest way to see this is to picture gravity as a flux emanating
from a sphere. This gives a 1/r d−1 dependence for the force and thus a 1/r d−2 dependence of the
potential.
Challenge 289, page 163: Since the paths of free fall are ellipses, which are curves lying in a plane,
this is obvious.
Challenge 290, page 165: The vector OF can be calculated by using OS = −(GmM/E)OP/OP
and then translating the construction given in the figure into formulae. This exercise yields
K
OF = (142)
mE
where
K = p × L − GMmx/x
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

(143)
is the so-called Runge–Lenz vector. (We have used x = OP for the position of the orbiting body,
p for its momentum and L for its angular momentum. The Runge–Lenz vector K is constant
along the orbit of a body, thus has the same value for any position x on the orbit. (Prove it by
starting from xK = xK cos θ.) The Runge–Lenz vector is thus a conserved quantity in universal
gravity. As a result, the vector OF is also constant in time. The Runge–Lenz vector is also often
used in quantum mechanics, when calculating the energy levels of a hydrogen atom, as it appears
in all problems with a 1/r potential. (In fact, the incorrect name ‘Runge–Lenz vector’ is due to
Wolfgang Pauli; the discoverer of the vector was, in 1710, Jakob Hermann.)
Challenge 291, page 165: On orbits, see page 168.
Challenge 293, page 166: The low gravitational acceleration of the Moon, 1.6 m/s2 , implies that
gas molecules at usual temperatures can escape its attraction.
428 challenge hints and solu tions

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 258 The Lagrangian points
and the effective potential that
produces them (NASA).

Challenge 295, page 168: A flash of light is sent to the Moon, where several Cat’s-eyes have been
deposited by the Lunokhod and Apollo missions. The measurement precision of the time a flash
take to go and come back is sufficient to measure the Moon’s distance change. For more details,
see challenge 8.
Challenge 300, page 171: The Lagrangian points L4 and L5 are on the orbit, 60° before and be-
hind the orbiting body. They are stable if the mass ratio of the central and the orbiting body is
sufficiently large (above 24.9).
Challenge 301, page 171: The Lagrangian point L3 is located on the orbit, but precisely on the
other side of the central body. The Lagrangian point L1 is located on the line connecting the planet
with the central body, whereas L2 lies outside the orbit, on the same line. If R is the radius of the
orbit, the distance between the orbiting body and the L1 and L2 point is 󵀄3 m/3M R, giving around
4 times the distance of the Moon for the Sun-Earth system. L1, L2 and L3 are saddle points, but
effectively stable orbits exist around them. Many satellites make use of these properties, including
the famous WMAP satellite that measured the ripples of the big bang, which is located at the ‘quiet’
point L2, where the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are easily shielded and satellite temperature
remains constant. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 302, page 173: This is a resonance effect, in the same way that a small vibration of a
string can lead to large oscillation of the air and sound box in a guitar.
Challenge 304, page 175: The expression for the strength of tides, namely 2GM/d 3 , can be
rewritten as (8/3)πG ρ(R/d)3 . Now, R/d is roughly the same for Sun and Moon, as every eclipse
shows. So the density ρ must be much larger for the Moon. In fact, the ratio of the strengths
(height) of the tides of Moon and Sun is roughly 7 : 3. This is also the ratio between the mass
densities of the two bodies.
Challenge 305, page 175: The total angular momentum of the Earth and the Moon must remain
constant.
Challenge 309, page 178: Unfortunately, the myth of ‘passive gravitational mass’ is spread by
many books. Careful investigation shows that it is measured in exactly the same way as inertial
mass. The two concepts are identical.
challenge hints and solu tions 429

F I G U R E 259 The famous ‘vomit comet’, a KC-135,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
performing a parabolic flight (NASA).

Challenge 310, page 179: Either they fell on inclined snowy mountain sides, or they fell into
high trees, or other soft structures. The record was over 7 km of survived free fall. A recent
case made the news in 2007 and is told in www.bbc.co.uk/jersey/content/articles/2006/12/20/
michael_holmes_fall_feature.shtml.
Challenge 312, page 180: For a few thousand Euros, you can experience zero-gravity in a
parabolic flight, such as the one shown in Figure 259. (Many ‘photographs’ of parabolic flights
found on the internet are in fact computer graphics. What about this one?)
How does zero-gravity feel? It feels similar to floating under water, but without the resistance
of the water. It also feels like the time in the air when one is diving into water. However, for
cosmonauts, there is an additional feeling; when they rotate their head rapidly, the sensors for
orientation in our ear are not reset by gravity. Therefore, for the first day or two, most cosmonauts
have feelings of vertigo and of nausea, the so-called space sickness. After that time, the body adapts
and the cosmonaut can enjoy the situation thoroughly.
Challenge 313, page 180: The centre of mass of a broom falls with the usual acceleration; the
end thus falls faster.
Challenge 314, page 180: Just use energy conservation for the two masses of the jumper and the
string. For more details, including the comparison of experimental measurements and theory, see
N. D ubel aar & R. Brantjes, De valversnelling bij bungee-jumping, Nederlands tijdschrift
voor natuurkunde 69, pp. 316–318, October 2003.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 315, page 180: About 1 ton.

Challenge 316, page 180: About 5 g.
Challenge 317, page 180: Your weight is roughly constant; thus the Earth must be round. On a
flat Earth, the weight would change from place to place, depending on your distance from the
border.
Challenge 318, page 180: Nobody ever claimed that the centre of mass is the same as the centre
of gravity! The attraction of the Moon is negligible on the surface of the Earth.
Challenge 320, page 181: That is the mass of the Earth. Just turn the table on its head.
Challenge 322, page 182: The Moon will be about 1.25 times as far as it is now. The Sun then
will slow down the Earth–Moon system rotation, this time due to the much smaller tidal friction
from the Sun’s deformation. As a result, the Moon will return to smaller and smaller distances to
 430 challenge hints and solu tions

F I G U R E 260 The analemma

photographed, at local noon, from
January to December 2002, at the
Parthenon on Athen’s Acropolis,
and a precision sundial (© Anthony
Ayiomamitis, Stefan Pietrzik).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Earth. However, the Sun will have become a red giant by then, after having swallowed both the
Earth and the Moon.
Challenge 324, page 182: As Galileo determined, for a swing (half a period) the ratio is 󵀂2 /π.
(See challenge 279). But not more than two, maybe three decimals of π can be determined in this
way.
Challenge 325, page 182: Momentum conservation is not a hindrance, as any tennis racket has
the same effect on the tennis ball.
Challenge 326, page 182: In fact, in velocity space, elliptic, parabolic and hyperbolic motions
Ref. 148 are all described by circles. In all cases, the hodograph is a circle.
Challenge 327, page 183: This question is old (it was already asked in Newton’s times) and deep.
One reason is that stars are kept apart by rotation around the galaxy. The other is that galaxies are
kept apart by the momentum they got in the big bang. Without the big bang, all stars would have
collapsed together. In this sense, the big bang can be deduced from the attraction of gravitation
and the immobile sky at night. We shall find out later that the darkness of the night sky gives a
second argument for the big bang.
Challenge 328, page 184: The choice is clear once you notice that there is no section of the orbit
which is concave towards the Sun. Can you show this?
Challenge 330, page 184: The escape velocity, from Earth, to leave the solar system – without
help of the other planets – is 42 km/s. However, if help by the other planets is allowed, it can be
less than half that value (why?).
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

If the escape velocity from a body were the speed of light, the body would be a black hole; not
Vol. II, page 240 even light could escape. Black holes are discussed in detail in the volume on relativity.
Challenge 331, page 184: Using a maximal jumping height of h =0.5 m on Earth and an es-
timated asteroid density of ρ =3 Mg/m3 , we get a maximum radius of R2 = 3дh/4πG ρ, or
R ≈ 2.4 km.
Challenge 332, page 185: A handle of two bodies.
Challenge 335, page 185: The shape of an analemma at local noon is shown in Figure 260. The
vertical extension of the analemma is due to the obliquity, i.e., the tilt of the Earth’s axis (it is twice
23.45°). The horizontal extension is due to the combination of the obliquity and of the ellipticity
of the orbit around the Sun. Both effects change the speed of the Earth along its orbit, leading to
changes of the position of the Sun at local noon during the course of the year. The asymmetrical
position of the central crossing point The shape of the analemma is also built into the shadow
challenge hints and solu tions 431

pole of precision sundials.

Challenge 336, page 186: Capture of a fluid body is possible if it is split by tidal forces.
Challenge 337, page 186: The tunnel would be an elongated ellipse in the plane of the Equator,
reaching from one point of the Equator to the point at the antipodes. The time of revolution
would not change, compared to a non-rotating Earth. See A. J. Simonson, Falling down a hole
through the Earth, Mathematics Magazine 77, pp. 171–188, June 2004.
Challenge 339, page 187: The centre of mass of the solar system can be as far as twice the radius
from the centre of the Sun; it thus can be outside the Sun.
Challenge 340, page 188: First, during northern summer time the Earth moves faster around
the Sun than during northern winter time. Second, shallow Sun’s orbits on the sky give longer
days because of light from when the Sun is below the horizon.
Challenge 341, page 188: Apart from the visibility of the Moon, no effect on humans has ever
been detected. Gravitational effects – including tidal effects – electrical effects, magnetic effects

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
and changes in cosmic rays are all swamped by other effects. Indeed the gravity of passing trucks,
factory electromagnetic fields, the weather and solar activity changes have larger influences on
humans than the Moon. The locking of the menstrual cycle to the moon phase is a visual effect.
Challenge 342, page 188: Distances were difficult to measure. It is easy to observe a planet that
is before the Sun, but it is hard to check whether a planet is behind the Sun.
Challenge 343, page 188: See the mentioned reference.
Challenge 344, page 188: True.
Challenge 345, page 189: For each pair of opposite shell elements (drawn in yellow), the two
attractions compensate.
Challenge 346, page 189: There is no practical way; if the masses on the shell could move, along
the surface (in the same way that charges can move in a metal) this might be possible, provided
that enough mass is available.
Challenge 349, page 189: Yes, one could, and this has been thought of many times, including by
Jules Verne. The necessary speed depends on the direction of the shot with respect of the rotation
of the Earth.
Challenge 350, page 189: Never. The Moon points always towards the Earth. The Earth changes
position a bit, due to the ellipticity of the Moon’s orbit. Obviously, the Earth shows phases.
Challenge 352, page 190: What counts is local verticality; with respect to it, the river always
flows downhill.
Challenge 353, page 190: There are no such bodies, as the chapter of general relativity will show.
Challenge 355, page 192: The oscillation is a purely sinusoidal, or harmonic oscillation, as the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

restoring force increases linearly with distance from the centre of the Earth. The period T for a
homogeneous Earth is T = 2π󵀆R3 /GM = 84 min.
Challenge 356, page 192: The period is the same for all such tunnels and thus in particular it
is the same as the 84 min period that is valid also for the pole to pole tunnel. See for example,
R. H. Romer, The answer is forty-two – many mechanics problems, only one answer, Physics
Teacher 41, pp. 286–290, May 2003.
Challenge 358, page 192: There is no simple answer: the speed depends on the latitude and on
other parameters.
Challenge 359, page 192: The centrifugal force must be equal to the gravitational force. Call the
R+l
constant linear mass density d and the unknown length l. Then we have GMd ∫R dr/r 2 =
R+l
ω 2 d ∫R r dr. This gives GMdl/(R2 + Rl) = (2Rl + l 2 )ω2 d/2, yielding l = 0.14 Gm.
 432 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 361, page 193: The inner rings must rotate faster than the outer rings. If the rings
were solid, they would be torn apart. But this reasoning is true only if the rings are inside a
certain limit, the so-called Roche limit. The Roche limit is that radius at which gravitational force
Fg and tidal force Ft cancel on the surface of the satellite. For a satellite with mass m and radius
r, orbiting a central mass M at distance d, we look at the forces on a small mass μ on its surface.
We get the condition Gmμ/r 2 = 2GM μr/d 3 . With a bit of algebra, one gets the Roche limit

ρM 1/3
dRoche = R 󶀥2 󶀵 . (144)
ρm

Below that distance from a central mass M, fluid satellites cannot exist. The calculation shown
here is only an approximation; the actual Roche limit is about two times that value.
Challenge 365, page 197: In reality muscles keep an object above ground by continuously lifting
and dropping it; that requires energy and work.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 366, page 197: The electricity consumption of a rising escalator indeed increases
when the person on it walks upwards. By how much?
Challenge 367, page 197: Knowledge is power. Time is money. Now, power is defined as work
per time. Inserting the previous equations and transforming them yields

work
money = , (145)
knowledge

which shows that the less you know, the more money you make. That is why scientists have low
salaries.
Challenge 370, page 200: Yes, because side wind increases the effective speed 󰑣 in air due to vec-
tor addition, and because air resistance is (roughly) proportional to 󰑣 2 .
Challenge 371, page 200: The lack of static friction would avoid that the fluid stays attached to
the body; the so-called boundary layer would not exist. One then would have to wing effect.
Challenge 373, page 201: True?
Challenge 375, page 202: From d󰑣/dt = д − 󰑣 2 (1/2c󰑤 Aρ/m) and using the abbreviation c =
1/2c󰑤 Aρ, we can solve for 󰑣(t) by putting all terms containing the variable 󰑣 on one side, all
terms with t on the other, and integrating on both sides. We get 󰑣(t) = 󵀄дm/c tanh 󵀄c д/m t.
Challenge 376, page 203: For extended deformable bodies, the intrinsic properties are given by
the mass density – thus a function of space and time – and the state is described by the density
of kinetic energy, linear and angular momentum, as well as by its stress and strain distributions.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 377, page 203: Electric charge.

Challenge 378, page 203: The phase space has 3N position coordinates and 3N momentum co-
ordinates.
Vol. III, page 107 Challenge 379, page 203: The light mill is an example.
Challenge 380, page 204: No in both cases. If you have found reasons to answer yes, you over-
looked something. Just go into more details and check whether the concepts you used apply to
the universe. Also define carefully what you mean by ‘universe’.
Challenge 382, page 205: A system showing energy or matter motion faster than light would
imply that for such systems there are observers for which the order between cause and effect
are reversed. A space-time diagram (and a bit of exercise from the section on special relativity)
shows this.
challenge hints and solu tions 433

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 261 The mechanism inside the south-pointing carriage.

Challenge 383, page 206: If reproducibility would not exist, we would have difficulties in check-
ing observations; also reading the clock is an observation. The connection between reproducibil-
ity and time shall become important in the final part of our adventure.
Challenge 384, page 207: Even if surprises were only rare, each surprise would make it impossi-
ble to define time just before and just after it.
Challenge 387, page 207: Of course; moral laws are summaries of what others think or will do
about personal actions.
Challenge 388, page 209: The fastest glide path between two points, the brachistochrone, turns
out to be the cycloid, the curve generated by a point on a wheel that is rolling along a horizontal
plane.
The proof can be found in many ways. The simplest is by Johann Bernoulli and is given on en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachistochrone_problem. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 392, page 210: Figure 261 shows the most credible reconstruction of a south-pointing
carriage.
Challenge 393, page 210: The water is drawn up along the sides of the spinning egg. The fastest
way to empty a bottle of water is to spin the water while emptying it.
Challenge 395, page 210: The right way is the one where the chimney falls like a V, not like an
inverted V. See challenge 313 on falling brooms for inspiration on how to deduce the answer. It
turns out that the chimney breaks (if it is not fastened to the base) at a height between half or
two thirds of the total, depending at the angle at which this happens. For a complete solution
of the problem, see the excellent paper G. Vareschi & K. Kamiya, Toy models for the falling
chimney, AMerican Journal of Physics 71, pp. 1025–1031, 2003.
Challenge 403, page 220: In one dimension, the expression F = ma can be written as −dV /dx =
̇ 12 m ẋ2 )] = 0. This can be expanded to
md2 x/dt 2 . This can be rewritten as d(−V )/dx − d/dt[d/dx(
 434 challenge hints and solu tions

∂/∂x( 12 m ẋ2 − V (x)) − d/[∂/∂x(

̇ 12 m ẋ2 − V (x))] = 0, which is Lagrange’s equation for this case.
Challenge 405, page 220: Do not despair. Up to now, nobody has been able to imagine a universe
(that is not necessarily the same as a ‘world’) different from the one we know. So far, such attempts
have always led to logical inconsistencies.
Challenge 407, page 221: The two are equivalent since the equations of motion follow from the
principle of minimum action and at the same time the principle of minimum action follows from
the equations of motion.
Challenge 409, page 222: For gravity, all three systems exist: rotation in galaxies, pressure in
planets and the Pauli pressure in stars. Against the strong interaction, the Pauli principle acts
in nuclei and neutron stars; in neutron stars maybe also rotation and pressure complement the
Pauli pressure. But for the electromagnetic interaction there are no composites other than our
everyday matter, which is organized by the Pauli principle alone.
Challenge 411, page 225: Angular momentum is the change with respect to angle, whereas rota-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
tional energy is again the change with respect to time, as all energy is.
Challenge 412, page 225: Not in this way. A small change can have a large effect, as every switch
shows. But a small change in the brain must be communicated outside, and that will happen
roughly with a 1/r 2 dependence. That makes the effects so small, that even with the most sensitive
switches – which for thoughts do not exist anyway – no effects can be realized.
Challenge 414, page 226: This is a wrong question. T − U is not minimal, only its average is.
Challenge 415, page 226: No. A system tends to a minimum potential only if it is dissipative.
One could, however, deduce that conservative systems oscillate around potential minima.
Challenge 416, page 227: The relation is

c1 sin α1
= . (146)
c2 sin α2

The particular speed ratio between air (or vacuum, which is almost the same) and a material
gives the index of refraction n:
c sin α1
n= 1 = (147)
c0 sin α0
Challenge 417, page 227: The principle for the growth of trees is simply the minimum of poten-
tial energy, since the kinetic energy is negligible. The growth of vessels inside animal bodies is
minimized for transport energy; that is again a minimum principle. The refraction of light is the
path of shortest time; thus it minimizes change as well, if we imagine light as moving entities
moving without any potential energy involved.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 418, page 227: Special relativity requires that an invariant measure of the action exist.
It is presented later in the walk.
Challenge 419, page 227: The universe is not a physical system. This issue will be discussed in
Vol. VI, page 99 detail later on.
Challenge 420, page 227: Use either the substitution u = tan t/2 or use the historical trick

1 cos φ cos φ
sec φ = 󶀥 + 󶀵 . (148)
2 1 + sin φ 1 − sin φ

Challenge 421, page 227: A skateboarder in a cycloid has the same oscillation time indepen-
dently of the oscillation amplitude. But a half-pipe needs to have vertical ends, in order to avoid
jumping outside it. A cycloid never has a vertical end.
challenge hints and solu tions 435

Challenge 423, page 229: We talk to a person because we know that somebody understands us.
Thus we assume that she somehow sees the same things we do. That means that observation is
partly viewpoint-independent. Thus nature is symmetric.
Challenge 424, page 233: Memory works because we recognize situations. This is possible be-
cause situations over time are similar. Memory would not have evolved without this reproducibil-
ity.
Challenge 425, page 234: Taste differences are not fundamental, but due to different viewpoints
and – mainly – to different experiences of the observers. The same holds for feelings and judge-
ments, as every psychologist will confirm.
Challenge 426, page 235: The integers under addition form a group. Does a painter’s set of oil
colours with the operation of mixing form a group?
Challenge 428, page 235: There is only one symmetry operation: a rotation about π around the
central point. That is the reason that later on the group D4 is only called the approximate sym-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
metry group of Figure 163.
Challenge 434, page 239: Scalar is the magnitude of any vector; thus the speed, defined as 󰑣 = |󰑣|,
is a scalar, whereas the velocity 󰑣 is not. Thus the length of any vector (or pseudovector), such
as force, acceleration, magnetic field, or electric field, is a scalar, whereas the vector itself is not a
scalar.
Challenge 437, page 240: The charge distribution of an extended body can be seen as a sum of a
charge, a charge dipole, a charge quadrupole, a charge octupole, etc. The quadrupole is described
by a tensor.
Compare: The inertia against motion of an extended body can be seen as sum of a mass, a
mass dipole, a mass quadrupole, a mass octupole, etc. The mass quadrupole is described by the
moment of inertia.
Challenge 441, page 242: The conserved charge for rotation invariance is angular momentum.
Challenge 444, page 245: An oscillation has a period in time, i.e., a discrete time translation sym-
metry. A wave has both discrete time and discrete space translation symmetry.
Challenge 445, page 245: Motion reversal is a symmetry for any closed system; despite the ob-
servations of daily life, the statements of thermodynamics and the opinion of several famous
physicists (who form a minority though) all ideally closed systems are reversible.
Challenge 446, page 245: The symmetry group is a Lie group and called U(1), for ‘unitary group
in 1 dimension’.
Challenge 447, page 245: The surprising answer is no.
Challenge 448, page 245: There is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ symmetry.
Challenge 452, page 249: Just insert x(t) into the Lagrangian L = 0, the minimum possible value
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

for a system that transforms all kinetic energy into potential energy and vice versa.
Challenge 460, page 258: The potential energy is due to the ‘bending’ of the medium; a simple
displacement produces no bending and thus contains no energy. Only the gradient captures the
bending idea.
Challenge 462, page 259: The phase changes by π.
Challenge 464, page 260: Waves can be damped to extremely low intensities. If this is not possi-
ble, the observation is not a wave.
Challenge 465, page 260: The way to observe diffraction and interference with your naked fin-
gers is told on page 92 in volume III.
Challenge 472, page 272: Skiers scrape snow from the lower side of each bump towards the up-
per side of the next bump. This leads to an upward motion of ski bumps.
436 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 473, page 272: If the distances to the loudspeaker is a few metres, and the distance to
the orchestra is 20 m, as for people with enough money, the listener at home hears it first.
Challenge 475, page 272: In general, the body moves along an ellipse (as for planets around the
Sun) but with the fixed point as centre. In contrast to planets, where the Sun is in a focus of the
ellipse and there is a perihelion and an apohelion, such a body moves symmetrically around the
centre of the ellipse. In special cases, the body moves back and forward along a straight segment.
Challenge 478, page 273: The sound of thunder or of car traffic gets lower and lower in fre-
quency with increasing distance.
Challenge 480, page 273: Neither; both possibilities are against the properties of water: in sur-
face waves, the water molecules move in circles.
Challenge 481, page 273: Swimmers are able to cover 100 m in 48 s, or slightly better than 2 m/s.
(Swimmer with fins achieve just over 3 m/s.) With a body length of about 1.9 m, the critical speed
is 1.7 m/s. That is why short distance swimming depends on training; for longer distances the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
technique plays a larger role, as the critical speed has not been attained yet. The formula also
predicts that on the 1500 m distance, a 2 m tall swimmer has a potential advantage of over 45 s
on one with body height of 1.8 m. In addition, longer swimmers have an additional advantage:
they swim shorter distances in pools (why?). It is thus predicted that successful long-distance
swimmers will get taller and taller over time. This is a pity for a sport that so far could claim to
have had champions of all sizes and body shapes, in contrast to many other sports.
Challenge 483, page 275: To reduce noise reflection and thus hall effects. They effectively diffuse
the arriving wave fronts.
Challenge 485, page 275: Waves in a river are never elliptical; they remain circular.
Challenge 486, page 275: The lens is a cushion of material that is ‘transparent’ to sound. The
speed of sound is faster in the cushion than in the air, in contrast to a glass lens, where the speed
of light is slower in the glass. The shape is thus different: the cushion must look like a biconcave
lens.
Challenge 487, page 275: Experiments show that the sound does not depend on air flows (find
out how), but does depend on external sound being present. The sound is due to the selective
amplification by the resonances resulting from the geometry of the shell shape.
Challenge 488, page 275: The Sun is always at a different position than the one we observe it to
be. What is the difference, measured in angular diameters of the Sun?
Challenge 489, page 276: The 3 × 3 × 3 cube has a rigid system of three perpendicular axes, on
which a square can rotate at each of the 6 ends. The other squares are attaches to pieces moving
around theses axes. The 4 × 4 × 4 cube is different though; just find out. The limit on the segment
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

number seems to be 6, so far. A 7 × 7 × 7 cube requires varying shapes for the segments. But more
than 5 × 5 × 5 is not found in shops. On the other hand, the website www.oinkleburger.com/
Cube/applet allows playing with virtual cubes up to 100 × 100 × 100, and more.
Challenge 491, page 277: An overview of systems being tested at present can be found in K. -
U. Graw, Energiereservoir Ozean, Physik in unserer Zeit 33, pp. 82–88, Februar 2002. See also
Oceans of electricity – new technologies convert the motion of waves into watts, Science News 159,
pp. 234–236, April 2001.
Challenge 492, page 277: In everyday life, the assumption is usually justified, since each spot
can be approximately represented by an atom, and atoms can be followed. The assumption is
questionable in situations such as turbulence, where not all spots can be assigned to atoms, and
most of all, in the case of motion of the vacuum itself. In other words, for gravity waves, and in
particular for the quantum theory of gravity waves, the assumption is not justified.
 challenge hints and solu tions 437

Challenge 498, page 283: There are many. One would be that the transmission and thus reflec-
tion coefficient for waves would almost be independent of wavelength.
Challenge 499, page 284: A drop with a diameter of 3 mm would cover a surface of 7.1 m2 with
a 2 nm film.
β
Challenge 501, page 287: The critical height for a column of material is given by hcrit 4
= 4πд m ρE2 ,
where β ≈ 1.9 is the constant determined by the calculation when a column buckles under its
own weight.
Challenge 503, page 288: One possibility is to describe particles as clouds; another is given in
the last part of the text.
Challenge 505, page 294: Check your answers with the delightful text by P. G oldrich,
S. Mahajan & S. Phinney, Order-of-Magnitude Physics: Understanding the World with
Dimensional Analysis, Educated Guesswork, and White Lies, available on the internet.
Challenge 506, page 294: Glass shatters, glass is elastic, glass shows transverse sound waves,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
glass does not flow (in contrast to what many books state), not even on scale of centuries, glass
molecules are fixed in space, glass is crystalline at small distances, a glass pane supported at the
ends does not hang through.
Challenge 507, page 294: No metal wire allows building such a long wire. Only the idea of car-
bon nanotubes has raised the hope again; some dream of wire material based on them, stronger
than any material known so far. However, no such material is known yet. The system faces many
dangers, such as fabrication defects, lightning, storms, meteorites and space debris. All would
lead to the breaking of the wires – if such wires will ever exist. But the biggest of all dangers is
the lack of cash to build it.
Challenge 509, page 295: A medium-large earthquake would be generated.
Challenge 510, page 295: A stalactite contains a thin channel along its axis through which the
water flows, whereas a stalagmite is massive throughout.
Challenge 511, page 295: About 1 part in a thousand.
Challenge 512, page 296: Even though the iron core of the Earth formed by collecting the iron
from colliding asteroids which then sunk into the centre of the Earth, the scheme will not work
today: in its youth, the Earth was much more liquid than today. The iron will most probably not
sink. In addition, there is no known way to build a measurement probe that can send strong
enough sound waves for this scheme. The temperature resistance is also an issue, but this may be
solvable.
Challenge 514, page 298: Atoms are not infinitely hard, as quantum theory shows. Atoms are
Vol. IV, page 67 more similar to deformable clouds.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 517, page 305: The constant k follows from the conservation of energy and that of
mass: k = 󵀆2/(ρ(A21 /A22 − 1)) . The cross sections are denoted by A and the subscript 1 refers to
any point far from the constriction, and the subscript 2 to the constriction.
Challenge 518, page 308: Some people notice that in some cases friction is too high, and start
sucking at one end of the tube to get the flow started; while doing so, they can inhale or swallow
gasoline, which is poisonous.
Challenge 524, page 309: The blood pressure in the feet of a standing human is about 27 kPa,
double the pressure at the heart.
Challenge 525, page 310: Calculation gives N = J/ j = 0.0001 m3 /s/(7 μm2 0.0005 m/s), or about
6 ⋅ 109 ; in reality, the number is much larger, as most capillaries are closed at a given instant. The
reddening of the face shows what happens when all small blood vessels are opened at the same
time.
438 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 526, page 310: Throwing the stone makes the level fall, throwing the water or the
piece of wood leaves it unchanged.
Challenge 527, page 310: The ship rises higher into the sky. (Why?)
Challenge 531, page 310: The pumps worked in suction; but air pressure only allows 10 m of
height difference for such systems.
Challenge 532, page 310: This argument is comprehensible only when one remembers that
‘twice the amount’ means ‘twice as many molecules’.
Challenge 533, page 310: The alcohol is frozen and the chocolate is put around it.
Challenge 534, page 311: The author suggested in an old edition that a machine should be based
on the same machines that throw the clay pigeons used in the sports of trap shooting and skeet.
In the meantime, Lydéric Bocquet and Christophe Clanet have built such a machine, but using a
different design; a picture can be found on the website lpmcn.univ-lyon1.fr/%7Elbocquet.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 535, page 311: The third component of air is the noble gas argon, making up about
1 %. A longer list of components is given in Table 59.
Challenge 536, page 311: The pleural cavity between the lungs and the thorax is permanently be-
low atmospheric pressure, usually 5 mbar, but even 10 mbar at inspiration. A hole in it, formed
for example by a bullet, a sword or an accident, leads to the collapse of the lung – the so-called
pneumothorax – and often to death. Open chest operations on people have became possible only
after the surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch learned in 1904 how to cope with the problem. Nowa-
days however, surgeons keep the lung under higher than atmospheric pressure until everything
is sealed again.
Challenge 537, page 311: The fountain shown in the figure is started by pouring water into the
uppermost container. The fountain then uses the air pressure created by the water flowing down-
wards.
Challenge 538, page 312: Yes. The bulb will not resist two such cars though.
Challenge 539, page 312: Radon is about 8 times as heavy as air; it is he densest gas known. In
comparison, Ni(CO) is 6 times, SiCl4 4 times heavier than air. Mercury vapour (obviously also a
gas) is 7 times heavier than air. In comparison, bromine vapour is 5.5 times heavier than air.
Challenge 541, page 312: None.
Challenge 543, page 312: He brought the ropes into the cabin by passing them through liquid
mercury.
Challenge 544, page 312: The pressure destroys the lung. Snorkeling is only possible at the water
surface, not below the water!
Challenge 546, page 313: There are no official solutions for these questions; just check your as-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

sumptions and calculations carefully. The internet is full of such calculations.

Challenge 547, page 313: The soap flows down the bulb, making it thicker at the bottom and
thinner at the top, until it reaches the thickness of two molecular layers. Later, it bursts.
Challenge 548, page 313: The temperature leads to evaporation of the involved liquid, and the
vapour prevents the direct contact between the two non-gaseous bodies.
Challenge 549, page 313: For this to happen, friction would have to exist on the microscopic
scale and energy would have to disappear.
Challenge 550, page 314: The longer funnel is empty before the short one. (If you do not believe
it, try it out.) In the case that the amount of water in the funnel outlet can be neglected, one can
use energy conservation for the fluid motion. This yields the famous Bernoulli equation p/ρ +
дh + 󰑣 2 /2 = const, where p is pressure, ρ the density of water, and д is 9.81 m/s2 . Therefore, the
challenge hints and solu tions 439

TA B L E 59 Gaseous composition of dry air, at present timea (sources: NASA, IPCC).

Gas Symbol Vo l u m e
pa rtb

Nitrogen N2 78.084 %
Oxygen O2 20.946 %
Argon Ar 0.934 %
Carbon dioxide (in large part due to human pollution) CO2 387 ppm
Neon Ne 18.18 ppm
Helium He 5.24 ppm
Methane (mostly due to human pollution) CH4 1.79 ppm
Krypton Kr 1.14 ppm
Hydrogen H2 0.55 ppm

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Nitrous oxide (mostly due to human pollution) N2 O 0.3 ppm
Carbon monoxide (partly due to human pollution) CO 0.1 ppm
Xenon Xe 0.087 ppm
Ozone (strongly influenced by human pollution) O3 0 to 0.07 ppm
Nitrogen dioxide (mostly due to human pollution) NO2 0.02 ppm
Iodine I2 0.01 ppm
Ammonia (mostly due to human pollution) NH3 traces
Radon Ra traces
Halocarbons and other fluorine compounds (all being 20 types 0.0012 ppm
humans pollutants)
Mercury, other metals, sulfur compounds, other organic numerous concentration
compounds (all being human pollutants) varies

a. Wet air can contain up to 4% water vapour, depending on the weather. Apart from gases, air can contain
water droplets, ice, sand, dust, pollen, spores, volcanic ash, forest fire ash, fuel ash, smoke particles, mete-
oroids and cosmic ray particles. During the history of the Earth, the gaseous composition varied strongly.

b. The abbreviation ppm means ‘part per million’.

speed 󰑣 is higher for greater lengths h of the thin, straight part of the funnel: the longer funnel
empties first.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

But this is strange: the formula gives a simple free fall relation, as the air pressure is the same
above and below and disappears from the calculation. The expression for the speed is thus inde-
pendent of whether a tube is present or not. The real reason for the faster emptying of the tube is
thus that a tube forces more water to flow out than the lack of a tube. Without tube, the diameter
of the water flow diminishes during fall. With tube, it stays constant. This difference leads to the
faster emptying for longer tubes.
Alternatively, you can look at the water pressure value inside the funnel. You will discover that
the water pressure is lowest at the start of the exit tube. This internal water pressure is lower for
longer tubes and sucks out the water faster in those cases.
Challenge 551, page 314: The eyes of fish are positioned in such a way that the pressure reduc-
tion by the flow is compensated by the pressure increase of the stall. By the way, their heart is
positioned in such a way that it is helped by the underpressure.
 440 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 553, page 314: This feat has been achieved for lower mountains, such as the Monte
Bianco in the Alps. At present however, there is no way to safely hover at the high altitudes of the
Himalayas.
Challenge 555, page 314: Press the handkerchief in the glass, and lower the glass into the water
with the opening first, while keeping the opening horizontal. This method is also used to lower
people below the sea. The paper ball in the bottle will fly towards you. Blowing into a funnel
will keep the ping-pong ball tightly into place, and the more so the stronger you blow. Blowing
through a funnel towards a candle will make it lean towards you.
Challenge 563, page 324: In 5000 million years, the present method will stop, and the Sun will
become a red giant. But it will burn for many more years after that.
Challenge 565, page 325: The answer depends on the size of the balloons, as the pressure is not
a monotonous function of the size. If the smaller balloon is not too small, the smaller balloon
wins.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 568, page 326: Measure the area of contact between tires and street (all four) and then
multiply by 200 kPa, the usual tire pressure. You get the weight of the car.
Challenge 572, page 329: If the average square displacement is proportional to time, the liquid
is made of smallest particles. This was confirmed by the experiments of Jean Perrin. The next
step is to deduce the number of these particles from the proportionality constant. This constant,
defined by ⟨d 2 ⟩ = 4Dt, is called the diffusion constant (the factor 4 is valid for random motion in
two dimensions). The diffusion constant can be determined by watching the motion of a particle
under the microscope.
We study a Brownian particle of radius a. In two dimensions, its square displacement is given
by
4kT
⟨d 2 =⟩ t, (149)
μ
where k is the Boltzmann constant and T the temperature. The relation is deduced by studying
the motion of a particle with drag force −μ󰑣 that is subject to random hits. The linear drag coef-
ficient μ of a sphere of radius a is given by

μ = 6πηa , (150)

where η is the kinematic viscosity. In other words, one has

6πηa ⟨d 2 ⟩
k= . (151)
4T t
All quantities on the right can be measured, thus allowing to determine the Boltzmann constant
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

k. Since the ideal gas relation shows that the ideal gas constant R is related to the Boltzmann
constant by R = NA k, the Avogadro constant NA that gives the number of molecules in a mole is
also found in this way.
Challenge 577, page 336: The possibility of motion inversion for all observed phenomena is in-
deed a fundamental property of nature. It has been confirmed for all interactions and all exper-
iments every performed. Independent of this is the fact, that realizing the inversion might be
extremely hard, because inverting the motion of many atoms is often not feasible.
Challenge 583, page 339: We will find out later that the universe is not a physical system; thus
Vol. VI, page 99 the concept of entropy does not apply to it. Thus the universe is neither isolated nor closed.
Challenge 585, page 340: Egg white starts to harden at lower temperature than yolk, but for com-
plete hardening, the opposite is true. White hardens completely at 80°C, egg yolk hardens con-
siderably at 66 to 68°C. Cook an egg at the latter temperature, and the feat is possible; the white
challenge hints and solu tions 441

F I G U R E 262 A candle on Earth and in microgravity (NASA).

remains runny, but does not remain transparent, though. Note again that the cooking time plays

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
no role, only the precise temperature value.
Challenge 587, page 340: Yes, the effect is easily noticeable.
Challenge 589, page 341: Hot air is less dense and thus wants to rise.
Challenge 590, page 341: Keep the paper wet.
Challenge 592, page 341: The air had to be dry.
Challenge 593, page 341: In general, it is impossible to draw a line through three points. Since
absolute zero and the triple point of water are fixed in magnitude, it was practically a sure bet
that the boiling point would not be at precisely 100°C.
Challenge 594, page 342: No, as a water molecule is heavier than that. However, if the water is
allowed to be dirty, it is possible. What happens if the quantum of action is taken into account?
Challenge 595, page 342: The danger is not due to the amount of energy, but due to the time in
which it is available.
Challenge 596, page 342: The internet is full of solutions.
Challenge 598, page 343: Only if it is a closed system. Is the universe closed? Is it a system? This
is discussed in the final part of the mountain ascent.
Challenge 601, page 343: For such small animals the body temperature would fall too low. They
could not eat fast enough to get the energy needed to keep themselves warm.
Challenge 610, page 344: It is about 10−9 that of the Earth.
Challenge 612, page 344: The thickness of the folds in the brain, the bubbles in the lung, the
density of blood vessels and the size of biological cells.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 613, page 345: The mercury vapour above the liquid gets saturated.
Challenge 614, page 345: A dedicated NASA project studied this question. Figure 262 gives an
example comparison. You can find more details on their website.
Challenge 615, page 345: The risks due to storms and the financial risks are too high.
Challenge 616, page 345: The vortex inside the tube is cold near its axis and hot in the regions
away from the axis. Through the membrane in the middle of the tube (shown in Figure 226 on
page 345) the air from the axis region is sent to one end and the air from the outside region to
the other end. The heating of the outside region is due to the work that the air rotating inside
has to do on the air outside to get a rotation that consumes angular momentum. For a detailed
explanation, see the beautiful text by Mark P. Silverman, And Yet it Moves: Strange Systems
and Subtle Questions in Physics, Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 221.
442 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 620, page 346: In the case of water, a few turns mixes the ink, and turning backwards
increases the mixing. In the case of glycerine, a few turns seems to mix the ink, and turning
backwards undoes the mixing.
Challenge 621, page 346: Put them in clothes.
Challenge 623, page 346: Negative temperatures are a conceptual crutch definable only for sys-
tems with a few discrete states; they are not real temperatures, because they do not describe
equilibrium states, and indeed never apply to systems with a continuum of states.
Challenge 624, page 348: This is also true for the shape of human bodies, the brain control of
human motion, the growth of flowers, the waves of the sea, the formation of clouds, the processes
leading to volcano eruptions, etc.
Challenge 626, page 354: See the puzzle about the motion of ski moguls.
Challenge 631, page 357: First, there are many more butterflies than tornadoes. Second, torna-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
does do not rely on small initial disturbances for their appearance. Third, the belief in the butter-
fly ‘effect’ completely neglects an aspect of nature that is essential for self-organization: friction
and dissipation. The butterfly ‘effect’, assumed that it existed, would require that dissipation in
the air should have completely unrealistic properties. This is not the case in the atmosphere. But
most important of all, there is no experimental basis for the ‘effect’: it has never been observed.
Thus it does not exist.
Challenge 641, page 368: No. Nature does not allow more than about 20 digits of precision, as
we will discover later in our walk. That is not sufficient for a standard book. The question whether
such a number can be part of its own book thus disappears.
Challenge 642, page 368: All three statements are hogwash. A drag coefficient implies that the
cross area of the car is known to the same precision. This is actually extremely difficult to mea-
sure and to keep constant. In fact, the value 0.375 for the Ford Escort was a cheat, as many other
measurements showed. The fuel consumption is even more ridiculous, as it implies that fuel vol-
umes and distances can be measured to that same precision. Opinion polls are taken by phoning
at most 2000 people; due to the difficulties in selecting the right representative sample, that gives
a precision of at most 3 %.
Challenge 644, page 369: Space-time is defined using matter; matter is defined using space-
time.
Challenge 645, page 369: Fact is that physics has been based on a circular definition for hun-
dreds of years. Thus it is possible to build even an exact science on sand. Nevertheless, the elimi-
nation of the circularity is an important aim.
Challenge 646, page 370: Every measurement is a comparison with a standard; every compar-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ison requires light or some other electromagnetic field. This is also the case for time measure-
ments.
Challenge 647, page 370: Every mass measurement is a comparison with a standard; every com-
parison requires light or some other electromagnetic field.
Challenge 648, page 370: Angle measurements have the same properties as length or time mea-
surements.
Challenge 653, page 387: About 10 μg.
Challenge 654, page 388: Probably the quantity with the biggest variation is mass, where a prefix
for 1 eV/c2 would be useful, as would be one for the total mass in the universe, which is about
1090 times larger.
Challenge 655, page 389: The formula with n − 1 is a better fit. Why?
 challenge hints and solu tions 443

Challenge 658, page 390: No! They are much too precise to make sense. They are only given as
an illustration for the behaviour of the Gaussian distribution. Real measurement distributions
are not Gaussian to the precision implied in these numbers.
Challenge 659, page 390: About 0.3 m/s. It is not 0.33 m/s, it is not 0.333 m/s and it is not any
longer strings of threes!
Challenge 661, page 395: The slowdown goes quadratically with time, because every new slow-
down adds to the old one!
Challenge 662, page 395: No, only properties of parts of the universe are listed. The universe
Vol. VI, page 103 itself has no properties, as shown in the last volume..
Challenge 663, page 448: For example, speed inside materials is slowed, but between atoms,
light still travels with vacuum speed.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
BI BLIO GR APHY

“ ”
Aiunt enim multum legendum esse, non multa.
Plinius, Epistulae.*

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
1 For a history of science in antiquity, see Lucio Russo, La rivoluzione dimenticata, Fel-
trinelli 1996, also available in several other languages. Cited on page 15.
2 If you want to catch up secondary school physics, the clearest and shortest introduction
world-wide is a free school text, available in English and many other languages, writ-
ten by a researcher who has dedicated all his life to the teaching of physics in secondary
school, together with his university team: Friedrich Herrmann, The Karlsruhe Physics
Course, free to download in English, Spanish, Russian and Italian at www.physikdidaktik.
uni-karlsruhe.de. It is one of the few secondary school texts that captivates, surprises and
challenges even professional physicists. This can be said even more of the wonderfully
daring companion book Friedrich Herrmann & Georg Job, Altlasten der Physik,
Aulis Verlag Deubner, 2002, whose content is available for free, in German, on the same
site.
A beautiful book explaining physics and its many applications in nature and technology
vividly and thoroughly is Paul G. Hewit t, John Sucho cki & L eslie A. Hewit t,
Conceptual Physical Science, Bejamin/Cummings, 1999.
A book famous for its passion for curiosity is R ichard P. Feynman,
Robert B. L eighton & Mat thew Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Ad-
dison Wesley, 1977.
A lot can be learned about motion from quiz books. One of the best is the well-
structured collection of beautiful problems that require no mathematics, written by Jean-
Marc L év y-L eblond, La physique en questions – mécanique, Vuibert, 1998.
Another excellent quiz collection is Yakov Perelman, Oh, la physique, Dunod, 2000,
a translation from the Russian original.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

A good problem book is W. G. R ees, Physics by Example: 200 Problems and Solutions,
Cambridge University Press, 1994.
A good history of physical ideas is given in the excellent text by David Park, The How
and the Why, Princeton University Press, 1988.
An excellent introduction into physics is Robert Pohl, Pohl’s Einführung in die
Physik, Klaus Lüders & Robert O. Pohl editors, Springer, 2004, in two volumes with CDs.
It is a new edition of a book that is over 70 years old; but the didactic quality, in particular
of the experimental side of physics, is unsurpassed.

* ‘Read much, but not anything.’ Ep. 7, 9, 15. Gaius Plinius Secundus (b. 23/4 Novum Comum, d.
79 Vesuvius eruption), Roman writer, especially famous for his large, mainly scientific work Historia nat-
uralis, which has been translated and read for almost 2000 years.
 biblio graphy 445

Another excellent Russian physics problem book, the so-called Saraeva, seems to exist
only as Portuguese translation: B.B. Bújovtsev, V.D. Krívchenkov, G.Ya. Miák-
ishev & I.M. Saráeva Problemas seleccionados de física elemental, Mir, 1979.
Another good physics problem book is Giovanni Tonzig, Cento errori di fisica
pronti per l’uso, Sansoni, third edition, 2006. See also his www.giovannitonzig.it website.
Cited on pages 15, 111, 189, and 275.
3 An overview of motion illusions can be found on the excellent website www.michaelbach.
de/ot. The complex motion illusion figure is found on www.michaelbach.de/ot/
mot_rotsnake/index.html; it is a slight variation of the original by Kitaoka Akiyoshi at
www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/rotsnake.gif, published as A. Kitaoka & H. Ashida,
Phenomenal characteristics of the peripheral drift illusion, Vision 15, pp. 261–262, 2003. A
famous scam is to pretend that the illusion is due to or depends on stress. Cited on page
16.
4 These and other fantastic illusions are also found in Akiyoshi Kitaoka, Trick Eyes,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Barnes & Noble, 2005. Cited on page 16.
5 A well-known principle in the social sciences states that, given a question, for every possible
answer, however weird it may seem, there is somebody – and often a whole group – who
holds it as his opinion. One just has to go through literature (or the internet) to confirm
this.
About group behaviour in general, see R. Axelrod, The Evolution of Cooperation,
Harper Collins, 1984. The propagation and acceptance of ideas, such as those of physics,
are also an example of human cooperation, with all its potential dangers and weaknesses.
Cited on page 16.
6 All the known texts by Parmenides and Heraclitus can be found in Jean-Paul D umont,
Les écoles présocratiques, Folio-Gallimard, 1988. Views about the non-existence of motion
have also been put forward by much more modern and much more contemptible authors,
Vol. III, page 260 such as in 1710 by Berkeley. Cited on page 17.
7 An example of people worried by Zeno is given by William McL aughlin, Resolving
Zeno’s paradoxes, Scientific American pp. 66–71, November 1994. The actual argument was
not about a hand slapping a face, but about an arrow hitting the target. See also Ref. 61.
Cited on page 17.
8 The full text of La Beauté and the other poems from Les fleurs du mal, one of the finest
books of poetry ever written, can be found at the hypermedia.univ-paris8.fr/bibliotheque/
Baudelaire/Spleen.html website. Cited on page 18.
9 The most famous text is Jearl Walker, The Flying Circus of Physics, Wiley, 1975. For
more interesting physical effects in everyday life, see Erwein Fl achsel, Hundertfünfzig
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Physikrätsel, Ernst Klett Verlag, 1985. The book also covers several clock puzzles, in puzzle
numbers 126 to 128. Cited on page 19.
10 A concise and informative introduction into the history of classical physics is given in the
first chapter of the book by Floyd Karker R ichtmyer, E arle Hesse Kennard
& John N. Co oper, Introduction to Modern Physics, McGraw–Hill, 1969. Cited on page
19.
11 An introduction into perception research is Bruce G oldstein, Perception, Books/Cole,
5th edition, 1998. Cited on pages 21 and 25.
12 A good overview over the arguments used to prove the existence of god from motion is
given by Michael Buckley, Motion and Motion’s God, Princeton University Press, 1971.
The intensity of the battles waged around these failed attempts is one of the tragicomic
chapters of history. Cited on page 21.
 446 biblio graphy

13 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae or Summa Theologica, 1265–1273, online in Latin

at www.newadvent.org/summa, in English on several other servers. Cited on page 21.
14 For an exploration of ‘inner’ motions, see the beautiful text by R ichard S chwartz, In-
ternal Family Systems Therapy, The Guilford Press, 1995. Cited on page 21.
15 For an authoritative description of proper motion development in babies and about how
it leads to a healthy character see Emmi Pikler, Laßt mir Zeit - Die selbstständige Bewe-
gungsentwicklung des Kindes bis zum freien Gehen, Pflaum Verlag, 2001, and her other books.
See also the website www.pikler.org. Cited on page 21.
16 See e.g. the fascinating text by David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon – The
Mind and Method of History’s Greatest Soldier, Macmillan, 1966. Cited on page 21.
17 R ichard Marcus, American Roulette, St Martin’s Press, 2003, a thriller and a true story.
Cited on page 21.
18 A good and funny book on behaviour change is the well-known text by R ichard Bandler,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Using Your Brain for a Change, Real People Press, 1985. See also R ichard Bandler &
John Grinder, Frogs into princes – Neuro Linguistic Programming, Eden Grove Editions,
1990. Cited on pages 21 and 31.
19 A beautiful book about the mechanisms of human growth from the original cell to full size
is L ewis Wolpert, The Triumph of the Embryo, Oxford University Press, 1991. Cited on
page 21.
20 On the topic of grace and poise, see e.g. the numerous books on the Alexander tech-
nique, such as M. Gelb, Body Learning – An Introduction to the Alexander Technique, Au-
rum Press, 1981, and R ichard Brennan, Introduction to the Alexander Technique, Little
Brown and Company, 1996. Among others, the idea of the Alexander technique is to return
to the situation that the muscle groups for sustainment and those for motion are used only
for their respective function, and not vice versa. Any unnecessary muscle tension, such as
neck stiffness, is a waste of energy due to the use of sustainment muscles for movement and
of motion muscles for sustainment. The technique teaches the way to return to the natural
use of muscles.
Motion of animals was discussed extensively already in the seventeenth century by
G. B orelli, De motu animalium, 1680. An example of a more modern approach is
J. J. Collins & I. Stewart, Hexapodal gaits and coupled nonlinear oscillator models, Bio-
logical Cybernetics 68, pp. 287–298, 1993. See also I. Stewart & M. G olubitsky, Fear-
ful Symmetry, Blackwell, 1992. Cited on pages 22 and 112.
21 The results on the development of children mentioned here and in the following have been
drawn mainly from the studies initiated by Jean Piaget; for more details on child devel-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. III, page 201 opment, see later on. At www.piaget.org you can find the website maintained by the Jean
Piaget Society. Cited on pages 24, 39, and 41.
22 The reptilian brain (eat? flee? ignore?), also called the R-complex, includes the brain stem,
the cerebellum, the basal ganglia and the thalamus; the old mammalian (emotions) brain,
also called the limbic system, contains the amygdala, the hypothalamus and the hippocam-
pus; the human (and primate) (rational) brain, called the neocortex, consists of the famous
grey matter. For images of the brain, see the atlas by John Nolte, The Human Brain: An
Introduction to its Functional Anatomy, Mosby, fourth edition, 1999. Cited on page 25.
23 The lower left corner film can be reproduced on a computer after typing the following lines
in the Mathematica software package: Cited on page 25.
« Graphics‘Animation‘
Nxpixels=72; Nypixels=54; Nframes=Nxpixels 4/3;
biblio graphy 447

Nxwind=Round[Nxpixels/4]; Nywind=Round[Nypixels/3];
front=Table[Round[Random[]],{y,1,Nypixels},{x,1,Nxpixels}];
back =Table[Round[Random[]],{y,1,Nypixels},{x,1,Nxpixels}];
frame=Table[front,{nf,1,Nframes}];
Do[ If[ x>n-Nxwind && x<n && y>Nywind && y<2Nywind,
frame[[n,y,x]]=back[[y,x-n]] ],
{x,1,Nxpixels}, {y,1,Nypixels}, {n,1,Nframes}];
film=Table[ListDensityPlot[frame[[nf ]], Mesh-> False,
Frame-> False, AspectRatio-> N[Nypixels/Nxpixels],
DisplayFunction-> Identity], {nf,1,Nframes}]
ShowAnimation[film]

But our motion detection system is much more powerful than the example shown in the
lower left corners. The following, different film makes the point.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
« Graphics‘Animation‘
Nxpixels=72; Nypixels=54; Nframes=Nxpixels 4/3;
Nxwind=Round[Nxpixels/4]; Nywind=Round[Nypixels/3];
front=Table[Round[Random[]],{y,1,Nypixels},{x,1,Nxpixels}];
back =Table[Round[Random[]],{y,1,Nypixels},{x,1,Nxpixels}];
frame=Table[front,{nf,1,Nframes}];
Do[ If[ x>n-Nxwind && x<n && y>Nywind && y<2Nywind,
frame[[n,y,x]]=back[[y,x]] ],
{x,1,Nxpixels}, {y,1,Nypixels}, {n,1,Nframes}];
film=Table[ListDensityPlot[frame[[nf ]], Mesh-> False,
Frame-> False, AspectRatio-> N[Nypixels/Nxpixels],
DisplayFunction-> Identity], {nf,1,Nframes}]
ShowAnimation[film]

Similar experiments, e.g. using randomly changing random patterns, show that the eye per-
ceives motion even in cases where all Fourier components of the image are practically zero;
such image motion is called drift-balanced or non-Fourier motion. Several examples are
presented in J. Z anker, Modelling human motion perception I: Classical stimuli, Naturwis-
senschaften 81, pp. 156–163, 1994, and J. Z anker, Modelling human motion perception II:
Beyond Fourier motion stimuli, Naturwissenschaften 81, pp. 200–209, 1994.
24 All fragments from Heraclitus are from John Mansley Robinson, An Introduction to
Early Greek Philosophy, Houghton Muffin 1968, chapter 5. Cited on page 26.
25 An introduction to Newton the alchemist are the two books by Bet t y Jo Teeter D obbs,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The Foundations of Newton’s Alchemy, Cambridge University Press, 1983, and The Janus Face
of Genius, Cambridge University Press, 1992. Newton is found to be a sort of highly intellec-
tual magician, desperately looking for examples of processes where gods interact with the
material world. An intense but tragic tale. A good overview is provided by R. G. Keesing,
Essay Review: Newton’s Alchemy, Contemporary Physics 36, pp. 117–119, 1995.
Newton’s infantile theology, typical for god seekers who grew up without a father, can be
found in the many books summarizing the letter exchanges between Clarke, his secretary,
and Leibniz, Newton’s rival for fame. Cited on page 33.
26 An introduction to the story of classical mechanics, which also destroys a few of the myths
surrounding it – such as the idea that Newton could solve differential equations or that he
introduced the expression F = ma – is given by Clifford A. Truesdell, Essays in the
History of Mechanics, Springer, 1968. Cited on pages 33, 165, and 196.
 448 biblio graphy

27 C. L iu, Z. D u t ton, C. H. Behro ozi & L. Vestergaard Hau, Observation of co-

herent optical information storage in an atomic medium using halted light pulses, Nature 409,
pp. 490–493, 2001. There is also a comment on the paper by E. A. Cornell, Stopping light
in its track, 409, pp. 461–462, 2001. However, despite the claim, the light pulses of course
have not been halted. Can you give at least two reasons without even reading the paper, and
Challenge 663 s maybe a third after reading it?
The work was an improvement on the previous experiment where a group velocity of
light of 17 m/s had been achieved, in an ultracold gas of sodium atoms, at nanokelvin tem-
peratures. This was reported by L. Vestergaard Hau, S. E. Harris, Z. D u t ton &
C. H. Behro ozi, Light speed reduction to 17 meters per second in an ultracold atomic gas,
Nature 397, pp. 594–598, 1999. Cited on page 35.
28 R ainer Flindt, Biologie in Zahlen – Eine Datensammlung in Tabellen mit über 10.000
Einzelwerten, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, 2000. Cited on page 35.
29 Two jets with that speed have been observed by I. F. Mirabel & L. F. Rodríguez, A

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
superluminal source in the Galaxy, Nature 371, pp. 46–48, 1994, as well as the comments on
p. 18. Cited on page 35.
30 A beautiful introduction to the slowest motions in nature, the changes in landscapes, is
Detlev Busche, Jürgen Kempf & Ingrid Stengel, Landschaftsformen der Erde –
Bildatlas der Geomorphologie, Primus Verlag, 2005. Cited on page 36.
31 To build your own sundial, see the pretty and short Arnold Z enkert, Faszination Son-
nenuhr, VEB Verlag Technik, 1984. See also the excellent and complete introduction into
this somewhat strange world at the www.sundials.co.uk website. Cited on page 41.
32 An introduction to the sense of time as a result of clocks in the brain is found in R. B. Ivry
& R. Spencer, The neural representation of time, Current Opinion in Neurobiology 14,
pp. 225–232, 2004. The chemical clocks in our body are described in John D. Palmer,
The Living Clock, Oxford University Press, 2002, or in A. Ahlgren & F. Halberg, Cycles
of Nature: An Introduction to Biological Rhythms, National Science Teachers Association,
1990. See also the www.msi.umn.edu/~halberg/introd website. Cited on page 42.
33 This has been shown among others by the work of Anna Wierzbicka that is discussed in
Vol. III, page 219 more detail in one of the subsequent volumes. The passionate best seller by the Chomskian
author Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct – How the Mind Creates Language, Harper
Perennial, 1994, also discusses issues related to this matter, refuting amongst others on page
63 the often repeated false statement that the Hopi language is an exception. Cited on page
42.
34 For more information, see the excellent and freely downloadable books on biological clocks
by Wolfgang Engelmann on the website www.uni-tuebingen.de/plantphys/bioclox. Cited
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

on page 44.
35 B. Günther & E. Morgad o, Allometric scaling of biological rhythms in mammals, Bio-
logical Research 38, pp. 207–212, 2005. Cited on page 44.
36 Aristotle rejects the idea of the flow of time in chapter IV of his Physics. See the full text on
the classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/physics.4.iv.html website. Cited on page 47.
37 Perhaps the most informative of the books about the ‘arrow of time’ is Hans Dieter Z eh,
The Physical Basis of the Direction of Time, Springer Verlag, 4th edition, 2001. It is still the
best book on the topic. Most other texts exist – have a look on the internet – but lack clarity
of ideas.
A typical conference proceeding is J. J. Halliwell, J. Pérez-Mercader & Woj-
ciech H. Zurek, Physical Origins of Time Asymmetry, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Cited on page 48.
 biblio graphy 449

38 On the issue of absolute and relative motion there are many books about few issues. Exam-
ples are Julian Barbour, Absolute or Relative Motion? Vol. 1: A Study from the Machian
Point of View of the Discovery and the Structure of Spacetime Theories, Cambridge University
Press, 1989, Julian Barbour, Absolute or Relative Motion? Vol. 2: The Deep Structure of
General Relativity, Oxford University Press, 2005, or John E arman, World Enough and
Spacetime: Absolute vs Relational Theories of Spacetime, MIT Press, 1989. A speculative so-
Vol. VI, page 59 lution on the alternative between absolute and relative motion is presented in volume VI.
Cited on page 53.
39 Coastlines and other fractals are beautifully presented in Heinz-Ot to Peitgen,
Hartmu t Jürgens & Dietmar Saupe, Fractals for the Classroom, Springer Verlag,
1992, pp. 232–245. It is also available in several other languages. Cited on page 54.
40 R. D oughert y & M. Foreman, Banach–Tarski decompositions using sets with the
property of Baire, Journal of the American Mathematical Society 7, pp. 75–124, 1994.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
See also Alan L. T. Paterson, Amenability, American Mathematical Society, 1998,
and Robert M. French, The Banach–Tarski theorem, The Mathematical Intelli-
gencer 10, pp. 21–28, 1998. Finally, there are the books by Bernard R. Gelbaum
& John M. H. Olmsted, counter-examples in Analysis, Holden–Day, 1964, and their
Theorems and counter-examples in Mathematics, Springer, 1993. Cited on page 56.
41 The beautiful but not easy text is Stan Wagon, The Banach Tarski Paradox, Cambridge
University Press, 1993. Cited on pages 56 and 407.
42 About the shapes of salt water bacteria, see the corresponding section in the interesting
book by Bernard Dixon, Power Unseen – How Microbes Rule the World, W.H. Freeman,
1994. The book has about 80 sections, in which as many microorganisms are vividly pre-
sented. Cited on page 57.
43 Olaf Medenbach & Harry Wilk, Zauberwelt der Mineralien, Sigloch Edition, 1977.
It combines beautiful photographs with an introduction into the science of crystals, min-
erals and stones. About the largest crystals, see P. C. R ickwo od, The largest crystals,
66, pp. 885–908, 1981, also available on www.minsocam.org/MSA/collectors_corner/arc/
large_crystals.htm. For an impressive example, the Naica cave in Mexico, see www.naica.
com.mx/ingles/index.htm Cited on page 57.
44 See the websites www.weltbildfrage.de/3frame.htm and www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/hollow/
morrow.htm. Cited on page 57.
45 The smallest distances are probed in particle accelerators; the distance can be determined
from the energy of the particle beam. In 1996, the value of 10−19 m (for the upper limit of
the size of quarks) was taken from the experiments described in F. Abe & al., Measurement
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

of dijet angular distributions by the collider detector at Fermilab, Physical Review Letters 77,
pp. 5336–5341, 1996. Cited on page 63.
46 These puzzles are taken from the puzzle collection at www.mathematische-basteleien.de.
Cited on page 67.
47 Alexander K. Dewdney, The Planiverse – Computer Contact with a Two-dimensional
World, Poseidon Books/Simon & Schuster, 1984. See also Edwin A. Abbot t, Flatland: A
romance of many dimensions, 1884. Several other fiction authors had explored the option of
a two-dimensional universe before, always answering, incorrectly, in the affirmative. Cited
on page 69.
48 J. B ohr & K. Olsen, The ancient art of laying rope, preprint at arxiv.org/abs/1004.0814
Cited on page 69.
450 biblio graphy

49 An overview and references can be found at www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/~petra/animal_olympians.

html. Cited on page 70.
50 P. Pieranski, S. Przybyl & A. Stasiak, Tight open knots, European Physical Journal
E 6, pp. 123–128, 2001, preprint at arxiv.org/abs/physics/0103016. Cited on page 70.
51 On the world of fireworks, see the frequently asked questions list of the usenet
group rec.pyrotechnics, or search the web. A simple introduction is the article by
J. A. Conkling, Pyrotechnics, Scientific American pp. 66–73, July 1990. Cited on page
72.
52 There is a whole story behind the variations of д. It can be discovered in Chuji Tsuboi,
Gravity, Allen & Unwin, 1979, or in Wolf gang Torge, Gravimetry, de Gruyter, 1989,
or in Milan Burša & Karel Pěč, The Gravity Field and the Dynamics of the Earth,
Springer, 1993. The variation of the height of the soil by up to 0.3 m due to the Moon is one
of the interesting effects found by these investigations. Cited on pages 73 and 173.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
53 Stillman Drake, Galileo: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2001.
Cited on page 73.
54 Andrea Frova, La fisica sotto il naso – 44 pezzi facili, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, Mi-
lano, 2001. Cited on page 74.
55 On the other hands, other sciences enjoy studying usual paths in all detail. See, for example,
Heini Hediger, editor, Die Straßen der Tiere, Vieweg & Sohn, 1967. Cited on page 74.
56 H. K. Eriksen, J. R. Kristiansen, Ø. L angangen & I. K. Wehus, How fast could
Usain Bolt have run? A dynamical study, American Journal of Physics 77, pp. 224–228, 2009.
Cited on page 75.
57 This was discussed in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 2nd of August, 1997, at the time
of the world athletics championship. The values are for the fastest part of the race of a
100 m sprinter; the exact values cited were called the running speed world records in 1997,
and were given as 12.048 m/s = 43.372 km/h by Ben Johnson for men, and 10.99 m/s =
39.56 km/h for women. Cited on page 75.
58 Long jump data and literature can be found in three articles all entitled Is a good long
jumper a good high jumper?, in the American Journal of Physics 69, pp. 104–105, 2001. In
particular, world class long jumpers run at 9.35 ± 0.15 m/s, with vertical take-off speeds of
3.35 ± 0.15 m/s, giving take-off angles of about (only) 20°. A new technique for achieving
higher take-off angles would allow the world long jump record to increase dramatically.
Cited on page 75.
59 The study of shooting faeces (i.e., shit) and its mechanisms is a part of modern biology. The
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

reason that caterpillars do this was determined by M. Weiss, Good housekeeping: why do
shelter-dwelling caterpillars fling their frass?, Ecology Letters 6, pp. 361–370, 2003, who also
gives the present record of 1.5 m for the 24 mg pellets of Epargyreus clarus. The picture of
the flying frass is from S. Caveney, H. McL ean & D. Surry, Faecal firing in a skipper
caterpillar is pressure-driven, The Journal of Experimental Biology 201, pp. 121–133, 1998.
Cited on page 75.
60 H. C. Bennet-Clark, Scale effects in jumping animals, pp. 185–201, in T. J. Pedley, ed-
itor, Scale Effects in Animal Locomotion, Academic Press, 1977. Cited on page 76.
61 The arguments of Zeno can be found in Aristotle, Physics, VI, 9. It can be found trans-
lated in almost any language. The classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/physics.6.vi.html website pro-
vides an online version in English. Cited on pages 80 and 445.
62 See, for exaple, K. V. Kumar & W. T. Norfleet, Issues of human acceleration tolerance
biblio graphy 451

after long-duration space flights, NASA Technical Memorandum 104753, pp. 1–55, 1992, avail-
able at ntrs.nasa.gov. Cited on page 81.
63 Etymology can be a fascinating topic, e.g. when research discovers the origin of the Ger-
man word ‘Weib’ (‘woman’, related to English ‘wife’). It was discovered, via a few texts in
Tocharian – an extinct Indo-European language from a region inside modern China – to
mean originally ‘shame’. It was used for the female genital region in an expression meaning
‘place of shame’. With time, this expression became to mean ‘woman’ in general, while being
shortened to the second term only. This connection was discovered by the German linguist
Klaus T. Schmidt; it explains in particular why the word is not feminine but neutral, i.e.,
why it uses the article ‘das’ instead of ‘die’. Julia Simon, private communication.
Etymology can also be simple and plain fun, for example when one discovers in the Ox-
ford English Dictionary that ‘testimony’ and ‘testicle’ have the same origin; indeed in Latin
the same word ‘testis’ was used for both concepts. Cited on pages 82 and 93.
An overview of the latest developments is given by J. T. Armstrong, D. J. Hunter,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
64
K. J. Johnston & D. Mozurkewich, Stellar optical interferometry in the 1990s,
Physics Today pp. 42–49, May 1995. More than 100 stellar diameters were known al-
ready in 1995. Several dedicated powerful instruments are being planned. Cited on page
84.
65 A good biology textbook on growth is Arthur F. Hopper & Nathan H. Hart, Foun-
dations of Animal Deveopment, Oxford University Press, 2006. Cited on page 85.
66 This is discussed for example in C. L. Stong, The amateur scientist – how to supply electric
power to something which is turning, Scientific American pp. 120–125, December 1975. It also
discusses how to make a still picture of something rotating simply by using a few prisms, the
so-called Dove prisms. Other examples of attaching something to a rotating body are given
by E. R ieflin, Some mechanisms related to Dirac’s strings, American Journal of Physics 47,
pp. 379–381, 1979. Cited on page 85.
67 James A. Young, Tumbleweed, Scientific American 264, pp. 82–87, March 1991. The tum-
bleweed is in fact quite rare, except in Hollywood westerns, where all directors feel obliged
to give it a special appearance. Cited on page 86.
68 About N. decemspinosa, see R. L. Caldwell, A unique form of locomotion in a stom-
atopod – backward somersaulting, Nature 282, pp. 71–73, 1979, and R. Full, K. E arls,
M. Wong & R. Caldwell, Locomotion like a wheel?, Nature 365, p. 495, 1993. About
rolling caterpillars, see J. Brackenbury, Caterpillar kinematics, Nature 330, p. 453, 1997,
and J. Brackenbury, Fast locomotion in caterpillars, Journal of Insect Physiology 45,
pp. 525–533, 1999. More images around legs can be found on rjf9.biol.berkeley.edu/twiki/
bin/view/PolyPEDAL/LabPhotographs. Cited on page 87.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

69 This spider, of the genus Cebrennus, has been described by Ingo Rechenberg from Berlin.
See the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aayb_h31RyQ. Cited on page 87.
70 The first experiments to prove the rotation of the flagella were by M. Silverman &
M. I. Simon, Flagellar rotation and the mechanism of bacterial motility, Nature 249, pp. 73–
74, 1974. For some pretty pictures of the molecules involved, see K. Namba, A biological
molecular machine: bacterial flagellar motor and filament, Wear 168, pp. 189–193, 1993, or
the website www.nanonet.go.jp/english/mailmag/2004/011a.html. The present record speed
of rotation, 1700 rotations per second, is reported by Y. Magariyama, S. Sugiyama,
K. Muramoto, Y. Maekawa, I. Kawagishi, Y. Imae & S. Kud o, Very fast flagellar
rotation, Nature 371, p. 752, 1994.
More on bacteria can be learned from David D usenbery, Life at a Small Scale, Sci-
entific American Library, 1996. Cited on page 87.
452 biblio graphy

71 M. P. Brenner, S. Hilgenfeldt & D. Lohse, Single bubble sonoluminescence, Re-

views of Modern Physics 74, pp. 425–484, 2002. Cited on page 89.
72 K. R. Weninger, B. P. Barber & S. J. Pu t terman, Pulsed Mie scattering measure-
ments of the collapse of a sonoluminescing bubble, Physical Review Letters 78, pp. 1799–1802,
1997. Cited on page 89.
73 On shadows, see the agreeable popular text by Roberto Casati, Alla scoperta dell’ombra
– Da Platone a Galileo la storia di un enigma che ha affascinato le grandi menti dell’umanità,
Oscar Mondadori, 2000, and his websites located at www.shadowmill.com and roberto.
casati.free.fr/casati/roberto.htm. Cited on page 90.
74 There is also the beautiful book by Penelope Farrant, Colour in Nature, Blandford,
1997. Cited on page 90.
75 The ‘laws’ of cartoon physics can easily be found using any search engine on the internet.
Cited on page 90.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
76 For the curious, an overview of the illusions used in the cinema and in television,
which lead to some of the strange behaviour of images mentioned above, is given in
Bernard Wilkie, The Technique of Special Effects in Television, Focal Press, 1993, and
his other books, or in the Cinefex magazine. On digital cinema techniques, see Pe-
ter C. Sl ansky, editor, Digitaler film – dgitales Kino, UVK Verlag, 2004. Cited on page
91.
77 Aetius, Opinions, I, XXIII, 3. See Jean-Paul D umont, Les écoles présocratiques, Folio
Essais, Gallimard, p. 426, 1991. Cited on page 91.
78 Giuseppe Fumagalli, Chi l’ha detto?, Hoepli, 1983. It is from Pappus of Alexandria’s
opus Synagoge, book VIII, 19. Cited on pages 92 and 203.
79 See www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_262.html and the more dubious en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Guillotine. Cited on page 94.
80 For the role and chemistry of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in cells and in living beings, see
any chemistry book, or search the internet. The uncovering of the mechanisms around ATP
has led to Nobel Prizes in Chemistry in 1978 and in 1997. Cited on page 100.
81 A picture of this unique clock can be found in the article by A. Garret t, Perpetual motion
– a delicious delirium, Physics World pp. 23–26, December 1990. Cited on page 101.
82 A Shell study estimated the world’s total energy consumption in 2000 to be 500 EJ. The
US Department of Energy estimated it to be around 416 EJ. We took the lower value here.
A discussion and a breakdown into electricity usage (14 EJ) and other energy forms, with
variations per country, can be found in S. Benka, The energy challenge, Physics Today 55,
pp. 38–39, April 2002, and in E. J. Monitz & M. A. Kenderdine, Meeting energy chal-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

lenges: technology and policy, Physics Today 55, pp. 40–46, April 2002. Cited on pages 104
and 105.
83 For an overview, see the paper by J. F. Mulligan & H. G. Hertz, An unpublished lecture
by Heinrich Hertz: ‘On the energy balance of the Earth’, American Journal of Physics 65,
pp. 36–45, 1997. Cited on page 105.
84 For a beautiful photograph of this feline feat, see the cover of the journal and the article of
J. Darius, A tale of a falling cat, Nature 308, p. 109, 1984. Cited on page 111.
85 Nat thi L. Sharma, A new observation about rolling motion, European Journal of
Physics 17, pp. 353–356, 1996. Cited on page 112.
86 C. Singh, When physical intuition fails, American Journal of Physics 70, pp. 1103–1109,
2002. Cited on page 112.
biblio graphy 453

87 Serge Gracovetsky, The Spinal Engine, Springer Verlag, 1990. It is now also knon that
human gait is chaotic. This is explained by M. Perc, The dynamics of human gait, European
Journal of Physics 26, pp. 525–534, 2005. Cited on page 112.
88 M. L lobera & T. J. Sluckin, Zigzagging: theoretical insights on climbing strategies, Jour-
nal of Theoretical Biology 249, pp. 206–217, 2007. Cited on page 113.
89 This description of life and death is called the concept of maximal metabolic scope. Look up
details in your favourite library. A different phrasing is the one by M. Ya. Azbel, Universal
biological scaling and mortality, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the
USA 91, pp. 12453–12457, 1994. He explains that every atom in an organism consumes, on
average, 20 oxygen molecules per life-span. Cited on page 114.
90 D uncan MacD ougall, Hypothesis concerning soul substance together with experimen-
tal evidence of the existence of such substance, American Medicine 2, pp. 240–243, April 1907,
and D uncan MacD ougall, Hypothesis concerning soul substance, American Medicine

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
2, pp. 395–397, July 1907. Reading the papers shows that the author has little practice in
performing reliable weight and time measurements. Cited on page 114.
91 A good roulette prediction story from the 1970s is told by Thomas A. Bass, The Eu-
daemonic Pie also published under the title The Newtonian Casino, Backinprint, 2000. An
overview up to 1998 is given in the paper Edward O. Thorp, The invention of the first
wearable computer, Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Wearable Com-
puters (ISWC 1998), 19-20 October 1998, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA (IEEE Computer Soci-
ety), pp. 4–8, 1998, downloadable at csdl.computer.org/comp/proceedings/iswc/1998/9074/
00/9074toc.htm. Cited on page 115.
92 This and many other physics surprises are described in the beautiful lecture script by
Josef Zweck, Physik im Alltag, the notes of his lectures held in 1999/2000 at the Uni-
versität Regensburg. Cited on pages 116 and 121.
93 The equilibrium of ships, so important in car ferries, is an interesting part of shipbuilding;
an introduction was already given by L eonhard Euler, Scientia navalis, 1749. Cited on
page 117.
94 Thomas Heath, Aristarchus of Samos – the Ancient Copernicus, Dover, 1981, reprinted
from the original 1913 edition. Aristarchus’ treaty is given in Greek and English. Aristarchus
was the first proposer of the heliocentric system. Aristarchus had measured the length of
the day (in fact, by determining the number of days per year) to the astonishing precision of
less than one second. This excellent book also gives an overview of Greek astronomy before
Aristarchus, explained in detail for each Greek thinker. Aristarchus’ text is also reprinted
in Aristarchus, On the sizes and the distances of the Sun and the Moon, c. 280 bce in
Michael J. Crowe, Theories of the World From Antiquity to the Copernican Revolution,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Dover, 1990, especially on pp. 27–29. Cited on page 123.

95 See for example the videos on the Coriolis effect at techtv.mit.edu/videos/3722 and techtv.
mit.edu/videos/3714, or search for videos on youtube.com. Cited on page 124.
96 The influence of the Coriolis effect on icebergs was studied most thoroughly by the Swedish
physicist turned oceanographer Walfrid Ekman (1874–1954); the topic was suggested by the
great explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who also made the first observations. In his honour, one
speaks of the Ekman layer, Ekman transport and Ekman spirals. Any text on oceanography
or physical geography will give more details about them. Cited on page 127.
97 An overview of the effects of the Coriolis acceleration a = −2ω × 󰑣 in the rotating frame is
given by Edward A. Deslo ge, Classical Mechanics, Volume 1, John Wiley & Sons, 1982.
Even the so-called Gulf Stream, the current of warm water flowing from the Caribbean to
the North Sea, is influenced by it. Cited on page 127.
454 biblio graphy

98 The original publication is by A. H. Shapiro, Bath-tub vortex, Nature 196, pp. 1080–1081,
1962. He also produced two films of the experiment. The experiment has been repeated
many times in the northern and in the southern hemisphere, where the water drains clock-
wise; the first southern hemisphere test was L.M. Trefethen & al., The bath-tub vortex
in the southern hemisphere, Nature 201, pp. 1084–1085, 1965. A complete literature list is
found in the letters to the editor of the American Journal of Physics 62, p. 1063, 1994. Cited
on page 127.
99 The tricks are explained by R ichard Crane, Short Foucault pendulum: a way to elim-
inate the precession due to ellipticity, American Journal of Physics 49, pp. 1004–1006, 1981,
and particularly in R ichard Crane, Foucault pendulum wall clock, American Journal
of Physics 63, pp. 33–39, 1993. The Foucault pendulum was also the topic of the thesis
of Heike Kamerling Onnes, Nieuwe bewijzen der aswenteling der aarde, Universiteit
Groningen, 1879. Cited on page 127.
The reference is J. G. Hagen, La rotation de la terre : ses preuves mécaniques anciennes et

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
100
nouvelles, Sp. Astr. Vaticana Second. App. Rome, 1910. His other experiment is published
as J. G. Hagen, How Atwood’s machine shows the rotation of the Earth even quantitatively,
International Congress of Mathematics, Aug. 1912. Cited on page 128.
101 The original papers are A. H. Compton, A laboratory method of demonstrating the Earth’s
rotation, Science 37, pp. 803–806, 1913, A. H. Compton, Watching the Earth revolve, Scien-
tific American Supplement no. 2047, pp. 196–197, 1915, and A. H. Compton, A determina-
tion of latitude, azimuth and the length of the day independent of astronomical observations,
Physical Review (second series) 5, pp. 109–117, 1915. Cited on page 130.
102 The G-ring in Wettzell is so precise, with a resolution of less than 10−8 , that it has de-
tected the motion of the poles. For details, see K. U. S chreiber, A. Velikoseltsev,
M. Rothacher, T. Kluegel, G. E. Stedman & D. L. Wiltshire, Direct measure-
ment of diurnal polar motion by ring laser gyroscopes, Journal of Geophysical Research 109
B, p. 06405, 2004, an a review article at T. Klügel, W. S chlü ter, U. S chreiber
& M. S chneider, Großringlaser zur kontinuierlichen Beobachtung der Erdrotation,
Zeitschrift für Vermessungswesen 130, pp. 99–108, February 2005. Cited on page 130.
103 R. Anderson, H. R. Bilger & G. E. Stedman, The Sagnac-effect: a century of Earth-
rotated interferometers, American Journal of Physics 62, pp. 975–985, 1994.
See also the clear and extensive paper by G. E. Stedman, Ring laser tests of fundamen-
tal physics and geophysics, Reports on Progress in Physics 60, pp. 615–688, 1997. Cited on
page 130.
104 About the length of the day, see the maia.usno.navy.mil website, or the books by
K. L ambeck, The Earth’s Variable Rotation: Geophysical Causes and Consequences, Cam-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

bridge University Press, 1980, and by W. H. Munk & G. J. F. MacD onald, The Rotation
of the Earth, Cambridge University Press, 1960. About a modern ring laser set-up, see www.
wettzell.ifag.de. Cited on pages 131 and 175.
105 H. Bucka, Zwei einfache Vorlesungsversuche zum Nachweis der Erddrehung, Zeitschrift für
Physik 126, pp. 98–105, 1949, and H. Bucka, Zwei einfache Vorlesungsversuche zum Nach-
weis der Erddrehung. II. Teil, Zeitschrift für Physik 128, pp. 104–107, 1950. Cited on page
131.
106 One example of data is by C. P. S onet t, E. P. Kvale, A. Z akharian, M. A. Chan &
T. M. Demko, Late proterozoic and paleozoic tides, retreat of the moon, and rotation of the
Earth, Science 273, pp. 100–104, 5 July 1996. They deduce from tidal sediment analysis that
days were only 18 to 19 hours long in the Proterozoic, i.e., 900 million years ago; they as-
sume that the year was 31 million seconds long from then to today. See also C. P. S onet t
biblio graphy 455

& M. A. Chan, Neoproterozoic Earth-Moon dynamics – rework of the 900 MA Big Cotton-
wood canyon tidal laminae, Geophysical Research Letters 25, pp. 539–542, 1998. Another
determination was by G. E. Williams, Precambrian tidal and glacial clastic deposits: im-
plications for precambrian Earth–Moon dynamics and palaeoclimate, Sedimentary Geology
120, pp. 55–74, 1998. Using a geological formation called tidal rhythmites, he deduced that
about 600 million years ago there were 13 months per year and a day had 22 hours. Cited
on page 131.
107 The story of this combination of history and astronomy is told in R ichard Stephenson,
Historical Eclispes and Earth’s Rotation, Cambridge University Press, 1996. Cited on page
132.
108 B. F. Chao, Earth Rotational Variations excited by geophysical fluids, IVS 2004 General
Meeting proceedings/ pages 38-46. Cited on page 132.
109 On the rotation and history of the solar system, see S. Brush, Theories of the origin of the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
solar system 1956–1985, Reviews of Modern Physics 62, pp. 43–112, 1990. Cited on page 132.
110 The website hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-pc shows the motion of the Earth’s axis over the last ten
years. The International Latitude Service founded by Küstner is now part of the Interna-
tional Earth Rotation Service; more information can be found on the www.iers.org website.
The latest idea is that two-thirds of the circular component of the polar motion, which in
the USA is called ‘Chandler wobble’ after the person who attributed to himself the discov-
ery by Küstner, is due to fluctuations of the ocean pressure at the bottom of the oceans
and one-third is due to pressure changes in the atmosphere of the Earth. This is explained
by R. S. Gross, The excitation of the Chandler wobble, Geophysical Physics Letters 27,
pp. 2329–2332, 2000. Cited on page 133.
111 S. B. L ambert, C. Bizouard & V. Dehant, Rapid variations in polar motion during
the 2005-2006 winter season, Geophysical Research Letters 33, p. L13303, 2006. Cited on
page 133.
112 For more information about Alfred Wegener, see the (simple) text by Kl aus Rohrbach,
Alfred Wegener – Erforscher der wandernden Kontinente, Verlag Freies Geistesleben, 1993;
about plate tectonics, see the www.scotese.com website. About earthquakes, see the www.
geo.ed.ac.uk/quakexe/quakes and the www.iris.edu/seismon website. See the vulcan.wr.
usgs.gov and the www.dartmouth.edu/~volcano websites for information about volcanoes.
Cited on page 135.
113 J. Jouzel & al., Orbital and millennial Antarctic climate variability over the past 800,000
years, Science 317, pp. 793–796, 2007, takes the data from isotope concentrations in ice
cores. In contrast, J. D. Hays, J. Imbrie & N. J. Shackleton, Variations in the Earth’s
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

orbit: pacemaker of the ice ages, Science 194, pp. 1121–1132, 1976, confirmed the connection
with orbital parameters by literally digging in the mud that covers the ocean floor in certain
places. Note that the web is full of information on the ice ages. Just look up ‘Milankovitch’
in a search engine. Cited on pages 138 and 139.
114 R. Humphreys & J. L arsen, The sun’s distance above the galactic plane, Astronomical
Journal 110, pp. 2183–2188, November 1995. Cited on page 140.
115 C. L. Bennet, M. S. Turner & M. White, The cosmic rosetta stone, Physics Today 50,
pp. 32–38, November 1997. Cited on page 140.
116 On http://www.geoffreylandis.com/vacuum.html you can read a description of what hap-
pened. See also the http://www.geoffreylandis.com/ebullism.html and imagine.gsfc.nasa.
gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970603.html websites. They all give details on the effects of
vacuum on humans. Cited on page 144.
456 biblio graphy

117 R. McN. Alexander, Leg design and jumping technique for humans, other vertebrates
and insects, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in London B 347, pp. 235–249,
1995. Cited on page 148.
118 J. W. Gl asheen & T. A. McMahon, A hydrodynamic model of locomotion in the
basilisk lizard, Nature 380, pp. 340–342, For pictures, see also New Scientist, p. 18, 30 March
1996, or Scientific American, pp. 48–49, September 1997, or the website by the author at rjf2.
biol.berkeley.edu/Full_Lab/FL_Personnel/J_Glasheen/J_Glasheen.html.
Several shore birds also have the ability to run over water, using the same mechanism.
Cited on page 148.
119 A. Fernandez-Nieves & F. J. de las Nieves, About the propulsion system of a kayak
and of Basiliscus basiliscus, European Journal of Physics 19, pp. 425–429, 1998. Cited on
page 149.
120 Y. S. S ong, S. H. Suhr & M. Sit ti, Modeling of the supporting legs for designing

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
biomimetic water strider robot, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on
Robotics and Automation, Orlando, USA, 2006. S. H. Suhr, Y. S. S ong, S. J. L ee &
M. Sit ti, Biologically inspired miniature water strider robot, Proceedings of the Robotics:
Science and Systems I, Boston, USA, 2005. See also the website www.me.cmu.edu/faculty1/
sitti/nano/projects/waterstrider. Cited on page 149.
121 M. Wit tlinger, R. Wehner & H. Wolf, The ant odometer: stepping on stilts and
stumps, Science 312, pp. 1965–1967, 2006. Cited on page 150.
122 P. G. Weyand, D. B. Sternlight, M. J. Bellizzi & S. Wright, Faster top running
speeds are achieved with greater ground forces not more rapid leg movements, Journal of Ap-
plied Physiology 89, pp. 1991–1999, 2000. Cited on page 150.
123 The material on the shadow discussion is from the book by Robert M. Pryce, Cook and
Peary, Stackpole Books, 1997. See also the details of Peary’s forgeries in Wally Herbert,
The Noose of Laurels, Doubleday 1989. The sad story of Robert Peary is also told in the
centenary number of National Geographic, September 1988. Since the National Geographic
Society had financed Peary in his attempt and had supported him until the US Congress had
declared him the first man at the Pole, the (partial) retraction is noteworthy. (The magazine
then changed its mind again later on, to sell more copies, and now again claims that Peary
reached the North Pole.) By the way, the photographs of Cook, who claimed to have been
at the North Pole even before Peary, have the same problem with the shadow length. Both
men have a history of cheating about their ‘exploits’. As a result, the first man at the North
Pole was probably Roald Amundsen, who arrived there a few years later, and who was also
the first man at the South Pole. Cited on page 151.
124 The story is told in M. Nauenberg, Hooke, orbital motion, and Newton’s Principia, Amer-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ican Journal of Physics 62, 1994, pp. 331–350. Cited on page 153.
125 More details are given by D. R awlins, in Doubling your sunsets or how anyone can mea-
sure the Earth’s size with wristwatch and meter stick, American Journal of Physics 47, 1979,
pp. 126–128. Another simple measurement of the Earth radius, using only a sextant, is given
by R. O’Keefe & B. Ghavimi-Al agha, in The World Trade Center and the distance to
the world’s center, American Journal of Physics 60, pp. 183–185, 1992. Cited on page 154.
126 More details on astronomical distance measurements can be found in the beautiful little
book by A. van Helden, Measuring the Universe, University of Chicago Press, 1985, and
in Nigel Henbest & Heather Co oper, The Guide to the Galaxy, Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, 1994. Cited on page 154.
127 A lot of details can be found in M. Jammer, Concepts of Mass in Classical and Modern
Physics, reprinted by Dover, 1997, and in Concepts of Force, a Study in the Foundations of
biblio graphy 457

Mechanics, Harvard University Press, 1957. These eclectic and thoroughly researched texts
provide numerous details and explain various philosophical viewpoints, but lack clear state-
ments and conclusions on the accurate description of nature; thus are not of help on funda-
mental issues.
Jean Buridan (c. 1295 to c. 1366) criticizes the distinction of sublunar and translunar mo-
tion in his book De Caelo, one of his numerous works. Cited on page 154.
128 D. Topper & D. E. Vincent, An analysis of Newton’s projectile diagram, European Jour-
nal of Physics 20, pp. 59–66, 1999. Cited on page 155.
129 The absurd story of the metre is told in the historical novel by Ken Alder, The Measure
of All Things : The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error that Transformed the World, The
Free Press, 2003. Cited on page 157.
130 H. Cavendish, Experiments to determine the density of the Earth, Philosophical Trans-
actions of the Royal Society 88, pp. 469–526, 1798. In fact, the first value of the gravita-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
tional constant G found in the literature is only from 1873, by Marie-Alfred Cornu and
Jean-Baptistin Baille, who used an improved version of Cavendish’s method. Cited on page
159.
131 About the measurement of spatial dimensions via gravity – and the failure to find any hint
for a number different from three – see the review by E. G. Adelberger, B. R. Heckel
& A. E. Nelson, Tests of the gravitational inverse-square law, Annual Review of Nuclear
and Particle Science 53, pp. 77–121, 2003, also arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0307284, or the re-
view by J. A. Hewet t & M. Spiropulu, Particle physics probes of extra spacetime dimen-
sions, Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science 52, pp. 397–424, 2002, arxiv.org/abs/
hep-ph/0205106. Cited on page 162.
132 There are many books explaining the origin of the precise shape of the Earth, such as the
pocket book S. Anders, Weil die Erde rotiert, Verlag Harri Deutsch, 1985. Cited on page
162.
133 The shape of the Earth is described most precisely with the World Geodetic System. For
an extensive presentation, see the www.eurocontrol.be/projects/eatchip/wgs84/start.html
website. See also the website of the International Earth Rotation Service at hpiers.obspm.fr.
Cited on page 162.
134 G. Heckman & M. van Haandel, De vele beweijzen van Kepler’s wet over ellipsenba-
nen: een nieuwe voor ‘het Boek’?, Nederlands tijdschrift voor natuurkunde 73, pp. 366–368,
November 2007. Cited on page 165.
135 W. K. Hartman, R. J. Phillips & G. J. Taylor, editors, Origin of the Moon, Lunar
and Planetary Institute, 1986. Cited on page 168.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

136 If you want to read about the motion of the Moon in all its fascinating details, have a look
at Martin C. Gu tzwiller, Moon–Earth–Sun: the oldest three body problem, Reviews
of Modern Physics 70, pp. 589–639, 1998. Cited on page 168.
137 Dietrich Neumann, Physiologische Uhren von Insekten – Zur Ökophysiologie lunarperi-
odisch kontrollierter Fortpflanzungszeiten, Naturwissenschaften 82, pp. 310–320, 1995. Cited
on page 168.
138 The origin of the duration of the menstrual cycle is not yet settled; however, there are expla-
nations on how it becomes synchronized with other cycles. For a general explanation see
Arkady Pikovsky, Michael Rosenblum & Jürgen Kurths, Synchronization: A
Universal Concept in Nonlinear Science, Cambridge University Press, 2002. Cited on page
168.
458 biblio graphy

139 J. L askar, F. Jou tel & P. Robu tel, Stability of the Earth’s obliquity by the moon, Na-
ture 361, pp. 615–617, 1993. However, the question is not completely settled, and other opin-
ions exist. Cited on page 168.
140 Neil F. Comins, What if the Moon Did not Exist? – Voyages to Earths that Might Have
Been, Harper Collins, 1993. Cited on page 168.
141 Paul A. Wiegert, Kimmo A. Innanen & Seppo Mikkol a, An asteroidal com-
panion to the Earth, Nature 387, pp. 685–686, 12 June 1997, together with the comment
on pp. 651–652. Details on the orbit and on the fact that Lagrangian points do not
always form equilateral triangles can be found in F. Namouni, A. A. Christou &
C. D. Murray, Coorbital dynamics at large eccentricity and inclination, Physical Review
Letters 83, pp. 2506–2509, 1999. Cited on page 171.
142 Simon Newcomb, Astronomical Papers of the American Ephemeris 1, p. 472, 1882. Cited
on page 172.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
143 For an animation of the tides, have a look at www.jason.oceanobs.com/html/applications/
marees/m2_atlantique_fr.html. Cited on page 172.
144 A beautiful introduction is the classic G. Falk & W. Ruppel, Mechanik, Relativität, Grav-
itation – ein Lehrbuch, Springer Verlag, Dritte Auflage, 1983. Cited on page 173.
145 J. S oldner, Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch auf das Jahr 1804, 1801, p. 161. Cited on
page 177.
146 The equality was first tested with precision by R. von Eöt vös, Annalen der Physik &
Chemie 59, p. 354, 1896, and by R. von Eöt vös, V. Pekár, E. Fekete, Beiträge zum
Gesetz der Proportionalität von Trägheit und Gravität, Annalen der Physik 4, Leipzig 68,
pp. 11–66, 1922. He found agreement to 5 parts in 109 . More experiments were performed
by P. G. Roll, R. Krotkow & R. H. Dicke, The equivalence of inertial and passive grav-
itational mass, Annals of Physics (NY) 26, pp. 442–517, 1964, one of the most interesting
and entertaining research articles in experimental physics, and by V. B. Braginsky &
V. I. Panov, Soviet Physics – JETP 34, pp. 463–466, 1971. Modern results, with errors less
than one part in 1012 , are by Y. Su & al., New tests of the universality of free fall, Physical Re-
view D50, pp. 3614–3636, 1994. Several experiments have been proposed to test the equality
in space to less than one part in 1016 . Cited on page 178.
147 H. Edelmann, R. Napiwotzki, U. Heber, N. Christlieb & D. R eimers, HE
0437-5439: an unbound hyper-velocity B-type star, The Astrophysical Journal 634, pp. L181–
L184, 2005. Cited on page 182.
148 This is explained for example by D.K. Firpić & I.V. Aniçin, The planets, after all, may
run only in perfect circles – but in the velocity space!, European Journal of Physics 14, pp. 255–
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

258, 1993. Cited on pages 182 and 430.

149 See L. Hod ges, Gravitational field strength inside the Earth, American Journal of Physics
59, pp. 954–956, 1991. Cited on page 183.
150 P. Mohazzabi & M. C. James, Plumb line and the shape of the Earth, American Journal
of Physics 68, pp. 1038–1041, 2000. Cited on page 185.
151 From Neil de Gasse Tyson, The Universe Down to Earth, Columbia University Press,
1994. Cited on page 186.
152 G. D. Q uinlan, Planet X: a myth exposed, Nature 363, pp. 18–19, 1993. Cited on page 186.
153 See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/90377_Sedna. Cited on page 186.
154 See R. Mat thews, Not a snowball’s chance ..., New Scientist 12 July 1997, pp. 24–27. The
original claim is by Louis A. Frank, J. B. Sigwarth & J. D. Craven, On the influx of
biblio graphy 459

small comets into the Earth’s upper atmosphere, parts I and II, Geophysical Research Letters
13, pp. 303–306, pp. 307–310, 1986. The latest observations have disproved the claim. Cited
on page 186.
155 The ray form is beautifully explained by J. Evans, The ray form of Newton’s law of motion,
American Journal of Physics 61, pp. 347–350, 1993. Cited on page 188.
156 This is a small example from the beautiful text by Mark P. Silverman, And Yet It Moves:
Strange Systems and Subtle Questions in Physics, Cambridge University Press, 1993. It is a
treasure chest for anybody interested in the details of physics. Cited on page 189.
157 G. -L. L esage, Lucrèce Newtonien, Nouveaux mémoires de l’Académie Royale des
Sciences et Belles Lettres pp. 404–431, 1747, or www3.bbaw.de/bibliothek/digital/
struktur/03-nouv/1782/jpg-0600/00000495.htm. See also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Le_Sage’s_theory_of_gravitation. In fact, the first to propose the idea of gravitation as
a result of small particles pushing masses around was Nicolas Fatio de Duillier in 1688.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Cited on page 189.
158 J. L askar, A numerical experiment on the chaotic behaviour of the solar system, Nature
338, pp. 237–238, 1989, and J. L askar, The chaotic motion of the solar system - A numerical
estimate of the size of the chaotic zones, Icarus 88, pp. 266–291, 1990. The work by Laskar was
later expanded by Jack Wisdom, using specially built computers, following only the planets,
without taking into account the smaller objects. For more details, see G. J. Sussman &
J. Wisd om, Chaotic Evolution of the Solar System, Science 257, pp. 56–62, 1992. Today,
such calculations can be performed on your home PC with computer code freely available
on the internet. Cited on page 190.
159 B. D ubrulle & F. Graner, Titius-Bode laws in the solar system. 1: Scale invariance ex-
plains everything, Astronomy and Astrophysics 282, pp. 262–268, 1994, and Titius-Bode
laws in the solar system. 2: Build your own law from disk models, Astronomy and Astro-
physics 282, pp. 269–-276, 1994. Cited on page 191.
160 M. L ecar, Bode’s Law, Nature 242, pp. 318–319, 1973, and M. Henon, A comment on “The
resonant structure of the solar system” by A.M. Molchanov, Icarus 11, pp. 93–94, 1969. Cited
on page 191.
161 Cassius Dio, Historia Romana, c. 220, book 37, 18. For an English translation, see the site
penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/37*.html. Cited on page 191.
162 A. J. Simoson, Falling down a hole through the Earth, Mathematics Magazine 77, pp. 171–
188, 2004. See also A. J. Simoson, The gravity of Hades, 75, pp. 335–350, 2002. Simoson
speculates whether the spirographics swirls in the are due to such an effect. Cited on page
192.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

163 M. Bevis, D. Alsd orf, E. Kendrick, L. P. Fortes, B. Forsberg, R. Malley &

J. Becker, Seasonal fluctuations in the mass of the Amazon River system and Earth’s elastic
response, Geophysical Research Letters 32, p. L16308, 2005. Cited on page 192.
164 D. Hestenes, M. Wells & G. Swackhamer, Force concept inventory, Physics Teacher
30, pp. 141–158, 1982. The authors developed tests to check the understanding of the concept
of physical force in students; the work has attracted a lot of attention in the field of physics
teaching. Cited on page 197.
165 For a general overview on friction, from physics to economics, architecture and organiza-
tional theory, see N. Åkerman, editor, The Necessity of Friction – Nineteen Essays on a
Vital Force, Springer Verlag, 1993. Cited on page 200.
166 See M. Hirano, K. Shinjo, R. Kanecko & Y. Murata, Observation of superlubric-
ity by scanning tunneling microscopy, Physical Review Letters 78, pp. 1448–1451, 1997. See
460 biblio graphy

also the discussion of their results by Serge Fayeulle, Superlubricity: when friction stops,
Physics World pp. 29–30, May 1997. Cited on page 200.
167 D onald Ahrens, Meteorology Today: An Introduction to the Weather, Climate, and the
Environment, West Publishing Company, 1991. Cited on page 201.
168 This topic is discussed with lucidity by J. R. Mureika, What really are the best 100 m per-
formances?, Athletics: Canada’s National Track and Field Running Magazine, July 1997. It
can also be found as arxiv.org/abs/physics/9705004, together with other papers on similar
topics by the same author. Cited on page 201.
169 F. P. B owden & D. Tabor, The Friction and Lubrication of Solids, Oxford University
Press, Part I, revised edition, 1954, and part II, 1964. Cited on page 202.
170 A powerful book on human violence is James Gilligan, Violence – Our Deadly Epidemic
and its Causes, Grosset/Putnam, 1992. Cited on page 202.
171 The main tests of randomness of number series – among them the gorilla test – can be found

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
in the authoritative paper by G. Marsaglia & W. W. Tsang, Some difficult-to-pass tests
of randomness, Journal of Statistical Software 7, p. 8, 2002. It can also be downloaded from
the www.jstatsoft.org/v07/i03/tuftests.pdf website. Cited on page 205.
172 For one aspect of the issue, see for example the captivating book by Bert Hellinger,
Zweierlei Glück, Carl Auer Systeme Verlag, 1997. The author explains how to live serenely
and with the highest possible responsibility for one’s actions, by reducing entanglements
with the destiny of others. He describes a powerful technique to realise this goal.
A completely different viewpoint is given by Aung San Suu Kyi, Freedom from Fear,
Penguin, 1991. One of the bravest women on Earth, she won the Nobel Peace Price in 1991.
Cited on page 207.
173 Henrik Walter, Neurophilosophie der Willensfreiheit, Mentis Verlag, Paderborn 1999.
Also available in English translation. Cited on page 207.
174 Giuseppe Fumagalli, Chi l’ha detto?, Hoepli, 1983. Cited on page 208.
175 See the tutorial on the Peaucellier-Lipkin linkage by D.W. Henderson and D. Taimina
found on kmoddl.library.cornell.edu/tutorials/11/index.php. The internet contains many
other pages on the topic. Cited on page 209.
176 The beautiful story of the south-pointing carriage is told in Appendix B of James Foster
& J. D. Nightingale, A Short Course in General Relativity, Springer Verlag, 2nd edition,
1998. Such carriages have existed in China, as told by the great sinologist Joseph Needham,
but their construction is unknown. The carriage described by Foster and Nightingale is the
one reconstructed in 1947 by George Lancaster, a British engineer. Cited on page 209.
177 See for example Z. Ghahramani, Building blocks of movement, Nature 407, pp. 682–683,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

2000. Researchers in robot control are also interested in such topics. Cited on page 210.
178 G. Gu tierrez, C. Fehr, A. Calzadilla & D. Figueroa, Fluid flow up the wall of
a spinning egg, American Journal of Physics 66, pp. 442–445, 1998. Cited on page 210.
179 A historical account is given in Wolf gang Yourgray & Stanley Mandelstam,
Variational Principles in Dynamics and Quantum Theory, Dover, 1968. Cited on pages 213
and 221.
180 C. G. Gray & E. F. Taylor, When action is not least, American Journal of Physics 75,
pp. 434–458, 2007. Cited on page 217.
181 Max Päsler, Prinzipe der Mechanik, Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1968. Cited on page 219.
182 The relations between possible Lagrangians are explained by Herbert G oldstein, Clas-
sical Mechanics, 2nd edition, Addison-Wesley, 1980. Cited on page 219.
biblio graphy 461

183 The Hemingway statement is quoted by Marlene Dietrich in Aaron E. Hotchner, Papa
Hemingway, Random House, 1966, in part 1, chapter 1. Cited on page 220.
184 C. G. Gray, G. Karl & V. A. Novikov, From Maupertius to Schrödinger. Quantization
of classical variational principles, American Journal of Physics 67, pp. 959–961, 1999. Cited
on page 221.
185 J. A. Mo ore, An innovation in physics instruction for nonscience majors, American Journal
of Physics 46, pp. 607–612, 1978. Cited on page 222.
186 See e.g. Alan P. B oss, Extrasolar planets, Physics Today 49, pp. 32–38. September 1996.
The most recent information can be found at the ‘Extrasolar Planet Encyclopaedia’ main-
tained at www.obspm.fr/planets by Jean Schneider at the Observatoire de Paris. Cited on
page 225.
187 A good review article is by David W. Hughes, Comets and Asteroids, Contemporary
Physics 35, pp. 75–93, 1994. Cited on page 225.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
188 G. B. West, J. H. Brown & B. J. Enquist, A general model for the origin of allometric
scaling laws in biology, Science 276, pp. 122–126, 4 April 1997, with a comment on page
34 of the same issue. The rules governing branching properties of blood vessels, of lymph
systems and of vessel systems in plants are explained. For more about plants, see also the
paper G. B. West, J. H. Brown & B. J. Enquist, A general model for the structure and
allometry of plant vascular systems, Nature 400, pp. 664–667, 1999. Cited on page 226.
189 J. R. Banavar, A. Martin & A. R inald o, Size and form in efficient transportation net-
works, Nature 399, pp. 130–132, 1999. Cited on page 226.
190 N. Moreira, New striders - new humanoids with efficient gaits change the robotics land-
scape, Science News Online 6th of August, 2005. Cited on page 227.
191 Werner Heisenberg, Der Teil und das Ganze, Piper, 1969. Cited on page 229.
192 See the clear presenttion by E. H. Lo ckwo od & R. H. Macmill an, Geometric Symme-
try, Cambridge University Press, 1978. Cited on page 229.
193 John Mansley Robinson, An Introduction to Early Greek Philosophy, Houghton Muf-
fin 1968, chapter 5. Cited on page 230.
194 See e.g. B. B ower, A child’s theory of mind, Science News 144, pp. 40–41. Cited on page
234.
195 The most beautiful book on this topic is the text by Branko Grünbaum &
G. C. Shephard, Tilings and Patterns, W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, 1987.
It has been translated into several languages and republished several times. Cited on page
235.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

196 U. Niederer, The maximal kinematical invariance group of the free Schrödinger equation,
Helvetica Physica Acta 45, pp. 802–810, 1972. See also the introduction by O. Jahn &
V. V. Sreedhar, The maximal invariance group of Newton’s equations for a free point par-
ticle, arxiv.org/abs/math-ph/0102011. Cited on page 241.
197 The story is told in the interesting biography of Einstein by A. Pais, ‘Subtle is the Lord...’
– The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein, Oxford University Press, 1982. Cited on page
242.
198 W. Zürn & R. Widmer-S chnidrig, Globale Eigenschwingungen der Erde, Physik Jour-
nal 1, pp. 49–55, 2002. Cited on page 250.
199 N. Gau thier, What happens to energy and momentum when two oppositely-moving wave
pulses overlap?, American Journal of Physics 71, pp. 787–790, 2003. Cited on page 258.
462 biblio graphy

200 An informative and modern summary of present research about the ear and the details of
its function is www.physicsweb.org/article/world/15/5/8. Cited on page 261.
201 S. Adachi, Principles of sound production in wind instruments, Acoustical Science and
Technology 25, pp. 400–404, 2004. Cited on page 263.
202 The literature on tones and their effects is vast. For example, people have explored the
differences and effects of various intonations in great detail. Several websites, such as
bellsouthpwp.net/j/d/jdelaub/jstudio.htm, allow listening to music played with different in-
tonations. People have even researched whether animals use just or chromatic intonation.
(See, for example, K. L eu t w yler, Exploring the musical brain, Scientific American Jan-
uary 2001.) There are also studies of the effects of low frequencies, of beat notes, and of many
other effects on humans. However, many studies mix serious and non-serious arguments.
It is easy to get lost in them. Cited on page 265.
203 M. Fatemi, P. L. O gburn & J. F. Greenleaf, Fetal stimulation by pulsed diagnostic ul-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
trasound, Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine 20, pp. 883–889, 2001. See also M. Fatemi,
A. Alizad & J. F. Greenleaf, Characteristics of the audio sound generated by ultra-
sound imaging systems, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 117, pp. 1448–1455,
2005. Cited on pages 266 and 267.
204 I know a female gynecologist who, during her own pregnancy, imaged her child every day
with her ultrasound machine. The baby was born with strong hearing problems that did not
go away. Cited on page 267.
205 R. Mole, Possible hazards of imaging and Doppler ultrasound in obstetrics, Birth Issues in
Perinatal Care 13, pp. 29–37, 2007. Cited on page 267.
206 A. L. Hod gkin & A. F. Huxley, A quantitative description of membrane current and
its application to conduction and excitation in nerve, Journal of Physiology 117, pp. 500–
544, 1952. This famous paper of theoretical biology earned the authors the Nobel Prize in
Medicine in 1963. Cited on page 268.
207 T. Filippov, The Versatile Soliton, Springer Verlag, 2000. See also J. S. Russel, Report
of the Fourteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Murray,
London, 1844, pp. 311–390. Cited on pages 268 and 271.
208 R. S. Ward, Solitons and other extended field configurations, preprint at arxiv.org/abs/
hep-th/0505135. Cited on page 271.
209 D. B. Bahr, W. T. Pfeffer & R. C. Browning, The surprising motion of ski moguls,
Physics Today 62, pp. 68–69, November 2009. Cited on page 271.
210 N. J. Z abusky & M. D. Kruskal, Interaction of solitons in a collisionless plasma and the
recurrence of initial states, Physical Review Letters 15, pp. 240–243, 1965. Cited on page 271.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

211 O. Muskens, De kortste knal ter wereld, Nederlands tijdschrift voor natuurkunde pp. 70–
73, 2005. Cited on page 271.
212 E. Heller, Freak waves: just bad luck, or avoidable?, Europhysics News pp. 159–161,
September/October 2005, downloadable at www.europhysicsnews.org. Cited on page 272.
213 See the beautiful article by D. Aarts, M. S chmidt & H. L ekkerkerker, Directe vi-
suele waarneming van thermische capillaire golven, Nederlands tijdschrift voor natuurkunde
70, pp. 216–218, 2004. Cited on page 273.
214 For more about the ocean sound channel, see the novel by Tom Cl ancy, The Hunt for
Red October. See also the physics script by R. A. Muller, Government secrets of the oceans,
atmosphere, and UFOs, web.archive.org/web/*/muller.lbl.gov/teaching/Physics10/chapters/
9-SecretsofUFOs.html 2001. Cited on page 274.
biblio graphy 463

215 B. Wilson, R. S. Bat t y & L. M. Dill, Pacific and Atlantic herring produce burst pulse
sounds, Biology Letters 271, number S3, 7 February 2004. Cited on page 274.
216 See for example the article by G. Fritsch, Infraschall, Physik in unserer Zeit 13, pp. 104–
110, 1982. Cited on page 277.
217 Wavelet transformations were developed by the French mathematicians Alex Grossmann,
Jean Morlet and Thierry Paul. The basic paper is A. Grossmann, J. Morlet & T. Paul,
Integral transforms associated to square integrable representations, Journal of Mathematical
Physics 26, pp. 2473–2479, 1985. For a modern introduction, see Stéphane Mallat, A
Wavelet Tour of Signal Processing, Academic Press, 1999. Cited on page 277.
218 P. Mano gg, Knall und Superknall beim Überschallflug, Der mathematische und naturwis-
senschaftliche Unterricht 35, pp. 26–33, 1982. Cited on page 278.
219 See the excellent introduction by L. Ellerbreok & van den Ho orn, In het kielzog
van Kelvin, Nederlands tijdschrift voor natuurkunde 73, pp. 310–313, 2007. Cited on page

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
279.
220 Jay Ingram, The Velocity of Honey - And More Science of Everyday Life, Viking, 2003. See
also W. W. L. Au & J. A. Simmons, Echolocation in dolphins and bats, Physics Today 60,
pp. 40–45, 2007. Cited on page 280.
221 M. B oiti, J. -P. L eon, L. Martina & F. Pempinelli, Scattering of localized solitons
in the plane, Physics Letters A 132, pp. 432–439, 1988, A. S. Fokas & P. M. Santini,
Coherent structures in multidimensions, Physics Review Letters 63, pp. 1329–1333, 1989,
J. Hietarinta & R. Hirota, Multidromion solutions to the Davey–Stewartson equation,
Physics Letters A 145, pp. 237–244, 1990. Cited on page 280.
222 The sound frequency change with bottle volume is explained on hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.
edu/Hbase/Waves/cavity.html. Cited on page 281.
223 A passionate introduction is Neville H. Fletcher & Thomas D. Rossing, The
Physics of Musical Instruments, second edition, Springer 2000. Cited on page 281.
224 M. Auslo os & D. H. Berman, Multivariate Weierstrass–Mandelbrot function, Proceed-
ings of the Royal Society in London A 400, pp. 331–350, 1985. Cited on page 283.
225 Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part Two, Section Two, Chapter One, Article 3, state-
ments 1376, 1377 and 1413, found at www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P41.HTM or www.
vatican.va/archive/ITA0014/__P40.HTM with their official explanations on www.vatican.
va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html and
www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_it.
html. Cited on page 285. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

226 The original text of the 1633 conviction of Galileo can be found on it.wikisource.org/wiki/
Sentenza_di_condanna_di_Galileo_Galilei. Cited on page 285.
227 The retraction that Galileo was forced to sign in 1633 can be found on it.wikisource.org/
wiki/Abiura_di_Galileo_Galilei. Cited on page 285.
228 M. Artigas, Un nuovo documento sul caso Galileo: EE 291, Acta Philosophica 10, pp. 199–
214, 2001. Cited on page 286.
229 Most of these points are made, directly or indirectly, in the book by Annibale Fantoli,
Galileo: For Copernicanism and for the Church, Vatican Observatory Publications, second
edition, 1996, and by George Coyne, director of the Vatican observatory, in his speeches
and publications, for example in G. Coyne, Galileo: for Copernicanism and for the church,
Zwoje 3/36, 2003, found at www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje36/text05p.htm. Cited on page
286.
464 biblio graphy

230 T. A. McMahob & J. Tyler B onner, Form und Leben – Konstruktion vom Reißbrett
der Natur, Spektrum Verlag, 1985. Cited on page 287.
231 G. W. Ko ch, S. C. Sillet t, G. M. Jennings & S. D. Davis, The limits to tree height,
Nature 428, pp. 851–854, 2004. Cited on page 287.
232 A simple article explaining the tallness of trees is A. Mineyev, Trees worthy of Paul Bun-
yan, Quantum pp. 4–10, January–February 1994. (Paul Bunyan is a mythical giant lum-
berjack who is the hero of the early frontier pioneers in the United States.) Note that
the transport of liquids in trees sets no limits on their height, since water is pumped up
along tree stems (except in spring, when it is pumped up from the roots) by evaporation
from the leaves. This works almost without limits because water columns, when nucle-
ation is carefully avoided, can be put under tensile stresses of over 100 bar, corresponding
to 1000 m. See also P. Nobel, Plant Physiology, Academic Press, 2nd Edition, 1999. An
artificial tree – though extremely small – using the same mechanism was built and stud-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ied by T. D. Wheeler & A. D. Stro o ck, The transpiration of water at negative pres-
sures in a synthetic tree, Nature 455, pp. 208–212, 2008. See also N. M. Holbro ok &
M. A. Zwieniecki, Transporting water to the top of trees, Physics Today pp. 76–77, 2008.
Cited on pages 287 and 304.
233 Such information can be taken from the excellent overview article by M. F. Ashby, On the
engineering properties of materials, Acta Metallurgica 37, pp. 1273–1293, 1989. The article
explains the various general criteria which determine the selection of materials, and gives
numerous tables to guide the selection. Cited on page 288.
234 See the beautiful paper by S. E. Virgo, Loschmidt’S number, Science Progress 27, pp. 634–
649, 1933. It is also available iin HTML format on the internet. Cited on pages 289 and 291.
235 For a photograph of a single barium atom – named Astrid – see Hans Dehmelt, Experi-
ments with an isolated subatomic particle at rest, Reviews of Modern Physics 62, pp. 525–530,
1990. For another photograph of a barium ion, see W. Neuhauser, M. Hohenstat t,
P. E. Toschek & H. Dehmelt, Localized visible Ba+ mono-ion oscillator, Physical Re-
view A 22, pp. 1137–1140, 1980. See also the photograph on page 293. Cited on page 292.
236 Holograms of atoms were first produced by Hans-Werner Fink & al., Atomic resolution
in lens-less low-energy electron holography, Physical Review Letters 67, pp. 1543–1546, 1991.
Cited on page 292.
237 A single–atom laser was built in 1994 by K. An, J. J. Childs, R. R. Dasari &
M. S. Feld, Microlaser: a laser with one atom in an optical resonator, Physical Review
Letters 73, p. 3375, 1994. Cited on page 292.
238 The photograph on the left of Figure 194 on page 293 is the first image that showed sub-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

atomic structures (visible as shadows on the atoms). It was published by F. J. Giessibl,

S. Hembacher, H. Bielefeldt & J. Mannhart, Subatomic features on the silicon
(111)-(7x7) surface observed by atomic force microscopy, Science 289, pp. 422 – 425, 2000.
Cited on page 294.
239 See for example C. S chiller, A. A. Ko omans, van Ro oy, C. S chönenberger
& H. B. Elswijk, Decapitation of tungsten field emitter tips during sputter sharpening, Sur-
face Science Letters 339, pp. L925–L930, 1996. Cited on page 294.
240 U. Weierstall & J. C. H. Spence, An STM with time-of-flight analyzer for atomic
species identification, MSA 2000, Philadelphia, Microscopy and Microanalysis 6, Supple-
ment 2, p. 718, 2000. Cited on page 294.
241 P. Krehl, S. Engemann & D. S chwenkel, The puzzle of whip cracking – uncovered by
a correlation of whip-tip kinematics with shock wave emission, Shock Waves 8, pp. 1–9, 1998.
biblio graphy 465

The authors used high-speed cameras to study the motion of the whip. A new aspect has
been added by A. G oriely & T. McMillen, Shape of a cracking whip, Physical Review
Letters 88, p. 244301, 2002. This article focuses on the tapered shape of the whip. However,
the neglection of the tuft – a piece at the end of the whip which is required to make it crack
– in the latter paper shows that there is more to be discovered still. Cited on page 297.
242 Z. Sheng & K. Yamafuji, Realization of a Human Riding a Unicycle by a Robot, Proceed-
ings of the 1995 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Vol. 2, pp. 1319
– 1326, 1995. Cited on page 298.
243 On human unicycling, see Jack Wiley, The Complete Book of Unicycling, Lodi, 1984, and
Sebastian Hoeher, Einradfahren und die Physik, Reinbeck, 1991. Cited on page 298.
244 W. Thomson, Lecture to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 18 February 1867, Proceedings of
the Royal Society in Edinborough 6, p. 94, 1869. Cited on page 298.
245 S. T. Thoroddsen & A. Q. Shen, Granular jets, Physics of Fluids 13, pp. 4–6, 2001, and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
A. Q. Shen & S. T. Thoroddsen, Granular jetting, Physics of Fluids 14, p. S3, 2002,
Cited on page 298.
246 M. J. Hanco ck & J. W. M. Bush, Fluid pipes, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 466, pp. 285–
304, 2002. A. E. Hosoi & J. W. M. Bush, Evaporative instabilities in climbing films, Jour-
nal of Fluid Mechanics 442, pp. 217–239, 2001. J. W. M. Bush & A. E. Hasha, On the
collision of laminar jets: fluid chains and fishbones, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 511, pp. 285–
310, 2004. Cited on page 302.
247 The present record for negative pressure in water was achieved by Q. Z heng,
D. J. D urben, G. H. Wolf & C. A. Angell, Liquids at large negative pressures: wa-
ter at the homogeneous nucleation limit, Science 254, pp. 829–832, 1991. Cited on page
304.
248 H. Maris & S. Balibar, Negative pressures and cavitation in liquid helium, Physics To-
day 53, pp. 29–34, 2000. Cited on page 304.
249 The present state of our understanding of turbulence is described by G. Falkovich &
K. P. Sreenivasan, Lessons from hydrodynamic turbulence, Physics Today 59, pp. 43–49,
2006. Cited on page 306.
250 K. Weltner, A comparison of explanations of aerodynamical lifting force, American Jour-
nal of Physics 55, pp. 50–54, 1987, K. Weltner, Aerodynamic lifting force, The Physics
Teacher 28, pp. 78–82, 1990. See also the user.uni-frankfurt.de/~weltner/Flight/PHYSIC4.
htm and the www.av8n.com/how/htm/airfoils.html websites. Cited on page 306.
251 S. Gekle, I. R. Peters, J. M. G ordillo, D. van der Meer & D. Lohse, Super-
sonic air flow due to solid-liquid impact, Physicl Review Letters 104, p. 024501, 2010. Films
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

of the effect can be found at physics.aps.org/articles/v3/4. Cited on page 308.

252 See www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMER89U7TG_index_0.html. Cited on page 308.
253 For a fascinating account of the passion and the techniques of apnoea diving, see Um-
berto Pelizzari, L’Homme et la mer, Flammarion, 1994. Palizzari cites and explains
the saying by Enzo Maiorca: ‘The first breath you take when you come back to the surface
is like the first breath with which you enter life.’ Cited on page 308.
254 Lydéric B o cquet, The physics of stone skipping, American Journal of Physics 17, pp. 150–
155, 2003. The present recod holder is Kurt Steiner, with 40 skips. See pastoneskipping.com/
steiner.htm and www.stoneskipping.com. The site www.yeeha.net/nassa/guin/g2.html is by
the a previous world record holder, Jerdome Coleman-McGhee. Cited on page 310.
255 S. F. Kistler & L. E. S criven, The teapot effect: sheetforming flows with deflection, wet-
ting, and hysteresis, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 263, pp. 19–62, 1994. Cited on page 313.
466 biblio graphy

256 J. Walker, Boiling and the Leidenfrost effect, a chapter from David Halliday,
Robert R esnick & Jearl Walker, Fundamentals of Physics, Wiley, 2007. The chapter
can also be found on the internet as pdf file. Cited on page 313.
257 E. Holl ander, Over trechters en zo ..., Nederlands tijdschrift voor natuurkunde 68,
p. 303, 2002. Cited on page 314.
258 S. D orbolo, H. Caps & N. Vandewalle, Fluid instabilities in the birth and death of
antibubbles, New Journal of Physics 5, p. 161, 2003. Cited on page 314.
259 T. T. L im, A note on the leapfrogging between two coaxial vortex rings at low Reynolds num-
bers, Physics of Fluids 9, pp. 239–241, 1997. Cited on page 316.
260 P. Aussillous & D. Q uéré, Properties of liquid marbles, Proc. Roy. Soc. London 462,
pp. 973–999, 2006, and references therein. Cited on page 316.
261 Thermostatics and thermodynamics is difficult to learn also because it was not discovered in

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
a systematic way. See C. Truesdell, The Tragicomical History of Thermodynamics 1822–
1854, Springer Verlag, 1980. An excellent advanced textbook on thermostatics and thermo-
dynamics is L inda R eichl, A Modern Course in Statistical Physics, Wiley, 2nd edition,
1998. Cited on page 319.
262 Gas expansion was the main method used for the definition of the official temperature
scale. Only in 1990 were other methods introduced officially, such as total radiation ther-
mometry (in the range 140 K to 373 K), noise thermometry (2 K to 4 K and 900 K to
1235 K), acoustical thermometry (around 303 K), magnetic thermometry (0.5 K to 2.6 K)
and optical radiation thermometry (above 730 K). Radiation thermometry is still the
central method in the range from about 3 K to about 1000 K. This is explained in de-
tail in R. L. Rusby, R. P. Hudson, M. D urieux, J. F. S cho oley, P. P. M. Steur &
C. A. Swenson, The basis of the ITS-90, Metrologia 28, pp. 9–18, 1991. On the water boil-
ing point see also Ref. 288. Cited on pages 320, 468, and 472.
263 Other methods to rig lottery draws made use of balls of different mass or of balls that are
more polished. One example of such a scam was uncovered in 1999. Cited on page 319.
264 See for example the captivating text by Gino Segrè, A Matter of Degrees: What Temper-
ature Reveals About the Past and Future of Our Species, Planet and Universe, Viking, New
York, 2002. Cited on page 321.
265 D. Karstädt, F. Pinno, K. -P. Möllmann & M. Vollmer, Anschauliche
Wärmelehre im Unterricht: ein Beitrag zur Visualisierung thermischer Vorgänge, Praxis der
Naturwissenschaften Physik 5-48, pp. 24–31, 1999, K. -P. Möllmann & M. Vollmer,
Eine etwas andere, physikalische Sehweise - Visualisierung von Energieumwandlungen und
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Strahlungsphysik für die (Hochschul-)lehre, Physikalische Bllätter 56, pp. 65–69, 2000,
D. Karstädt, K. -P. Möllmann, F. Pinno & M. Vollmer, There is more to see
than eyes can detect: visualization of energy transfer processes and the laws of radiation
for physics education, The Physics Teacher 39, pp. 371–376, 2001, K. -P. Möllmann &
M. Vollmer, Infrared thermal imaging as a tool in university physics education, European
Journal of Physics 28, pp. S37–S50, 2007. Cited on page 321.
266 See for example the article by H. Preston-Thomas, The international temperature scale
of 1990 (ITS-90), Metrologia 27, pp. 3–10, 1990, and the errata H. Preston-Thomas, The
international temperature scale of 1990 (ITS-90), Metrologia 27, p. 107, 1990, Cited on page
326.
267 For an overview, see Christian Enss & Siegfried Hunklinger, Low-Temperature
Physics, Springer, 2005. Cited on page 326.
biblio graphy 467

268 The famous paper on Brownian motion which contributed so much to Einstein’s fame is
A. Einstein, Über die von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Wärme geforderte Bewe-
gung von in ruhenden Flüssigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen, Annalen der Physik 17, pp. 549–
560, 1905. In the following years, Einstein wrote a series of further papers elaborating on this
topic. For example, he published his 1905 Ph.D. thesis as A. Einstein, Eine neue Bestim-
mung der Moleküldimensionen, Annalen der Physik 19, pp. 289–306, 1906, and he corrected
a small mistake in A. Einstein, Berichtigung zu meiner Arbeit: ‘Eine neue Bestimmung der
Moleküldimensionen’, Annalen der Physik 34, pp. 591–592, 1911, where, using new data, he
found the value 6.6 ⋅ 1023 for Avogadro’s number. However, five years before Smoluchowski
and Einstein, a much more practically-minded man had made the same calculations, but
in a different domain: the mathematician Louis Bachelier did so in his PhD about stock
options; this young financial analyst was thus smarter than Einstein. Cited on page 327.
269 The first experimental confirmation of the prediction was performed by J. Perrin,
Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences 147, pp. 475–476, and pp. 530–532, 1908. He

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
masterfully sums up the whole discussion in Jean Perrin, Les atomes, Librarie Félix Al-
can, Paris, 1913. Cited on page 328.
270 Pierre Gaspard & al., Experimental evidence for microscopic chaos, Nature 394, p. 865,
27 August 1998. Cited on page 329.
271 An excellent introduction into the physics of heat is the book by L inda R eichl, A Mod-
ern Course in Statistical Physics, Wiley, 2nd edition, 1998. Cited on page 329.
272 F. Herrmann, Mengenartige Größen im Physikunterricht, Physikalische Blätter 54,
pp. 830–832, September 1998. See also his lecture notes on general introductory physics
on the website www.physikdidaktik.uni-karlsruhe.de/skripten. Cited on pages 198, 318,
and 330.
273 These points are made clearly and forcibly, as is his style, by van Kampen, Entropie, Ned-
erlands tijdschrift voor natuurkunde 62, pp. 395–396, 3 December 1996. Cited on page
332.
274 This is a disappointing result of all efforts so far, as Grégoire Nicolis always stresses in his
university courses. Seth Lloyd has compiled a list of 31 proposed definitions of complexity,
containing among others, fractal dimension, grammatical complexity, computational com-
plexity, thermodynamic depth. See, for example, a short summary in Scientific American
p. 77, June 1995. Cited on page 332.
275 Minimal entropy is discussed by L. Szilard, Über die Entropieverminderung in einem ther-
modynamischen System bei Eingriffen intelligenter Wesen, Zeitschrift für Physik 53, pp. 840–
856, 1929. This classic paper can also be found in English translation in his collected works.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Cited on page 333.

276 G. Cohen-Tannoudji, Les constantes universelles, Pluriel, Hachette, 1998. See also
L. Brillouin, Science and Information Theory, Academic Press, 1962. Cited on page 333.
277 H. W. Z immermann, Particle entropies and entropy quanta IV: the ideal gas, the sec-
ond law of thermodynamics, and the P-t uncertainty relation, Zeitschrift für physikalische
Chemie 217, pp. 55–78, 2003, and H. W. Z immermann, Particle entropies and entropy
quanta V: the P-t uncertainty relation, Zeitschrift für physikalische Chemie 217, pp. 1097–
1108, 2003. Cited on pages 333 and 334.
278 See for example A. E. Shalyt-Margolin & A. Ya. Tregubovich, Generalized
uncertainty relation in thermodynamics, arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0307018, or J. Uffink &
J. van L ith-van Dis, Thermodynamic uncertainty relations, Foundations of Physics 29,
p. 655, 1999. Cited on page 333.
468 biblio graphy

279 B. L avenda, Statistical Physics: A Probabilistic Approach, Wiley-Interscience, New York,

1991. Cited on pages 333 and 334.
280 The quote given is found in the introduction by George Wald to the text by
L awrence J. Henderson, The Fitness of the Environment, Macmillan, New York,
1913, reprinted 1958. Cited on page 334.
281 A fascinating introduction to chemistry is the text by John Emsley, Molecules at an Ex-
hibition, Oxford University Press, 1998. Cited on page 334.
282 B. Polster, What is the best way to lace your shoes?, Nature 420, p. 476, 5 December 2002.
Cited on page 336.
283 L. B oltzmann, Über die mechanische Bedeutung des zweiten Huaptsatzes der Wärmethe-
orie, Sitzungsberichte der königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien 53, pp. 155–
220, 1866. Cited on page 337.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
284 H. de L ang, Moleculaire gastronomie, Nederlands tijdschrift voor natuurkunde 74,
pp. 431–433, 2008. Cited on page 340.
285 Emile B orel, Introduction géométrique à la physique, Gauthier-Villars, 1912. Cited on
page 340.
286 See V. L. Telegdi, Enrico Fermi in America, Physics Today 55, pp. 38–43, June 2002. Cited
on page 341.
287 K. S chmidt-Nielsen, Desert Animals: Physiological Problems of Heat and Water, Ox-
ford University Press, 1964. Cited on page 341.
288 Following a private communication by Richard Rusby, this is the value of 1997, whereas it
was estimated as 99.975°C in 1989, as reported by Gareth Jones & R ichard Rusby,
Official: water boils at 99.975°C, Physics World 2, pp. 23–24, September 1989, and
R. L. Rusby, Ironing out the standard scale, Nature 338, p. 1169, March 1989. For more
details on temperature measurements, see Ref. 262. Cited on pages 341 and 466.
289 Why entropy is created when information is erased, but not when it is acquired, is ex-
plained in C. H. Bennet t & R. L andauer, Fundamental Limits of Computation, Sci-
entific American 253:1, pp. 48–56, 1985. The conclusion: we should pay to throw the news-
paper away, not to buy it. Cited on page 343.
290 See, for example, G. Swift, Thermoacoustic engines and refrigerators, Physics Today 48,
pp. 22–28, July 1995. Cited on page 345.
291 Quoted in D. Campbell, J. Cru tchfield, J. Farmer & E. Jen, Experimental mathe-
matics: the role of computation in nonlinear science, Communications of the Association of
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Computing Machinery 28, pp. 374–384, 1985. Cited on page 348.

292 For more about the shapes of snowflakes, see the famous book by W. A. Bentley &
W. J. Humphreys, Snow Crystals, Dover Publications, New York, 1962. This second print-
ing of the original from 1931 shows a large part of the result of Bentley’s lifelong passion,
namely several thousand photographs of snowflakes. Cited on page 348.
293 K. S chwenk, Why snakes have forked tongues, Science 263, pp. 1573–1577, 1994. Cited on
page 351.
294 E. Martínez, C. Pérez-Penichet, O. S otolongo-Costa, O. R amos,
K.J. Måløy, S. D ouady, E. Altshuler, Uphill solitary waves in granular flows,
Physical Review 75, p. 031303, 2007, and E. Altshuler, O. R amos, E. Martínez,
A. J. Batista-L ey va, A. R ivera & K. E. Bassler, Sandpile formation by revolving
rivers, Physical Review Letters 91, p. 014501, 2003. Cited on page 353.
biblio graphy 469

295 P. B. Umbanhowar, F. Melo & H. L. Swinney, Localized excitations in a vertically

vibrated granular layer, Nature 382, pp. 793–796, 29 August 1996. Cited on page 353.
296 D. K. Campbell, S. Fl ach & Y. S. Kivshar, Localizing energy through nonlinearity
and discreteness, Physics Today 57, pp. 43–49, January 2004. Cited on page 354.
297 B. Andreot ti, The song of dunes as a wave-particle mode locking, Physical Review Letters
92, p. 238001, 2004. Cited on page 354.
298 D. C. Mays & B. A. Faybishenko, Washboards in unpaved highways as a complex dy-
namic system, Complexity 5, pp. 51–60, 2000. See also N. Taberlet, S. W. Morris &
J. N. McElwaine, Washboard road: the dynamics of granular ripples formed by rolling
wheels, Physical Review Letters 99, p. 068003, 2007. Cited on pages 354 and 478.
299 K. Köt ter, E. G oles & M. Markus, Shell structures with ‘magic numbers’ of spheres
in a swirled disk, Physical Review E 60, pp. 7182–7185, 1999. Cited on page 355.
300 A good introduction is the text by Daniel Walgraef, Spatiotemporal Pattern Forma-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
tion, With Examples in Physics, Chemistry and Materials Science, Springer 1996. Cited on
page 355.
301 For an overview, see the Ph.D. thesis by Jo celine L ega, Défauts topologiques associés à
la brisure de l’invariance de translation dans le temps, Université de Nice, 1989. Cited on
page 356.
302 An idea of the fascinating mechanisms at the basis of the heart beat is given by
A. Babloyantz & A. Destexhe, Is the normal heart a periodic oscillator?, Biologi-
cal Cybernetics 58, pp. 203–211, 1989. Cited on page 357.
303 For a short, modern overview of turbulence, see L. P. Kadanoff, A model of turbulence,
Physics Today 48, pp. 11–13, September 1995. Cited on page 358.
304 For a clear introduction, see T. S chmidt & M. Mahrl, A simple mathematical model of
a dripping tap, European Journal of Physics 18, pp. 377–383, 1997. Cited on page 359.
305 An overview of science humour can be found in the famous anthology compiled by
R. L. Weber, edited by E. Mend oza, A Random Walk in Science, Institute of Physics,
1973. It is also available in several expanded translations. Cited on page 359.
306 W. Dreybrodt, Physik von Stalagmiten, Physik in unserer Zeit pp. 25–30, Physik in un-
serer Zeit February 2009. Cited on page 359.
307 K. Mertens, V. Pu tkaradze & P. Vorobieff, Braiding patterns on an inclined plane,
Nature 430, p. 165, 2004. Cited on page 360.
308 These beautifully simple experiments were published in G. Müller, Starch columns: ana-
log model for basalt columns, Journal of Geophysical Research 103, pp. 15239–15253, 1998,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

in G. Müller, Experimental simulation of basalt columns, Journal of Volcanology and

Geothermal Research 86, pp. 93–96, 1998, and in G. Müller, Trocknungsrisse in Stärke,
Physikalische Blätter 55, pp. 35–37, 1999. Cited on page 361.
309 To get a feeling for viscosity, see the fascinating text by Steven Vo gel, Life in Moving
Fluids: the Physical Biology of Flow, Princeton University Press, 1994. Cited on page 361.
310 B. Hof, C. W. H. van D o orne, J. Westerweel, F. T. M. Nieuwstadt,
H. Wedin, R. Kerswell, F. Waleffe, H. Faisst & B. Eckhardt, Experimen-
tal observation of nonlinear traveling waves in turbulent pipe flow, Science 305, pp. 1594–
1598, 2004. See also B. Hof & al., Finite lifetime of turbulence in shear flows, Nature 443,
p. 59, 2006. Cited on page 362.
311 A fascinating book on the topic is Kenneth L aws & Martha Swope, Physics and the
Art of Dance: Understanding Movement, Oxford University Press 2002. Cited on page 363.
470 biblio graphy

312 The fascinating variation of snow crystals is presented in C. Magono & C. W. L ee, Mete-
orological classification of natural snow crystals, Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido
University Ser. VII, II, pp. 321–325, 1966, also online at the eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp website.
Cited on page 364.
313 Josef H. R eichholf, Eine kurze Naturgeschichte des letzten Jahrtausends, S. Fischer Ver-
lag, 2007. Cited on page 364.
314 See for example, E. F. Bunn, Evolution and the second law of thermodynamics, American
Journal of Physics 77, pp. 922–925, 2009. Cited on page 364.
315 A good introduction of the physics of bird swarms is T. Feder, Statistical physics is for the
birds, Physics Today 60, pp. 28–30, October 2007. Cited on page 364.
316 J. J. L issauer, Chaotic motion in the solar system, Reviews of Modern Physics 71, pp. 835–
845, 1999. Cited on page 366.
317 See Jean-Paul D umont, Les écoles présocratiques, Folio Essais, Gallimard, 1991, p. 426.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Cited on page 367.
318 For information about the number π, and about some other mathematical constants, the
website oldweb.cecm.sfu.ca/pi/pi.html provides the most extensive information and refer-
ences. It also has a link to the many other sites on the topic, including the overview at
mathworld.wolfram.com/Pi.html. Simple formulae for π are
∞
n 2n
π+3= 󵠈 (152)
n=1 󶀡 n 󶀱
2n

or the beautiful formula discovered in 1996 by Bailey, Borwein and Plouffe

∞
1 4 2 1 1
π=󵠈 󶀤 − − − 󶀴 . (153)
n=0 16
n 8n + 1 8n + 4 8n + 5 8n + 6

The mentioned site also explains the newly discovered methods for calculating specific bi-
nary digits of π without having to calculate all the preceding ones. The known digits of π
pass all tests of randomness, as the mathworld.wolfram.com/PiDigits.html website explains.
However, this property, called normality, has never been proven; it is the biggest open ques-
tion about π. It is possible that the theory of chaotic dynamics will lead to a solution of this
puzzle in the coming years.
Another method to calculate π and other constants was discovered and published by
D. V. Chudnovsky & G. V. Chudnovsky, The computation of classical constants, Pro-
ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 86, pp. 8178–8182, 1989. The Chud-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

nowsky brothers have built a supercomputer in Gregory’s apartment for about 70 000 euros,
and for many years held the record for calculating the largest number of digits of π. They
have battled for decades with Kanada Yasumasa, who held the record in 2000, calculated on
an industrial supercomputer. However, the record number of (consecutive) digits in 2010
was calculated in 123 days on a simple desktop PC by Fabrice Bellard, using a Chudnovsky
formula. Bellard calculated over 2.7 million million digits, as told on bellard.org. New for-
mulae to calculate π are still occasionally discovered.
For the calculation of Euler’s constant γ see also D. W. DeTemple, A quicker conver-
gence to Euler’s constant, The Mathematical Intelligencer, pp. 468–470, May 1993. Cited on
pages 368 and 397.
319 George Birkbeck Norman Hill, Johnsonian Miscellanies, Clarendon Press, 1897, in
Seward’s Biographiana/ Cited on page 372.
biblio graphy 471

320 The first written record of the letter U seems to be L eon Bat tista Alberti, Grammat-
ica della lingua toscana, 1442, the first grammar of a modern (non-latin) language, written
by a genius that was intellectual, architect and the father of cryptology. The first written
record of the letter J seems to be Antonio de Nebrija, Gramática castellana, 1492. Be-
fore writing it, Nebrija lived for ten years in Italy, so that it is possible that the I/J distinction
is of Italian origin as well. Nebrija was one of the most important Spanish scholars. Cited
on page 373.
321 For more information about the letters thorn and eth, have a look at the extensive report to
be found on the website www.everytype.com/standards/wynnyogh/thorn.html. Cited on
page 373.
322 For a modern history of the English language, see David Crystal, The Stories of English,
Allen Lane, 2004. Cited on page 373.
323 Hans Jensen, Die Schrift, Berlin, 1969, translated into English as Sign, Symbol and Script:

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
an Account of Man’s Efforts to Write, Putnam’s Sons, 1970. Cited on page 374.
324 David R. L ide, editor, CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 78th edition, CRC Press,
1997. This classic reference work appears in a new edition every year. The full Hebrew alpha-
bet is given on page 2-90. The list of abbreviations of physical quantities for use in formulae
approved by ISO, IUPAP and IUPAC can also be found there.
However, the ISO 31 standard, which defines these abbreviations, costs around a thou-
sand euro, is not available on the internet, and therefore can safely be ignored, like any
standard that is supposed to be used in teaching but is kept inaccessible to teachers. Cited
on pages 376 and 377.
325 See the mighty text by Peter T. Daniels & William Bright, The World’s Writing
Systems, Oxford University Press, 1996. Cited on page 376.
326 The story of the development of the numbers is told most interestingly by
Georges Ifrah, Histoire universelle des chiffres, Seghers, 1981, which has been trans-
lated into several languages. He sums up the genealogy of the number signs in ten beautiful
tables, one for each digit, at the end of the book. However, the book itself contains fac-
tual errors on every page, as explained for example in the review found at www.ams.org/
notices/200201/rev-dauben.pdf and www.ams.org/notices/200202/rev-dauben.pdf. Cited
on page 376.
327 See the for example the fascinating book by Steven B. Smith, The Great Mental Calcula-
tors – The Psychology, Methods and Lives of the Calculating Prodigies, Columbia University
Press, 1983. The book also presents the techniques that they use, and that anybody else can
use to emulate them. Cited on page 377.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

328 See for example the article ‘Mathematical notation’ in the Encyclopedia of Mathematics, 10
volumes, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988–1993. But first all, have a look at the informa-
tive and beautiful jeff560.tripod.com/mathsym.html website. The main source for all these
results is the classic and extensive research by Florian Cajori, A History of Mathemati-
cal Notations, 2 volumes, The Open Court Publishing Co., 1928–1929. The square root sign
is used in Christoff Rud olff, Die Coss, Vuolfius Cephaleus Joanni Jung: Argentorati,
1525. (The full title was Behend vnnd Hubsch Rechnung durch die kunstreichen regeln Algebre
so gemeinlicklich die Coss genent werden. Darinnen alles so treülich an tag gegeben, das auch
allein auss vleissigem lesen on allen mündtliche vnterricht mag begriffen werden, etc.) Cited
on page 377.
329 J. Tschichold, Formenwamdlungen der et-Zeichen, Stempel AG, 1953. Cited on page
379.
 472 biblio graphy

330 Malcolm B. Parkes, Pause and Effect: An Introduction to the History of Punctuation in
the West, University of California Press, 1993. Cited on page 379.
331 This is explained by Berthold Louis Ullman, Ancient Writing and its Influence, 1932.
Cited on page 379.
332 Paul L ehmann, Erforschung des Mittelalters – Ausgewählte Abhandlungen und Aufsätze,
Anton Hiersemann, 1961, pp. 4–21. Cited on page 379.
333 Bernard Bischoff, Paläographie des römischen Altertums und des abendländischen Mit-
telalters, Erich Schmidt Verlag, 1979, pp. 215–219. Cited on page 379.
334 Hu t ton Webster, Rest Days: A Study in Early Law and Morality, MacMillan, 1916. The
discovery of the unlucky day in Babylonia was made in 1869 by George Smith, who also
rediscovered the famous Epic of Gilgamesh. Cited on page 380.
335 The connections between Greek roots and many French words – and thus many English
ones – can be used to rapidly build up a vocabulary of ancient Greek without much study,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
as shown by the practical collection by J. Chaineux, Quelques racines grecques, Wetteren
– De Meester, 1929. See also D onald M. Ayers, English Words from Latin and Greek
Elements, University of Arizona Press, 1986. Cited on page 381.
336 In order to write well, read William Strunk & E. B. White, The Elements of Style,
Macmillan, 1935, 1979, or Wolf S chneider, Deutsch für Kenner – Die neue Stilkunde,
Gruner und Jahr, 1987. Cited on page 382.
337 Le Système International d’Unités, Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, Pavillon de
Breteuil, Parc de Saint Cloud, 92310 Sèvres, France. All new developments concerning SI
units are published in the journal Metrologia, edited by the same body. Showing the slow
pace of an old institution, the BIPM launched a website only in 1998; it is now reachable at
www.bipm.fr. See also the www.utc.fr/~tthomass/Themes/Unites/index.html website; this
includes the biographies of people who gave their names to various units. The site of its
British equivalent, www.npl.co.uk/npl/reference, is much better; it provides many details
as well as the English-language version of the SI unit definitions. Cited on page 383.
338 The bible in the field of time measurement is the two-volume work by J. Vanier &
C. Aud oin, The Quantum Physics of Atomic Frequency Standards, Adam Hilge, 1989. A
popular account is Tony Jones, Splitting the Second, Institute of Physics Publishing, 2000.
The site opdaf1.obspm.fr/www/lexique.html gives a glossary of terms used in the field.
For precision length measurements, the tools of choice are special lasers, such as mode-
locked lasers and frequency combs. There is a huge literature on these topics. Equally large
is the literature on precision electric current measurements; there is a race going on for the
best way to do this: counting charges or measuring magnetic forces. The issue is still open.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. II, page 65 On mass and atomic mass measurements, see the volume on relativity. On high-precision
temperature measurements, see Ref. 262. Cited on page 384.
339 The unofficial prefixes were first proposed in the 1990s by Jeff K. Aronson of the University
of Oxford, and might come into general usage in the future. Cited on page 385.
340 The most precise clock built in 2004, a caesium fountain clock, had a precision of one
part in 1015 . Higher precision has been predicted to be possible soon, among others by
M. Takamoto, F. -L. Hong, R. Higashi & H. Katori, An optical lattice clock, Na-
ture 435, pp. 321–324, 2005. Cited on page 387.
341 J. Bergquist, ed., Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on Frequency Standards and Metrol-
ogy, World Scientific, 1997. Cited on page 387.
342 J. Short, Newton’s apples fall from grace, New Scientist 2098, p. 5, 6 September 1997. More
details can be found in R. G. Keesing, The history of Newton’s apple tree, Contemporary
biblio graphy 473

Physics 39, pp. 377–391, 1998. Cited on page 388.

343 The various concepts are even the topic of a separate international standard, ISO 5725, with
the title Accuracy and precision of measurement methods and results. A good introduction is
John R. Taylor, An Introduction to Error Analysis: the Study of Uncertainties in Physical
Measurements, 2nd edition, University Science Books, Sausalito, 1997. Cited on page 389.
344 The most recent (2010) recommended values of the fundamental physical constants are
found only on the website physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/index.html. This set of constants
results from an international adjustment and is recommended for international use by the
Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), a body in the International
Council of Scientific Unions, which brings together the International Union of Pure and
Applied Physics (IUPAP), the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
and other organizations. The website of IUPAC is www.iupac.org. Cited on page 390.
345 Some of the stories can be found in the text by N. W. Wise, The Values of Precision,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Princeton University Press, 1994. The field of high-precision measurements, from which
the results on these pages stem, is a world on its own. A beautiful introduction to it
is J. D. Fairbanks, B. S. Deaver, C. W. Everit t & P. F. Michaelson, eds., Near
Zero: Frontiers of Physics, Freeman, 1988. Cited on page 390.
346 The details are given in the well-known astronomical reference, Kenneth Seidelmann,
Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac, 1992. Cited on page 395.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

C R E DI T S

Acknowledgements
Many people who have kept their gift of curiosity alive have helped to make this project come
true. Most of all, Saverio Pascazio has been – present or not – a constant reference for this project.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Fernand Mayné, Anna Koolen, Ata Masafumi, Roberto Crespi, Serge Pahaut, Luca Bombelli, Her-
man Elswijk, Marcel Krijn, Marc de Jong, Martin van der Mark, Kim Jalink, my parents Peter
and Isabella Schiller, Mike van Wijk, Renate Georgi, Paul Tegelaar, Barbara and Edgar Augel, M.
Jamil, Ron Murdock, Carol Pritchard, Richard Hoffman, Stephan Schiller and, most of all, my
wife Britta have all provided valuable advice and encouragement.
Many people have helped with the project and the collection of material. Most useful was the
help of Mikael Johansson, Bruno Barberi Gnecco, Lothar Beyer, the numerous improvements by
Bert Sierra, the detailed suggestions by Claudio Farinati, the many improvements by Eric Shel-
don, the detailed suggestions by Andrew Young, the continuous help and advice of Jonatan Kelu,
the corrections of Elmar Bartel, and in particular the extensive, passionate and conscientious
help of Adrian Kubala.
Important material was provided by Bert Peeters, Anna Wierzbicka, William Beaty, Jim Carr,
John Merrit, John Baez, Frank DiFilippo, Jonathan Scott, Jon Thaler, Luca Bombelli, Douglas
Singleton, George McQuarry, Tilman Hausherr, Brian Oberquell, Peer Zalm, Martin van der
Mark, Vladimir Surdin, Julia Simon, Antonio Fermani, Don Page, Stephen Haley, Peter Mayr,
Allan Hayes, Norbert Dragon, Igor Ivanov, Doug Renselle, Wim de Muynck, Steve Carlip, Tom
Bruce, Ryan Budney, Gary Ruben, Chris Hillman, Olivier Glassey, Jochen Greiner, squark, Mar-
tin Hardcastle, Mark Biggar, Pavel Kuzin, Douglas Brebner, Luciano Lombardi, Franco Bagnoli,
Lukas Fabian Moser, Dejan Corovic, Paul Vannoni, John Haber, Saverio Pascazio, Klaus Finken-
zeller, Leo Volin, Jeff Aronson, Roggie Boone, Lawrence Tuppen, Quentin David Jones, Arnaldo
Uguzzoni, Frans van Nieuwpoort, Alan Mahoney, Britta Schiller, Petr Danecek, Ingo Thies, Vi-
taliy Solomatin, Carl Offner, Nuno Proença, Elena Colazingari, Paula Henderson, Daniel Darre,
Wolfgang Rankl, John Heumann, Joseph Kiss, Martha Weiss, Antonio González, Antonio Mar-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tos, André Slabber, Ferdinand Bautista, Zoltán Gácsi, Pat Furrie, Michael Reppisch, Enrico Pasi,
Thomas Köppe, Martin Rivas, Herman Beeksma, Tom Helmond, John Brandes, Vlad Tarko, Na-
dia Murillo, Ciprian Dobra, Romano Perini, Harald van Lintel, Andrea Conti, François Belfort,
Dirk Van de Moortel, Heinrich Neumaier, Jarosław Królikowski, John Dahlman, Fathi Namouni,
Paul Townsend, Sergei Emelin, Freeman Dyson, S.R. Madhu Rao, David Parks, Jürgen Janek,
Daniel Huber, Alfons Buchmann, William Purves, Pietro Redondi, Damoon Saghian, Frank
Sweetser, plus a number of people who wanted to remain unnamed.
The software tools were refined with extensive help on fonts and typesetting by Michael Zedler
and Achim Blumensath and with the repeated and valuable support of Donald Arseneau; help
came also from Ulrike Fischer, Piet van Oostrum, Gerben Wierda, Klaus Böhncke, Craig Upright,
Herbert Voss, Andrew Trevorrow, Danie Els, Heiko Oberdiek, Sebastian Rahtz, Don Story, Vin-
cent Darley, Johan Linde, Joseph Hertzlinger, Rick Zaccone, John Warkentin, Ulrich Diez, Uwe
credits 475

Siart, Will Robertson, Joseph Wright, Enrico Gregorio, Rolf Niepraschk, Alexander Grahn and
Werner Fabian.
The typesetting and book design is due to the professional consulting of Ulrich Dirr. The
typography and the table on mathematical signs was greatly improved with the help of Johannes
Küster. The design of the book and its website owe also much to the suggestions and support of
my wife Britta.
I also thank the lawmakers and the taxpayers in Germany, who, in contrast to most other
countries in the world, allow residents to use the local university libraries.
Since May 2007, the electronic edition and distribution of the Motion Mountain text is gener-
ously supported by the Klaus Tschira Foundation.

Film credits
The clear animation of a suspended spinning top, shown on page 134, was made for this text by

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Lucas Barbosa. The beautiful animation of the lunation on page 167 was calculated from actual
astronomical data and is copyright and courtesy by Martin Elsässer. It can be found on his web-
site www.mondatlas.de/lunation.html. The beautiful animation of the planets and planetoids on
page 190 is copyright and courtesy by Hans-Christian Greier. It can be found on his wonderful
website www.parallax.at. The film of an oscillating quartz on page 251 is copyright and courtesy
of Micro Crystal, part of the Swatch Group, found at www.microcrystal.com. The animation il-
lustrating group and wave velocity on page 257 is courtesy and copyright of the ISVR at the Uni-
versity of Southhampton. The animation illustrating the motion of molecules in air with sound,
shown on page 265, is found on Wikimedia Commons. The films of solitons on page 270 and of
dromions on page 280 are copyright and courtesy by Jarmo Hietarinta. They can be found on his
website users.utu.fi/hietarin. The film of leapfrogging vortex rings on page 315 is copyright and
courtesy by Lim Tee Tai. It can be found via his fluid dynamics website serve.me.nus.edu.sg. The
film of the growing snowflake on page 355 is copyright and courtesy by Kenneth Libbrecht. It
can be found on his website www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals.

Image credits
The photograph of a peak in the Himalaya on the front cover is courtesy and copyright by Dave
Thompson and used to be on his website www.daveontrek.co.uk. The lightning photograph on
page 14 is courtesy and copyright by Harald Edens and found on the www.lightningsafety.noaa.
gov/photos.htm and www.weather-photography.com websites. The motion illusion on page 18
is courtesy and copyright by Michael Bach and found on his website www.michaelbach.de/ot/
mot_rotsnake/index.html. It is a variation of the illusion by Kitaoka Akiyoshi found on www.
ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka and used here with his permission. The figures on pages 20, 55 and 179
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

were made especially for this text and are copyright by Luca Gastaldi. The high speed photo-
graph of a bouncing tennis ball on page 20 is courtesy and copyright by the International Tennis
Federation, and were provided by Janet Page. The figure of Etna on pages 22 and 137 is copy-
right and courtesy of Marco Fulle and taken from the wonderful website www.stromboli.net.
The famous photograph of the Les Poulains and its lighthouse by Philip Plisson on page 23
is courtesy and copyright by Pechêurs d’Images; see the websites www.plisson.com and www.
pecheurs-d-images.com. It is also found in Plisson’s magnus opus La Mer, a stunning book of
photographs of the sea. The picture on page 23 of Alexander Tsukanov jumping from one ulti-
mate wheel to another is copyright and courtesy of the Moscow State Circus. The photograph of
a deer on page 25 is copyright and courtesy of Tony Rodgers and taken from his website www.
flickr.com/photos/moonm. The photographs of speed measurement devices on page 34 are cour-
tesy and copyright of the Fachhochschule Koblenz, of Silva, of Tracer, and of Wikimedia. The
476 credits

graph on page 37 is redrawn and translated from the wonderful book by Henk Tennekes, De
wetten van de vliegkunst - Over stijgen, dalen, vliegen en zweven, Aramith Uitgevers, 1993. The
photographs of the ping-pong ball on page 39 and of the dripping water tap on page 303 are
copyright and courtesy of Andrew Davidhazy and found on his website www.rit.edu/~andpph.
The photograph of the bouncing water droplet on page 39 are copyright and courtesy of Max
Groenendijk and found on the website www.lightmotif.nl. The photograph of the precision sun-
dial on page 43 is copyright and courtesy of Stefan Pietrzik and found at commons.wikimedia.
org/wiki/Image:Präzissions-Sonnenuhr_mit_Sommerwalze.jpg The other clock photographs in
the figure are from public domain sources as indicated. The graph on the scaling of biologi-
cal rhythms on page 46 is drawn by the author using data from the European Molecular Bi-
ology Organisation found at www.nature.com/embor/journal/v6/n1s/fig_tab/7400425_f3.html
and Enrique Morgado. The drawing of the human ear on page page 49 and on page 276 are
copyright of Northwestern University and courtesy of Tim Hain; it is found on his website
www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/bppv/otoliths.html. The illustrations of the vernier

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
caliper and the micrometer screw on page 52 and 62 are copyright of Medien Werkstatt, cour-
tesy of Stephan Bogusch, and taken from their instruction course found on their website www.
medien-werkstatt.de. The photo of the tiger on page 52 is copyright of Naples zoo (in Florida, not
in Italy), and courtesy of Tim Tetzlaff; see their website at www.napleszoo.com. The other length
measurement devices on page 52 are courtesy and copyright of Keyence and Leica Geosystems,
found at www.leica-geosystems.com. The curvimeter photograph on page 54 is copyright and
courtesy of Frank Müller and found on the www.wikimedia.org website. The crystal photograph
on the left of page 57 is copyright and courtesy of Stephan Wolfsried and found on the www.
mindat.org website. The crystal photograph on the right of page 57 is courtesy of Tullio Bern-
abei, copyright of Arch. Speleoresearch & Films/La Venta and found on the www.laventa.it and
www.naica.com.mx websites. The hollow Earth figure on pages 59 and 263 is courtesy of Helmut
Diel and was drawn by Isolde Diel. The wonderful photographs on page 67, page 135, page 153,
page 169, page 185 and page 430 are courtesy and copyright by Anthony Ayiomamitis; the story
of the photographs is told on his beautiful website at www.perseus.gr. The anticrepuscular pho-
tograph on page 68 is courtesy and copyright by Peggy Peterson. The rope images on page 69
are copyright and courtesy of Jakob Bohr. The image of the tight knot on page 70 is courtesy and
copyright by Piotr Pieranski. The firing caterpillar figure of page 76 is courtesy and copyright of
Stanley Caveney. The photograph of an airbag sensor on page 83 is courtesy and copyright of
Bosch; the accelerometer picture is courtesy and copyright of Rieker Electronics; the three draw-
ings of the human ear are copyright of Northwestern University and courtesy of Tim Hain and
found on his website www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/bppv/otoliths.html. The photo-
graph of Orion on page 84 is courtesy and copyright by Matthew Spinelli. The photograph of
Regulus and Mars on page 84 is courtesy and copyright of Jürgen Michelberger and found on
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

www.jmichelberger.de. The photograph of N. decemspinosa on page 86 is courtesy and copy-

right of Robert Full, and found on his website rjf9.biol.berkeley.edu/twiki/bin/view/PolyPEDAL/
LabPhotographs. The photograph of P. ruralis on page 86 is courtesy and copyright of John Brack-
enbury, and part of his wonderful collection on the website www.sciencephoto.co.uk. The milli-
pede photograph on page 86 is courtesy and copyright of David Parks, and found on his web-
site www.mobot.org/mobot/madagascar/image.asp?relation=A71. The photograph of the Gekko
climbing the bus window on page 86 is courtesy and copyright of Marcel Berendsen, and found
on his website www.flickr.com/photos/berendm. The photograph of comet McNaught on page 88
is courtesy and copyright by its discoveror, Robert McNaught; it is taken from his website at www.
mso.anu.edu.au/~rmn and is found also on antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070122.html. The sono-
luminsecence picture on page 89 is courtesy and copyright of Detlev Lohse. The photograph of
the standard kilogram on page 92 is courtesy and copyright by the Bureau International des Poids
credits 477

et Mesures (BIPM). The photograph of Mendeleyev’s balance on page 99 is copyright of Think-

tank Trust and courtesy of Jack Kirby; it can be found on the www.birminghamstories.co.uk
website. The photograph of the laboratory scale on page 99 is copyright and courtesy of Mettler-
Toledo. The measured graph of the walking human on page 113 is courtesy and copyright of Ray
McCoy. The photograph of the clock that needs no winding up is copyright Jaeger-LeCoultre
and courtesy of Ralph Stieber. Its history and working are described in detail in a brochure avail-
able from the company. The company’s website is www.Jaeger-LeCoultre.com. The photograph
of the ship lift at Strépy-Thieux on page 120 is courtesy and copyright of Jean-Marie Hoornaert
and found on Wikimedia Commons. The photograph of the Celtic wobble stone on page 121
is courtesy and copyright of Ed Keath and found on Wikimedia Commons. The photograph of
Foucault’s gyroscope on page 129 is courtesy and copyright of the museum of the CNAM, the
Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris, whose website is at www.arts-et-metiers.net.
The photograph of the laser gyroscope on page 129 is courtesy and copyright of JAXA, the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency, and found on their website at jda.jaxa.jp. The drawing of the pre-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
cision laser gyroscope on page 130 is courtesy of Thomas Klügel and copyright of the Bundesamt
für Kartographie und Geodäsie. The photograph of the instrument is courtesy and copyright of
Carl Zeiss. The machine is located at the Fundamentalstation Wettzell, and its website is found at
www.wettzell.ifag.de. The graph of the temperature record on page 139 is copyright and courtesy
Jean Jouzel and Science/AAAS. Figure 104 on page 147 is courtesy and copyright of the interna-
tional Gemini project (Gemini Observatory/Association of Universities for Research in Astron-
omy) at www.ausgo.unsw.edu.au and www.gemini.edu. The basilisk running over water, page 149
and on the back cover, is courtesy and copyright by the Belgian group TERRA vzw and found on
their website www.terra.vzw.org. The water strider photograph on page 149 is courtesy and copy-
right by Charles Lewallen. The photograph of the water robot on page 149 is courtesy and copy-
right by the American Institute of Physics. The illustration of the motion of Mars on page 152
is courtesy and copyright of Tunc Tezel. The photograph of the precision pendulum clock on
page 155 is copyright of Erwin Sattler OHG,Sattler OHG, Erwin and courtesy of Ms. Stephanie
Sattler-Rick; it can be found at the www.erwinsattler.de website. The figure on the triangulation
of the meridian of Paris on page 158 is copyright and courtesy of Ken Alder and found on his
website www.kenalder.com. The photographs of the home version of the Cavendish experiment
on page 159 are courtesy and copyright by John Walker and found on his website www.fourmilab.
ch/gravitation/foobar. The photographs of the precision Cavendish experiment on page 160 are
courtesy and copyright of the Eöt-Wash Group at the University of Washington and found at
www.npl.washington.edu/eotwash. The geoid of page 162 is courtesy and copyright by the Ge-
oForschungsZentrum Potsdam, found at www.gfz-potsdam.de. The moon maps on page 167
are courtesy of the USGS Astrogeology Research Program, astrogeology.usgs.gov, in particular
Mark Rosek and Trent Hare. The graph of orbits on page 170 is courtesy and copyright of Geof-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

frey Marcy. The photograph of the tides on page 173 is copyright and courtesy of Gilles Régnier
and found on his website www.gillesregnier.com; it also shows an animation of that tide over the
whole day. The pictures of fast descents on snow on page 182 are copyright and courtesy of Simone
Origone, www.simoneorigone.it, and of Éric Barone, www.ericbarone.com. The photograph of
the Galilean satellites on page 183 is courtesy and copyright by Robin Scagell and taken from his
website www.galaxypix.com. The pictures of solar eclipses on page 193 are courtesy and copyright
by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, at www.cnes.fr, and of Laurent Laveder, from his beau-
tiful site at www.PixHeaven.net. The pictures of daisies on page 211 are copyright and courtesy of
Giorgio Di Iorio, found on his website www.flickr.com/photos/gioischia, and of Thomas Lüthi,
found on his website www.tiptom.ch/album/blumen/. The photograph of fireworks in Chantilly
on page 214 is courtesy and copyright of Christophe Blanc and taken from his beautiful website at
christopheblanc.free.fr. The figure of myosotis on page 230 is courtesy and copyright by Markku
478 credits

Savela. The image of the wallpaper groups on page page 231 is copyright and courtesy of Dror Bar-
Natan, and is taken from his fascinating website at www.math.toronto.edu/~drorbn/Gallery. The
images of solid symmetries on page page 232 is copyright and courtesy of Jonathan Goss, and is
taken from his website at www.phys.ncl.ac.uk/staff.njpg/symmetry. Also David Mermin and Neil
Ashcroft have given their blessing to the use. The drawings of a ringing bell on page 252 are cour-
tesy and copyright of H. Spiess. The interference figures on page 260 are copyright and courtesy
of Rüdiger Paschotta and found on his free laser encyclopedia at www.rp-photonics.com. The im-
age of the portable ultrasound machine on page 266 is courtesy and copyright General Electric.
The ultrasound image on page 266 courtesy and copyright Wikimedia. The figure of the soliton
in the water canal on page 269 is copyright and courtesy of Dugald Duncan and taken from
his website on www.ma.hw.ac.uk/solitons/soliton1.html. The image of Rubik’s cube on page 275
is courtesy of Wikimedia. The photographs of wakes on page 279 are courtesy Wikimedia and
courtesy and copyright of Christopher Thorn. The fractal mountain on page 284 is courtesy and
copyright by Paul Martz, who explains on his website www.gameprogrammer.com/fractal.html

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
how to program such images. The soap bubble photograph on page page 291 is copyright and
courtesy of LordV and found on his website www.flickr.com/photos/lordv. The photographs of
silicon carbide on page 292 are copyright and courtesy of Dietmar Siche. The photograph of a
single barium ion on page 293 is copyright and courtesy of Werner Neuhauser at the Univer-
sität Hamburg. The AFM image of silicon on page 293 is copyright of the Universität Augsburg
and is used by kind permission of German Hammerl. The figure of helium atoms on metal on
page 293 is copyright and courtesy of IBM. The photograph of an AFM on page 293 is copy-
right of Nanosurf (see www.nanosurf.ch) and used with kind permission of Robert Sum. The
photograph of the tensegrity tower on page 296 is copyright and courtesy of Kenneth Snelson.
The photograph of the Atomium on page 298 is courtesy and copyright by the Asbl Atomium
Vzw and used with their permission, in cooperation with SABAM in Belgium. Both the picture
and the Atomium itself are under copyright. The photographs of the granular jet on page 299 in
sand are copyright and courtesy of Amy Shen, who discovered the phenomenon together with
Sigurdur Thoroddsen. The photographs of the machines on page 299 are courtesy and copyright
ASML and Voith. The photograph of the bucket-wheel excavator on page 300 is copyright and
courtesy of RWE and can be found on their website www.rwe.com. The photographs of fluid mo-
tion on page 303 are copyright and courtesy of John Bush, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and taken from his web site www-math.mit.edu/~bush. The photograph of the effects of air pres-
sure on page 306 is courtesy and copyright of Kornelia Möller. The sailing boat on page 307 is
courtesy and copyright of Bladerider International. The photograph of the smoke ring at Etna on
page 315 is courtesy and copyright by Daniela Szczepanski and found at her extensive websites
www.vulkanarchiv.de and www.vulkane.net. The thermographic images of a braking bicycle on
page 320 are copyright Klaus-Peter Möllmann and Michael Vollmer, Fachhochschule Branden-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

burg/Germany, and courtesy of Michael Vollmer and Frank Pinno. The image of page 320 is
courtesy and copyright of ISTA. The images of thermometers on page 323 are courtesy and copy-
right Wikimedia, Ron Marcus, Braun GmbH, Universum, Wikimedia and Thermodevices. The
balloon photograph on page 325 is copyright Johan de Jong and courtesy of the Dutch Balloon
Register found at www.dutchballoonregister.nl.ballonregister, nederlands The pollen image on
page 327 is courtesy Wikimedia. The scanning tunnelling microscope picture of gold on page 335
is courtesy of Sylvie Rousset and copyright by CNRS in France. The photograph of the Ranque–
Hilsch vortex tube is courtesy and copyright Coolquip. The photographs and figure on page 352
are copyright and courtesy of Ernesto Altshuler, Claro Noda and coworkers, and found on their
website www.complexperiments.net. The road corrugation photo is courtesy of David Mays and
taken from his paper Ref. 298. The oscillon picture on page 354 is courtesy and copyright by Paul
Umbanhowar. The drawing of swirled spheres on page 354 is courtesy and copyright by Karsten
credits 479

Kötter. The pendulum fractal on page 358 is courtesy and copyright by Paul Nylander and found
on his website bugman123.com. The fluid flowing over an inclined plate on page 360 is courtesy
and copyright by Vakhtang Putkaradze. The photograph of the Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction
on page 361 is courtesy and copyright of Yamaguchi University and found on their picture gallery
at www.sci.yamaguchi-u.ac.jp/sw/sw2006/. The photographs of starch columns on page 362 are
copyright of Gerhard Müller (1940–2002), and are courtesy of Ingrid Hörnchen. The other pho-
tographs on the same page are courtesy and copyright of Raphael Kessler, from his websitewww.
raphaelk.co.uk, of Bob Pohlad, from his websitewww.ferrum.edu/bpohlad, and of Cédric Hüsler.
The photograph of a swarm of starlings on page 365 is copyright and courtesy of Andrea Cav-
agna and Physics Today. The photograph of sunbeams on page 407 is copyright and courtesy
by Fritz Bieri and Heinz Rieder and found on their website www.beatenbergbilder.ch. The draw-
ing on page 411 is courtesy and copyright of Daniel Hawkins. The photograph of a slide rule on
page 415 is courtesy and copyright of Jörn Lütjens, and found on his website www.joernluetjens.
de. The photograph of the bursting soap bubble on page 404 is copyright and courtesy by Peter

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Wienerroither and found on his website homepage.univie.ac.at/Peter.Wienerroither. The photo-
graph on the back cover, of a basilisk running over water, is courtesy and copyright by the Belgian
group TERRA vzw and found on their website www.terra.vzw.org. All drawings are copyright by
Christoph Schiller. If you suspect that your copyright is not correctly given or obtained, this has
not done on purpose; please contact me in this case.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 NAME I NDEX

A A Artigas, M. 463 Bar-Natan, Dror 231, 478

Aarts, D. 462 Ashby, M.F. 464 Barber, B.P. 452

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Abe
Abe, F. 449 Ashcroft, Neil 232, 478 Barberini, Francesco 285
Ackermann, Rudolph 412 Ashida, H. 445 Barberi Gnecco, Bruno 474
Adachi, S. 462 ASML 299, 478 Barbosa, Lucas 134, 475
Adelberger, E.G. 457 Asterix 295 Barbour, Julian 449
Adenauer, Konrad 179 Ata Masafumi 474 Barone, Éric 182, 477
Aetius 91, 452 Atomium 298, 478 Bartel, Elmar 474
Ahlgren, A. 448 Au, W.W.L. 463 Bassler, K.E. 468
Aigler, M. 56 Audoin, C. 472 Batista-Leyva, A.J. 468
AIP 149 Augel, Barbara 474 Batty, R.S. 463
Åkerman, N. 459 Augel, Edgar 474 Baudelaire, Charles
Alder, Ken 158, 457, 477 Ausloos, M. 463 life 18
Alighieri, Dante 151 Aussillous, P. 466 Bautista, Ferdinand 474
Alizad, A. 462 Avogadro, Amedeo Beaty, William 474
Alsdorf, D. 459 life 289 Becker, J. 459
Altshuler, E. 468 Axelrod, R. 445 Beeksma, Herman 474
Altshuler, Ernesto 352, 353, Ayiomamitis, Anthony 67, 125, Behroozi, C.H. 448
478 135, 153, 169, 185, 430, 476 Bekenstein, Jacob 346
Amundsen, Roald 151, 456 Azbel, M.Ya. 453 Belfort, François 474
An, K. 464 Bellard, Fabrice 470
Anders, S. 457 B Bellizzi, M.J. 456
Anderson, R. 454 Babinet, Jacques Benka, S. 452
Andreotti, B. 469 life 384 Bennet, C.L. 455
Angell, C.A. 465 Babloyantz, A. 469 Bennet-Clark, H.C. 450
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Aniçin, I.V. 458 Bach, Michael 18, 475 Bennett, C.H. 468
Anonymous 43, 99, 211 Bachelier, Louis 467 Bentley, W.A. 468
Aquinas, Thomas 285, 446 Baez, John 474 Benzenberg, Johann Friedrich
Archimedes Bagnoli, Franco 474 124
life 92 Bahr, D.B. 462 Berendsen, Marcel 86, 476
Aristarchus of Samos 123, 135, Baille, Jean-Baptistin 457 Bergquist, J. 472
453 Balibar, S. 465 Berman, D.H. 463
Aristotle 47, 154, 450 ballonregister, nederlands 478 Bernabei, Tullio 476
life 39 Banach, Stefan 56, 284 Bernoulli, Daniel 325
Armstrong, J.T. 451 life 55 life 304
Aronson, Jeff K. 472, 474 Banavar, J.R. 461 Bernoulli, Johann 378, 433
Arseneau, Donald 474 Bandler, Richard 206, 446 Bessel 132
 name index 481

Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm Brennan, Richard 446 Cartesius

life 137 Brenner, M.P. 452 life 50
Bevis, M. 459 Bright, William 471 Casati, Roberto 452
Beyer, Lothar 474 Brillouin, L. 467 Cassius Dio 191
Bielefeldt, H. 464 Brillouin, Léon 333 Cauchy, Augustin-Louis 235
Bieri, Fritz 407, 479 Brooks, Mel 329 Cavagna, Andrea 365, 479
Biggar, Mark 474 Brouwer, Luitzen 49 Cavendish, H. 457
Bilger, H.R. 454 Brown, J.H. 461 Cavendish, Henry
BIPM 92 Brown, Robert 326 life 158
Bischoff, Bernard 472 Browning, R.C. 462 Caveney, S. 450
Bizouard, C. 455 Bruce, Tom 474 Caveney, Stanley 75, 76, 476
B Bladerider International 307,
478
Brush, S. 455
Buchmann, Alfons 474
Cayley, Arthur 235
Celsius, Anders
Blagden, Charles 341 Bucka, H. 454 life 341

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Bessel Blanc, Christophe 214, 477 Bucka, Hans 131 Chaineux, J. 472
Blumensath, Achim 474 Buckley, Michael 445 Chan, M.A. 454, 455
Bocquet, Lydéric 438, 465 Budney, Ryan 474 Chandler, Seth 133
Bode, Johann Elert 190 Bújovtsev, B.B. 445 Chao, B.F. 455
Boethius 402 Bundesamt für Kartographie Charlemagne 379
Bogusch, Stephan 476 und Geodäsie 130, 477 Childs, J.J. 464
Bohr, J. 449 Bunn, E.F. 470 Chomsky, Noam 448
Bohr, Jakob 69, 476 Bunyan, Paul 464 Christlieb, N. 458
Bohr, Niels 333 Buridan, Jean 154, 457 Christou, A.A. 458
Boiti, M. 280, 463 Burša, Milan 450 Chudnovsky, D.V. 470
Bolt, Usain 75 Busche, Detlev 448 Chudnovsky, G.V. 470
Boltzmann, L. 468 Bush, J.W.M. 465 Clancy, Tom 462
Boltzmann, Ludwig 219, 337 Bush, John 303, 478 Clanet, Christophe 438
life 327 Böhncke, Klaus 474 Clarke, S. 447
Bombelli, Luca 474 Clausius, Rudolph 328
Boone, Roggie 474 C life 330
Borel, Emile 340, 468 Caesar, Gaius Julius 313 Clavius, Christophonius
Borelli, G. 446 Caesar, Gaius Julius 379 life 62
Born, Max 286 Caizergues, Alex 35 Cleobulus
Bosch 83, 476 Cajori, Florian 471 life 51
Bourbaki, Nicolas 378 Caldwell, R. 451 CNAM 129, 477
Bowden, F.P. 460 Caldwell, R.L. 451 CNES 193
Bower, B. 461 Calzadilla, A. 460 CNRS 335, 478
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Brackenbury, J. 451 Campbell, D. 468 Cohen-Tannoudji, G. 467

Brackenbury, John 86, 476 Campbell, D.K. 469 Cohen-Tannoudji, Gilles 333
Bradley, James 137 Caps, H. 466 Colazingari, Elena 474
life 137 Carl Zeiss 130, 477 Coleman-McGhee, Jerdome
Braginsky, V.B. 458 Carlip, Steve 474 465
Brahe, Tycho 152 Carlyle, Thomas Colladon, Daniel 312
life 151 life 113 Collins, J.J. 446
Brahm, A. de Carnot, Sadi Compton, A.H. 454
life 379 life 104 Compton, Arthur 130
Brandes, John 474 Carr, Jim 474 Conkling, J.A. 450
Brantjes, R. 429 Carroll, Lewis, or Charles Conservatoire National des
Brebner, Douglas 474 Lutwidge Dogson 337 Arts et Métiers 477
 482 name index

Conti, Andrea 474 Diel, Helmut 476 Elswijk, H.B. 464

Coolquip 345, 478 Diel, Isolde 476 Elswijk, Herman B. 474
Cooper, Heather 456 Diez, Ulrich 474 Elsässer, Martin 167, 475
Cooper, John N. 445 DiFilippo, Frank 474 EMBO 46
Coriolis, Gustave-Gaspard Dill, L.M. 463 Emelin, Sergei 474
124 Dio, Cassius 459 Emerson, Ralph Waldo 271
life 101 Dirac, Paul 247, 378 Emsley, John 468
Cornell, E.A. 448 Dirr, Ulrich 475 Engelmann, Wolfgang 448
Cornu, Marie-Alfred 457 Dixon, Bernard 449 Engels, Friedrich 204
Corovic, Dejan 474 Di Iorio, Giorgio 211, 477 Engemann, S. 464
Costabel, Pierre 285 Dobra, Ciprian 474 Enquist, B.J. 461
C Coyne, G. 463
Coyne, George 463
Doorne, C.W.H. van 469
Dorbolo, S. 466
Enss, Christian 466
Eötvös, R. von 458
Craven, J.D. 458 Dorbolo, Stéphane 314 Erdős, Paul 56

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Conti Crespi, Roberto 474 Douady, S. 468 Eriksen, H.K. 450
Cross, R. 416 Dougherty, R. 449 Erwin Sattler OHG 155, 477
Crutchfield, J. 468 Doyle, Arthur Conan 283 Euclid, or Eukleides 34
Crystal, David 471 Dragon, Norbert 474 Euler, Leonhard 133, 192, 378,
Drake, Stillman 450 453
D Dreybrodt, W. 469 life 196
Dahlman, John 474 Dubelaar, N. 429 European Molecular Biology
Danecek, Petr 474 Dubrulle, B. 459 Organisation 476
Dante Alighieri 151 Dumont, Jean-Paul 445, 452, Evans, J. 459
Darius, J. 452 470 Everitt, C.W. 473
Darley, Vincent 474 Duncan, Dugald 269, 478 Eöt-Wash Group 160, 477
Darre, Daniel 474 Durben, D.J. 465 Eötvös, Roland von 128
Dasari, R.R. 464 Durieux, M. 466
Davidhazy, Andrew 39, 278, Dusenbery, David 451 F
303, 476 Dutton, Z. 448 Fabian, Werner 475
Davidovich, Lev 381 Dyson, Freeman 474 Fairbanks, J.D. 473
Davis, S.D. 464 Faisst, H. 469
Deaver, B.S. 473 E Falk, G. 458
Deconinck, Bernard 281 Earls, K. 451 Falkovich, G. 465
Dehant, V. 455 Earman, John 449 Fantoli, Annibale 463
Dehmelt, H. 464 Eckhardt, B. 469 Farinati, Claudio 474
Dehmelt, Hans 464 Eddington, Arthur Farmer, J. 468
Dehn, Max life 98 Farrant, Penelope 452
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

life 56 Edelmann, H. 458 Fatemi, M. 462

Demko, T.M. 454 Edens, Harald 475 Fatio de Duillier, Nicolas 189
Democritus 288, 381 Edwards, B.F. 421 Fatio de Duillier, Nicolas 459
life 288 effect, Kaye 316 Faybishenko, B.A. 469
Descartes, René 378, 414 Einstein, A. 467 Fayeulle, Serge 460
life 50 Einstein, Albert 17, 172, 176, Feder, T. 470
Destexhe, A. 469 177, 220, 239, 241, 247, 327 Fehr, C. 460
DeTemple, D.W. 470 Ekman, Walfrid Fekete, E. 458
Deutschmann, Matthias 402 life 453 Feld, M.S. 464
Dewdney, Alexander 69 Ellerbreok, L. 463 Fermani, Antonio 474
Dicke, R.H. 458 Els, Danie 474 Fernandez-Nieves, A 456
Diehl, Helmut 59 Elsevier, Louis 406 Fibonacci, Leonardo 381
 name index 483

life 376 GeoForschungsZentrum Hain, Tim 476

Figueroa, D. 460 Potsdam 162, 477 Halberg, F. 448
Filippov, T. 462 Georgi, Renate 474 Haley, Stephen 474
Fink, Hans-Werner 464 Ghahramani, Z. 460 Halley, Edmund 169
Finkenzeller, Klaus 474 Ghavimi-Alagha, B. 456 Halliday, David 466
Firpić, D.K. 458 Giessibl, F.J. 464 Halliwell, J.J. 448
Fischer, Ulrike 474 Gilligan, James 460 Hamilton, William 378
Flach, S. 469 Glassey, Olivier 474 Hammerl, German 478
Flachsel, Erwein 445 Gold, Tommy 261 Hancock, M.J. 465
Flindt, Rainer 448 Goldrich, P. 437 Hardcastle, Martin 474
Fokas, A.S. 280, 463 Goldstein, Herbert 460 Hardy, Godfrey H.
F Foreman, M. 449
Forsberg, B. 459
Goles, E. 469
Golubitsky, M. 446
life 166
Hare, Trent 477
Fortes, L.P. 459 González, Antonio 474 Harriot, Thomas 378

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Figueroa Foster, James 460 Gooch, Van 45 Harris, S.E. 448
Foucault, Jean Bernard Léon Gordillo, J.M. 465 Hartman, W.K. 457
life 127 Goriely, A. 465 Hasha, A.E. 465
Franklin, Benjamin 284 Goss, Jonathan 232, 478 Hausherr, Tilman 474
Frenzel, H. 89 Gracovetsky, Serge 112, 453 Hawkins, Daniel 63, 410, 411,
Fresnel, Augustin 261 Grahn, Alexander 475 479
Friedman, David 195 Graner, F. 459 Hayes, Allan 474
Fritsch, G. 463 Graw, K.-U. 436 Hays, J.D. 455
Frova, Andrea 450 Gray, C.G. 422, 460, 461 Heath, Thomas 453
Full, R. 451 Greenleaf, J.F. 462 Heber, U. 458
Full, Robert 86, 476 Greenside, Henry 400 Heckel, B.R. 457
Fulle, Marco 22, 475 Gregorio, Enrico 475 Heckman, G. 457
Fumagalli, Giuseppe 452, 460 Greier, Hans-Christian 190, Hediger, Heini 450
Fundamentalstation Wettzell 475 Heisenberg, Werner 229, 305,
477 Greiner, Jochen 474 333, 461
Furrie, Pat 474 Grimaldi, Francesco 273 Helden, A. van 456
Grinder, John 206, 446 Heller, Carlo 43
G Groenendijk, Max 39, 476 Heller, E. 462
Galilei, Galileo 42, 66, 72, 73, Gross, R.S. 455 Hellinger, Bert 460
124, 141, 157, 178, 181, 182, Grossmann, A. 463 Helmholtz, Hermann von 104
287, 288, 406, 417 Grünbaum, Branko 461 life 321
life 33, 285 Guglielmini, Helmond, Tom 474
Galileo 123, 381 Giovanni Battista 124 Helmont, Johan Baptista van
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Galois, Evariste 235 Guillén, Antonio 86 325

Gardner, Martin 414 Gustav Jacobi, Carl 378 Hembacher, S. 464
Garrett, A. 452 Gutierrez, G. 460 Henbest, Nigel 456
Gaspard, Pierre 329, 467 Gácsi, Zoltán 474 Henderson, D.W. 460
Gastaldi, Luca 20, 55, 179, 475 Günther, B. 448 Henderson, Paula 474
Gauthier, N. 461 Henon, M. 459
Gekle, S. 465 H Henson, Matthew 426
Gelb, M. 446 Haandel, M. van 457 Hentig, Hartmut von 7
Gemini Observatory/AURA Haber, John 474 Heraclitus
147 Hagen, J.G. 454 life 17
General Electric 266, 478 Hagen, John 128 Heraclitus of Ephesus 26, 230
Geng, Tao 227 Haigneré, Jean-Pierre 193 Herbert, Wally 456
 484 name index

Hermann, Jakob 427 Hörnchen, Ingrid 479 Jones, Tony 472

Heron of Alexandria 311 Hüsler, Cédric 362, 479 Jones, William 378
Herrmann, F. 467 Jong, Johan de 325, 478
Herrmann, Friedrich 444 I Jong, Marc de 474
Herschel, William 140 IBM 293 Joule, James 321
Hertz, H.G. 452 Ifrah, Georges 471 Joule, James P. 104
Hertz, Heinrich 219 Illich, Ivan 399 Joule, James Prescott
Hertz, Heinrich Rudolf life 398 life 321
life 202 Imae, Y. 451 Joutel, F. 458
Hertzlinger, Joseph 474 Imbrie, J. 455 Jouzel, J. 455
Hestenes, D. 459 Ingenhousz, Jan 326 Jouzel, Jean 139, 477
H Heumann, John 474
Hewett, J.A. 457
Ingram, Jay 463
INMS 43
Jürgens, H. 357
Jürgens, Hartmut 449
Hietarinta, J. 463 Inquisition 285

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Hermann Hietarinta, Jarmo 270, 280, International Tennis K
475 Federation 20, 475 Köppe, Thomas 474
Higashi, R. 472 IPCC 439 Kadanoff, L.P. 469
Hilbert, David 220, 242 ISTA 320, 478 Kamiya, K. 433
Hilgenfeldt, S. 452 ISVR, University of Kanada Yasumasa 470
Hillman, Chris 474 Southhampton 257, 475 Kanecko, R. 459
Hipparchos 132 Ivanov, Igor 474 Kant, Immanuel 177
Hirano, M. 459 Ivry, R.B. 448 Kantor, Yacov 400
Hirota, R. 280, 463 Karl, G. 422, 461
Hodges, L. 458 J Karstädt, D. 466
Hodgkin, A.L. 268, 462 Jacobi, Carl 219 Katori, H. 472
Hoeher, Sebastian 465 Jaeger-LeCoultre 119, 477 Kawagishi, I. 451
Hof, B. 469 Jahn, O. 461 Keath, Ed 121, 477
Hohenstatt, M. 464 Jalink, Kim 474 Keesing, R.G. 447, 472
Holbrook, N.M. 464 James, M.C. 458 Kelu, Jonatan 474
Hollander, E. 466 Jamil, M. 474 Kemp, David 261
Hong, F.-L. 472 Jammer, M. 456 Kempf, Jürgen 448
Hooke, Robert 166, 248 Janek, Jürgen 474 Kenderdine, M.A. 452
life 152 Japan Aerospace Exploration Kendrick, E. 459
Hoornaert, Jean-Marie 120, Agency 477 Kepler, Johannes 164, 166
477 JAXA 129, 477 life 151
Horace, in full Quintus Jeffreys, Harold 131 Kerswell, R. 469
Horatius Flaccus 203 Jen, E. 468 Kessler, Raphael 362, 479
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Hosoi, A.E. 465 Jennings, G.M. 464 Keyence 52, 476

Hoyle, R. 410 Jensen, Hans 471 Khallikan, Ibn
Huber, Daniel 474 Jesus 313 life 405
Hudson, R.P. 466 Job, Georg 444 Kirby, Jack 477
Humphreys, R. 455 Johansson, Mikael 474 Kirchhoff, Gustav 262
Humphreys, W.J. 468 John Paul II 286 Kiss, Joseph 474
Hunklinger, Siegfried 466 Johnson, Ben 450 Kistler 313
Hunter, D.J. 451 Johnson, Michael 75 Kistler, S.F. 465
Huxley, A.F. 268, 462 Johnson, Samuel 372, 398 Kitaoka Akiyoshi 16, 18, 445,
Huygens, Christiaan 154, 155, Johnston, K.J. 451 475
261 Jones, Gareth 468 Kitaoka, A. 445
life 94 Jones, Quentin David 474 Kitaoka, Akiyoshi 445
 name index 485

Kivshar, Y.S. 469 Lang, H. de 468 Liu, C. 448

Klaus Tschira Foundation 475 Lang, K.R. 84 Llobera, M. 453
Kluegel, T. 454 Langangen, Ø. 450 Lloyd, Seth 467
Klügel, T. 454 Laplace, Pierre Simon Lockwood, E.H. 461
Klügel, Thomas 477 life 171 Lodge, Oliver
Koblenz, Fachhochschule 34, Larsen, J. 455 life 130
475 Laskar, J. 457, 459 Lohse, D. 452, 465
Koch, G.W. 464 Laskar, Jacques 190 Lohse, Detlev 89, 476
Kooijman, J.D.G. 418 Laveder, Laurent 193, 477 Lombardi, Luciano 474
Koolen, Anna 474 Lavenda, B. 468 LordV 291, 478
Koomans, A.A. 464 Lavoisier, Antoine-Laurent Loschmidt, Joseph
K Korteweg, Diederik 270
Kramp, Christian 378
life 93
Laws, Kenneth 469
life 290
Lucretius 288
Krampf, Robert 400 Lecar, M. 459 life 39

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Kivshar Krehl, P. 464 Lee, C.W. 470 Lucretius Carus, Titus 39, 288
Krehl, Peter 297 Lee, S.J. 456 Luke, Lucky 295
Krijn, Marcel 474 Lega, Joceline 469 Lévy-Leblond, Jean-Marc 111,
Kristiansen, J.R. 450 Legendre, Adrien-Marie 378 189, 444
Krívchenkov, V.D. 445 Lehmann, Paul 379, 472 Lüders, Klaus 444
Krotkow, R. 458 Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm Lüthi, Thomas 211, 477
Kruskal, M.D. 462 101, 166, 213, 217, 220, 378, Lütjens, Jörn 415, 479
Kruskal, Martin 271 447
Królikowski, Jarosław 474 life 79 M
Kubala, Adrian 474 Leica Geosystems 52, 476 MacDonald, G.J.F. 454
Kudo, S. 451 Leidenfrost, Johann Gottlieb MacDougall, Duncan 453
Kumar, K.V. 450 313 MacDougalls, Duncan 114
Kurths, Jürgen 457 Lekkerkerker, H. 462 Mach, Ernst
Kuzin, Pavel 474 Lennard, J. 379 life 95
Kvale, E.P. 454 Lennerz, C. 422 Macmillan, R.H. 461
Kötter, K. 469 Leon, J.-P. 280, 463 Maekawa, Y. 451
Kötter, Karsten 354, 355, 478 Leonardo of Pisa Magariyama, Y. 451
Küster, Johannes 475 life 376 Magono, C. 470
Küstner, Friedrich 455 Lesage, G.-L. 459 Mahajan, S. 437
life 132 Lesage, Georges-Louis 189 Mahoney, Alan 474
Leucippus of Elea Mahrl, M. 469
L life 288 Maiorca, Enzo 465
La Caille 153 Leutwyler, K. 462 Malin, D. 84
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Lagrange, Joseph Louis 225 Lewallen, Charles 149, 477 Mallat, Stéphane 463
Lagrange, Joseph Louis 216 Le Verrier, Urbain 172 Malley, R. 459
Lagrangia, Giseppe 378 Libbrecht, Kenneth 355, 363, Mandelbrot, Benoît 54, 283
Lagrangia, 364, 475 Mandelstam, Stanley 460
Giuseppe Lodovico Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph Mannhart, J. 464
life 216 life 33 Manogg, P. 463
Lalande 153 Lim Tee Tai 315, 316, 475 Marcus, Richard 446
Lambeck, K. 454 Lim, T.T. 466 Marcus, Ron 323, 478
Lambert, S.B. 455 Linde, Johan 474 Marcy, Geoffrey 170, 477
Lancaster, George 460 Lintel, Harald van 474 Maris, H. 465
Landau, Lev 381 Lissauer, J.J. 470 Mark, Martin van der 342, 474
Landauer, R. 468 Lith-van Dis, J. van 467 Markus, M. 469
 486 name index

Marsaglia, G. 460 Mikkola, Seppo 458 Nanosurf 293

Martin, A. 461 Milankovitch, Milutin Nansen, Fridtjof 453
Martina, L. 280, 463 life 137 Napiwotzki, R. 458
Martos, Antonio 474 Mineyev, A. 464 Naples Zoo 52
Martz, Paul 284, 478 Minnaert, Marcel G.J. 90 Naples zoo 476
Martínez, E. 468 Mirabel, I.F. 448 Napoleon 172
Marx, Groucho 373 Mirsky, S. 416 NASA 43, 99, 439
Masudi, Ibn 405 Mohazzabi, P. 458 Nassau, K. 90
Matthews, R. 458 Mole, R. 462 Nauenberg, M. 456
Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Monitz, E.J. 452 Navier, Claude
Moreau de Moore, J.A. 461 life 306
M life 123
Mayer, Julius Robert 104
Moortel, Dirk Van de 474
Moreau de Maupertuis,
Needham, Joseph 460
Nelson, A.E. 457
life 321 Pierre Louis Neuhauser, W. 464

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Marsaglia Maynard, Finian 35 life 123 Neuhauser, Werner 293, 478
Mayné, Fernand 474 Moreira, N. 461 Neumaier, Heinrich 474
Mayr, Peter 474 Morgado, E. 448 Neumann, Dietrich 168, 457
Mays, D.C. 469 Morgado, Enrique 46, 476 Newcomb, Simon 172, 458
Mays, David 353, 478 Morlet, J. 463 Newton, Isaac 47, 124, 153, 166,
McCoy, Ray 113, 477 Morris, S.W. 469 388, 447
McElwaine, J.N. 469 Moscow State Circus 23, 475 life 33
McLaughlin, William 445 Moser, Lukas Fabian 474 Nicolis, Grégoire 467
McLean, H. 450 Mozurkewich, D. 451 Niederer, U. 241, 461
McMahob, T.A. 464 Muller, R.A. 462 Niepraschk, Rolf 475
McMillen, T. 465 Mulligan, J.F. 452 Nieuwpoort, Frans van 474
McNaught, Robert 88, 476 Munk, W.H. 454 Nieuwstadt, F.T.M. 469
McQuarry, George 474 Muramoto, K. 451 Nieves, F.J. de las 456
Medenbach, Olaf 449 Murata, Y. 459 Nightingale, J.D. 460
Medien Werkstatt 476 Murdock, Ron 474 Nitsch, Herbert 308
Meijaard, J.P. 418 Mureika, J.R. 460 Nobel, P. 464
Melo, F. 469 Murillo, Nadia 474 Noda, Claro 478
Mendeleyev, Murphy, Robert 378 Noether, Emmy
Dmitriy Ivanovich 99 Murray, C.D. 458 life 241
Mendoza, E. 469 Muskens, O. 462 Nolte, John 446
Merckx, Eddy 105 Muynck, Wim de 474 Nonnius, Peter
Mermin, David 232, 478 Måløy, K.J. 468 life 62
Merrit, John 474 Möller, Kornelia 306, 478 Norfleet, W.T. 450
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Mertens, K. 469 Möllmann, K.-P. 466 Northwestern University 49,

Mettler-Toledo 99, 477 Möllmann, Klaus-Peter 320, 83, 276, 476
Mettrie, J. Offrey de la 359 478 Novikov, V.A. 422, 461
Miákishev, G.Ya. 445 Müller, Frank 54, 476 Nuñes, Pedro
Michaelson, P.F. 473 Müller, G. 469 life 62
Michel, Stanislav 101 Müller, Gerhard 361, 362 Nylander, Paul 358, 479
Michelangelo 381 life 479
Michelberger, Jürgen 84, 476 O
Michell, John N O’Keefe, R. 456
life 158 Namba, K. 451 Oberdiek, Heiko 474
Micro Crystal 475 Namouni, F. 458 Oberquell, Brian 474
Microcrystal 251 Namouni, Fathi 474 Offner, Carl 474
 name index 487

Offrey de la Mettrie, J. 359 Piccard, Auguste R

Ogburn, P.L. 462 life 312 Rahtz, Sebastian 474
Olsen, K. 449 Pieranski, P. 450 Ramanujan, Srinivasa 166
Oostrum, Piet van 474 Pieranski, Piotr 70, 476 Ramos, O. 468
Oppenheimer, Robert 222 Pietrzik, Stefan 430, 476 Randi, James 22
Origone, Simone 182, 477 Pikler, Emmi 446 Rankl, Wolfgang 474
Oughtred, William 378 Pikovsky, Arkady 457 Rawlins, D. 456
Pinker, Steven 448 Raymond, David 401
P Pinno, F. 466 Rechenberg, Ingo 451
Page, Don 474 Pinno, Frank 478 Recorde, Robert 378
Page, Janet 475 PixHeaven.net 193 life 377
O Pahaut, Serge 474
Pais, A. 461
Planck, Max 327, 332
Plato 366
Redondi, Pietro 33, 285, 474
Rees, W.G. 444
Panov, V.I. 458 life 288 Reichl, Linda 466, 467

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Offrey Papadopoulos, J.M. 418 Plinius, in full Gaius Plinius Reimers, D. 458
Pappus 92 Secundus 444 Renselle, Doug 474
Park, David 444 Plisson, Philip 23, 475 Reppisch, Michael 474
Parks, David 86, 474, 476 Plutarchus 208 Resnick, Robert 466
Parlett, Beresford 24 Pohl, Robert 444 Richardson, Lewis Fray
Parmenides of Elea 17, 80 Pohl, Robert O. 444 life 53
Pascazio, Saverio 474 Pohlad, Bob 362, 479 Rickwood, P.C. 449
Paschotta, Rüdiger 260, 478 Poincaré, Henri 140 Rieder, Heinz 407, 479
Pasi, Enrico 474 Poinsot, Louis 128 Rieflin, E. 451
Paul, T. 463 Poisson, Siméon-Denis Rieker Electronics 83, 476
Pauli, Wolfgang 427 life 162 Rinaldo, A. 461
Peano, Giuseppe 378 Polster, B. 468 Rindt, Jochen
Peary, Robert 151, 426, 456 Pompeius, Gnaeus 208 life 34
Pěč, Karel 450 Preston-Thomas, H. 466 Rivas, Martin 474
Pedley, T.J. 450 Price, R.H. 98 Rivera, A. 468
Peeters, Bert 474 Prigogine, Ilya 319, 361 Robertson, Will 475
Peitgen, H.-O. 357 Pritchard, Carol 474 Robutel, P. 458
Peitgen, Heinz-Otto 449 Proença, Nuno 474 Rodgers, Tony 25, 475
Pekár, V. 458 Protagoras 387 Rodin, Auguste 154
Pelizzari, Umberto 465 Przybyl, S. 450 Rodríguez, L.F. 448
Pempinelli, F. 280, 463 Ptolemy 66 Rohrbach, Klaus 455
Perc, M. 453 Purves, William 474 Roll, P.G. 458
Perelman, Yakov 275, 444 Putkaradze, V. 469 Romer, R.H. 431
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Perini, Romano 474 Putkaradze, Vakhtang 360, Rosek, Mark 477

Perrin, J. 467 479 Rosenblum, Michael 457
Perrin, Jean 440, 467 Putterman, S.J. 452 Rothacher, M. 454
life 328 Pythagoras 271 Rousset, Sylvie 478
Peters, I.R. 465 Päsler, Max 460 Ruben, Gary 474
Peterson, Peggy 68, 476 Pérez-Mercader, J. 448 Rudolff, Christoff 378, 471
Petit, Jean-Pierre 402 Pérez-Penichet, C. 468 Ruga, Spurius Carvilius 373
Pfeffer, W.T. 462 Ruina, A. 418
Phillips, R.J. 457 Q Ruppel, W. 458
Phinney, S. 437 Quinlan, G.D. 458 Rusby, R.L. 466, 468
Physics Today 365, 479 Quéré, D. 466 Rusby, Richard 468
Piaget, Jean 446 Russel, J.S. 462
 488 name index

Russel, Mark 193 Schröder, Ernst 378 Sitti, M. 456

Russell, Bertrand 218 Schultes, H. 89 Sitti, Metin 149
Russell, John Scott Schwab, A.L. 418 Slabber, André 474
life 268 Schwab, Arend 418 Sluckin, T.J. 453
Russo, Lucio 444 Schwartz, Richard 446 Smith, George 472
Rutherford, Ernest 24 Schwenk, K. 468 Smoluchowski, Marian von
RWE 300, 478 Schwenkel, D. 464 327
Régnier, Gilles 173, 477 Schönenberger, C. 464 Snelson, Kenneth 296, 478
Schörner, E. 422 Socrates 366
S Science 139 Sokal, A.D. 421
S.R. Madhu Rao 474 Science Photo Library 86 Soldner, J. 458
R SABAM 298, 478
Sade, Donatien de 202
Science/AAAS 477
Scime, E.E. 421
Soldner, Johann 177
Solomatin, Vitaliy 474
Saghian, Damoon 474 Scott, Jonathan 474 Sonett, C.P. 454

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Russel Sagnac, Georges Scriven 313 Song, Y.S. 456
life 130 Scriven, L.E. 465 Sotolongo-Costa, O. 468
Sanctorius Segrè, Gino 466 Speleoresearch & Films/La
life 94 Settles, Gary 278 Venta 57, 476
Sands, Matthew 444 Sexl, Roman Spence, J.C.H. 464
Santini, P.M. 280, 463 life 58 Spencer, R. 448
Santorio Santorio Shackleton, N.J. 455 Spiderman 295
life 94 Shakespeare, William 22 Spiess, H. 252, 478
Saráeva, I.M. 445 Shalyt-Margolin, A.E. 467 Spinelli, Matthew 84, 476
Sattler OHG, Erwin 477 Shapiro, A.H. 454 Spiropulu, M. 457
Sattler-Rick, Stephanie 477 Shapiro, Asher 127 Sreedhar, V.V. 461
Sauer, J. 422 Sheldon, Eric 474 Sreenivasan, K.P. 465
Sauerbruch, Ferdinand 438 Shen, A.Q. 465 Stalla, Wolfgang 294
Saupe, D. 357 Shen, Amy 298, 299, 478 Stasiak, A. 450
Saupe, Dietmar 449 Sheng, Z. 465 Stedman, G.E. 454
Savela, Markku 230, 477 Shephard, G.C. 461 Steiner, Kurt 465
Scagell, Robin 183, 477 Shinjo, K. 459 Stengel, Ingrid 448
Schiller, Britta 474, 475 Shirham, King 30 Stephenson, Richard 455
Schiller, C. 464 Short, J. 472 Sternlight, D.B. 456
Schiller, Christoph 236, 479 Siart, Uwe 474 Steur, P.P.M. 466
Schiller, Isabella 474 Siche, Dietmar 292, 478 Stewart, I. 446
Schiller, Peter 474 Sierra, Bert 474 Stewart, Ian 56
Schiller, Stephan 474 Sigwarth, J.B. 458 Stieber, Ralph 477
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Schlichting, H.-J. 425 Sillett, S.C. 464 Stokes, Georges Gabriel

Schlüter, W. 454 Silva 34, 475 life 306
Schmidt, Klaus T. 451 Silverman, M. 451 Stong, C.L. 451
Schmidt, M. 462 Simmons, J.A. 463 Story, Don 474
Schmidt, T. 469 Simon, Julia 474 Stroock, A.D. 464
Schmidt-Nielsen, K. 468 Simon, M.I. 451 Strunk, William 472
Schneider, Jean 461 Simonson, A.J. 431 Su, Y. 458
Schneider, M. 454 Simoson, A.J. 459 Suchocki, John 444
Schneider, Wolf 472 Simplicius 367 Sugiyama, S. 451
Schooley, J.F. 466 Singh, C. 452 Suhr, S.H. 456
Schreiber, K.U. 454 Singleton, Douglas 474 Sum, Robert 478
Schreiber, U. 454 Sissa ben Dahir 30 Surdin, Vladimir 474
 name index 489

Surry, D. 450 Tonzig, Giovanni 445 Volin, Leo 474

Sussman, G.J. 459 Topper, D. 457 Vollmer, M. 466
Swackhamer, G. 459 Torge, Wolfgang 450 Vollmer, Michael 320, 478
Swatch Group 475 Toschek, P.E. 464 Voltaire 192, 388
Sweetser, Frank 474 Townsend, Paul 474 life 220
Swenson, C.A. 466 Tracer 34, 475 von Baer, Karl Ernst 143
Swift, G. 468 Trefethen, L.M. 454 Vorobieff, P. 469
Swinney, H.L. 469 Tregubovich, A.Ya. 467 Voss, Herbert 474
Swope, Martha 469 Trevorrow, Andrew 474 Vries, Gustav de 270
Szczepanski, Daniela 315, 478 Truesdell, C. 466
Szilard, L. 467 Truesdell, Clifford 33 W
S Szilard, Leo 333 Tsang, W.W. 460
Tschichold, J. 471
Wagon, Stan 56, 449
Wah 170
T Tschira, Klaus 475 Wald, George 334, 468

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Surry Taberlet, N. 469 Tsuboi, Chuji 450 Waleffe, F. 469
Tabor, D. 460 Tsukanov, Alexander 23, 475 Walgraef, Daniel 469
Taimina, D. 460 Tucholsky, Kurt 233 Walker, J. 466
Tait, Peter 378 Tuijn, C. 416 Walker, Jearl 313, 445, 466
Takamoto, M. 472 Tuppen, Lawrence 474 Walker, John 159, 477
Talleyrand 157 Turner, M.S. 455 Wallis, John 378
Tamman, Gustav 294 Twain, Mark 112 Walter, Henrik 460
Tarko, Vlad 474 Ward, R.S. 462
Tarski, Alfred 284 U Warkentin, John 474
life 56 Ucke, C. 425 Weber, R.L. 469
Tartaglia, Niccolò 381 Uffink, J. 467 Webster, Hutton 472
life 31 Uguzzoni, Arnaldo 474 Wedin, H. 469
Taylor, E.F. 460 Ulam, Stanislaw 348 Wegener, Alfred 133, 455
Taylor, G.J. 457 Umbanhowar, P.B. 469 Wehner, R. 456
Tegelaar, Paul 474 Umbanhowar, Paul 353, 354, Wehus, I.K. 450
Telegdi, V.L. 468 478 Weierstall, U. 464
Tennekes, Henk 37, 476 Universität Augsburg 293 Weierstrass, Karl 378
TERRA 149 Upright, Craig 474 Weil, André 378
Tetzlaff, Tim 476 Weiss, M. 450
Tezel, Tunc 152, 477 V Weiss, Martha 474
Thaler, Jon 474 Vandewalle, N. 466 Wells, M. 459
Thies, Ingo 474 Vanier, J. 472 Weltner, K. 465
Thinktank Trust 99, 477 Vannoni, Paul 474 Weninger, K.R. 452
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Thomas Aquinas 285, 446 Vareschi, G. 433 West, G.B. 461

Thompson, Dave 475 vector, Runge–Lenz 427 Westerweel, J. 469
Thomson, W. 465 Velikoseltsev, A. 454 Weyand, P.G. 456
Thomson-Kelvin 104 Verne, Jules 431 Weyl, Hermann
Thomson-Kelvin, W. 298 Vernier, Pierre life 48
Thomson-Kelvin, William life 62 Wheeler, John 403
life 321 Vincent, D.E. 457 Wheeler, T.D. 464
Thorn, Christopher 279, 478 Virgo, S.E. 464 White, E.B. 472
Thoroddsen, S.T. 465 Vitali, Giuseppe 54 White, M. 455
Thoroddsen, Sigurdur 298, Viviani, Vincenzo 128 Whitney, C.A. 84
478 Vogel, Steven 469 Widmann, Johannes 378
Titius, Johann Daniel 190 Voith 299, 478 Widmer-Schnidrig, R. 461
 490 name index

Wienerroither, Peter 404, 479 Wittlinger, Matthias 150 Z

Wierda, Gerben 474 Wolf, G.H. 465 Zabusky, N.J. 462
Wierzbicka, Anna 448, 474 Wolf, H. 456 Zabusky, Norman 271
Wijk, Mike van 474 Wolfsried, Stephan 57, 476 Zaccone, Rick 474
Wikimedia 34, 43, 118, 252, Wolpert, Lewis 446 Zakharian, A. 454
266, 275, 279, 327, 475, 478 Wong, M. 451 Zalm, Peer 474
Wilder, J.W. 421 Wright, Joseph 475 Zanker, J. 447
Wiley, Jack 465 Wright, S. 456 Zedler, Michael 474
Wilk, Harry 449 Wulfila 375 Zenkert, Arnold 448
Wilkie, Bernard 452 Zeno of Elea 15, 17, 63, 80
Williams, G.E. 455 Y Zheng, Q. 465
W Wilson, B. 463
Wiltshire, D.L. 454
Yamafuji, K. 465
Yamaguchi University 361,
Ziegler, G.M. 56
Zimmermann, H.W. 467
Wisdom, J. 459 479 Zimmermann, Herbert 333

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Wienerroither Wise, N.W. 473 Yatsenko, Dimitri 410 Zweck, Josef 453
Wittgenstein, Ludwig 16, 24, Young, Andrew 474 Zwieniecki, M.A. 464
26, 47, 82, 142, 204, 336, Young, Thomas 102 Zürn, W. 461
369 Yourgray, Wolfgang 460
Wittlinger, M. 456 Yukawa Hideki 381

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

SUBJECT I NDEX

Symbols abugida 376 microscope 294

( 378 Academia del Cimento 74 aggregate

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
) 378 acausality 205 overview 223
+ 378 acceleration 80 aggregates
− 378 acceleration, centrifugal 144 in nature 223
⋅ 378 acceleration, centripetal 144, aggregates of matter 222
× 378 153 air 438
: 378 acceleration, tidal 174 composition table 439
< 378 accelerations, highest 88 air pressure 101
= 378 accelerometer 405 air resistance 77
> 378 accents, in Greek language 375 Airbus 406
[], measurement unit 378 accumulation 317 airflow instruments 263
0, empty set 378 accuracy 368, 388 alchemy 33
̸= 378 limits to 390 Aldebaran 83, 225
󵀂 378 Acetabularia 45 aleph 375
@ (at sign) 379 Acinonyx jubatus 35 algebraic surfaces 401
Δ, Laplace operator 378 Ackermann steering 412 Alice in Wonderland 337
∩, set intersection 378 acoustical thermometry 466 allometric scaling 36
∪, set union 378 action 216, 238 Alpha Centauri 225
∈, element of 378 as integral over time 216 alphabet 374
∞ 378 measured values 215 phonemic 376
⟨ $, brastate󰑣ector378 action principle 208 alphabet, Greek 374
∇, ‘nabla’ 378 action, physical 213 alphabet, Hebrew 376
⊗, dyadic product 378 action, principle of least 163 alphabet, Latin 372
⊂, subset of/contained in 378 action, quantum of 333 alphabet, story of 373
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

⊃, superset of/contains 378 action, quantum of, ħ alphabets

|x|, absolute value 378 physics and 8 syllabic 376
, ‘similar to’ 378 actuators 199 alphasyllabaries 376
addition 235 Alps 163, 189
A additivity 36, 42, 50, 98 Altair 225
an 378 additivity of area and volume Amazon 134
an 378 55 Amazon River 272, 315
a (year) 40 adenosine triphosphate 452 Amoeba proteus 86
abacus 377 aeroplane toilet 316 ampere
Abelian, or commutative 235 aeroplanes 95 definition 383
aberration 123, 137 aerostat 312 amplitude 249
abjad 376 AFM, atomic force anagyre 121
 492 subject index

analemma 185, 430 Armillaria ostoyae 51, 97 auricola 276

angels 21, 91 arrow of time 47 austenitic steels 297
angle 110 artefact 87, 384 average 220
in the night sky 414 ash 373 Avogadro’s number 290, 313,
angle, plane 65 associativity 235 392
angle, solid 65 asteroid 184 axioms 34
angular acceleration 110 asteroid, Trojan 171 axis of the Earth, motion of
angular momentum 107, 110, asteroids 179, 225 132
144 Astrid, an atom 464 axis, Earth’s 137
angular momentum astrology 166, 185, 186 axle, impossibility in living
conservation 163 astronaut see cosmonaut beings 417
A angular momentum, extrinsic
108, 110
astronomers, smallest known
168 B
angular momentum, intrinsic astronomical unit 190 Babylonia 380

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
analemma 108 astronomy picture of the day Babylonians 191
angular velocity 107, 110 401 background 26, 27, 48
anharmonicity 268 at-sign 379 bacteria 87
anholonomic constraints 219 athletics 150 bacterium 105
Antares 83, 225 atmosphere 143 badminton smash, record 35
anti-bubbles 314 angular momentum 109 badminton smashes 409
anti-Hermitean 237 composition 438 Balaenoptera musculus 97, 272
anti-unitary 237 atmosphere of the Moon 344 balloon
antigravity 171, 180 atmospheric pressure 394 inverted, puzzle 325
antigravity device 180 Atomic Age 321 puzzle 324
antimatter 98 atomic clock 43 balloons 325
Antiqua 375 atomic force microscope 293, baloon rope puzzle 312
antisymmetry 237 294, 421 Banach measure 55
apex angle 414 atomic force microscopes 202 Banach–Tarski paradox or
aphelion 394 atomic mass unit 391 theorem 56, 284
Aphistogoniulus Atomium 298 banana catching 111
erythrocephalus 86 atoms barycentre 187
Apis mellifera 97 arranging helium 293 baryon number density 396
apnoea 308 explain dislocations 292 basal metabolic rate 105
apogee 394 explain round crystal base units 383
Apollo 428 reflection 292 Basiliscus basiliscus 148, 149
apple trees 388 explain steps 292 basilisk 148
apple, standard 388 Galileo and 285–287 bath-tub vortex 454
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

apples 91 Greeks thinkers and 288 bathroom scales 143, 295

Aquarius 186 image of silicon 293 bathtub vortex 127
aqueducts 307 in ferritic steel 298 bce 380
Arabic numbers 376 Lego and 288 bear puzzle 60
Arabidopsis 45 photo of levitated 293 bear, colour of 60
Arcturus 225 atoms are not indivisible 340 Beaufort 35
argon 438 atoms, manipulating single beauty 18, 348, 356
Aries 186 292 origin of 348
Aristarchus of Samos 453 ATP 100, 452 becquerel 385
Aristotelian view 197 atto 385 beer 314
Aristotle 426 Atwood machine 426 beer mat 61
arithmetic sequence 405 augmented fourth 263 beetle, click 148
 subject index 493

before the Common Era 380 human 296 C

behaviour 20 bones 287 c. 380
belief systems 91 book and physics paradox 368 caesium 40
beliefs 22 books 372 calculating prodigies 377
bell books, information and calculus of variations 218
vibration patterns 252 entropy in 332 calendar 379, 380
Belousov-Zhabotinski boom calendar, Gregorian 380
reaction 361 sonic, due to supersonic calendar, Julian 379
Bernoulli equation 304, 314 278 calendar, modern 380
Bernoulli’s equation 304 boost 243 caliper 52, 62
Bessel functions 137 bottle 100, 117 Callisto 183
B Betelgeuse 83, 84, 225
beth 375
bottle, full 210
boundaries 90
calorie 387
Calpodes ethlius 75
bets, how to win 128 boundary layer 432 camera 64

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
before bicycle 418 brachistochrone 209, 433 Cancer 186
stability 418 braid pattern 360 candela
bicycle riding 91 brain 343 definition 384
bicycle weight 326 brain and physics paradox 368 candle 30, 345
bifurcation 356 brain stem 25 in space 441
billiards 95 brass instruments 263 canoeing 149
bimorphs 199 Braun GmbH 323, 478 Canopus 225
biographies of bread 285, 407 cans of peas 115
mathematicians 401 breathings 375 cans of ravioli 115
biological evolution 21, 351 Bronze Age 321 capacity 318
biology 199 brooms 180, 433 Capella 225
BIPM 383, 384 brown dwarfs 225 capillary wave
bird speed 35 Brownian motion 326, 329 in water 273
bird, singing 280 typical path 328 Capricornus 186
bismuth 40 browser 399 capture, in universal gravity
bits to entropy conversion 393 bubble 186
black holes 205 soap 404 car
blasphemy 121 soap and molecular size wheel angular momentum
block and tackle 30 291 109
blood pressure 309 bubbles 313 car engine 324
blood supply 85 bucket 19 car parking 63
board divers 111 bucket experiment, Newton’s car weight 326
boat 100 142 carbon dioxide 326
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

sailing 307 bullet Carparachne 86

Bode’s rule 190 speed measurement 408 carraige, south-pointing 433
bodies, rigid 209 bullet speed 35 carriage, south-pointing 209,
body 26 bullet speed measurement 58 460
body fluids 309 Bunsen burner 322 cars 368
Bohr magneton 392 Bureau International des Cartesian 50
Bohr radius 392 Poids et Mesures 383 cartoon physics, ‘laws’ of 90
Boltzmann constant 325, 327, bushbabies 148 cat 100
329, 333, 391 butterfly effect 357 Cataglyphis fortis 150
Boltzmann constant k button, future 337 catenary 414
physics and 8 caterpillars 75
bone catholicism 285
 494 subject index

causal 205 314 Conférence Générale des

causality of motion 205 circalunar 168 Poids et Mesures 384
cavitation 89, 267 circle packing 414 conic sections 169
cavity resonance 281 circular definition in physics connected bodies 85
CD 369 conservation 98, 247
angular momentum 109 classical electron radius 392 conservation of momentum
Cebrennus 86, 451 classical mechanics 195 99
celestrocentric system 408 Clay Mathematics Institute conservation principles 122
Celsius temperature scale 321 306 conservative 200
Celtic wobble stone 121 click beetles 148 conservative systems 219
cement kiln 417 clock 41, 44, 101, 157 conserved quantities 17
C cementite 297
centi 385
clock puzzles 61, 445
clock, air pressure powered
constants
table of astronomical 393
centre of gravity 185 101 table of astrophysical 395

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
causal centre of mass 108, 185 clock, exchange of hands 61 table of basic physical 391
centrifugal acceleration 144, clocks 41, 369 table of derived physical
155 clockwise rotation 47 392
centrifugal force 163 closed system 337, 339 constellations 83, 185
centripetal acceleration 144 Clunio 168 constraints 219
cerebrospinal fluid 309 coastline length 53 contact 367
Ceres 186 CODATA 473 container 48
cerussite 57 coffee machines 336 containers 52
Cetus 186 coin continental motion 133
chain 66 puzzle 316 continuity 42, 48, 50, 98, 239
challenge classification 9 collisions 101, 199, 367 continuity equation 198
challenges 25 colour symmetries 229 continuity, limits of 71
chandelier 157 comet 169 continuum 36
chaos 357 comet, Halley’s 169 continuum approximation 85
and initial conditions 358 comets 308 continuum mechanics 210
in magnetic pendulum 358 comic books 295 continuum physics 316
chapter sign 379 Commission Internationale convection 339
charge 242 des Poids et Mesures 383 Convention du Mètre 383
elementary e, physics and compass 209 conventions 372
8 completeness 42, 50, 98 cooking 367
positron or electron, value complexity 332 cooperative structures 355
of 391 Compton tube 130 coordinates 50, 72
chaturanga 30 Compton wavelength 392 coordinates, generalized 219
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

check 234 Compton wheel 130 Copernicus 453

cheetah 35, 81 computers 343 Corallus caninus 323
chemistry 367 concatenation 235 Coriolis acceleration 124, 126,
chess 30 concave Earth theory 408 422, 453
chest operations 438 concepts 368 Coriolis effect 124, 422, 453
child’s mass 114 conditions for motion’s Coriolis force 254
childhood 35, 48 existence 17 cork 100, 117
Chimborazo, Mount 163 conductance quantum 392 corn starch 361, 363
chocolate 310 Conférence Générale des corner
does not last forever 283 Poids et Mesures 383, 388 lower left film 25, 26
chocolate bars 283 configuration 26 corner figures 25
Chomolungma, Mount 163, configuration space 74 corner film
 subject index 495

lower left 25, 26 length of 131 direction 36

corner patterns 25 day length, past 40 disappearance of motion 99
corpuscle 83 day, length of 175 discrete 234
corrugations, road 353, 354 day, mean solar 136 dispersion 259, 260
cortex 25 day, sidereal 136, 393 dissection of volumes 56
cosmic evolution 21 day, time unit 385 dissipative 200
cosmic mirror 401 de Broglie wavelength 384 dissipative systems 202, 218,
cosmological constant 395 dead water 254 355
cosmonauts 428, 429 death 241, 369 distance 53
cosmos 27 and energy consumption distinguish 24
coulomb 385 114 distinguishability 36, 42, 50,
C countertenors 281
crackle 417
conservation and 101
energy and 113
98
distribution 262
crackpots 402 mass change with 114 Gaussian 389

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
corner creation 17 origin 15 normal 389
creation of motion 99 rotation and 107 distribution, Gaussian normal
crest of a wave 260 death sentence 285 328
cricket bowl 409 deca 385 divergence 162
crooks 364 decay 343 diving 308
cross product 104 deci 385 DNA 51, 388
crystal deer 25 DNA (human) 224
symmetry table 232 degree Celsius 385 DNA, ripping apart 196
crystal classes 232 degree, angle unit 385 Dolittle 220
crystal groups 232 delta function 262 donate
crystallographic point groups denseness 42, 50 for this free pdf 9
232 derivative 79 doublets 238
crystals 57 derivative at a point 79 Dove prisms 451
cumulonimbus 274 description 72 drag 198, 201
curiosities 29 descriptions, accuracy of 368 drag coefficient 201, 368
curiosity 19, 207 Desmodium gyrans 45 drifts 387
curvature 62 details and pleasure 19 dromion 280
curves of constant width 32 determinism 205, 206, 358 film of motion 280
curvimeter 54 devil 24 drop 201
cycle 268 Devonian 175 Drosophila melanogaster 45
cycloid 227, 433 diamond, breaking 295 duck
cyclotron frequency 392 Diet Coca Cola 314 wake behind 278
Cyrillic alphabet 375 differential 79 ducks, swimming 274
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

differential equation 409 Duration 40

D diffraction 259 Dutch Balloon Register 478
∂ 378 diffusion 343, 344 duvet 338
dx 378 digamma 374 dwarf planets 186
daleth 375 digits, history of 376 dwarfs 225
damping 198, 259 dihedral angles 56 dx 378
dancer 75 dilations 241 dyadic product 378
angular momentum 109 dimensionality 36, 50 dynabee 146
dark stars 225 dimensionless 392 dynamic friction 200
Davey–Stewartson equation dimensions 49 dynamics 195
280 diminished fifth 263
day dinosaurs 179
 496 subject index

E effort, everyday 197 measured values 331

e, natural exponential 378 egg cooking 340 random motion and 330
e.g. 380 eigenvalues 237 specific, measured values
ear 49, 51, 261, 289, 462 Ekman layer 453 331
as atomic force elasticity 199 entropy flow 338
microscope 294 elders 399 entropy, quantum of 333
illustration 276 Elea 288 entropy, smallest in nature 333
ear problems 276 Electric Age 321 entropy, state of highest 346
ear, human 276 electric effects 199 environment 26
Earth 123, 339 electrodynamics 316 Epargyreus clarus 75, 450
age 394 electromagnetism 160 ephemeris time 41
E angular momentum 109
average density 394
electron see also positron
g-factor 393
eponyms 381
EPR 381
equatorial radius 394 electron charge see also equal intonation 265

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
e flattening 394 positron charge equilibrium 336
gravitational length 394 electron magnetic moment equilibrium, thermal 336
mass 393 392 Eris 186
normal gravity 394 electron mass 391 eros 159
stops rotating 163 electron speed 35 error
Earth dissection 56 electron volt relative 389
Earth from space 401 value 393 systematic 389
Earth rotation element of set 36, 42, 50, 98 total 389
speed of 131 elementary particles 300 errors
Earth speed 35 elephants 274, 348 example values 367
Earth’s age 40 ellipse 168 in measurements 388
Earth’s axis 137 as orbit 155 ESA 401
Earth’s mass, time variation email 399 escape velocity 184
179 emergence 358 Escherichia coli 87
Earth’s radius 394 emergent properties 358 et al. 380
Earth’s rotation 386 emit waves 261 eth 373, 471
Earth’s rotation change of 131 empty space 162, 260 ethel 373
Earth’s shadow 147 EMS98 145 ethics 207
Earth’s speed through the energy 101, 102, 198, 225, 239 Eucalyptus regnans 287
universe 140 conservation 161 Eucharist 285
Earth, flat 416 energy conservation 104, 163, Euclidean space 49, 50
Earth, flattened 123, 143 242 Euclidean vector space 34, 36
Earth, hollow 57 energy consumption in First Europa 183
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Earth, mass of 158 World countries 104 evaporation 343

Earth, shape of 162 energy flows 99 evenings, lack of quietness of
earthquake 145, 163 energy of a wave 258 274
earthquake, starting 295 energy, observer event 40
earthquake, triggered by independence 239 Everest, Mount 163, 314
humans 295 energy, scalar generalization everlasting life 101
earthquakes 145, 168, 455 of 239 everything flows 17
eccentricity 171 engine evolution 26
eccentricity of Earth’s axis 138 car 324 evolution equations 204
echo 261 enlightenment 177 Exa 385
ecliptic 164 entropy 318, 369 exclamation mark 379
effort 196 definition 330, 332 exclusion principle 222
 subject index 497

expansion 320 fifth, perfect 263 Foucault’s pendulum, web

expansion of the universe 140 figures in corners 25 cam 128
expansions 241 filament 322 fountain, Heron’s 311
Experience Island 16, 21 fine structure constant 391 Fourier analysis 252
exponential notation 63 finite 329 Fourier decomposition 252
extended bodies, non-rigid fire 322 Fourier transformation 277
210 fire pump 330 fourth, perfect 263
extension 300 firework 65 fractal
and waves 251 fish’s eyes 314 landscapes 284
extensive quantities 318 flagella 87 fractals 54, 80, 283
extensive quantity 99 flagellar motor 105 frames of reference 229
E extrasolar planets 225
eye 25
flame 30, 144, 341
flatness 57
frass 75
free fall, speed of 35
eye motion 49 flattening free will 206

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
expansion eye, blinking after guillotine of the Earth 123, 143 frequency 253
94 fleas 148 measured values 250
eyelid 62 flies 25 friction 100, 101, 198, 200, 201,
eyes of fish 314 flip film 25, 26 336, 338
explanation of 72 picture of heat 320
F flow 317 Friction between planets and
φx 378 minimum, measured the Sun 101
f (x) 378 values 335 friction produced by tides 175
f 󳰀 (x) 378 flow of time 47 friction, importance of 336
F. spectabilis 45 fluid froghopper 81
F. suspensa 45 and self-organization 351 Froude number, critical 273
F. viridissima 45 fluid mechanics 210 fuel consumption 368
Falco peregrinus 35 fluid motion full width at half maximum
fall 154 example pictures 303 389
fall and flight are independent ink puzzle 346 funnel 314
73 know-how 307 puzzle 313
fall is not vertical 124 fluids, body 309 Futhark 373
fall is parabolic 74 flute 248 Futhorc 373
fall of Moon 154 fly, common 159 futhorc 375
false quint 263 flying saucers 274 future button 337
familiarity 24 focal point 416 future, fixed 205
family names 381 focus 416 future, remembering 337
fantasy and physics 370 foetus 266 f x 378
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

farad 385 force 96, 110

Faraday’s constant 392 definition of 196 G
farting for communication force, central 96 Gaia 357
274 force, physical 196 gait 112
fear of formulae 31 force, use of 196 galaxy centre 140
feet 309 Ford and precision 368 galaxy cluster 223
femto 385 forest 25 galaxy group 223
Fermi coupling constant 391 forget-me-not 230 galaxy supercluster 223
Fermi problems 341 formulae, ISO 471 Galilean physics 28, 33, 195,
Fermilab 63 formulae, liking them 31 366
ferritic steels 297 formulae, mathematical 401 Galilean satellites 183
Fiat Cinquecento 312 Forsythia europaea 45 Galilean space 49
 498 subject index

Galilean space-time 71 Gothic letters 375 H

Galilean time 42 GPS 41 hafnium carbide 322
Galilean transformations 240 grace 22, 112, 363, 446 Hagedorn temperature 322
Galilean velocity 34 gradient 160 hair clip 200
galvanometer 199 granular jet 298 hair growth 35
Ganymede 183 gravitation see also universal hair, diameter 51
gas 325 gravitation, 151, 199 halfpipe 227
gas constant, universal 392 essence of 189 Hamilton’s principle 213
gas planets 225 gravitation and hammer drills 116
gases measurements 370 hands of clock 61
as particle collections 339 gravitation, universal see hard discs, friction in 202
G gauge change 234
gauge symmetries 241
universal gravitation
gravitational acceleration,
harmonic motion 248
heartbeat 157
gauge theory 48 standard 81 heat

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Galilean Gaussian distribution 328, 389 gravitational constant 152, 391 in everyday life 330
Gemini 186 gravitational constant G in physics 330
generalized coordinates 220 physics and 8 heat & pressure 199
generators 242 gravitational coupling heat engines 324
Geocentric gravitational constant 391 Hebrew alphabet 376
constant 394 gravitational field 162 hecto 385
geocentric system 188 gravitational mass 177 helicity of stairs 47
geodesics 202 gravity see gravitation helicopter 314
geoid 162 gravity inside matter shells helicopters 402
geological maps 402 189 heliocentric system 188
geometric sequence 405 gravity waves 254 helium 223, 322, 343
geometric symmetries 229 gravity, centre of 185 helium, superfluid 312
geostationary satellites 171 gravity, sideways action of 157 henry 385
Gerridae 149 gray 385 heresy 285
ghosts 30, 91 Greek alphabet 374 Hermitean 237
Giant’s Causeway 57, 361 Greek number system 377 Heron’s fountain 311
giants 287 greenhouse effect 339 herring, farting 274
Giga 385 Greenland 40 hertz 385
gimel 375 Gregorian calendar 380 hiccup 364
girl-watching 147 Gregorian calendar reform 63 Himalaya age 40
glass 294 group, mathematical 235 hips 112
Global infrasound Network growth 21, 211 hodograph 74, 153, 182
277 as self-organization 351 hole
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

global warming 275, 339 growth of deep sea through the Earth 192
gnomonics 41 manganese crust 35 holes 27
gods 33, 121, 142, 149, 172, 445, GRW approach 381 hollow Earth theory 57
447 Gulf Stream 453 Hollywood 220
gold 407 guns and the Coriolis effect Hollywood films 213, 283, 451
surface atoms 335 127 holonomic 219
golf balls 409 gymnasts 111 holonomic systems 219
Gondwanaland 133 gynaecologist 266 holonomic–rheonomic 219
gorilla test for random gyroscope 111, 128 holonomic–scleronomic 219
numbers 205 gyroscope, laser 130 Homo sapiens 45
Gosper’s formula 343 homogeneity 42, 50
Gothic alphabet 375 homomorphism 237
 subject index 499

honey bees 97 thermodynamics 333 Alphabet 372

Hooke 164 index of refraction 434 internet 398, 399
Hopi 448 Indian digits 376 list of interesting websites
horse 105 Indian number system 377 399
horse power 105 Indian numbers 376, 377 interval, musical 263
horses, speed of 75 Indian numbers and digits invariance 98, 235
hour 385 376 invariant property 229
hourglasses 59 individuality 27, 203 inverse element 235
Hubble parameter 395 inductions 243–245 invisibility of objects 85
Hubble space telescope 401 inertia 91 invisible loudspeaker 342
Hudson Bay 40 inertial mass 177 Io 175, 183
H human growth 35
humour 359
inf. 380
infinite coastlines 54
ionosphere, shadow of 147
IPA 372
humour, physical 402 infinite number of SI prefixes Iron Age 321

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
honey Huygens’ principle 261 388 irreducible 237
illustration of 262 infinity 17, 36, 42, 50, 98 irreversibility of motion 205
illustration of consequence infinity in physics 80 irreversible 336
262 information 332 Island, Experience 16
hydrofoils 307 information, erasing of 343 isolated system 339
Hydroptère 35 information, quantum of 333 isomorphism 237
hyperbola 168 infrasound 277 isotomeograph 128
initial condition Istiophorus platypterus 35, 309
I unfortunate term 206 Isua Belt 40
i, imaginary unit 378 initial conditions 203 italic typeface 372
i.e. 380 injective 237 IUPAC 473
ibid. 380 inner world theory 408 IUPAP 473
IBM 478 Inquisition 285
ice ages 138, 455 insects 168, 344 J
iceberg 97 instant 33, 40 jerk 203, 417
icicles 295 instant, human 40 Jesus 149
icosane 331 instant, single 17 joints
ideal 51 insulation power 338 cracking 281
ideal gas 320, 325 integral 216 Josephson effect 384
ideal gas constant 320, 440 integration 55, 216 Josephson frequency ratio 392
idem 380 integration, symbolic 401 joule 385
Illacme plenipes 89 interaction 27, 196 juggling 76
illness 309 interface juggling robot 76
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

illusions of motion 16 waves on an 254 Julian calendar 379

illusions, optical 402 interference 259 jump 148
image 90 illustration 260 jump, long 450
images 27 interferometer 95, 130 jumping height of animals 76
imagine 234 internal 234 Jupiter 188, 225
immovable property 92 International Earth Rotation angular momentum 109
impenetrability 98 Service 386, 455, 457 Jupiter’s atmospheric pressure
impenetrability of matter 33 International Geodesic Union 394
inclination of Earth’s axis 138 395 Jupiter’s mass 394
indeterminacy relation 267, International Latitude Service Jupiter’s moons 191
268 132, 455 Jupiter’s surface gravity 394
indeterminacy relation of International Phonetic just intonation 265
 500 subject index

K lawyers 92 lighthouse 69
k-calculus 406 laziness, cosmic, principle of lightning speed 35
Kadomtsev–Petviashvili 209, 218 limbic system 446
equation 281 lead 312 limits
kefir 224 leaf, falling 314 to precision 390
kelvin leaning tower in Pisa 73 Listing’s ‘law’ 148
definition 383 leap day 379 litre 385
Kepler’s laws 164 leapfrogging of vortex rings living thing, heaviest 97
ketchup motion 35 316 living thing, largest 51
kilo 385 learning 24 lizard 148
kilogram without markers 8 local time 41
K definition 383
kilotonne 103
learning mechanics 197
learning, best method for 8
locusts 148
logarithms 165
kinematics 72, 195 Lebesgue measure 56 long jump 75, 450

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
k-calculus kinetic energy 101 lecture scripts 401 record 103
Klitzing, von – constant 392 leg 157 Loschmidt’s number 290, 313,
knot 70 leg performance 148 392
knowledge, humorous Lego 289, 294 lotteries
definition of 432 legs 29 and temperature 320
knuckle angles 65 advantages 148 lottery, rigging 319
koppa 374 vs wheels 148 loudspeaker
Korteweg–de Vries equation legs in nature 85 invisible 342
270, 281 Leidenfrost effect 313 laser-based 342
Kuiper belt 186, 224, 308 length 49, 53, 78, 370 loudspeaker, invisible 342
Kurdish 373 length scale 344 love 23, 159
Leo 186 Love number 136
L letters 373 low-temperature physics 326
ladder 117 Leucanthemum vulgare 211 lowest temperature 321
sliding 117 levitation 171 luggage 193
ladder puzzles 67 Libra 186 lumen 385
Lagrangain librations 167 lunar calendar 41
points in astronomy 428 lichen growth 35 Lunokhod 428
Lagrange’s equations of life lux 385
motion 219 everlasting 101 Lyapounov exponent 357
Lagrangian life, shortest 40 lymph 309
examples of 221 lifespan
Lagrangian (function) 216 animal 113 M
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Lagrangian is not unique 219 lift M82, galaxy 81

Lagrangian libration points for ships 119 mach 95
171 lift into space 294 Mach number 143
Lake Nyos 326 light 199 Mach’s principle 96
laminarity 302 light deflection near masses machine 87
languages on Earth 376 177 moving giant 300
large 249 light mill 199 machines
laser gyroscopes 130 light speed measurement 58 examples of high-tech 299
laser loudspeaker 342 light tower 35 magentization of rocks 135
lateral force microscopes 202 light year 393 magic 402
Latin 381 light, slow group velocity 448 Magna Graecia 288
Latin alphabet 372 lightbulb temperature 322 magnetic effects 199
 subject index 501

magnetic flux quantum 392 matter 82, 91 mile 386

magnetic thermometry 466 matter shell, gravity inside 189 Milky Way
magnetism 96 matter, impenetrability of 33 angular momentum 109
magneton, nuclear 393 meaning 19 Milky Way’s age 395
magnitude 78 measurability 36, 42, 50, 98 Milky Way’s mass 395
magnitudes 239 measure 370 Milky Way’s size 395
main result of modern measurement 36 milli 385
science 334 comparison 386 mind change 21
male sopranos 281 definition 383, 386 minerals 402
man, wise old 220 errors, example values 367 mini comets 186
manakin, club winged 250 irreversibility 386 minimum
M many-body problem 366
marble, oil covered 100
meaning 386
process 386
of curve, definition 218
minor planets 225
marker, bad for learning 8 measurement error minute 385, 395

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
magnetic Mars 386 definition 388 Mir 193
martensitic steels 297 measurements and mirror invariance 28
mass 93, 97, 198, 370 gravitation 370 of everyday motion 246
concept of 93 mechanics 195, 209 moguls, ski 354
mass conservation implies mechanics, classical 195 mol 290
momentum conservation mechanics, quantum 195 molar volume 392
96 Medicean satellites 183 mole
mass is conserved 93 medicines 29 definition 383
mass of children 114 Mega 385 particles in a 290
mass of Earth, time variation megatonne 103 molecules 289
179 memorize 24 moment 41
mass point 83 memory 30, 336 moment of inertia 107, 110,
mass ratio menstrual cycle 168, 457 240, 245
neutron–electron 393 Mentos 314 moment of inertia, extrinsic
neutron–proton 393 Mercalli scale 145 108
proton–electron 393 Mercury 172 moment of inertia, intrinsic
mass, centre of 185 mercury 291 108
mass, Galilean 97 meridian 157 momentum 94, 98, 102, 198,
mass, gravitational 177 Mesopotamia 372 225
mass, identity of gravitational metabolic rate 114 as a liquid 196
and inertial 178 metabolic scope, maximal 453 change 196
mass, inertial 91, 177 metallurgy 367 flow 196
mass, negative 98 meteorites 179, 277 momentum conservation
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

math forum 401 meteroids 225 follows from mass

mathematicians 401 metre conservation 96
mathematics 34 definition 383 momentum flows 99
maths problem of the week metre sticks 369 momentum of a wave 258
401 metricity 36, 42, 50, 98 momentum, angular 108
matrix, adjoint 237 micro 385 money, humorous definition
matrix, antisymmetric 237 microscope of 432
matrix, complex conjugate atomic force 293 month 379
237 microscope, atomic force 294, Moon 154
matrix, orthogonal 237 421 angular momentum 109
matrix, symmetric 237 microwave background angular size 394
matrix, transposed 237 temperature 396 density 394
 502 subject index

distance 394 supporting the project 9 neocortex 446

mass 394 motion of continents 35 Neptune 186, 188
radius 394 motion, conditions for its nerve
Moon calculation 154 existence 17 signal propagation 269
Moon density and tides 175 motion, drift-balanced 447 nerve signal speed 35
Moon illusion 66 motion, faster than light 338 Neurospora crassa 45
Moon path around Sun 184 motion, harmonic 248 neutral element 235
Moon phase 188 motion, infinite 370 neutrino 300
Moon size illusion 66 motion, manifestations 16 neutron
Moon size, angular 66 motion, non-Fourier 447 Compton wavelength 393
Moon size, apparent 154 motion, passive 22, 200 magnetic moment 393
M Moon’s atmosphere 344
Moon’s mean distance 394
motion, simplest 24
motion, unlimited 370
neutron mass 391
neutron stars 224
Moon’s surface gravity 394 motion, volitional 22 newspaper 468

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Moon Moon, dangers of 175 motion, voluntary 200 newton 385
Moon, fall of 154 motor bike 92 Newtonian physics 33, 195
moons 224 motor, electrostatic 199 NGC 2240 322
Moons’s atmospheric pressure motor, linear 199 Niagara 283
394 motors 199 Niagara Falls 359
moped 121 moustache 52 nitrogen 311
morals 207 movable property 92 Noether charge 242
mornings, quietness of 274 movement 22 Noether’s theorem 241
moth 307 multiplet 235, 236 noise 290, 326, 387
motion 27, 369 multiplication 235 noise thermometry 466
does not exist 16 muon noise, (physical) 268
in configuration space 357 g-factor 393 nonholonomic constraints
is fundamental 384 muon magnetic moment 393 219
is predictable 366 muon mass 391 nonius 62
mirror invariance 246 Musca domestica 45, 81 norm 78
parity invariance 246 music normal distribution 328
reversibility 246 notes and frequencies 265 normality 470
motion and measurement Myosotis 230 North Pole 47, 133, 163
units 384 myosotis 229 notation 372
motion as an illusion 17 mystery of motion 15 notation, scientific 372
motion as illusion 17 nuclear explosions 274
motion detectors 30 N nuclear magneton 393
motion illusions, figures nabla 378 nuclei 199
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

showing 16 names of people 381 nucleon 300

motion invariance 28 Nannosquilla decemspinosa 86 null vector 77
motion is based on friction nano 385 numbers 239
200 Nanoarchaeum equitans 224 nutation 137
motion is change of position NASA 386 Nyos, Lake 326
with time 72 NASA 401
motion is due to particles 23 natural 51 O
motion is relative 26 natural unit 392 object 26, 39, 90
motion is the change of state nature 27 objects 27, 369
of objects 28 Navier–Stokes equations 306 obliquity 137, 430
Motion Mountain 16 needle on water 315 oboe 267
aims of book series 7 negative vector 77 observables 27, 239
 subject index 503

observables, discrete 239 π and gravity 157 performers 399

ocean π, circle number 378 perigee 394
origin of 308 π = 3.141592... 470 perihelion 172, 394
oceanography 277 paerlite 297 perihelion shift 138, 171
octave 263 painting puzzle 193 period 249
octet 238 paper aeroplanes 402 permanence 25
odometer 53 paper boat contest 312 permanence of nature 17
ohm 385 paper cup permeability, vacuum 391
oil 100, 313 puzzle 341 permittivity, vacuum 391
oil film experiment 284 parabola 66, 74, 155, 168 permutation symmetry 234
Olympic year counting 380 parachutes 200 perpetual motion machine
O Oort cloud 224
op. cit. 380
paradox
hydrodynamic 305
101
perpetuum mobile 98
operator 162 hydrostatic 305 perpetuum mobile, first and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
observables Ophiuchus 186 paradox about physics books second kind 101
optical radiation 368 Peta 385
thermometry 466 parallax 123, 137 phase 249, 253
orbit, elliptical 165 parallelepiped 106 phase space 27, 203
order 42, 50, 98, 348 parenthesis 379 phase space diagram 74
table of observed parity phase velocity 253
phenomena 348 inversion 246 PhD, enjoying it 363
order appearance parity invariance 28 Philaenus spumarius 81
examples 348, 351 parking photoacoustic effect 342, 343
mathematics of 356 mathematics 410 photon
order parameter 355 parking challenge 63 number density 396
orgasms 364 parsec 393 physical observations 233
orientation change needs no particle 83 physical system 27
background 111 particle data group 400 physicists 400
origin parts 27, 82, 335 physics 15
human 15 pascal 385 map of 8
Orion 84 passim 380 physics problems 400
ornament passive motion 204 physics, circular definition in
Hispano-Arabic 236 past 369
orthogonality 78 of a system 203 physics, everyday 28
oscillation 248 path 72 physics, outdated definition
damped 249 Paul trap 293 22
definition 248 pea dissection 56 pico 385
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

harmonic and anharmonic pearls 294 piezoelectricity 199

249 peas 115 pigeons 112
oscillation, harmonic or Peaucellier-Lipkin linkage ping-pong ball 144
linear 248 209 pinna 276
oscillons 354 pee research 360 Pioneer satellites 81
osmosis 199, 343 peers 399 Pisces 186
otoacoustic emissions 261 Peirce’s puzzle 61 Planck constant
outer product 378 pencil, invention of 33 value of 391
oxygen 311 pencils 60 planet 101
pendulum 157 planet–Sun friction 101
P penguins 112 planetoids 175, 224, 225
φx 378 people names 381 planets
 504 subject index

and universal gravitation precession, equinoctial 132 proton age 40

164 precision 19, 30, 34, 72, 368, proton mass 391
plants 29 388 proton–muon mass ratio 393
plate tectonics 135 limits to 390 pseudovector 144
play 22 predictability of motion 366 PSR 1257+12 225
Pleiades star cluster 152 prefixes 385, 472 PSR 1913+16 40
pleural cavity 304, 438 prefixes, SI 385 psychokinesis 22
Pleurotya ruralis 86 preprints 399, 400 pulley 199
plumb-line 57 pressure 197, 289, 325 pulsar period 40
Pluto 186 definition 302, 305 pulse 261
pneumothorax 438 measured values 304 pyramid 106
P point mass 83
point particle 83
principle of gauge invariance
234
Pythagoras’ theorem 64

point, mathematical 49 principle of least action 123, Q

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
plants point-like for the naked eye 85 163, 218 Q-factor 249
points 33, 85 principle of relativity 234, 406 qoppa 374
poisons 29 principle of the straightest quanta
Poisson equation 162 path 202 smallest 288
polar motion 132 principle of thermodynamics quanti, piccolissimi 285, 286
Polaris 225 second 337 quantities 239
polarization 259 principle, extremal 213 conserved 17
pollen 327 principle, variational 213 quantity
pollutants 438 prism 451 extensive
pollution 438 prize, one million dollar 306 types of 317
pool filled with corn starch problems, physical 400 quantity of matter 94, 98
and water 363 process quantity, extensive 99
pop 417 change in 217 Quantum Age 321
Pororoca 272 process, sudden 207 quantum mechanics 195
Porpoise Cove 40 processes 336 quantum of circulation 392
positional system 377 Procyon 225 quantum of entropy 333
positions 77 prodigies, calculating 377 quantum of information 333
positivity 98 product, dyadic 378 quantum theory 26, 286
positron charge product, outer 378 quartets 238
value of 391 pronunciation, Erasmian 375 quartz 251
positron charge, specific 392 proof 34 oscillator film 251
possibility of knots 50 propagation velocity 253 quasar 223
postcard 59 propeller 417 quietness of mornings 274
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

stepping through 408 propellers in nature 85 quotations, mathematical 402

potassium 268, 344 proper time 41
potential energy 161 proper velocity 35 R
potential, gravitational 160 properties, emergent 358 R-complex 446
power, humorous definition properties, intrinsic 27 radian 65, 384
of 432 properties, permanent 27 radiation 91, 339
power, physical 104, 197 protestantism 285 radiation thermometry 466
ppm 439 proton radio speed 35
pralines 310 Compton wavelength 393 rain drops 76, 201
praying effects 225 gyromagnetic ratio 393 rain speed 35
precession 138 magnetic moment 393 rainbow 239
precession of a pendulum 128 specific charge 393 random 205
 subject index 505

random errors 388 reversible 336 mechanics 115

random pattern 25 Reynolds number 361 Rubik’s cube 276
randomness 205 Rhine 315 rugby 102
rank 240 rhythmites, tidal 455 Runic script 373
Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube Richter magnitude 145 running 113
345 riddle 16 running backwards 340
ratio between the electron Rigel 225 running on water 456
magnetic moment and the right-hand rule 104 running reduces weight 182
Bohr magneton 367 ring laser 454 running speed record, human
rattleback 121 rings, astronomical, and tides 75
ravioli 115 174 Rydberg constant 367, 392
R ray form 188
real numbers 42, 49
road, corrguated or
washboard 354 S
recognition 25 Roadrunner 295 Sagarmatha, Mount 163, 314

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
random recognize 25 robot 460 Sagittarius 140, 186
reducible 237 walking on water 149 Sagnac effect 130, 423
reed instruments 263 robot juggling 76 sailfish 35
reel 19 robot, walking 227 sailing 100
reflection of waves 259 Roche limit 432 sails 306
refraction 227, 259 rock Salmonella 87
and minimum time 226 self-organization 362 sampi 374
illustration 273 rock magnetization 135 san 374
refractive index 227 rocket launch sites 143 sand 352
Regulus 225 rocket motor 199 granular jets in 299
relations 27 roller coasters 193 self-organization 352
relativity 209 rolling 111 singing 353
relativity, Galileo’s principle rolling puzzle 32 table of patterns in 353
of 141 rolling wheels 111 sand, Cuban 353
reluctance to turn 107 Roman number system 377 Saraeva 445
representation 237 rope Sarcoman robot 76
representation of the around Earth 409 satellite 84
observables 240 motion of hanging 363 satellite, artificial 84
representations 236 ropes satellites 145, 186
reproducibility 233 geometry of 69 satellites, observable 401
reproduction 15 Rosby length 143 Saturn 174, 186
research 202 Rostock, University of 312 scalar 78, 230, 239
research in classical Roswell incident 274 scalar product 50, 78
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

mechanics 366 rotation scale invariance 287

resolution, of measurements absolute or relative 142 scale symmetry 229
28 as vector 110 scales
resonance rotation and arms 142 bathroom 295
definition 251 rotation change of Earth 131 scales, bathroom 143
resources 399 rotation of the Earth 386 scaling law 44
rest 17 rotation rate 107 Scorpius 186
rest, Galilean 78 rotation sense in the athletic screw 200
Reuleaux curves 405 stadium 47 scripts, complex 376
reversibility rotation speed 107 sea 255
of everyday motion 246 rotational energy 108 sea wave energy 277
reversibility of motion 205 roulette and Galilean sea waves, highest 272
 506 subject index

season 164 shore birds 456 snowflake speed 35

second 385, 395 short pendulum 422 snowflakes 468
definition 383 shortest measured time 40 soap bubbles 291, 313
Sedna 186 shot noise 289 sodium 268, 322, 344, 448
selenite 57 shot, small 312 solar data 401
self-adjoint 237 shoulders 112 Solar system
self-organization 211 shutter 63 angular momentum 109
self-similarity 54 shutter time 64 solar system 224
sequence 39, 42, 50, 98 SI prefixes 388 solar system formation 132
Sequoiadendron giganteum 97 SI units 383, 390 solar system simulator 401
serpent bearer 186 definition 383 solar system, future of 190
S Serpentarius 186
sets, connected 79
prefixes 385
supplementary 384
solitary wave
in sand 353
sexism in physics 288 siemens 385 solitary waves 270

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
season sextant 456 sievert 385 soliton 271
sha 374 signal film 270
shadow of ionosphere 147 decomposition in solitons 270
shadow of the Earth 147 harmonic components 252 sonar 280
shadow of the Earth during a list of types 264 sonic boom 278
lunar eclipse 154 similar 27 sonoluminescence 89
shadows 90, 452 Simon, Julia 451 soul 114
and attraction of bodies sine curve 248 sound
189 singing 263 film of molecular motion
shadows of sundials 47 singlets 238 in 265
shampoo, jumping 316 singular 237 intensity table 266
shape 50, 82, 300 sink vortex 454 sound channel 274
shape deformation and siren 272 sound speed 35
motion 87 Sirius 84, 225 sound threshold 266
shape of the Earth 185 situation 26 source term 162
sharp s 373 size 48 sources 162
sheep, Greek 375 skateboarding 227 South Pole 162
Shell study 452 skew-symmetric 237 south-pointing carriage 209
shell, gravity inside matter 189 ski moguls 271, 353, 354 space 369
ship 97 skin 85 absolute 128
critical speed 273 skipper 75 space is necessary 50
leaving river 310 sky, moving 132 space lift 294
lift 119 slide rule 414, 415 space points 85
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

mass of 119 slingshot effect 182 space sickness 429

pulling riddle 312 Sloan Digital Sky Survey 401 space travel 143
speed limit 273 small solar system bodies 225 space, absoluteness of 50
wake behind 278 smallest experimentally space, physical 48
ships and relativity 141 probed distance 63 space, relative or absolute 52
shit 75, 450 smiley 379 space, white 379
shock wave smoke 328 space-time 27
due to supersonic motion ring picture 315 space-time diagram 74
278 snap 417 space-time, Galilean 71
shock waves 277 snorkeling 438 space-time, relative or
shoe size 387 snow flake absolute 52
shoelaces 49, 336 self-organization film 355 spatial inversion 241
 subject index 507

special relativity before the star age 40 subscripts 375

age of four 234 star classes 225 Sun 97, 101, 188, 225
specific mechanical energy starch angular momentum 109
416 self-organization 362 will rise tomorrow 163
spectrum, photoacoustic 343 stargazers 401 Sun density and tides 175
speed 79 stars 83, 225 Sun size, angular 66
lowest 30 state 27 Sun’s age 394
of light c of a mass point, complete Sun’s lower photospheric
physics and 8 203 pressure 395
speed of light of a system 203 Sun’s luminosity 394
value of 391 state allows one to distinguish Sun’s mass 394
S speed of light inside the Sun
35
27
state of motion 26
Sun’s surface gravity 395
Sun, stopping 295
speed of sound 95, 131 state space diagram 75 Sun–planet friction 101

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
special speed, highest 35 state, initial 203 sunbeams 406
speed, infinite 370 state, physical 26 sundial 43, 430, 448
sperm motion 35 states 27, 369 sundials 41, 47
Spica 225 static friction 200, 202 superboom 278
spin groups 229 stationary 217 supercavitation 309
spine stationary fluid motion 302 superfluidity 312
human 296 statistical mechanics 210 supergiants 225
spinning top statistical physics superlubrication 200
angular momentum 109 definition 319 supermarket 47
spinors 239 steel 296 supernovae 88
spirituality 207 types 297 superposition 259
Spirograph Nebula 459 steel, stainless 297 support
split personality 206 Stefan–Boltzmann constant this free pdf 9
sponsor 393 surface 49
this free pdf 9 Steiner’s parallel axis theorem surface tension 201
spoon 121 108 surface tension waves 254
spring 248 steradian 65, 384 surfing 272
spring constant 248 sticking friction 200 surjective 237
spring tides 175 stigma 374 surprises 207, 242
sprinting 150 Stirling’s formula 343 swan
squark 474 stone wake behind 278
St. Louis arch 414 falling into water 258 swarms 364
stadia 47 skipping 311 self-organization in
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

stainless steel 297 stones 24, 39, 73, 77, 83, 100, starling 365
staircase formula 150 121, 124, 152, 153, 155, 180, swell 257
stairs 47 182, 192, 261, 275, 336 swimming speed underwater
stalactite 295 straight line, drawing a 209 309
stalagmites 35 straight lines in nature 57 swimming, olympic 273
stalagtites 359 straightness 48, 57, 62 Swiss cheese 283
standard apple 388 streets 425 switching off the lights 263
standard clock 183 strong coupling constant 391 syllabary 376
standard deviation 368, 388 structure, highest symbols 377
standard kilogram 93, 121 human-built 51 symbols, mathematical 377
standard pitch 250 subgroup 235 symmetry 235
standing wave 261 submarines 274 classification 230
 508 subject index

comparison 238 tensegrity structures 296 deduction from clocks 41

crystal, full list 232 tensor 240 flow of 47
discrete 246 tensor order 240 time intervals 42
parity 246 tensor product 378 time is necessary 42
types in nature 243 Tera 385 time measurement, ideal 41
wallpaper, full list 231 tesla 385 time translation 241
symmetry of the whole testicle 451 time travel 141
Lagrangian 240 testimony 451 time, absolute 42
symmetry operations 235 tetrahedron 63, 106 time, absoluteness of 42
symmetry, external 234 themodynamics 319 time, arrow of 47
symmetry, low 229 thermal energy 321 time, definition of 242
S symmetry, summary on 246
Système International
thermoacoustic engines 345
Thermodevices 323, 478
time, relative or absolute 52
time-bandwidth product 267
d’Unités (SI) 383 thermodynamic degree of Titius’s rule 190

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
symmetry system freedom 329 TNT energy content 393
extended 251 thermodynamics 316, 324 Tocharian 451
system, geocentric 188 first law 104 tog 338
system, heliocentric 188 second law 104 toilet research 360
system, isolated 339 second principle 337 toilet, aeroplane 316
systems, conservative 161 third principle of 334 tokamak 322
systems, dissipative 202 thermodynamics, first tonne, or ton 385
systems, simple 359 principle 323 topology 50
thermodynamics, torque 110
T indeterminacy relation of total momentum 94
Talitrus saltator 45 333 touch 90
tantalum 40 thermodynamics, second toys, physical 402
Taurus 186 principle of 343 train 97
tax collection 383 thermodynamics, third trajectory 72
teaching, best method for 9 principle 321 transformation 20
teapot 313 thermodynamics, zeroth transformations 235
technology 377 principle 320 transforms 100
tectonic activity 168 thermometer 323 translation invariance 42, 50
tectonics 455 thermometry 466 transport 20
teeth growth 351 thermostatics 324 transubstantiation 285
telekinesis 225 third, major 263 tree 388
telephone speed 35 thorn 373, 471 family 27
teleportation 100 thriller 220 tree growth 35
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

telescope 273 throw 24 tree height, limits to 287

television 24 throw, record 51 tree leaves and Earth rotation
temperature 318–320 throwing speed, record 35, 61 131
introduction 319 throwing, importance of 24 trees 287
measured values 322 thumb 66 trees and pumping of water
temperature scale 466 tidal acceleration 174 464
temperature, absolute 320 tides 127, 168, 172, 454 triboscopes 202
temperature, lowest in tides and friction 175 tripod 199
universe 322 tides, once or twice per day tritone 263
temperature, negative 322, 346 192 Trojan asteroids 171
tensegrity time 26, 40, 369, 370 tropical year 393
example of 296 deduction 40 truth 285
 subject index 509

tsunamis 257 387 Vendekta 385

tuft 465 universality of gravity 171 Venturi gauge 305
tumbleweed 86 Universe vernier 62
tunnel angular momentum 109 video recorder 337
through the Earth 192 universe 27, 204 Vietnam 192
turbulence 305, 358, 367 universe, description by viewpoint-independence 233
turbulence in pipes 361 universal gravitation 183 viewpoints 229
Turkish 373 universe, two-dimensional 69 Virgo 186
two-dimensional universe 69 Universum 323, 478 vis viva 101
Tycho Brahe 164 unpredictability, practical 205 viscosity
Tyrannosaurus rex 148 URL 399 dynamic 290, 361
T U
usenet 399
UTC 41
kinematic 361, 440
viscous 201
U(1) 435 vocal cords 263

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
tsunamis udeko 385 V voice
Udekta 385 vacuum permeability 391 human 263
UFOs 274 vacuum permittivity 391 void 288
ultimate wheel 475 vacuum wave resistance 392 volcanoes 455
ultrasound vacuum, human exposure to volt 385
imaging 266 144 volume 56
ultrasound imaging 266 variability 25 voluntary motion 200, 204
ultrasound motor 199 variable 26 vomit comet 429
umbrella 75 variance 389 vortex
unboundedness 36, 42, 50, 239 variation 26 ring film 315
unboundedness, openness 98 variational principle 218 vortex in bath tub or sink 454
uncertainty variational principles 208 vortex rings 316
relative 389 Varuna 224 vortex tube 345
total 389 vector 77, 239 vortices 307
uncertainty relation of vector product 104 Vulcan 172
thermodynamics 333 vector space 77 Vulcanoids 225
underwater swimming 309 vector space, Euclidean 78
underwater, speed records Vega 225 W
308 Vega at the North pole 132 wafer, consecrated 294
Unicode 376 velars 374 wafer, silicon 294
unicycle 91, 298 velocimeters 405 wake 255, 257
uniqueness 42, 50 velocity 34, 78, 370 angle 278
unit 338 first cosmic 184 behind ship or swan 279
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

astronomical 393 in space 36 behind swans and ships

unitary 237 phase 253 278
units 49, 383 propagation 253 wake angle 279
non-SI 386 second cosmic 184 walking 112, 336
provincial 386 third cosmic 184 walking man
units, SI wave 253 angular momentum 109
definition 383 velocity as derivative 79 walking on water 258
universal ‘law’ of gravitation velocity is not Galilean 36 walking robots 227
152 velocity of birds 36 walking speed 157
universal gravitation 152 velocity, escape 184 walking speed, maximum
origin of name 154 velocity, Galilean 34 animal 427
universal time coordinate 41, vendeko 385 wallpaper groups 231
 510 subject index

washboard roads 354 wavelet transformation 277 wine arcs 360

water 464 waves wine bottle 100, 117
origin of oceans 308 solitary, in sand 353 wings 306
patterns in 360 waves, in deep water 278 Wirbelrohr 345
water strider 149 waves, water 280 wise old man 220
water taps 359 waw 374 WMAP 428
water wave weak mixing angle 391 women 168, 451
formation of deep 254 weather 143, 364 women, dangers of looking
photographs of types 255 weather, unpredictability of after 148
solitary 269 205 wonder
thermal capillary 273 web impossibility of 324
W types and properties 256
water waves 254, 280
list of interesting sites 399
web cam, Foucault’s
work 101, 102, 218
work, physical 197
water waves, group velocity of pendulum 128 world 15, 27

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
washboard 274 web, largest spider 51 World Geodetic System 395,
water, speed records under weber 385 457
308 week 380 world question center 402
water, walking on 258 week days, order of 191 world-wide web 399
water-walking robot 149 Weib 451 writing 372
watt 385 weight 177, 197 wrong 368
wave 251 weight of the Moon 189 wyn 373
deep water 255 weightlessness, feeling of 429
gravity water 254 weko 385 X
group 261 Wekta 385 xenno 385
long water 255 well-tempered intonation 265 Xenta 385
longitudinal 253 whale, blue 272
shallow 257 whales 186, 274, 276 Y
shallow water 255 wheel axle, effect of 417 year, number of days 175
short water 255 wheel ultimate 23 yo-yo 156
solitary 269 wheels yocto 385
speed vs legs 148 yogh 373
measured values 253 wheels in living beings 85 yot 374
surface tension 254 wheels in nature 87 Yotta 385
transverse 254 whip cracking 297
velocity 253 whip, speed of 35 Z
water 254 whirl 140 zenith 145
wave dispersion white colour does not last 337 zenith angle 154
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

films of types 257 Wien’s displacement constant zepto 385

wave motion 393 zero 377
six main properties and wife 451 zero gravity 429
effects 259 Wikimedia 323, 478 Zetta 385
wave reflection 259 wind generator zippo 357
wave, harmonic 253 angular momentum 109 zodiac 164
wave, linear 253 wind resistance 201
wavelength 253, 260 wine 285
 Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
511
zodiac
MOTION MOUNTAIN
The Adventure of Physics – Vol. I
Fall, Flow and Heat

Why do change and motion exist?

How does a rainbow form?
What is the most fantastic voyage possible?
Is ‘empty space’ really empty?
How can one levitate things?
At what distance between two points does it become
impossible to find room for a third one in between?
What does ‘quantum’ mean?
Which problems in physics are unsolved?

Answering these and other questions on motion,

this series gives an entertaining and mind-twisting
introduction into modern physics – one that is
surprising and challenging on every page.
Starting from everyday life, the adventure provides
an overview of the recent results in mechanics,
thermodynamics, electrodynamics, relativity,
quantum theory, quantum gravity and unification.
It is written for undergraduate students and for
anybody interested in physics.

Christoph Schiller, PhD Université Libre de Bruxelles,

is a physicist with more than 25 years of experience
in the presentation of physical topics.

Pdf file available free of charge at

www.motionmountain.net
Christoph Schiller

MOTION MOUNTAIN
the adventure of physics – vol.ii
relativity

www.motionmountain.net
 Christoph Schiller

Motion Mountain

The Adventure of Physics

Volume II

Relativity

Edition 25.04, available as free pdf at

www.motionmountain.net
Editio vicesima quinta.

Proprietas scriptoris © Chrestophori Schiller

primo anno Olympiadis trigesimae.

Omnia proprietatis iura reservantur et vindicantur.

Imitatio prohibita sine auctoris permissione.
Non licet pecuniam expetere pro aliqua, quae
partem horum verborum continet; liber
pro omnibus semper gratuitus erat et manet.

Twenty-fifth edition.

Copyright © 2012 by Christoph Schiller,

the first year of the 30th Olympiad.

This pdf file is licensed under the Creative Commons

Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Germany
Licence, whose full text can be found on the website
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/de,
with the additional restriction that reproduction, distribution and use,
in whole or in part, in any product or service, be it
commercial or not, is not allowed without the written consent of
the copyright owner. The pdf file was and remains free for everybody
to read, store and print for personal use, and to distribute
electronically, but only in unmodified form and at no charge.
To Britta, Esther and Justus Aaron

τῷ ἐμοὶ δαὶμονι
Die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären.
PR EFAC E

“ ”
Primum movere, deinde docere.*
Antiquity

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Curiosity
about how people, animals, things, images and empty space move leads to many adven-
tures. This volume presents the best of them in the domains of relativity and cosmology.
In the study of motion – physics – special and general relativity form two important
building blocks, as shown in Figure 1.
Special relativity is the exploration of the energy speed limit c. General relativity is the
exploration of the force limit c 4 /4G. The text shows that in both domains, all equations
follow from these two limit values. This simple, intuitive and unusual way of learning
relativity should reward the curiosity of every reader – whether student or professional.
The present volume is the second of a six-volume overview of physics that arose from
a threefold aim that I have pursued since 1990: to present motion in a way that is simple,
up to date and captivating.
In order to be simple, the text focuses on concepts, while keeping mathematics to the
necessary minimum. Understanding the concepts of physics is given precedence over
using formulae in calculations. The whole text is within the reach of an undergraduate.
In order to be up to date, the text is enriched by the many gems – both theoretical and
empirical – that are scattered throughout the scientific literature.
In order to be captivating, the text tries to startle the reader as much as possible. Read-
ing a book on general physics should be like going to a magic show. We watch, we are
astonished, we do not believe our eyes, we think, and finally we understand the trick.
When we look at nature, we often have the same experience. Indeed, every page presents
at least one surprise or provocation for the reader to think about. Numerous interesting
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

challenges are proposed.

The motto of the text, die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären, a famous statement by
Hartmut von Hentig on pedagogy, translates as: ‘To fortify people, to clarify things.’ Clar-
ifying things requires courage, as changing habits of thought produces fear, often hidden
by anger. But by overcoming our fears we grow in strength. And we experience intense
and beautiful emotions. All great adventures in life allow this, and exploring motion is
one of them. Enjoy it!

Munich, 22 March 2012.

* ‘First move, then teach.’ In modern languages, the mentioned type of moving (the heart) is called motivat-
ing; both terms go back to the same Latin root.
8 preface

PHYSICS: Final, unified description of Why does motion

Describing motion motion occur? What are
with the least action principle. Adventures: understanding space, time and
motion, intense joy with quantum particles?
thinking, catching a
glimpse of bliss,
calculating
masses and
couplings.

Quantum
General relativity theory with gravity Quantum field theory
Adventures: the Adventures: bouncing Adventures: building
night sky, measu- neutrons, under- accelerators, under-
ring curved space, standing tree standing quarks, stars,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
exploring black growth. bombs and the basis of
holes and the life, matter, radiation.
universe, space How do small
and time. things move?
What are things?
How do
Classical gravity everyday, Special relativity Quantum theory
Adventures: fast and large Adventures: light, Adventures: death,
climbing, skiing, things move? magnetism, length reproduction, biology,
space travel, contraction, time chemistry, evolution,
the wonders of dilation and enjoying colours and
astronomy and E0 = mc2. art, all high-tech
geology. business, medicine.
G c h, e, k

Galilean physics, heat and electricity

Adventures: sport, music, sailing, cooking,
describing beauty and understanding its origin,
using electricity and computers,
understanding the brain and people.

F I G U R E 1 A complete map of physics: the connections are defined by the speed of light c, the
gravitational constant G, the Planck constant h, the Boltzmann constant k and the elementary charge e. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Advice for learners

In my experience as a teacher, there was one learning method that never failed to trans-
form unsuccessful pupils into successful ones: if you read a book for study, summarize
every section you read, in your own words, aloud. If you are unable to do so, read the sec-
tion again. Repeat this until you can clearly summarize what you read in your own words,
aloud. You can do this alone in a room, or with friends, or while walking. If you do this
with everything you read, you will reduce your learning and reading time significantly.
The most inefficient learning method is to use a marker or to underline text: it wastes
time, provides false comfort and makes the text unreadable. Nobody marking text is an
efficient learner. Instead, by repeating every section in your own words, aloud, you will
 preface 9

save time and money, enjoy learning from good texts much more and hate bad texts
much less. Masters of the method can use it even while listening to a lecture, in a low
voice, thus avoiding to ever take notes.

Using this book

Text in green, as found in many marginal notes, marks a link that can be clicked in a pdf
reader. Such green links are either bibliographic references, footnotes, cross references
to other pages, challenge solutions, or pointers to websites.
Solutions and hints for challenges are given in the appendix. Challenges are classified
as research level (r), difficult (d), standard student level (s) and easy (e). Challenges of
type r, d or s for which no solution has yet been included in the book are marked (ny).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Feedback and support

This text is and will remain free to download from the internet. I would be delighted to
receive an email from you at [email protected], especially on the following issues:
Challenge 1 s — What was unclear and should be improved?
— What story, topic, riddle, picture or movie did you miss?
— What should be corrected?
In order to simplify annotations, the pdf file allows adding yellow sticker notes in Adobe
Reader.
Alternatively, you can provide feedback on www.motionmountain.net/wiki. Help on
the specific points listed on the www.motionmountain.net/help.html web page would be
particularly welcome. All feedback will be used to improve the next edition. On behalf
of all readers, thank you in advance for your input. For a particularly useful contribution
you will be mentioned – if you want – in the acknowledgements, receive a reward, or
both.
Your donation to the charitable, tax-exempt non-profit organisation that produces,
translates and publishes this book series is welcome! For details, see the web page www.
motionmountain.net/donation.html. If you want, your name will be included in the
sponsor list. Thank you in advance for your help, on behalf of all readers across the world.
A paper edition of this book, printed on demand and delivered by mail to any ad-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

dress, can be ordered at www.lulu.com/spotlight/motionmountain. But above all, enjoy

the reading!
 Contents
14 1 Maximum speed, observers at rest, and motion of light
Can one play tennis using a laser pulse as the ball and mirrors as rackets? 20 •
Albert Einstein 22 • An invariant limit speed and its consequences 22 • Special
relativity with a few lines 25 • Acceleration of light and the Doppler effect 27
• The difference between light and sound 32 • Can one shoot faster than one’s
shadow? 32 • The composition of velocities 34 • Observers and the principle of
special relativity 35 • What is space-time? 40 • Can we travel to the past? –
Time and causality 42 • Curiosities about special relativity 43 • Faster than light:
how far can we travel? 43 • Synchronization and time travel – can a mother stay
younger than her own daughter? 44 • Length contraction 47 • Relativistic films
– aberration and Doppler effect 49 • Which is the best seat in a bus? 50 • How

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
fast can one walk? 53 • Is the speed of shadow greater than the speed of light? 53
• Parallel to parallel is not parallel – Thomas rotation 56 • A never-ending story –
temperature and relativity 57
59 2 R el ativistic mechanics
Mass in relativity 59 • Why relativistic snooker is more difficult 61 • Mass and
energy are equivalent 63 • Weighing light 64 • Collisions, virtual objects and
tachyons 66 • Systems of particles – no centre of mass 67 • Why is most motion so
slow? 68 • The history of the mass–energy equivalence formula 69 • 4-vectors 69
• 4-velocity 71 • 4-acceleration and proper acceleration 72 • 4-momentum or
energy–momentum or momenergy 74 • 4-force 75 • Rotation in relativity 76
• Wave motion 78 • The action of a free particle – how do things move? 79 •
Conformal transformations 81 • Accelerating observers 82 • Accelerating frames
of reference 84 • Constant acceleration 86 • Event horizons 88 • The importance
of horizons 89 • Acceleration changes colours 90 • Can light move faster than
c? 91 • The composition of accelerations 91 • A curiosity: what is the one-way
speed of light? 92 • Limits on the length of solid bodies 93
95 3 Special rel ativit y in four sentences
Could the speed of light vary? 95 • Where does special relativity break down? 96
97 4 Simple general relativit y: gravitation, maximum speed and max-
imum force
Maximum force – general relativity in one statement 98 • The force and power
limits 99 • The experimental evidence 101 • Deducing general relativity 103 •
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Space-time is curved 107 • Conditions of validity of the force and power limits 108
• Gedanken experiments and paradoxes about the force limit 109 • Gedanken
experiments with the power limit and the mass flow limit 114 • Why maximum
force has remained undiscovered for so long 117 • An intuitive understanding of
general relativity 118 • An intuitive understanding of cosmology 120 • Exper-
imental challenges for the third millennium 121 • A summary of general relativ-
ity 122
124 5 How maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y
Rest and free fall 124 • What clocks tell us about gravity 125 • What tides tell us
about gravity 129 • Bent space and mattresses 130 • Curved space-time 132 •
The speed of light and the gravitational constant 134 • Why does a stone thrown
into the air fall back to Earth? – Geodesics 136 • Can light fall? 138 • Curiosities
contents 11

and fun challenges about gravitation 139 • What is weight? 144 • Why do
apples fall? 145 • A summary: the implications of the invariant speed of light on
gravitation 146
147 6 Open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum
Weak fields 147 • The Thirring effects 148 • Gravitomagnetism 149 • Gravita-
tional waves 153 • Production and detection of gravitational waves 157 • Bending
of light and radio waves 161 • Time delay 163 • Relativistic effects on orbits 163
• The geodesic effect 166 • Curiosities and fun challenges about weak fields 167 •
A summary on orbits and waves 169
170 7 From curvature to motion
How to measure curvature in two dimensions 170 • Three dimensions: curvature
of space 172 • Curvature in space-time 174 • Average curvature and motion
in general relativity 176 • Universal gravity 177 • The Schwarzschild metric 178

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
• Curiosities and fun challenges about curvature 178 • Three-dimensional
curvature: the Ricci tensor 179 • Average curvature: the Ricci scalar 179 •
The Einstein tensor 180 • The description of momentum, mass and energy 180
• Einstein’s field equations 182 • Universal gravitation – again 184 • Under-
standing the field equations 184 • Hilbert’s action – how do things fall? 185 • The
symmetries of general relativity 186 • Mass in general relativity 186 • The force
limit and the cosmological constant 187 • Is gravity an interaction? 188 • How to
calculate the shape of geodesics 189 • Riemann gymnastics 190 • Curiosities and
fun challenges about general relativity 192 • A summary of the field equations 193
194 8 Why can we see the stars? – Motion in the universe
Which stars do we see? 194 • What do we see at night? 197 • What is the uni-
verse? 204 • The colour and the motion of the stars 206 • Do stars shine every
night? 209 • A short history of the universe 210 • The history of space-time 214
• Why is the sky dark at night? 218 • The colour variations of the night sky 221
• Is the universe open, closed or marginal? 222 • Why is the universe transpar-
ent? 223 • The big bang and its consequences 224 • Was the big bang a big
bang? 225 • Was the big bang an event? 225 • Was the big bang a beginning? 225
• Does the big bang imply creation? 226 • Why can we see the Sun? 227 • Why
do the colours of the stars differ? 228 • Are there dark stars? 229 • Are all stars
different? – Gravitational lenses 230 • What is the shape of the universe? 232 •
What is behind the horizon? 233 • Why are there stars all over the place? – In-
flation 233 • Why are there so few stars? – The energy and entropy content of the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

universe 234 • Why is matter lumped? 235 • Why are stars so small compared
with the universe? 235 • Are stars and galaxies moving apart or is the universe ex-
panding? 235 • Is there more than one universe? 236 • Why are the stars fixed? –
Arms, stars and Mach’s principle 236 • At rest in the universe 237 • Does light
attract light? 238 • Does light decay? 238 • Summary on cosmology 239
240 9 Black holes – falling forever
Why explore black holes? 240 • Mass concentration and horizons 240 • Black
hole horizons as limit surfaces 244 • Orbits around black holes 244 • Black holes
have no hair 247 • Black holes as energy sources 249 • Formation of and search
for black holes 251 • Singularities 252 • Curiosities and fun challenges about black
holes 253 • Summary on black holes 256 • A quiz – is the universe a black
hole? 256
12 contents

258 10 D oes space differ from time?

Can space and time be measured? 260 • Are space and time necessary? 261 •
Do closed timelike curves exist? 261 • Is general relativity local? – The hole argu-
ment 261 • Is the Earth hollow? 263 • A summary: are space, time and mass
independent? 264
265 11 General rel ativit y in a nu tshell – a summary for the l ayman
The accuracy of the description 266 • Research in general relativity and cosmol-
ogy 268 • Could general relativity be different? 269 • The limits of general rela-
tivity 270
272 a Units, measurements and constants
SI units 272 • The meaning of measurement 275 • Curiosities and fun challenges
about units 275 • Precision and accuracy of measurements 277 • Limits to preci-
sion 278 • Physical constants 279 • Useful numbers 285

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
286 Challenge hints and solu tions
295 Biblio graphy
322 Credits
Film credits 323 • Image credits 323

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

R elativity

In our quest to learn how things move,

the experience of hiking and other motion
leads us to discover that there is a maximum speed in nature,
and that two events that happen at the same time for one observer
may not for another.
We discover that empty space can bend, wobble and move,
we find that there is a maximum force in nature,
and we understand why we can see the stars.
 Chapter 1

MA XIMUM SPEED, OBSERVERS AT

R EST, AND MOTION OF LIGHT

“ ”
Fama nihil est celerius.*
Antiquity

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
L
ight is indispensable for a precise description of motion. To check whether a
ine or a path of motion is straight, we must look along it. In other words, we use
ight to define straightness. How do we decide whether a plane is flat? We look
across it,** again using light. How do we observe motion? With light. How do we mea-
sure length to high precision? With light. How do we measure time to high precision?
With light: once it was light from the Sun that was used; nowadays it is light from caesium
Page 272 atoms.
Light is important because it is the standard for undisturbed motion. Physics would
have evolved much more rapidly if, at some earlier time, light propagation had been
recognized as the ideal example of motion.
But is light really a phenomenon of motion? Yes. This was already known in ancient
Greece, from a simple daily phenomenon, the shadow. Shadows prove that light is a mov-
ing entity, emanating from the light source, and moving in straight lines.*** The Greek
Ref. 1 thinker Empedocles (c. 490 to c. 430 bce) drew the logical conclusion that light takes a
certain amount of time to travel from the source to the surface showing the shadow.
Empedocles thus stated that the speed of light is finite. We can confirm this result with
a different, equally simple, but subtle argument. Speed can be measured. And measure-
ment is comparison with a standard. Therefore the perfect speed, which is used as the
implicit measurement standard, must have a finite value. An infinite velocity standard
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* ‘Nothing is faster than rumour.’ This common sentence is a simplified version of Virgil’s phrase: fama,
malum qua non aliud velocius ullum. ‘Rumour, the evil faster than all.’ From the Aeneid, book IV, verses 173
and 174.
** Note that looking along the plane from all sides is not sufficient for this check: a surface that a light beam
touches right along its length in all directions does not need to be flat. Can you give an example? One needs
Challenge 2 s other methods to check flatness with light. Can you specify one?
*** Whenever a source produces shadows, the emitted entities are called rays or radiation. Apart from light,
other examples of radiation discovered through shadows were infrared rays and ultraviolet rays, which em-
anate from most light sources together with visible light, and cathode rays, which were found to be to the
motion of a new particle, the electron. Shadows also led to the discovery of X-rays, which again turned out
to be a version of light, with high frequency. Channel rays were also discovered via their shadows; they turn
out to be travelling ionized atoms. The three types of radioactivity, namely α-rays (helium nuclei), β-rays
(again electrons), and γ-rays (high-energy X-rays) also produce shadows. All these discoveries were made
between 1890 and 1910: those were the ‘ray days’ of physics.
 motion of light 15

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 2 How do you check whether the lines
are curved or straight?

Jupiter and Io
(second measurement)

Earth (second
measurement)

Sun Earth (first Jupiter and Io

measurement) (first measurement)

F I G U R E 3 Rømer’s method of measuring the speed of light.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 3 s would not allow measurements at all. In nature, lighter entities tend to move with higher
speed. Light, which is indeed extremely light, is an obvious candidate for motion with
perfect but finite speed. We will confirm this in a minute.
A finite speed of light means that whatever we see is a message from the past. When
we see the stars,* the Sun or a person we love, we always see an image of the past. In a
sense, nature prevents us from enjoying the present – we must therefore learn to enjoy
the past.
The speed of light is high; therefore it was not measured until the years 1668 to 1676,
even though many, including Galileo, had tried to do so earlier. The first measurement
* The photograph of the night sky and the milky way, on page 13 is copyright Anthony Ayiomamitis and is
found on his splendid website www.perseus.gr.
 16 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

rain's perspective light's perspective wind’s perspective

rain light wind

c
c c
󰑣
󰑣 Earth 󰑣
Sun
windsurfer

walker’s perspective human perspective windsurfer’s perspective

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
α α
c c
c
α 󰑣 󰑣
Sun
󰑣

F I G U R E 4 The rainwalker’s or windsurfer’s method of measuring the speed of light.

Ref. 2 method was worked out and published by the Danish astronomer Ole Rømer* when
Vol. I, page 183 he was studying the orbits of Io and the other Galilean satellites of Jupiter. He did not
obtain any specific value for the speed of light because he had no reliable value for the
satellite’s distance from Earth and because his timing measurements were imprecise. The
Ref. 3 lack of a numerical result was quickly corrected by his peers, mainly Christiaan Huygens
Challenge 4 s and Edmund Halley. (You might try to deduce Rømer’s method from Figure 3.) Since
Rømer’s time it has been known that light takes a bit more than 8 minutes to travel from
the Sun to the Earth. This result was confirmed in a beautiful way fifty years later, in 1726,
Vol. I, page 137 by the astronomer James Bradley. Being English, Bradley thought of the ‘rain method’ to
Ref. 4 measure the speed of light.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

How can we measure the speed of falling rain? We walk rapidly with an umbrella,
measure the angle α at which the rain appears to fall, and then measure our own velocity
󰑣. (We can clearly see the angle while walking if we look at the rain to our left or right,
if possible against a dark background.) As shown in Figure 4, the speed c of the rain is

* Ole (Olaf) Rømer (1644 Aarhus – 1710 Copenhagen), Danish astronomer. He was the teacher of the
Dauphin in Paris, at the time of Louis XIV. The idea of measuring the speed of light in this way was due to
the Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini, whose assistant Rømer had been. Rømer continued his measure-
ments until 1681, when Rømer had to leave France, like all protestants (such as Christiaan Huygens), so that
his work was interrupted. Back in Denmark, a fire destroyed all his measurement notes. As a result, he was
not able to continue improving the precision of his method. Later he became an important administrator
and reformer of the Danish state.
 motion of light 17

then given (approximately) by

c = 󰑣/ tan α . (1)

In the same way we can measure the speed of wind when on a surfboard or on a ship.
The same measurement can be made for light. Figure 4 shows that we just need to mea-
sure the angle between the motion of the Earth and the light coming from a star above
Earth’s orbit. Because the Earth is moving relative to the Sun and thus to the star, the
angle is not 90°. This deviation is called the aberration of light; the aberration is deter-
mined most easily by comparing measurements made six months apart. The value of the
aberration angle is 20.5 󳰀󳰀 . (Nowadays it can be measured with a precision of five decimal
digits.) Given that the speed of the Earth around the Sun is 󰑣 = 2πR/T = 29.7 km/s, the
speed of light must therefore be c = 0.300 Gm/s.* This is an astonishing value, especially
when compared with the highest speed ever achieved by a man-made object, namely the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Voyager satellites, which travel away from us at 52 Mm/h = 14 km/s, with the growth of
children, about 3 nm/s, or with the growth of stalagmites in caves, about 0.3 pm/s. We
begin to realize why measurement of the speed of light is a science in its own right.
The first precise measurement of the speed of light was made in 1849 by the French
physicist Hippolyte Fizeau (1819–1896). His value was only 5 % greater than the modern
one. He sent a beam of light towards a distant mirror and measured the time the light
took to come back. How did Fizeau measure the time without any electric device? In fact,
Vol. I, page 58 he used the same ideas that are used to measure bullet speeds; part of the answer is given
Challenge 9 s in Figure 5. (How far away does the mirror have to be?) A modern reconstruction of
Ref. 7 his experiment by Jan Frercks has achieved a precision of 2 %. Today, the experiment is

* Umbrellas were not common in Britain in 1726; they became fashionable later, after being introduced
from China. The umbrella part of the story is made up. In reality, Bradley had his idea while sailing on
the Thames, when he noted that on a moving ship the apparent wind has a different direction from that
on land. He had observed 50 stars for many years, notably Gamma Draconis, and during that time he had
been puzzled by the sign of the aberration, which was opposite to the effect he was looking for, namely that
of the star parallax. Both the parallax and the aberration for a star above the ecliptic make them describe a
Challenge 5 s small ellipse in the course of an Earth year, though with different orientations. Can you see why?
Challenge 6 s By the way, the correct formula (1) is c = 󰑣/(tan α 󵀆1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2 ). Why?
To determine the speed of the Earth, we first have to determine its distance from the Sun. The simplest
method is the one by the Greek thinker Aristarchus of Samos (c. 310 to c. 230 bce ). We measure the angle
between the Moon and the Sun at the moment when the Moon is precisely half full. The cosine of that angle
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. I, page 153 gives the ratio between the distance to the Moon (determined as explained earlier on) and the distance to
Challenge 7 s the Sun. The explanation is left as a puzzle for the reader.
The angle in question is almost a right angle (which would yield an infinite distance), and good instru-
Ref. 5 ments are needed to measure it with precision, as Hipparchus noted in an extensive discussion of the prob-
lem around 130 bce. Precise measurement of the angle became possible only in the late seventeenth century,
when it was found to be 89.86°, giving a distance ratio of about 400. Today, thanks to radar measurements
Page 284 of planets, the distance to the Sun is known with the incredible precision of 30 metres. Moon distance vari-
Challenge 8 s ations can even be measured to the nearest centimetre; can you guess how this is achieved?
Ref. 6 Aristarchus also determined the radius of the Sun and of the Moon as multiples of those of the Earth.
Aristarchus was a remarkable thinker: he was the first to propose the heliocentric system, and perhaps the
first to propose that stars were other, faraway suns. For these ideas, several of his contemporaries proposed
that he should be condemned to death for impiety. When the Polish monk and astronomer Nicolaus Coper-
nicus (1473–1543) again proposed the heliocentric system two thousand years later, he did not mention
Aristarchus, even though he got the idea from him.
 18 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

half-silvered
mirror
large distance

mirror light
source

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 5 Fizeau’s set-up to measure the speed of light (photo © AG Didaktik und Geschichte der
Physik, Universität Oldenburg).

red
shutter
switch
beam

path of light pulse

10 mm

F I G U R E 6 A photograph of a green light pulse moving from right to left through a bottle with milky
water, marked in millimetres (photograph © Tom Mattick).
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

much simpler; in the chapters on electrodynamics we will discover how to measure the
speed of light using two standard UNIX or Linux computers connected by a cable, using
Vol. III, page 29 the ‘ping’ command.
The speed of light is so high that it is even difficult to prove that it is finite. Perhaps
the most beautiful way to prove this is to photograph a light pulse flying across one’s
field of view, in the same way as one can photograph a car driving by or a bullet flying
Ref. 8 through the air. Figure 6 shows the first such photograph, produced in 1971 with a stan-
dard off-the-shelf reflex camera, a very fast shutter invented by the photographers, and,
most noteworthy, not a single piece of electronic equipment. (How fast does such a shut-
Challenge 10 s ter have to be? How would you build such a shutter? And how would you make sure it
opened at the right instant?)
A finite speed of light also implies that a rapidly rotating light beam bends, as shown
 motion of light 19

F I G U R E 7 A consequence of the finiteness

of the speed of light. Watch out for the
tricky details – light does travel straight from
the source, it does not move along the
drawn curved line; the same occurs for
water emitted by a rotating water sprinkler.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
TA B L E 1 Properties of the motion of light.

O b s e r va t i o n s a b o u t l i g h t

Light can move through vacuum.

Light transports energy.
Light has momentum: it can hit bodies.
Light has angular momentum: it can rotate bodies.
Light moves across other light undisturbed.
Light in vacuum always moves faster than any material body does.
The speed of light, its true signal speed, is the forerunner speed. Vol. III, page 116
In vacuum, the speed of light is 299 792 458 m/s (or roughly 30 cm/ns).
The proper speed of light is infinite. Page 44
Shadows can move without any speed limit.
Light moves in a straight line when far from matter.
High-intensity light is a wave.
Light beams are approximations when the wavelength is neglected.
In matter, both the forerunner speed and the energy speed of light are lower than in vacuum.
In matter, the group velocity of light pulses can be zero, positive, negative or infinite.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

as in Figure 7. In everyday life, the high speed of light and the slow rotation of lighthouses
make the effect barely noticeable.
In short, light moves extremely rapidly. It is much faster than lightning, as you might
Challenge 11 s like to check yourself. A century of increasingly precise measurements of the speed have
culminated in the modern value

c = 299 792 458 m/s. (2)

In fact, this value has now been fixed exactly, by definition, and the metre has been de-
fined in terms of c. An approximate value for c is thus 0.3 Gm/s or 30 cm/ns. Table 1
gives a summary of what is known today about the motion of light. Two of the most sur-
prising properties were discovered in the late nineteenth century. They form the basis of
 20 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

Ref. 9 what is called the theory of special relativity.

Can one play tennis using a laser pulse as the ball and mirrors
as rackets?

“ ”
Et nihil est celerius annis.*
Ovid, Metamorphoses.

We all know that in order to throw a stone as far as possible, we run as we throw it; we
know instinctively that in that case the stone’s speed with respect to the ground is higher
than if we do not run. However, to the initial astonishment of everybody, experiments
show that light emitted from a moving lamp has the same speed as light emitted from
a resting one. The simplest way to prove this is to look at the sky. The sky shows many
examples of double stars: these are two stars that rotate around each other along ellipses.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In some of these systems, we see the ellipses (almost) edge-on, so that each star periodi-
cally moves towards and away from us. If the speed of light would vary with the speed of
the source, we would see bizarre effects, because the light emitted from some positions
would catch up the light emitted from other positions. In particular, we would not be
able to see the elliptical shape of the orbits. However, bizarre effects are not seen, and the
ellipses are observed. Willem de Sitter gave this beautiful argument already in 1913; he
Ref. 10 confirmed the validity with a large number of double stars.
In other words, light (in vacuum) is never faster than light; all light beams have the
same speed. Many specially designed experiments have confirmed this result to high
Ref. 11 precision. The speed of light can be measured with a precision of better than 1 m/s; but
even for lamp speeds of more than 290 000 000 m/s the speed of the emitted light does
Challenge 12 s not change. (Can you guess what lamps were used?)
In everyday life, we also know that a stone arrives more rapidly if we run towards it
than in the case that we stand still or even run away from it. But astonishingly again, for
light no such effect exists! All experiments clearly show that if we run towards a lamp,
we measure the same speed of light as in the case that we stand still or even run away
Ref. 12 from it. Also these experiments have been performed to the highest precision possible.
All experiments thus show that the velocity of light has the same value for all observers,
even if they are moving with respect to each other or with respect to the light source. The
speed of light is indeed the ideal, perfect measurement standard.**
Ref. 15 There is also a second set of experimental evidence for the constancy, or better, the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

invariance of the speed of light. Every electromagnetic device, such as an electric vacuum

* ‘Nothing is faster than the years.’ Book X, verse 520.

** An equivalent alternative term for the speed of light is ‘radar speed’ or ‘radio speed’; we will see later why
Vol. III, page 98 this is the case.
The speed of light is also not far from the speed of neutrinos. This was shown most spectacularly by the
observation of a supernova in 1987, when the light flash and the neutrino pulse arrived on Earth only 12
seconds apart. (It is not known whether the difference is due to speed differences or to a different starting
point of the two flashes.) What would be the first digit for which the two speed values could differ, knowing
Challenge 13 s that the supernova was 1.7 ⋅ 105 light years away, and assuming the same starting point?
Experiments also show that the speed of light is the same in all directions of space, to at least 21 dig-
Ref. 13 its of precision. Other data, taken from gamma ray bursts, show that the speed of light is independent of
Ref. 14 frequency to at least 20 digits of precision.
 motion of light 21

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 8 All devices based on electric motors prove that the speed of light is invariant (© Miele,
EasyGlide).

F I G U R E 9 Albert Einstein (1879–1955).

Vol. III, page 46 cleaner, shows that the speed of light is invariant. We will discover that magnetic fields
would not result from electric currents, as they do every day in every electric motor
and in every loudspeaker, if the speed of light were not invariant. This was actually how
the invariance was first deduced, by several researchers. Only after these results did the
German–Swiss physicist Albert Einstein show that the invariance of the speed of light is Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

also in agreement with the observed motion of bodies. We will check this agreement in
Ref. 16 this chapter. The connection between relativity and electric vacuum cleaners, as well as
Vol. III, page 46 other machines, will be explored in the chapters on electrodynamics.
The main connection between light and motion of bodies can be stated in a few words.
If the speed of light were not invariant, observers would be able to move at the speed of
light. Why? Since light is a wave, an observer moving at the same speed as the wave
would see a frozen wave. However, electromagnetism forbids such a phenomenon. There-
fore, observers cannot reach the speed of light. The speed of light is thus a limit speed.
Observers and bodies thus always move slower than light. Therefore, light is also an in-
variant speed. In other words, tennis with light is not fun: the speed of light is always the
same.
Challenge 14 ny By the way, is it possible at all to play tennis with light?
 22 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (b. 1879 Ulm, d. 1955 Princeton) was one of the greatest physicists and of
the greatest thinkers ever. (The ‘s’ in his name is pronounced ‘sh’.) In 1905, he published
three important papers: one about Brownian motion, one about special relativity, and
one about the idea of light quanta. The first paper showed definitely that matter is made
of molecules and atoms; the second showed the invariance of the speed of light; and the
third paper was one of the starting points of quantum theory. Each paper was worth a
Nobel Prize, but he was awarded the prize only for the last one. Also in 1905, he proved
the famous formula E0 = mc 2 (published in early 1906), after a few others also had pro-
Page 69 posed it. Although Einstein was one of the founders of quantum theory, he later turned
against it. His famous discussions with his friend Niels Bohr nevertheless helped to clar-
ify the field in its most counter-intuitive aspects. He also explained the Einstein–de Haas

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
effect which proves that magnetism is due to motion inside materials. After many other
discoveries, in 1915 and 1916 he published his highest achievement: the general theory of
Page 124 relativity, one of the most beautiful and remarkable works of science.
Being Jewish and famous, Einstein was a favourite target of attacks and discrimination
by the National Socialist movement; therefore, in 1933 he emigrated from Germany to the
USA; since that time, he stopped contact with Germans, except for a few friends, among
them Max Planck. Until his death, Einstein kept his Swiss passport. He was not only a
Ref. 17 great physicist, but also a great thinker; his collection of thoughts about topics outside
physics are well worth reading. His family life was disastrous, and he made each of his
family members unhappy.
Anyone interested in emulating Einstein should know first of all that he published
many papers. He was ambitious and hard-working. Moreover, many of his papers were
wrong; he would then correct them in subsequent papers, and then do so again. This
happened so frequently that he made fun of himself about it. Einstein indeed realized the
well-known definition of a genius as a person who makes the largest possible number of
mistakes in the shortest possible time.

An invariant limit speed and its consequences

Experiments and theory show that observers cannot reach the speed of light. Equiva-
lently, no object can reach the speed of light. In other words, not only is light the stan-
dard of speed; it is also the maximum speed in nature. More precisely, the velocity 󰑣 of Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

any physical system in nature (i.e., any localized mass or energy) is bound by

󰑣⩽c. (3)

This relation is the basis of special relativity; in fact, the complete theory of special rela-
tivity is contained in it.
An invariant limit speed is not as surprising at we might think. We need such an
Page 95 invariant in order be able to measure speeds. Nevertheless, an invariant maximum speed
implies many fascinating results: it leads to observer-varying time and length intervals,
to an intimate relation between mass and energy, to the existence of event horizons and
to the existence of antimatter, as we will see.
 motion of light 23

TA B L E 2 How to convince yourself and others that there is a maximum

speed c in nature. Compare this table with the table about maximum
force, on page 99 below, and with the table about a smallest action, on
page 16 in volume IV.

Issue Test Met hod

The energy speed value c is check all observations

observer-invariant
Local energy speed values > c are check all observations
not observed
Observed speed values > c are check all observations
either non-local or not due to
energy transport
Local energy speed values > c check all attempts

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
cannot be produced
Local energy speed values > c solve all paradoxes
cannot be imagined
A maximum local energy speed 1 – check that all
value c is consistent consequences, however
weird, are confirmed by
observation
2 – deduce the theory of
special relativity from it and
check it

Already in 1895, Henri Poincaré* called the discussion of viewpoint invariance the
theory of relativity, and the name was common in 1905. Einstein regretted that the the-
ory was called this way; he would have preferred the name ‘Invarianztheorie’ or ‘theory
Ref. 18 of invariance’, but was not able to change the name any more. Thus Einstein called the
Ref. 15 description of motion without gravity the theory of special relativity, and the description
of motion with gravity the theory of general relativity. Both fields are full of fascinating
and counter-intuitive results.**
Can an invariant limit speed exist in nature? Table 2 shows that we need to explore
three points to accept the idea. We need to show that first, no higher speed is observed,
secondly, that no higher energy speed can ever be observed, and thirdly, that all con-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

sequences of the invariance of the speed of light, however weird they may be, apply to
nature. In fact, this programme defines the theory of special relativity; thus it is all we do
in the remaining of this chapter.
The invariance of the speed of light is in complete contrast with Galilean mechanics,
which describes the behaviour of stones, and proves that Galilean mechanics is wrong at
high velocities. At low velocities the Galilean description remains good, because the error

* Henri Poincaré (1854–1912), important French mathematician and physicist. Poincaré was one of the most
productive men of his time, advancing relativity, quantum theory, and many parts of mathematics.
Ref. 19 ** Among the most beautiful introductions to relativity are still those given by Albert Einstein himself. It
has taken almost a century for books almost as beautiful to appear, such as the texts by Schwinger or by
Ref. 20, Ref. 21 Taylor and Wheeler.
 24 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

is small. But if we want a description valid at all velocities, we have to discard Galilean
mechanics. For example, when we play tennis, by hitting the ball in the right way, we
can increase or decrease its speed. But with light this is impossible. Even if we mount a
mirror on an aeroplane and reflect a light beam with it, the light still moves away with
the same speed. All experiments confirm this weird behaviour of light.
If we accelerate a bus we are driving, the cars on the other side of the road pass by
with higher and higher speeds. For light, experiment shows that this is not so: light always
passes by with the same speed.* Light does not behave like cars or any other matter object.
Again, all experiments confirm this weird behaviour.
Why exactly is the invariance of the speed of light almost unbelievable, even though
the measurements show it unambiguously? Take two observers O and Ω (pronounced
‘omega’) moving with relative velocity 󰑣, such as two cars on opposite sides of the street.
Imagine that at the moment they pass each other, a light flash is emitted by a lamp in O.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The light flash moves through positions x(t) for observer O and through positions ξ(τ)
(pronounced ‘xi of tau’) for Ω. Since the speed of light is the same for both, we have

x ξ
=c= . (4)
t τ

However, in the situation described, we obviously have x ̸= ξ. In other words, the invari-
ance of the speed of light implies that t ̸= τ, i.e., that time is different for observers moving
Challenge 15 e relative to each other. Time is thus not unique. This surprising result, which has been con-
Ref. 22 firmed by many experiments, was first stated clearly in 1905 by Albert Einstein. Though
many others knew about the invariance of c, only the young Einstein had the courage to
say that time is observer-dependent, and to explore and face the consequences. Let us do
so as well.
One remark is in order. The speed of light is a limit speed. What is meant with this
statement is that the speed of light in vacuum is a limit speed. Indeed, particles can move
faster than the speed of light in matter, as long as they move slower than the speed of
light in vacuum. This situation is regularly observed.
In solid or liquid matter, the speed of light is regularly two or three times lower than
the speed of light in vacuum. For special materials, the speed of light can be even lower:
in the centre of the Sun, the speed of light is estimated to be only around 10 km/year =
0.3 mm/s, and even in the laboratory, for some materials, the speed of light has been
Ref. 23, Ref. 24 found to be as low as 0.3 m/s.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. I, page 278 When an aeroplane moves faster than the speed of sound in air, it creates a cone-
shaped shock wave behind it. When a charged particle moves faster that the speed of light
in matter, it emits a cone of radiation, so-called Vavilov–Čerenkov radiation. Vavilov–
Čerenkov radiation is regularly observed; for example, it is the cause of the blue glow of
the water in nuclear reactors and it appears in transparent plastic crossed by fast particles,
a connection used in detectors for accelerator experiments.
In this and the following chapters, when we use the term ‘speed of light’, we mean the
speed of light in vacuum. In fact, the speed of light in air is smaller than that in vacuum

* Indeed, even with the current measurement precision of 2 ⋅ 10−13 , we cannot discern any changes of the
Ref. 13 speed of light for different speeds of the observer.
 motion of light 25

first
t observer second
or clock observer
or clock

k2T
light

t1 = (k 2 + 1)T/2 t2 = kT

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
O
x
F I G U R E 10 A drawing containing most of special
relativity, including the expressions for time dilation
and for the Lorentz transformation.

only by a fraction of one per cent, so that in most cases, the difference between air and
vacuum can be neglected.

Special relativity with a few lines

The speed of light is invariant and constant for all observers. We can thus deduce all
Ref. 25 relations between what two different observers measure with the help of Figure 10. It
shows two observers moving with constant speed against each other, drawn in space-
time. The first is sending a light flash to the second, from where it is reflected back to the
first. Since the speed of light is invariant, light is the only way to compare time and space
coordinates for two distant observers. Also two distant clocks (like two distant metre
bars) can only be compared, or synchronized, using light or radio flashes. Since light
speed is invariant, all light paths in the same direction are parallel in such diagrams.
A constant relative speed between two observers implies that a constant factor k re-
Challenge 16 s lates the time coordinates of events. (Why is the relation linear?) If a flash starts at a time
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

T as measured for the first observer, it arrives at the second at time kT, and then back
Challenge 17 s again at the first at time k 2 T. The drawing shows that

c+󰑣 󰑣 k2 − 1
k=󵀌 or = . (5)
c−󰑣 c k2 + 1

Page 27 This factor will appear again in the Doppler effect.*

Figure 10 also shows that the first observer measures a time t1 for the event when the
light is reflected; however, the second observer measures a different time t2 for the same

* The explanation of relativity using the factor k is often called k-calculus.

 26 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

one moving watch

first second
time time

F I G U R E 11 Moving clocks
two fixed watches
go slow: moving clocks mark
time more slowly than do
stationary clocks.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 12 Moving clocks go slow: moving lithium atoms in a storage ring (left) read out with lasers
(right) confirm the prediction to highest precision (© Max Planck Gesellschaft, TSR relativity team).

event. Time is indeed different for two observers in relative motion. This effect is called
time dilation. In other terms, time is relative. Figure 11 shows a way to illustrate the result.
The time dilation factor between the two observers is found from Figure 10 by com-
paring the values t1 and t2 ; it is given by

t1 1
= = γ(󰑣) . (6)
t2 󵀆 󰑣2
1− c2
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Time intervals for a moving observer are shorter by this factor γ; the time dilation factor
is always larger than 1. In other words, moving clocks go slower. For everyday speeds the
Challenge 18 e effect is tiny. That is why we do not detect time differences in everyday life. Nevertheless,
Galilean physics is not correct for speeds near that of light; the correct expression (6) has
Ref. 26 been tested to a precision better than one part in 10 million, with an experiment shown in
Figure 12. The same factor γ also appears in the formula E = γmc 2 for the equivalence of
mass and energy, which we will deduce below. Expressions (5) or (6) are the only pieces
of mathematics needed in special relativity: all other results derive from it.
If a light flash is sent forward starting from the second observer to the first and re-
flected back, the second observer will make a similar statement: for him, the first clock
is moving, and also for him, the moving clock marks time more slowly. Each of the ob-
 motion of light 27

first
ladder
y second
(first
ladder
observer)
(second
observer)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
x
F I G U R E 13 The observers on both ladders claim
that the other ladder is shorter.

servers observes that the other clock marks time more slowly. The situation is similar to
that of two men comparing the number of steps between two identical ladders that are
not parallel. A man on either ladder will always observe that the steps of the other ladder
are shorter, as shown in Figure 13. There is nothing deeper than this observation at the
Page 47 basis of time dilation and length contraction.
Naturally, many people have tried to find arguments to avoid the strange conclusion
that time differs from observer to observer. But none have succeeded, and all experimen-
tal results confirm that conclusion: time is indeed relative. Let us have a look at some of
the experiments.

Acceleration of light and the Doppler effect

Can light in vacuum be accelerated? It depends on what you mean. Most physicist are
snobbish and say that every mirror accelerates light, because it changes its direction. We Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

will see in the chapter on electromagnetism that matter also has the power to bend light,
Vol. III, page 132 and thus to accelerate it. However, it will turn out that all these methods only change the
direction of propagation; none has the power to change the speed of light in a vacuum. In
particular, light is an example of a motion that cannot be stopped. There are only a few
Challenge 19 s other such examples. Can you name one?
What would happen if we could accelerate light to higher speeds? For this to be pos-
sible, light would have to be made of massive particles. If light had mass, it would be
necessary to distinguish the ‘massless energy speed’ c from the speed of light cL , which
would be lower and would depend on the kinetic energy of those massive light particles.
The speed of light would not be invariant, but the massless energy speed would still be
so. Massive light particles could be captured, stopped and stored in a box. Such boxes
would make electric illumination unnecessary; it would be sufficient to store some day-
 28 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

light in them and release the light, slowly, during the following night, maybe after giving
it a push to speed it up.*
Physicists have tested the possibility of massive light in quite some detail. Observa-
Ref. 27, Ref. 12 tions now put any possible mass of light (particles) at less than 1.3 ⋅ 10−52 kg from terres-
trial experiments, and at less than 4 ⋅ 10−62 kg from astrophysical arguments (which are
slightly less compelling). In other words, light is not heavy, light is light.
But what happens when light hits a moving mirror? The situation is akin to that of
a light source moving with respect to the receiver: the receiver will observe a different
colour from that observed by the sender. This frequency shift is called the Doppler effect.
Christian Doppler** was the first to study the frequency shift in the case of sound waves.
We all know the change in whistle tone between approaching and departing trains: that
is the Doppler effect for sound. We can determine the speed of the train in this way. Bats,
dolphins, and wales use the acoustical Doppler effect to measure the speed of prey, and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
it is used to measure blood flow and heart beat in ultrasound systems (despite being
Vol. I, page 266 extremely loud to babies), as shown in Figure 15.
Doppler was also the first to extend the concept of frequency shift to the case of light
Vol. III, page 98 waves. As we will see, light is (also) a wave, and its colour is determined by its frequency,
or equivalently, by its wavelength λ. Like the tone change for moving trains, Doppler
realized that a moving light source produces a colour at the receiver that differs from the
colour at the source. Simple geometry, and the conservation of the number of maxima
Challenge 20 e and minima, leads to the result

λr 1 󰑣 󰑣
= (1 − cos θr ) = γ (1 − cos θr ) . (7)
λs 󵀆 c c
1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2

The variables 󰑣 and θr in this expression are defined in Figure 16. Light from an approach-
ing source is thus blue-shifted, whereas light from a departing source is red-shifted.
The first observation of the Doppler effect for light, or colour shift, was made by Jo-
hannes Stark*** in 1905, who studied the light emitted by moving atoms. All subsequent
experiments confirmed the calculated colour shift within measurement errors; the latest
Ref. 29 checks have found agreement to within two parts per million.
In contrast to sound waves, a colour change is also found when the motion is trans-
verse to the light signal. Thus, a yellow rod in rapid motion across the field of view will Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* Incidentally, massive light would also have longitudinal polarization modes. This is in contrast to observa-
tions, which show that light is polarized exclusively transversally to the propagation direction.
** Christian Andreas Doppler (b. 1803 Salzburg, d. 1853 Venezia), Austrian physicist. Doppler studied the
effect named after him for sound and light. Already in 1842 he predicted (correctly) that one day we would
be able to use the effect to measure the motion of distant stars by looking at their colours. For his discovery
Ref. 28 of the effect – and despite its experimental confirmation in 1845 and 1846 – Doppler was expelled from the
Imperial Academy of Science in 1852. His health degraded and he died shortly afterwards.
*** Johannes Stark (1874–1957), discovered in 1905 the optical Doppler effect in channel rays, and in 1913
the splitting of spectral lines in electrical fields, nowadays called the Stark effect. For these two discoveries
he received the 1919 Nobel Prize for physics. He left his professorship in 1922 and later turned into a full-
blown National Socialist. A member of the NSDAP from 1930 onwards, he became known for aggressively
criticizing other people’s statements about nature purely for ideological reasons; he became rightly despised
by the academic community all over the world.
 motion of light 29

Redshifts of quasar spectra

Lyman α Hγ Hβ Hα
almost static reference:
Vega
v = 13.6 km/s at 27 al

redshift redshift

quasar 3C273 in Virgo

v = 44 Mm/s at 2 Gal

quasar APM 08279-5255

redshift in Lynx

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
v = 276 Mm/s at 12 Gal

Leo

Aquarius

F I G U R E 14 The Doppler effect for light from two quasars (left) and the – magnified, false colour –
Doppler effect for the almost black colour of the night sky – the cosmic background radiation – due to
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the Earth travelling through space. In the latter case, the Doppler shift implies a tiny change of the
effective temperature of the night sky (© Maurice Gavin, NASA).

have a blue leading edge and a red trailing edge prior to the closest approach to the ob-
server. The colours result from a combination of the longitudinal (first-order) Doppler
shift and the transverse (second-order) Doppler shift. At a particular angle θunshifted the
colour will stay the same. (How does the wavelength change in the purely transverse
Challenge 21 s case? What is the expression for θunshifted in terms of the speed 󰑣?)
The colour or frequency shift explored by Doppler is used in many applications. Al-
most all solid bodies are mirrors for radio waves. Many buildings have doors that open
 30 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
If this red text appears blue,
you are too fast.

F I G U R E 15 The Doppler sonar system of dolphins, the Doppler effect system in a sliding door opener,
the Doppler effect as a speed warning and Doppler sonography to detect blood flow (coloured) in the
umbilical cord of a foetus (© Wikimedia, Hörmann AG, Medison).

automatically when one approaches. A little sensor above the door detects the approach-
ing person. It usually does this by measuring the Doppler effect of radio waves emitted by
the sensor and reflected by the approaching person. (We will see later that radio waves
Vol. III, page 98 and light are manifestations of the same phenomenon.) So the doors open whenever
something moves towards them. Police radar also uses the Doppler effect, this time to
measure the speed of cars.*
As predicted by Doppler himself, the Doppler effect is regularly used to measure the
speed of distant stars, as shown in Figure 14. In these cases, the Doppler shift is often char-
acterized by the red-shift number z, defined with the help of wavelength λ or frequency
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

f by
Δλ f c+󰑣
z= = S −1=󵀌 −1. (8)
λ fR c−󰑣

Challenge 23 s Can you imagine how the number z is determined? Typical values for z for light sources
in the sky range from −0.1 to 3.5, but higher values, up to more than 10, have also been
Challenge 24 s found. Can you determine the corresponding speeds? How can they be so high?
Because of the rotation of the Sun and the Doppler effect, one edge of the Sun is blue-
Ref. 30 shifted, and the other is red-shifted. It is possible to determine the rotation speed of the

Challenge 22 s * At what speed does a red traffic light appear green?

 motion of light 31

sender
at rest

receiver

moving
red-shifted signal sender blue-shifted signal

v receiver

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
y

y
θr
light x
signal receiver

any
sender θs
z

v
x

F I G U R E 16 The set-up for the observation of the Doppler effect in one and three dimensions: waves
emitted by an approaching source arrive with higher frequency and shorter wavelength, in contrast to
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

waves emitted by a departing source (shadow waves courtesy Pbroks13/Wikimedia).

Sun in this way. The time of a rotation lies between 27 and 33 days, depending of the lati-
tude. The Doppler effect also showed that the surface of the Sun oscillates with periods of
the order of 5 minutes. Also the rotation of our galaxy was discovered using the Doppler
effect of its stars; the Sun takes about 220 million years for a rotation around the centre
of the galaxy.
In summary, whenever we try to change the speed of light, we only manage to change
its colour. That is the Doppler effect. In short, acceleration of light leads to colour change.
Vol. I, page 177 This connection leads to a puzzle: we know from classical physics that when light passes
Challenge 25 s a large mass, such as a star, it is deflected. Does this deflection lead to a Doppler shift?
 32 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

The difference between light and sound

The Doppler effect for light is much more fundamental than the Doppler effect for sound.
Even if the speed of light were not yet known to be invariant, the Doppler effect alone
would prove that time is different for observers moving relative to each other. Why? Time
is what we read from our watch. In order to determine whether another watch is synchro-
nized with our own one, we look at both watches. In short, we need to use light signals
Ref. 31 to synchronize clocks. Now, any change in the colour of light moving from one observer
to another necessarily implies that their watches run differently, and thus that time is
different for the two of them. To see this, note that also a light source is a clock – ‘ticking’
very rapidly. So if two observers see different colours from the same source, they mea-
sure different numbers of oscillations for the same clock. In other words, time is different
for observers moving against each other. Indeed, equation (5) for the Doppler effect im-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
plies the whole of special relativity, including the invariance of the speed of light. (Can
you confirm that the connection between observer-dependent frequencies and observer-
Challenge 26 s dependent time breaks down in the case of the Doppler effect for sound?)
Why does the behaviour of light imply special relativity, while that of sound in air does
not? The answer is that light is a limit for the motion of energy. Experience shows that
there are supersonic aeroplanes, but there are no superluminal rockets. In other words,
the limit 󰑣 ⩽ c is valid only if c is the speed of light, not if c is the speed of sound in air.
However, there is at least one system in nature where the speed of sound is indeed a
limit speed for energy: the speed of sound is the limit speed for the motion of disloca-
Vol. V, page 223 tions in crystalline solids. (We discuss this in detail later on.) As a result, the theory of
special relativity is also valid for dislocations, provided that the speed of light is replaced
everywhere by the speed of sound! Indeed, dislocations obey the Lorentz transforma-
Ref. 32 tions, show length contraction, and obey the famous energy formula E = γmc 2 . In all
these effects the speed of sound c plays the same role for dislocations as the speed of light
plays for general physical systems.
Given special relativity is based on the statement that nothing can move faster than
light, we need to check this statement carefully.

Can one shoot faster than one’s shadow?

“ ”
Quid celerius umbra?*
Antiquity Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

For Lucky Luke to achieve the feat shown in Figure 17, his bullet has to move faster than
Challenge 27 e the speed of light. (What about his hand?) In order to emulate Lucky Luke, we could
take the largest practical amount of energy available, taking it directly from an electrical
power station, and accelerate the lightest ‘bullets’ that can be handled, namely electrons.
This experiment is carried out daily in particle accelerators such as the Large Electron
Positron ring, the LEP, of 27 km circumference, located partly in France and partly in
Switzerland, near Geneva. There, 40 MW of electrical power (the same amount used by
a small city) were used to accelerate electrons and positrons to record energies of over
Ref. 33 16 nJ (104.5 GeV) each, and their speed was measured. The result is shown in Figure 18:

* ‘What is faster than the shadow?’ A motto often found on sundials.

 motion of light 33

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 17 Lucky Luke.

even with these impressive means it is impossible to make electrons move more rapidly
Challenge 28 e than light. (Can you imagine a way to measure kinetic energy and speed separately?)
The speed–energy relation of Figure 18 is a consequence of the maximum speed, and
Page 63 its precise details are deduced below. These and many similar observations thus show
that there is a limit to the velocity of objects and radiation. Bodies and radiation cannot
move at velocities higher that the speed of light.* The accuracy of Galilean mechanics was
taken for granted for more than two centuries, so that nobody ever thought of checking
Ref. 36 it; but when this was finally done, as in Figure 18, it was found to be wrong.
The same result appears when we consider momentum instead of energy. Particle ac-
celerators show that momentum is not proportional to speed: at high speeds, doubling
the momentum does not lead to a doubling of speed. In short, experiments show that nei-
ther increasing the energy nor increasing the momentum of even the lightest particles
allows reaching the speed of light.
The people most unhappy with this speed limit are computer engineers: if the speed
limit were higher, it would be possible to build faster microprocessors and thus faster
computers; this would allow, for example, more rapid progress towards the construction
of computers that understand and use language.
The existence of a limit speed runs counter to Galilean mechanics. In fact, it means
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

that for velocities near that of light, say about 15 000 km/s or more, the expression m󰑣 2 /2
is not equal to the kinetic energy T of the particle. In fact, such high speeds are rather
common: many families have an example in their home. Just calculate the speed of elec-
Challenge 29 s trons inside a television tube, given that the transformer inside produces 30 kV.

* There are still people who refuse to accept this result, as well as the ensuing theory of relativity. Every reader
should enjoy the experience, at least once in his life, of conversing with one of these men. (Strangely, no
woman has yet been reported as belonging to this group of people. Despite this conspicuous effect, studying
Ref. 34 the influences of sex on physics is almost a complete waste of time.)
Ref. 35 Crackpots can be found, for example, via the internet, in the sci.physics.relativity newsgroup. See also the
www.crank.net website. Crackpots are a mildly fascinating lot, especially since they teach the importance
of precision in language and in reasoning, which they all, without exception, neglect.
 34 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

󰑣 p = m󰑣

c
m󰑣
p=
󵀂1−󰑣2 /c2

󰑣2 T = 12 m󰑣 2

c2 F I G U R E 18 Experimental values (black

dots) for the electron velocity 󰑣 as

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
T = mc (2 1
− 1)
󵀂1−󰑣2 /c2 function of their momentum p and as
function of their kinetic energy T. The
predictions of Galilean physics (blue)
T and the predictions of special relativity
(red) are also shown.

The speed of light is a limit speed for objects. This property is easily seen to be a con-
sequence of its invariance. Bodies that can be at rest in one frame of reference obviously
move more slowly than light in that frame. Now, if something moves more slowly than
something else for one observer, it does so for all other observers as well. (Trying to imag-
Challenge 30 d ine a world in which this would not be so is interesting: bizarre phenomena would occur,
such as things interpenetrating each other.) Since the speed of light is the same for all
observers, no object can move faster than light, for every observer.
We conclude that the maximum speed is the speed of massless entities. Electromag-
netic waves, including light, are the only known entities that can travel at the maximum
speed. Gravitational waves are also predicted to achieve maximum speed, but this has
not yet been observed. Though the speed of neutrinos cannot be distinguished experi-
mentally from the maximum speed, recent experiments showed that they do have a tiny
Ref. 37 mass.
Conversely, if a phenomenon exists whose speed is the limit speed for one observer,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 31 e then this limit speed must necessarily be the same for all observers. Is the connection
Challenge 32 r between limit property and observer invariance generally valid in nature?

The composition of velocities

If the speed of light is a limit, no attempt to exceed it can succeed. This implies that when
two velocities are composed, as when one throws a stone while running or travelling, the
values cannot simply be added. Imagine a train that is travelling at velocity 󰑣te relative to
the Earth, and a passenger throws a stone inside it, in the same direction, with velocity 󰑣st
relative to the train. It is usually assumed as evident that the velocity of the stone relative
to the Earth is given by 󰑣se = 󰑣st + 󰑣te . In fact, both reasoning and measurement show a
different result.
 motion of light 35

t
first second
observer observer third
(e.g. Earth) (e.g. train) observer
(e.g. stone)
kse T
kte T

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
O
x
F I G U R E 19 How to deduce the composition of
velocities.

Page 23 The existence of a maximum speed, together with Figure 19, implies that the k-factors
must satisfy kse = kst kte .* Then we only need to insert the relation (5) between each
Challenge 33 e k-factor and the respective speed to get

󰑣st + 󰑣te
󰑣se = . (9)
1 + 󰑣st 󰑣te /c 2

Challenge 34 e This is called the velocity composition formula. The result is never larger than c and is
always smaller than the naive sum of the velocities.** Expression (9) has been confirmed
Page 61 by each of the millions of cases for which it has been checked. You may check that it
Ref. 12 simplifies with high precision to the naive sum for everyday life speed values.

Observers and the principle of special relativity

Special relativity is built on a simple principle:
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

⊳ The local maximum speed of energy transport is the same for all observers.
Ref. 39 Or, as Hendrik Lorentz*** liked to say, the equivalent:

* By taking the (natural) logarithm of this equation, one can define a quantity, the rapidity, that quantifies
the speed and is additive.
Ref. 38 ** One can also deduce the Lorentz transformation directly from this expression.
*** Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (b. 1853 Arnhem, d. 1928 Haarlem) was, together with Boltzmann and Kelvin,
one of the most important physicists of his time. He deduced the so-called Lorentz transformation and the
Lorentz contraction from Maxwell’s equations for the electromagnetic field. He was the first to understand,
long before quantum theory confirmed the idea, that Maxwell’s equations for the vacuum also describe
matter and all its properties, as long as moving charged point particles – the electrons – are included. He
showed this in particular for the dispersion of light, for the Zeeman effect, for the Hall effect and for the
 36 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

⊳ The speed 󰑣 of a physical system is bound by

󰑣⩽c (10)

for all observers, where c is the speed of light.

This invariance of the speed of light was known since the 1850s, because the expression
Vol. III, page 98 c = 1/󵀂ε0 μ0 , known to people in the field of electricity, does not depend on the speed of
the observer or of the light source, nor on their orientation or position. The invariance,
including the speed independence, was found by optical experiments that used mov-
ing prisms, moving water, moving bodies with double refraction, interfering light beams
travelling in different directions, interfering circulating light beams or light from moving
stars. The invariance was also found by electromagnetic experiments that used moving
insulators in electric and magnetic fields.* All experiments show without exception that

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the speed of light in vacuum is invariant, whether they were performed before or after
special relativity was formulated. The experiment performed by Albert Michelson, and
the high-precision version to date, by Stephan Schiller and his team, are illustrated in
Figure 20. All such experiments found no change of the speed of light with the motion
Ref. 42 of the Earth within measurement precision, which is around 2 parts in 10−17 at present.
You can also confirm the invariance of the speed of light yourself at home; the way to do
Vol. III, page 46 this is explained in the section on electrodynamics.
The existence of an invariant limit speed has several interesting consequences. To ex-
plore them, let us keep the rest of Galilean physics intact.** The limit property and the
invariance of the speed of light imply:
— In a closed free-floating (‘inertial’) room, there is no way to tell the speed of the room.
Or, as Galileo writes in his Dialogo: il moto [ ...] niente opera ed è come s’ e’ non fusse.
‘Motion [ ...] has no effect and behaves as if it did not exist’. Sometimes this statement
is shortened to: motion is like nothing.
— There is no notion of absolute rest: rest is an observer-dependent, or relative con-
cept.***

Faraday effect. He also gave the correct description of the Lorentz force. In 1902, he received the physics
Nobel Prize together with Pieter Zeeman. Outside physics, he was active in the internationalization of sci-
entific collaborations. He was also instrumental in the creation of the largest human-made structures on
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Earth: the polders of the Zuiderzee.

* All these experiments, which Einstein did not bother to cite in his 1905 paper, were performed by the
Ref. 40 complete who’s who of 19th century physics, such as Wilhelm Röntgen, Alexander Eichenwald, François
Ref. 41 Arago, Augustin Fresnel, Hippolyte Fizeau, Martin Hoek, Harold Wilson, Albert Michelson, (the first US-
American to receive, in 1907, the Nobel Prize in Physics) Edward Morley, Oliver Lodge, John Strutt Rayleigh,
Dewitt Brace, Georges Sagnac and Willem de Sitter among others.
** This point is essential. For example, Galilean physics states that only relative motion is observable.
Vol. I, page 141 Galilean physics also excludes various mathematically possible ways to realize an invariant light speed that
would contradict everyday life.
Einstein’s original 1905 paper starts from two principles: the invariance of the speed of light and the
equivalence, or relativity, of all inertial observers. The latter principle had already been stated in 1632 by
Galileo; only the invariance of the speed of light was new. Despite this fact, the new theory was named – by
Ref. 18 Poincaré – after the old principle, instead of calling it ‘invariance theory’, as Einstein would have preferred.
Challenge 35 s *** Can you give the precise argument leading to this deduction?
motion of light 37

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
half-
transparent
mirror mirror mirror

light intereference
source detector

F I G U R E 20 Testing the invariance of the speed of light on the motion of the observer: the
reconstructed set-up of the first experiment by Albert Michelson in Potsdam, performed in 1881, and a
modern high-precision, laser-based set-up that keeps the mirror distances constant to less than a
proton radius and constantly rotates the whole experiment around a vertical axis (© Astrophysikalisches
Institut Potsdam, Stephan Schiller).

— Length and space depend on the observer; length and space are not absolute, but
relative.
— Time depends on the observer; time is not absolute, but relative.
— Mass and energy are equivalent. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

We can draw more specific conclusions when two additional conditions are realised. First,
we study situations where gravitation can be neglected. (If this not the case, we need
general relativity to describe the system.) Secondly, we also assume that the data about the
bodies under study – their speed, their position, etc. – can be gathered without disturbing
them. (If this not the case, we need quantum theory to describe the system.)
How exactly differ the time intervals and lengths measured by two observers? To an-
swer, we only need a pencil and a ruler. To start, we explore situations where no inter-
action plays a role. In other words, we start with relativistic kinematics: all bodies move
without disturbance.
If an undisturbed body is observed to travel along a straight line with a constant ve-
locity (or to stay at rest), one calls the observer inertial, and the coordinates used by the
observer an inertial frame of reference. Every inertial observer is itself in undisturbed
 38 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

observer (greek) v = constant

light
c
observer (roman) F I G U R E 21 Two inertial
observers and a beam of light.
Both measure the same speed
of light c.

Galilean physics special relativity

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
t τ t τ

L L

F I G U R E 22
ξ Space-time diagrams
for light seen from
O, Ω x, ξ O, Ω x two inertial observers,
using coordinates
(t, x) and (τ, ξ).

motion. Examples of inertial observers (or frames) thus include – in two dimensions –
those moving on a frictionless ice surface or on the floor inside a smoothly running train
or ship. For a full example – in all three spatial dimensions – we can take a cosmonaut
travelling in a space-ship as long as the engine is switched off or a person falling in vac-
uum. Inertial observers in three dimensions can also be called free-floating observers,
where ‘free’ stands again for ‘undisturbed’. Inertial observers are thus much rarer than
Challenge 36 e non-inertial observers. Can you confirm this? Nevertheless, inertial observers are the
most simple ones, and they form a special set: Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

— Any two inertial observers move with constant velocity relative to each other (as long
as gravity and interactions play no role, as assumed above).
— All inertial observers are equivalent: they describe the world with the same equations.
This statement, due to Galileo, was called the principle of relativity by Henri Poincaré.
To see how exactly the measured length and space intervals change from one inertial
observer to the other, we assume a Roman one, using space and time coordinates x, y,
z and t, and a Greek one, using coordinates ξ, υ, ζ and τ,* that move with constant
velocity 󰑣 relative to each other, as shown in Figure 21. The invariance of the speed of

* They are read as ‘xi’, ‘upsilon’, ‘zeta’ and ‘tau’. The names, correspondences and pronunciations of all Greek
letters are explained in Appendix A.
 motion of light 39

light in any direction for any two observers means that the coordinate differences found
Challenge 37 e by two observers are related by

(cdt)2 − (dx)2 − (dy)2 − (dz)2 = (cdτ)2 − (dξ)2 − (dυ)2 − (dζ )2 . (11)

We now chose the axes in such a way that the velocity points in the x and ξ-direction.
Then we have
(cdt)2 − (dx)2 = (cdτ)2 − (dξ)2 . (12)

Assume that a flash lamp is at rest at the origin for the Greek observer, thus with ξ =
0, and produces two flashes separated by a time interval dτ. For the Roman observer,
the flash lamp moves with speed 󰑣, so that dx = 󰑣dt. Inserting this into the previous
Challenge 38 e expression, we deduce

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
dτ
dt = = γdτ . (13)
󵀆1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2

This expression thus relates clock intervals measured by one observer to the clock inter-
vals measured by another. At relative speeds 󰑣 that are small compared to the velocity of
light c, such as occur in everyday life, the stretch factor, relativistic correction or relativis-
tic contraction γ is equal to 1 for all practical purposes. In these cases, the time intervals
found by the two observers are essentially equal: time is then the same for all. However,
for velocities near that of light the value of γ increases. The largest value humans have
ever achieved is about 2 ⋅ 105 ; the largest observed value in nature is about 1012 . Can you
Challenge 39 s imagine where they occur?
For a relativistic correction γ larger than 1, the time measurements of the two ob-
servers give different values: moving observers observe time dilation. Time differs from
one observer to another.
But that is not all. Once we know how clocks behave, we can easily deduce how coor-
dinates change. Figures 21 and 22 show that the x coordinate of an event L is the sum of
two intervals: the ξ coordinate plus any distance between the two origins. In other words,
we have
ξ = γ(x − 󰑣t) . (14)

Using the invariance of the space-time interval, we get

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

τ = γ(t − x󰑣/c 2 ) . (15)

Henri Poincaré called these two relations the Lorentz transformations of space and time
after their discoverer, the Dutch physicist Hendrik Antoon Lorentz.* In one of the most
Ref. 43 beautiful discoveries of physics, in 1892 and 1904, Lorentz deduced these relations from
Vol. III, page 69 the equations of electrodynamics, where they had been lying, waiting to be discovered,
since 1865.** In that year James Clerk Maxwell had published the equations that describe

* For information about Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, see page 35.

** The same discovery had been published first in 1887 by the German physicist Woldemar Voigt (1850
 40 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

everything electric, magnetic and optical. However, it was Einstein who first understood
that t and τ, as well as x and ξ, are equally valid descriptions of space and time.
The Lorentz transformation describes the change of viewpoint from one inertial frame
to a second, moving one. This change of viewpoint is called a (Lorentz) boost. The for-
mulae (14) and (15) for the boost are central to the theories of relativity, both special and
general. In fact, the mathematics of special relativity will not get more difficult than that:
if you know what a square root is, you can study special relativity in all its beauty.
The Lorentz transformations (14) and (15) contain many curious results. Again they
Challenge 40 e show that time depends on the observer. They also show that length depends on the
Page 47 observer: in fact, moving observers observe length contraction. Space and time are thus
indeed relative.
The Lorentz transformations (14) and (15) are also strange in another respect. When
two observers look at each other, each of them claims to measure shorter intervals than

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 41 s the other. In other words, special relativity shows that the grass on the other side of the
fence is always shorter – if we ride along beside the fence on a bicycle and if the grass is
Page 47 inclined. We explore this bizarre result in more detail shortly.
Many alternative formulae for Lorentz boosts have been explored, such as expressions
in which the relative acceleration of the two observers is included, as well as the relative
Ref. 44 velocity. However, all alternatives had to be discarded after comparing their predictions
with experimental results. Before we have a look at such experiments, we continue with
a few logical deductions from the boost relations.

What is space-time?

“
Von Stund’ an sollen Raum für sich und Zeit für
sich völlig zu Schatten herabsinken und nur
noch eine Art Union der beiden soll

”
Selbstständigkeit bewahren.*
Hermann Minkowski.

The Lorentz transformations tell us something important: space and time are two aspects
of the same basic entity. They ‘mix’ in different ways for different observers. The mixing
is commonly expressed by stating that time is the fourth dimension. This makes sense
because the common basic entity – called space-time – can be defined as the set of all
events, events being described by four coordinates in time and space, and because the
Challenge 42 s set of all events has the properties of a manifold.** (Can you confirm this?) Complete
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

space-time is observer-invariant and absolute; space-time remains unchanged by boosts.

Only its split into time and space depends on the viewpoint.
In other words, the existence of a maximum speed in nature forces us to introduce
the invariant space-time manifold, made of all possible events, for the description of
nature. In the absence of gravitation, i.e., in the theory of special relativity, the space-
time manifold is characterized by a simple property: the space-time interval di between
–1919); Voigt – pronounced ‘Fohgt’ – was also the discoverer of the Voigt effect and the Voigt tensor. Inde-
pendently, in 1889, the Irishman George F. Fitzgerald also found the result.
* ‘Henceforth space by itself and time by itself shall completely fade into shadows and only a kind of union
of the two shall preserve autonomy.’ This famous statement was the starting sentence of Minkowski’s 1908
talk at the meeting of the Gesellschaft für Naturforscher und Ärzte.
Vol. V, page 289 ** The term ‘manifold’ is defined in all mathematical details later in our walk.
 motion of light 41

Ref. 45 two events, defined as

󰑣2
di 2 = c 2 dt 2 − dx 2 − dy 2 − dz 2 = c 2 dt 2 󶀦1 − 󶀶 , (16)
c2

is independent of the (inertial) observer: it is an invariant. Space-time is also called

Minkowski space-time, after Hermann Minkowski,* the teacher of Albert Einstein; he
was the first, in 1904, to define the concept of space-time and to understand its useful-
ness and importance. We will discover that later that when gravitation is present, the
whole of space-time bends; such bent space-times, called Riemannian space-times, will
be essential in general relativity.
The space-time interval di of equation (16) has a simple physical meaning. It is the
time measured by an observer moving from event (t, x) to event (t + dt, x + dx), the so-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
called proper time, multiplied by c. If we neglect the factor c, we can also call the interval
the wristwatch time.
In short, we can say that we live in space-time. Space-time exists independently of
all things; it is a container, a background for everything that happens. And even though
coordinate systems differ from observer to observer, the underlying entity, space-time, is
the same and unique, even though space and time by themselves are not. (All this applies
also in the presence of gravitation, in general relativity.)
How does Minkowski space-time differ from Galilean space-time, the combination of
everyday space and time? Both space-times are manifolds, i.e., continuum sets of points,
both have one temporal and three spatial dimensions, and both manifolds have the topol-
Challenge 43 s ogy of the punctured sphere. (Can you confirm this?) Both manifolds are flat, i.e., free of
curvature. In both cases, space is what is measured with a metre rule or with a light ray,
and time is what is read from a clock. In both cases, space-time is fundamental, unique
and absolute; it is and remains the background and the container of things and events.
The central difference, in fact the only one, is that Minkowski space-time, in contrast
to the Galilean case, mixes space and time. The mixing is different for observers with
different speeds, as shown in Figure 22. The mixing is the reason that time and space are
observer-dependent, or relative, concepts.
Mathematically, time is a fourth dimension; it expands space to space-time. Calling
time the fourth dimension is thus only a statement on how relativity calculates – we will
do that below – and has no deeper meaning.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The maximum speed in nature thus forces us to describe motion with space-time.
That is interesting, because in space-time, speaking in simple terms, motion does not exist.
Motion exists only in space. In space-time, nothing moves. For each point particle, space-
time contains a world-line. (See Figure 23.) In other words, instead of asking why motion
exists, we can equivalently ask why space-time is criss-crossed by world-lines. But at this
point of our adventure we are still far from answering either question. What we can do
is to explore how motion takes place.

* Hermann Minkowski (1864–1909), German mathematician. He had developed similar ideas to Einstein,
but the latter was faster. Minkowski then developed the concept of space-time. Minkowski died suddenly
at the age of 44.
 42 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

time t
time

th

ne
II future T

lig
lig
T

pa

co
ht
ht future

ht

ht
co
pa

lig

lig
ne
th
III I
elsewhere E elsewhere space E elsewhere y

IV x
past past

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 23 A space-time diagram for a moving object T seen from an inertial observer O in the case of
one and two spatial dimensions; the slope of the world-line at a point is the speed at that point, and
thus is never steeper than that of light.

Can we travel to the past? – Time and causality

We know that time is different for different observers. Does time nevertheless order
events in sequences? The answer given by relativity is a clear ‘yes and no’. Certain sets
of events are not naturally ordered by time; others sets are. This is best seen in a space-
time diagram, such as Figure 23.
Clearly, two events can be placed in a time sequence only if one event is or could be the
cause of the other. But this connection can only apply if the first event could send energy,
e.g. through a signal, to the second. In other words, a temporal sequence between two
events implies that the signal speed connecting the two events must not be larger than the
speed of light. Figure 23 shows that event E at the origin of the coordinate system can only
be influenced by events in quadrant IV (the past light cone, when all space dimensions
are included), and can itself influence only events in quadrant II, the future light cone.
Events in quadrants I and III neither influence nor are influenced by event E: signal speed
above that of light would be necessary to achieve that. Thus the full light cone defines Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the boundary between events that can be ordered with respect to event E – namely those
inside the cone – and those that cannot – those outside the cone, which happen elsewhere
for all observers. (Some people call all the events happening elsewhere the present.)
The past light cone gives the complete set of events that can influence what happens at
E, the coordinate origin. One says that E is causally connected to events in the past light
cone. Note that causal connection is an invariant concept: all observers agree on whether
Challenge 44 s or not it applies to two given events. Can you confirm this?
In short, time orders events only partially. In particular, for two events that are not
Challenge 45 e causally connected, their temporal order (or their simultaneity) depends on the observer!
A vector inside the light cone is called timelike; one on the light cone is called lightlike
or null; and one outside the cone is called spacelike. For example, the world-line of an
observer, i.e., the set of all events that make up its past and future history, consists of
 motion of light 43

timelike events only.

Special relativity thus teaches us that causality and time can be defined only because
light cones exist. If transport of energy at speeds faster than that of light did exist, time
could not be defined. Causality, i.e., the possibility of (partially) ordering events for all
observers, is due to the existence of a maximal speed.
If the speed of light could be surpassed, we could always win the lottery. Can you see
Challenge 46 e why? In other words, if the speed of light could be surpassed in some way, the future
Challenge 47 s could influence the past. Can you confirm this? In such situations, one would observe
acausal effects. However, there is an everyday phenomenon which tells that the speed of
light is indeed maximal: our memory. If the future could influence the past, we would
also be able to remember the future. To put it in another way, if the future could influ-
ence the past, the second principle of thermodynamics would not be valid.* No known
data from everyday life or from experiments provide any evidence that the future can

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
influence the past. In other words, time travel to the past is impossible. How the situa-
tion changes in quantum theory will be revealed later on. Interestingly, time travel to the
future is possible, as we will see shortly.

Curiosities about special relativity

Special relativity is full of curious effects. Let us start with a puzzle that helps to sharpen
our thinking. Seen by an observer on an island, two lightning strokes hit simultaneously:
one hits the island, and another, many kilometres away, the open sea. A second observer
is a pilot in a relativistic aeroplane and happens to be just above the island when the
Challenge 48 e lightning hits the island. Which lightning hits first for the pilot?
For the pilot, the distant lightning, hitting the sea, hits first. But this is a trick question:
despite being the one that hits first, the distant lightning is observed by the pilot to hit
after the one on the island, because light from the distant hit needs time to reach him.
However, the pilot can compensate for the propagation time and can deduce that the
Challenge 49 e distant lightning hit first.
Let us explore a few additional consequences of special relativity.

Faster than light: how far can we travel?

How far away from Earth can we travel, given that the trip should not last more than
a lifetime, say 80 years, and given that we are allowed to use a rocket whose speed can Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

approach the speed of light as closely as desired? Given the time t we are prepared to
spend in a rocket, given the speed 󰑣 of the rocket, and assuming optimistically that it
can accelerate and decelerate in a negligible amount of time, the distance d we can move
Challenge 50 e away is given by
󰑣t
d= . (17)
󵀆1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2

* Another related result is slowly becoming common knowledge. Even if space-time had a non-trivial shape,
such as a cylindrical topology with closed time-like curves, one still would not be able to travel into the
Ref. 46 past, in contrast to what many science fiction novels suggest. This is made clear by Steven Blau in a recent
pedagogical paper.
 44 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

The distance d is larger than ct already for 󰑣 > 0.72c, and, if 󰑣 is chosen large enough,
it increases beyond all bounds! In other words, light speed does not limit the distance
we can travel in a lifetime or in any other time interval. We could, in principle, roam the
Page 46 entire universe in less than a second. (The fuel issue is discussed below.)
For rocket trips it makes sense to introduce the concept of proper velocity 󰑤, defined
as
d 󰑣
󰑤= = =γ󰑣. (18)
t 󵀆1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2

As we have just seen, proper velocity is not limited by the speed of light; in fact the proper
velocity of light itself is infinite.*

Synchronization and time travel – can a mother stay younger

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
than her own daughter?
The maximum speed in nature implies that time is different for different observers mov-
ing relative to each other. So we have to be careful about how we synchronize clocks that
are far apart, even if they are at rest with respect to each other in an inertial reference
frame. For example, if we have two similar watches showing the same time, and if we
carry one of them for a walk and back, they will show different times afterwards. This
Ref. 48, Ref. 49 experiment has actually been performed several times and has fully confirmed the pre-
diction of special relativity. The time difference for a person or a watch in an aeroplane
travelling around the Earth once, at about 900 km/h, is of the order of 100 ns – not very
noticeable in everyday life. This is sometimes called the clock paradox. In fact, the delay
is easily calculated from the expression

t
=γ. (20)
t󳰀
Also human bodies are clocks; they show the elapsed time, usually called age, by various
changes in their shape, weight, hair colour, etc. If a person goes on a long and fast trip,
on her return she will have aged less and thus stayed younger than a second person who
stayed at her (inertial) home. Travellers stay younger.
The most extreme illustration of this is the famous twin paradox. An adventurous
twin jumps on a relativistic rocket that leaves Earth and travels for many years. Far from
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Earth, he jumps on another relativistic rocket going the other way and returns to Earth.
The trip is illustrated in Figure 24. At his arrival, he notes that his twin brother on Earth
Ref. 50 is much older than himself. This result has also been confirmed in many experiments.
Can you explain the result, especially the asymmetry between the two brothers?
Special relativity thus confirms, in a surprising fashion, the well-known observation
that those who travel a lot remain younger. On the other hand, the human traveller with

* Using proper velocity, the relation given in equation (9) for the composition of two velocities wa = γa va
Challenge 51 e and wb = γb vb simplifies to
󰑤s‖ = γa γb (󰑣a + 󰑣b‖ ) and 󰑤s⊥ = 󰑤b⊥ , (19)
where the signs ‖ and ⊥ designate the component in the direction of and the component perpendicular to
Ref. 47 va , respectively. One can in fact express all of special relativity in terms of ‘proper’ quantities.
 motion of light 45

first
twin

trip of
Earth second twin
time time
comparison
and
first change of
twin rocket

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 24 The twin paradox.

the largest measured youth effect so far was the cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov, who has
spent 803 days in orbit, and nevertheless aged only a few milliseconds less than people
on Earth.
The twin paradox is also the confirmation of the possibility of time travel to the future.
With the help of a fast rocket that comes back to its starting point, we can arrive at local
times that we would never have reached within our lifetime by staying home. Alas, we
can never return to the past to talk about it.*
One of the simplest experiments confirming the prolonged youth of really fast trav-
ellers involves the counting of muons. Muons are particles that are continuously formed
Vol. V, page 118 in the upper atmosphere by cosmic radiation and then fly to the ground. Muons at rest
(with respect to the measuring clock) have a finite half-life of 2.2 μs (or, at the speed of
light, 660 m). After this amount of time, half of the muons have decayed. This half-life
can be measured using simple muon counters. In addition, there exist more special coun-
ters that only count muons travelling within a certain speed range, say from 0.9950c to
0.9954c. One can put one of these special counters on top of a mountain and put another
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

in the valley below, as shown in Figure 25. The first time this experiment was performed,
Ref. 52 the height difference was 1.9 km. Flying 1.9 km through the atmosphere at the mentioned
speed takes about 6.4 μs. With the half-life just given, a naive calculation finds that only
about 13% of the muons observed at the top should arrive at the lower site in the valley.
Challenge 52 s However, it is observed that about 82% of the muons arrive below. The reason for this re-
sult is the relativistic time dilation. Indeed, at the mentioned speed, muons experience a
proper time difference of only 0.62 μs during the travel from the mountain top to the val-
ley. This time is much shorter than that observed by the human observers. The shortened

Ref. 51 * There are even special books on time travel, such as the well-researched text by Nahin. Note that the
concept of time travel has to be clearly defined; otherwise one has no answer to the clerk who calls his office
chair a time machine, as sitting on it allows him to get to the future.
 46 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

higher atmosphere

high
counter

decays

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
low
counter
F I G U R E 25 More muons than expected arrive at
the ground because fast travel keeps them young.

muon time yields a much lower number of lost muons than would be the case without
time dilation; moreover, the measured percentage confirms the value of the predicted
Challenge 53 s time dilation factor γ within experimental errors, as you may want to check. The same
effect is observed when relativistic muons are made to run in circles at high speed inside
Ref. 53 a so-called storage ring. The faster the muons turn, the longer they live.
Half-life dilation has also been found for many other decaying systems, such as pions,
hydrogen atoms, neon atoms and various nuclei, always confirming the predictions of
special relativity. Since all bodies in nature are made of particles, the ‘youth effect’ of
high speeds – usually called time dilation – applies to bodies of all sizes; indeed, it has
Ref. 12 not only been observed for particles, but also for lasers, radio transmitters and clocks.
If motion leads to time dilation, a clock on the Equator, constantly running around
the Earth, should go slower than one at the poles. However, this prediction, which was
Ref. 55 made by Einstein himself, is incorrect. The centrifugal acceleration leads to a reduction
in gravitational acceleration whose time dilation exactly cancels that due to the rotation Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

velocity. This story serves as a reminder to be careful when applying special relativity in
situations involving gravity: pure special relativity is only applicable when space-time is
flat, i.e., when gravity is not present.
In summary, a mother can stay younger than her daughter. The mother’s wish to re-
main younger than her daughter is not easy to fulfil, however. Let us imagine that a
mother is accelerated in a spaceship away from Earth at 10 m/s2 for ten years, then decel-
erates at 10 m/s2 for another ten years, then accelerates for ten additional years towards
the Earth, and finally decelerates for ten final years in order to land safely back on our
planet. The mother has taken 40 years for the trip. She got as far as 22 000 light years from
Earth. At her return on Earth, 44 000 years have passed. All this seems fine, until we re-
alize that the necessary amount of fuel, even for the most efficient engine imaginable, is
so large that the mass returning from the trip is only one part in 2 ⋅ 1019 of the mass that
 motion of light 47

observations
observations
by the pilot
by the farmer

pilot
time
farmer
time

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
plane ends
barn ends

F I G U R E 26 The observations of the pilot and the barn owner.

Challenge 54 e started. The necessary amount of fuel does not exist on Earth. The same problem appears
Ref. 54 for shorter trips.
We also found that we cannot (simply) synchronize clocks at rest with respect to each
other simply by walking, clock in hand, from one place to another. The correct way to
Challenge 55 s do so is to exchange light signals. Can you describe how? The precise definition of syn-
chronization is necessary, because we often need to call two distant events simultaneous,
for example when we define coordinates. Obviously, a maximum speed implies that si-
multaneity depends on the observer. Indeed, this dependence has been confirmed by all
experiments.

Length contraction
The length of an object measured by an observer attached to the object is called its proper
length. The length measured by an inertial observer passing by is always smaller than the
Challenge 56 e proper length. This result follows directly from the Lorentz transformations.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

For a Ferrari driving at 300 km/h or 83 m/s, the length is contracted by 0.15 pm: less
than the diameter of a proton. Seen from the Sun, the Earth moves at 30 km/s; this gives
a length contraction of 6 cm. Neither of these effects has ever been measured.* But larger
effects could be. Let us explore the consequences.
Imagine a pilot flying with his plane through a barn with two doors, one at each end.
The plane is slightly longer than the barn, but moves so rapidly that its relativistically
contracted length is shorter than the length of the barn. Can the farmer close the barn
(at least for a short time) with the plane completely inside? The answer is positive. But
why can the pilot not say the following: relative to him, the barn is contracted; therefore
the plane does not fit inside the barn? The answer is shown in Figure 26. For the farmer,

Challenge 57 s * Is the Earth contraction value measurable at all?

 48 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

ski or snowboard ski or snowboard

height
h
trap trap

F I G U R E 27 The observations of the trap digger (left) and of the snowboarder (right), as often
(misleadingly) published in the literature.

rails
B rope F

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
glider
v
v(t) v(t)

g < h

F I G U R E 28 Does the conducting glider keep the lamp F I G U R E 29 What happens to the
lit at large speeds? rope?

the doors close (and reopen) at the same time. For the pilot, they do not. For the farmer,
the pilot is in the dark for a short time; for the pilot, the barn is never dark. (That is not
Challenge 58 s completely true: can you work out the details?)
We now explore some variations of the general case. Can a rapid snowboarder fall into
a hole that is a bit shorter than his board? Imagine him boarding so (unrealistically) fast
that the length contraction factor γ is 4. For an observer on the ground, the snowboard
is four times shorter, and when it passes over the hole, it will fall into it. However, for the
boarder, it is the hole which is four times shorter; it seems that the snowboard cannot
fall into it.
Ref. 56 A first careful analysis shows that, in contrast to the observation of the hole digger, the
snowboarder does not experience the board’s shape as fixed: while passing over the hole,
the boarder observes that the board takes on a parabolic shape and falls into the hole,
Challenge 59 e as shown in Figure 27. Can you confirm this? In other words, shape is not an observer- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

invariant concept. (However, rigidity is observer-invariant, if defined properly; can you

Challenge 60 s confirm this?)
This explanation and figure however, though published, are not correct, as Harald van
Ref. 57 Lintel and Christian Gruber have pointed out. One should not forget to estimate the size
of the effect. At relativistic speeds the time required for the hole to affect the full thick-
ness of the board cannot be neglected. The snowboarder only sees his board take on a
parabolic shape if it is extremely thin and flexible. For usual boards moving at relativistic
speeds, the snowboard has no time to fall any appreciable height h or to bend into the
Challenge 61 e hole before passing it. Figure 27 is so exaggerated that it is incorrect. The snowboarder
would simply speed over the hole.
The paradoxes around length contraction become even more interesting in the case of
Ref. 58 a conductive glider that makes electrical contact between two rails, as shown in Figure 28.
 motion of light 49

The two rails are parallel, but one rail has a gap that is longer than the glider. Can you
work out whether a lamp connected in series stays lit when the glider moves along the
Challenge 62 s rails with relativistic speed? (Make the simplifying and not fully realistic assumption that
electrical current flows as long and as soon as the glider touches the rails.) Do you get
the same result for all observers? And what happens when the glider is longer than the
detour? Or when it approaches the lamp from the other side of the detour? (Warning:
this problem gives rise to heated debates!) What is unrealistic in this experiment?
Ref. 59 Another example of length contraction appears when two objects, say two cars, are
connected over a distance d by a straight rope, as shown in Figure 29. Imagine that both
are at rest at time t = 0 and are accelerated together in exactly the same way. The observer
at rest will maintain that the two cars always remain the same distance apart. On the
other hand, the rope needs to span a distance d 󳰀 = d/󵀆1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2 , and thus has to expand
when the two cars are accelerating. In other words, the rope will break. You can check by

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 63 s yourself that this prediction is confirmed by all observers, in the cars and on Earth.
A funny – but quite unrealistic – example of length contraction is that of a submarine
Ref. 60 moving horizontally. Imagine that before moving, the resting submarine has tuned its
weight to float in water without any tendency to sink or to rise. Now the submarine
moves (possibly with relativistic speed) in horizontal direction. The captain observes the
water outside to be Lorentz contracted; thus the water is denser and he concludes that
the submarine will rise. A nearby fish sees the submarine to be contracted, thus denser
than water, and concludes that the submarine will sink. Who is wrong, and what is the
Challenge 64 s buoyancy force? Alternatively, answer the following question: why is it impossible for a
Challenge 65 s submarine to move at relativistic speed?
In summary, for macroscopic bodies, length contraction will probably never be ob-
served. However, it does play an important role for images.

Relativistic films – aberration and Doppler effect

In our adventure so far, we have encountered several ways in which the observed sur-
roundings change when we move at relativistic speed. We now put them all together.
First of all, Lorentz contraction and aberration lead to distorted images. Secondly, aber-
ration increases the viewing angle beyond the roughly 180 degrees that we are used to
in everyday life. At relativistic speeds, when we look in the direction of motion, we see
light that is invisible for an observer at rest, because for the latter, it comes from behind.
Thirdly, the Doppler effect produces colour-shifted images. Fourthly, our rapid motion
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

changes the brightness and contrast of the image: the so-called searchlight effect. Each of
these changes depends on the direction of sight; they are shown in Figure 30.
Modern computers enable us to simulate the observations made by rapid observers
with photographic quality, and even to produce simulated films and computer games.*
The images of Figure 31 are particularly helpful in allowing us to understand image dis-

* See for example the many excellent images and films at www.anu.edu.au/Physics/Searle by Anthony
Searle and www.anu.edu.au/Physics/vrproject by Craig Savage and his team; you can even do interactive
motion steering with the free program downloadable at realtimerelativity.org. There is also beautiful ma-
terial at www.tat.physik.uni-tuebingen.de/~weiskopf/gallery/index.html by Daniel Weiskopf, at www.itp.
uni-hannover.de/~dragon/stonehenge/stone1.htm by Norbert Dragon and Nicolai Mokros, and at www.
tempolimit-lichtgeschwindigkeit.de by Ute Kraus, once at Hanns Ruder’s group.
 50 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

F I G U R E 30 Flying through three straight and vertical columns with 0.9 times the speed of light as
visualized by Daniel Weiskopf: on the left with the original colours; in the middle including the Doppler
effect; and on the right including brightness effects, thus showing what an observer would actually see
(© Daniel Weiskopf ).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
tortion. They show the viewing angle, the circle which distinguish objects in front of
the observer from those behind the observer, the coordinates of the observer’s feet and
the point on the horizon toward which the observer is moving. Adding these markers
in your head when watching other pictures or films may help you to understand more
clearly what they show.
We note that the image seen by a moving observer is a distorted version of that seen
by one at rest at the same point. Figure 32 shows this clearly. But a moving observer
never sees different things than a resting one at the same point. Indeed, light cones are
independent of observer motion.
Studying the images with care shows another effect. Even though the Lorentz con-
traction is measurable, it cannot be photographed. This surprising result was discovered
Ref. 61 only in 1959. Measuring implies simultaneity at the object’s position; in contrast, pho-
tographing implies simultaneity at the observer’s position. On a photograph or in a film,
the Lorentz contraction is modified by the effects due to different light travel times from
the different parts of an object; the result is a change in shape that is reminiscent of, but
not exactly the same as, a rotation. This is shown in Figure 33. The total deformation is
the result of the angle-dependent aberration. We discussed the aberration of star pos-
Page 17 itions at the beginning of this chapter. In complete images, aberration transforms circles
into circles: such transformations are called conformal. As a result, a sphere is seen as
a sphere even at relativistic speeds; in a sense, the aberration compensates the Lorentz
contraction.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Aberration leads to the pearl necklace paradox. If the relativistic motion transforms
spheres into spheres, and rods into shorter rods, what happens to a pearl necklace moving
Challenge 66 s along its own long axis? Does it get shorter or not?
A further puzzle: imagine that a sphere that moves and rotates at high speed. Can all
Challenge 67 r the mentioned effects lead to an apparent, observer-dependent sense of rotation?

Which is the best seat in a bus?

Ref. 59 Let us explore another surprise of special relativity. Imagine two twins inside two identi-
cally accelerated cars, one in front of the other, starting from standstill at time t = 0, as
described by an observer at rest with respect to both of them. (There is no connecting
rope now.) Both cars contain the same amount of fuel. We easily deduce that the accele-
motion of light 51

Views for an observer at rest

Views for an observer at relativistic speed

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 31 Flying through twelve vertical columns (shown in the two uppermost images) with 0.9
times the speed of light as visualized by Nicolai Mokros and Norbert Dragon, showing the effect of
speed and position on distortions (© Nicolai Mokros).
 52 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 32 What a researcher standing and one running rapidly through a corridor observe (ignoring
colour and brightness effects) (© Daniel Weiskopf ).

F I G U R E 33 A stationary row
of dice (below), and the same
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

row, flying above it at

relativistic speed towards the
observer, though with
Doppler effect switched off.
(Mpg film © Ute Kraus at www.
tempolimit-lichtgeschwindigkeit.
de).

ration of the two twins stops, when the fuel runs out, at the same time in the frame of the
Challenge 68 e outside observer. In addition, the distance between the cars has remained the same all
 motion of light 53

along for the outside observer, and the two cars continue rolling with an identical con-
stant velocity 󰑣, as long as friction is negligible. If we call the events at which the front
car and back car engines switch off f and b, their time coordinates in the outside frame at
rest are related simply by tf = tb . By using the Lorentz transformations you can deduce
Challenge 69 e for the frame of the freely rolling twins the relation

tb󳰀 = γΔx 󰑣/c 2 + tf󳰀 , (21)

which means that the front twin has aged more than the back twin! Thus, in accelerated
systems, ageing is position-dependent.
For choosing a seat in a bus, though, this result does not help. It is true that the best
seat in an accelerating bus is the back one, but in a decelerating bus it is the front one. At
the end of a trip, the choice of seat does not matter.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Is it correct to deduce from the above that people on high mountains age faster than
Challenge 70 s people in valleys, so that living in a valley helps postponing grey hair?

How fast can one walk?

In contrast to running, walking means to move the feet in such a way that at least one
of them is on the ground at any time. This is one of the rules athletes have to follow in
Olympic walking competitions; they are disqualified if they break it. A student athlete
was thinking about the theoretical maximum speed he could achieve in the Olympic
Games. The ideal would be that each foot accelerates instantly to (almost) the speed of
light. The highest walking speed is then achieved by taking the second foot off the ground
at exactly the same instant at which the first is put down. By ‘same instant’, the student
originally meant ‘as seen by a competition judge at rest with respect to Earth’. The motion
of the feet is shown in the left diagram of Figure 34; it gives a limit speed for walking of
half the speed of light.
But then the student noticed that a moving judge will regularly see both feet off the
Ref. 62 ground and thus disqualify the athlete for running. To avoid disqualification by any
judge, the rising foot has to wait for a light signal from the lowered one. The limit speed
for Olympic walking then turns out to be only one third of the speed of light.

Is the speed of shadow greater than the speed of light? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Actually, motion faster than light does exist and is even rather common. Nature only
constrains the motion of mass and energy. However, non-material points or non-energy-
transporting features and images can move faster than light. There are several simple
Page 44 examples. To be clear, we are not talking about proper velocity, which in these cases can-
Challenge 71 s not be defined anyway. (Why?) The following examples show speeds that are genuinely
higher than the speed of light in vacuum.
As first example, consider the point at which scissors cut paper, marked X in Figure 35.
If the scissors are closed rapidly enough, the point moves faster than light. Similar exam-
ples can also be found in every window frame, and in fact in any device that has twisting
parts.
Another example of superluminal motion is a music record – an old-fashioned LP –
 54 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

average speed: c/2

time time
average speed: c/3
t'

moving t'
judge

J light signal
F I G U R E 34 For the
x' moving
athlete on the left,
judge
the competition
J
light signal judge moving in the
x'
opposite direction
sees both feet off the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ground at certain
times, but not for the
space space
athlete on the right.

J.S. Bach

v
X J.S. Bach

J.S. Bach

F I G U R E 35 A simple example of motion that can F I G U R E 36 Another example of

be faster than light. faster-than-light motion.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

disappearing into its sleeve, as shown in Figure 36. The point where the border of the
record meets the border of the sleeve can travel faster than light.
Another example suggests itself when we remember that we live on a spherical planet.
Imagine you lie on the floor and stand up. Can you show that the initial speed with which
Challenge 72 s the horizon moves away from you can be larger than that of light?
Finally, a standard example is the motion of a spot of light produced by shining a laser
beam onto the Moon. If the laser is moved, the spot can easily move faster than light. The
same applies to the light spot on the screen of an oscilloscope when a signal of sufficiently
high frequency is fed to the input.
All these are typical examples of the speed of shadows, sometimes also called the speed
 motion of light 55

of darkness. Both shadows and darkness can indeed move faster than light. In fact, there
Challenge 73 s is no limit to their speed. Can you find another example?
In addition, there is an ever-increasing number of experimental set-ups in which the
phase velocity or even the group velocity of light is higher than c. They regularly make
headlines in the newspapers, usually along the lines of ‘light moves faster than light’. We
Vol. III, page 114 will discuss this surprising phenomenon in more detail later on. In fact, these cases can
also be seen – with some abstraction – as special cases of the ‘speed of shadow’ phe-
nomenon.
For a different example, imagine that we are standing at the exit of a straight tunnel of
length l. We see a car, whose speed we know to be 󰑣, entering the other end of the tunnel
and driving towards us. We know that it entered the tunnel because the car is no longer
in the Sun or because its headlights were switched on at that moment. At what time t,
after we see it entering the tunnel, does it drive past us? Simple reasoning shows that t is

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
given by
t = l/󰑣 − l/c . (22)

In other words, the approaching car seems to have a velocity 󰑣appr of

l 󰑣c
󰑣appr = = , (23)
t c−󰑣

which is higher than c for any car velocity 󰑣 higher than c/2. For cars this does not hap-
pen too often, but astronomers know a type of bright object in the sky called a quasar (a
contraction of ‘quasi-stellar object’), which sometimes emits high-speed gas jets. If the
emission is in or near the direction of the Earth, its apparent speed – even the purely
transverse component – is higher than c. Such situations are now regularly observed
Ref. 63 with telescopes.
Note that to a second observer at the entrance of the tunnel, the apparent speed of the
car moving away is given by
󰑣c
󰑣leav = , (24)
c+󰑣
which is never higher than c/2. In other words, objects are never seen departing with
more than half the speed of light.
The story has a final twist. We have just seen that motion faster than light can be
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

observed in several ways. But could an object moving faster than light be observed at
all? Surprisingly, it could be observed only in rather unusual ways. First of all, since such
an imaginary object, usually called a tachyon, moves faster than light, we can never see
it approaching. If it can be seen at all, a tachyon can only be seen departing. Seeing a
tachyon would be similar to hearing a supersonic jet. Only after a tachyon has passed
nearby, assuming that it is visible in daylight, could we notice it. We would first see a
flash of light, corresponding to the bang of a plane passing with supersonic speed. Then
we would see two images of the tachyon, appearing somewhere in space and departing in
opposite directions, as can be deduced from Figure 37. Even if one of the two images were
approaching us, it would be getting fainter and smaller. This is, to say the least, rather
unusual behaviour. Moreover, if you wanted to look at a tachyon at night, illuminating it
 56 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

time
observer
emitted or reflected light

tachyon

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
light cone
F I G U R E 37 Hypothetical space-time
space
diagram for tachyon observation.

with a torch, you would have to turn your head in the direction opposite to the arm with
the torch! This requirement also follows from the space-time diagram: can you see why?
Challenge 74 e Nobody has ever seen such phenomena.
Ref. 64 Tachyons, if they existed, would be strange objects: they would accelerate when they
Page 67 lose energy, a zero-energy tachyon would be the fastest of all, with infinite speed, and the
direction of motion of a tachyon depends on the motion of the observer. No object with
these properties has ever been observed. Worse, as we just saw, tachyons would seem to
appear from nothing, defying laws of conservation; and note that, just as tachyons cannot
be seen in the usual sense, they cannot be touched either, since both processes are due
to electromagnetic interactions, as we will see later in our ascent of Motion Mountain.
Tachyons therefore cannot be objects in the usual sense. In the quantum part of our
adventure we will show that quantum theory actually rules out the existence of (real)
tachyons. However, quantum theory also requires the existence of ‘virtual’ tachyons, as
we will discover.

Parallel to parallel is not parallel – Thomas rotation

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The limit speed has many strange consequences. Any two observers can keep a stick
parallel to the other’s, even if they are in motion with respect to each other. But strangely,
given a chain of three or more sticks for which any two adjacent ones are parallel, the
first and the last sticks will not generally be parallel. In particular, they never will be if
the motions of the various observers are in different directions, as is the case when the
velocity vectors form a loop.
The simplest set-up is shown in Figure 38. In special relativity, a general concatenation
Ref. 65 of pure boosts does not give a pure boost, but a boost plus a rotation. As a result, the first
and last stick in a chain of parallel sticks are usually not parallel.
An example of this effect appears in rotating motion. Imagine that we walk in a circle
with relativistic speed holding a stick. We always keep the stick parallel to the direction
 motion of light 57

R v G

u
w
O

F I G U R E 38 If O’s stick is parallel to

R’s and R’s is parallel to G’s, then O’s
stick and G’s stick are not.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
it had just before. At the end of the turn, the stick will have an angle with respect to the
direction at the start. Similarly, the axis of a rotating body circling a second body will not
be pointing in the same direction after one turn. This effect is called Thomas precession,
after Llewellyn Thomas, who discovered it in 1925, a full 20 years after the birth of spe-
cial relativity. It had escaped the attention of dozens of other famous physicists. Thomas
precession is important for the orbit of electrons inside atoms, where the stick is the spin
axis of the rapidly orbiting electron. All these surprising phenomena are purely relativis-
tic, and are thus measurable only in the case of speeds comparable to that of light.

A never-ending story – temperature and relativity

What temperature is measured by an observer who moves with respect to a heat bath?
The literature on the topic is confusing. Max Planck, Albert Einstein and Wolfgang Pauli
agreed on the following result: the temperature T seen by an observer moving with speed
󰑣 is related to the temperature T0 measured by the observer at rest with respect to the heat
bath via
T = T0 󵀆1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2 . (25)

A moving observer thus always measures lower temperature values than a resting one. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In 1908, Max Planck used this expression, together with the corresponding transfor-
mation for thermal energy, to deduce that the entropy is invariant under Lorentz trans-
formations. Being the discoverer of the Boltzmann constant k, Planck proved in this way
Ref. 66 that the Boltzmann constant is a relativistic invariant.
Not all researchers agree on the expression for the transformation of energy, however.
(They do agree on the invariance of k, though.) Others maintain that T and T0 should be
interchanged in the formula. Also, powers other than the simple square root have been
Ref. 67 proposed. The origin of these discrepancies is simple: temperature is only defined for
equilibrium situations, i.e., for baths. But a bath for one observer is not a bath for the
other. For low speeds, a moving observer sees a situation that is almost a heat bath; but at
higher speeds the issue becomes tricky. Temperature is deduced from the speed of matter
particles, such as atoms or molecules. For rapidly moving observers, there is no good way
58 1 maximum speed, observers at rest, and

to measure temperature, because the distribution is not in equilibrium. Any naively mea-
sured temperature value depends on the energy range of matter particles that is used! In
short, thermal equilibrium is not an observer-invariant concept. Therefore, no temper-
ature transformation formula is correct for high speeds. (Only with certain additional
assumptions, Planck’s expression holds.) In fact, there are not even any experimental ob-
servations that would allow such a formula to be checked. Realizing such a measurement
is a challenge for future experimenters – but not for relativity itself.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 2

REL ATIVISTIC MECHANIC S

T
he speed of light is an invariant quantity and a limit value. Therefore, we need
o rethink all observables that we defined with the help of velocity – thus all of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
hem! The most basic observables are mass, momentum and energy. In other
words, we need to recreate mechanics based on the invariant limit speed: we need to
build relativistic mechanics.

Mass in relativity
Vol. I, page 92 In Galilean physics, the mass ratio between two bodies was defined using collisions; it
was given by the negative inverse of the velocity change ratio

m2 Δ󰑣
=− 1 . (26)
m1 Δ󰑣2

However, experiments show that this expression is wrong for speeds near that of light
and must be changed. In fact, experiments are not needed: thinking alone can show this.
Challenge 75 s Can you do so?
There is only one solution to this problem. Indeed, experiments confirm that the two
Ref. 68 Galilean conservation theorems for momentum and for mass have to be changed into

󵠈 γi mi 󰑣i = const (27)
i

and
󵠈 γi mi = const .
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

(28)
i

These expressions are the (relativistic) conservation of momentum and the (relativistic)
conservation of mass–energy. They will remain valid throughout the rest of our ascent
of Motion Mountain.
The conservation of momentum and energy implies, among other things, that tele-
portation is not possible in nature, in contrast to science fiction. Can you confirm this?
Challenge 76 s
Obviously, in order to recover Galilean physics, the relativistic correction (factors) γi
have to be almost equal to 1 for everyday velocities, that is, for velocities nowhere near the
speed of light. That is indeed the case. In fact, even if we did not know the expression of
 60 2 rel ativistic

Observer A
m m
before: v
after:
V
M

Observer B

before:
V V m
m
after: F I G U R E 39 An inelastic collision of two identical
M particles seen from two different inertial frames of
reference.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the relativistic correction factor, we can deduce it from the collision shown in Figure 39.
In the first frame of reference (A) we have γ󰑣 m󰑣 = γV MV and γ󰑣 m + m = γV M. From
the observations of the second frame of reference (B) we deduce that V composed with
Challenge 77 e V gives 󰑣, in other words, that
2V
󰑣= . (29)
1 + V 2 /c 2

When these equations are combined, the relativistic correction γ is found to depend on
the magnitude of the velocity 󰑣 through

1
γ󰑣 = . (30)
󵀆1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2

With this expression the mass ratio between two colliding particles is defined as the ratio

m1 Δ(γ2 󰑣2 )
=− . (31)
m2 Δ(γ1 󰑣1 )

This is the generalization of the definition of mass ratio from Galilean physics. (In the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. I, page 96 chapter on Galilean mechanics we also used a generalized mass definition based on acce-
leration ratios. We do not explore its relativistic generalization because it contains some
subtleties which we will encounter shortly.) The correction factors γi ensure that the mass
defined by this equation is the same as the one defined in Galilean mechanics, and that
it is the same for all types of collision a body may have.* In this way, mass remains a
quantity characterizing the difficulty of accelerating a body, and it can still be used for
systems of bodies as well.
Following the example of Galilean physics, we call the quantity

p = γm󰑣 (32)
Challenge 78 e * The results below also show that γ = 1 + T /mc 2 , where T is the kinetic energy of a particle.
 mechanics 61

before

pA
A B

non-relativistic pool
rule: ϕ+θ = 90° A

after
θ
pA ϕ

B F I G U R E 40 A useful rule for playing non-relativistic

snooker.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the (linear) relativistic (three-) momentum of a particle. Total momentum is a conserved
quantity for any system not subjected to external influences, and this conservation is a
direct consequence of the way mass is defined.
For low speeds, or γ ≈ 1, relativistic momentum is the same as Galilean momentum,
and is then proportional to velocity. But for high speeds, momentum increases faster
than velocity, tending to infinity when approaching light speed. The result is confirmed
Page 34 by experimental data, as shown in Figure 18.

Why relativistic snooker is more difficult

There is a well-known property of collisions between a moving sphere or particle and a
resting one of the same mass that is important when playing snooker, pool or billiards.
After such a collision, the two spheres will depart at a right angle from each other, as
shown in Figure 40.
However, experiments show that the right angle rule does not apply to relativistic
collisions. Indeed, using the conservation of momentum and a bit of dexterity you can
Challenge 79 e calculate that
2
tan θ tan φ = , (33)
γ+1
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

where the angles are defined in Figure 41. It follows that the sum φ + θ is smaller than a
right angle in the relativistic case. Relativistic speeds thus completely change the game of
snooker. Indeed, every accelerator physicist knows this: for electrons or protons, these an-
gles can easily be deduced from photographs taken in cloud or bubble chambers, which
show the tracks left by particles when they move through them, as shown in Figure 42.
Ref. 12 All such photographs confirm the above expression. In fact, the shapes of detectors are
chosen according to expression (33), as sketched in Figure 41. If the formula – and rela-
tivity – were wrong, most of these detectors would not work, as they would miss most
of the particles after the collision. If relativity were wrong, such detectors would have to
be much larger. In fact, these experiments also prove the formula for the composition of
Challenge 80 ny velocities. Can you show this?
62 2 rel ativistic

relativistic pool rule: ϕ+θ < 90°

θ
ϕ

accelerator beam target detectors

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 41 The dimensions of detectors for particle accelerators with single beams are based on the
relativistic snooker angle rule – as an example, the HARP experiment at CERN (© CERN).

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 42 The ‘Big European Bubble Chamber’ and an example of tracks of relativistic particles it
produced, with the momentum values deduced from the photograph (© CERN).
 mechanics 63

Mass and energy are equivalent

Let us go back to the collinear and inelastic collision of Figure 39. What is the mass M
Challenge 81 s of the final system? Calculation shows that

M/m = 󵀄2(1 + γ󰑣 ) > 2 . (34)

In other words, the mass of the final system is larger than the sum 2m of the two original
masses. In contrast to Galilean mechanics, the sum of all masses in a system is not a
conserved quantity. Only the sum ∑i γi mi of the corrected masses is conserved.
Relativity provides the solution to this puzzle. Everything falls into place if, for the
energy E of an object of mass m and velocity 󰑣, we use the expression

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
mc 2
E = γmc 2 = , (35)
󵀆1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2

applying it both to the total system and to each component. The conservation of the
corrected mass can then be read as the conservation of energy, simply without the factor
c 2 . In the example of the two identical masses sticking to each other, the two parts are
thus each described by mass and energy, and the resulting system has an energy E given
by the sum of the energies of the two parts. (We recall that the uncorrected masses do
not add up.) In particular, it follows that the energy E0 of a body at rest and its mass m
are related by
E0 = mc 2 . (36)

The expression E = γmc 2 is perhaps the most beautiful and famous discovery of modern
physics. In other words, the existence of a maximum speed implies that every mass has
energy, and that energy has mass. Mass and energy are two terms for the same basic
concept: they are equivalent.
Since mass and energy are equivalent, energy has all properties of mass. In particular,
energy has inertia and weight. For example, a full battery is more massive and heavier
than an empty one, and a warm glass of water is heavier than a cold one. Radio waves and
light have weight. Conversely, mass has all properties of energy. For example, one can use
mass to make engines run. But this is no news, as it is realized in every engine! Muscles,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

car engines or nuclear ships work by losing a tiny bit of mass and use the corresponding
energy to overcome friction and move the person, car or ship.
Since c 2 is so large, we can also say that mass is concentrated energy. Increasing the
energy of a system increases its mass a little bit, and decreasing the energy content de-
creases the mass a little bit. If a bomb explodes inside a closed box, the mass, weight and
momentum of the box are the same before and after the explosion, but the combined
mass of the debris inside the box will be a little bit smaller than before. All bombs – not
only nuclear ones – thus take their power of destruction from a reduction in mass. In
fact, every activity of a system – such as a caress, a smile or a look – takes its energy from
a reduction in mass.
The kinetic energy T is thus given by the difference between total energy and rest en-
 64 2 rel ativistic

ergy. This gives

1 1 ⋅ 3 󰑣4 1 ⋅ 3 ⋅ 5 󰑣6
T = γmc 2 − mc 2 = m󰑣 2 + m + m + ... (37)
2 2 ⋅ 4 c2 2 ⋅ 4 ⋅ 6 c4

Challenge 82 e (using the binomial theorem). The expression reduces to the well-known Galilean value
TGalilean = 12 m󰑣 2 only for low, everyday speeds.
The mass–energy equivalence E = γmc 2 implies that extracting any energy from a
material system results in a mass decrease. When a person plays the piano, thinks or
runs, her mass decreases. When a cup of tea cools down or when a star shines, its mass
decreases. When somebody uses somebody else’s electric power, he is taking away some
mass: electric power theft is thus mass theft! The mass–energy equivalence pervades all
of nature.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
There is just one known way to transform the full mass of a body into kinetic, in this
case electromagnetic, energy: we annihilate it with the same amount of antimatter. For-
tunately, there is almost no antimatter in the universe, so that the process does not occur
in everyday life, because the energy content of even a speck of dust is already substantial.
Challenge 83 e
The equivalence of mass and energy suggests that it is possible to ‘create’ massive parti-
cles by manipulating light or from kinetic energy in collisions. This is indeed correct; the
transformation of other energy forms into matter is occurring, as we speak, in the centre
of galaxies, in particle accelerators, or when cosmic rays hit the Earth’s atmosphere. The
details of these processes will become clear when we explore quantum physics.
The mass–energy equivalence E = γmc 2 means the death of many science fiction
fantasies. It implies that there are no undiscovered sources of energy on or near Earth. If
such sources existed, they would be measurable through their mass. Many experiments
have looked for, and are still looking for, such effects with a negative result. There is no
freely available energy in nature.*

Weighing light
The mass–energy equivalence E = γmc 2 also implies that one needs about 90 thousand
Challenge 84 e million kJ (or 21 thousand million kcal) to increase one’s weight by one single gram. Of
course, dieticians have slightly different opinions on this matter! As mentioned, humans
do get their everyday energy from the material they eat, drink and breathe by reducing
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

its combined mass before expelling it again; however, this chemical mass defect cannot yet
be measured by weighing the materials before and after the reaction: the difference is too
small, because of the large conversion factor c 2 . Indeed, for any chemical reaction, bond
energies are about 1 aJ (6 eV) per bond; this gives a weight change of the order of one part
in 1010 , too small to be measured by weighing people or determining mass differences
between food and excrement. Therefore, for everyday chemical reactions mass can be
taken to be constant, in accordance with Galilean physics.
* Two extremely diluted, yet somewhat mysterious forms of energy, called dark matter and (confusingly)
dark energy, are distributed throughout the universe, with a density of about 1 nJ/m3 . Their existence is
Page 201 deduced from quite delicate measurements that detected their mass, but their nature has not yet been fully
resolved.
 mechanics 65

The mass–energy equivalence E = γmc 2 has been confirmed by all experiments per-
formed so far. The measurement is simplest for the nuclear mass defect. The most precise
Ref. 69 experiment, from 2005, compared the masses difference of nuclei before and after neu-
tron capture on the one hand, and emitted gamma ray energy on the other hand. The
mass–energy relation was confirmed to a precision of more than 6 digits.
Modern methods of mass measurement of single molecules have even made it pos-
sible to measure the chemical mass defect: it is now possible to compare the mass of a
single molecule with that of its constituent atoms. David Pritchard’s group has developed
so-called Penning traps, which allow masses to be determined from the measurement of
frequencies; the attainable precision of these cyclotron resonance experiments is suffi-
Ref. 70 cient to confirm ΔE0 = Δmc 2 for chemical bonds. In the future, bond energies will be
determined in this way with high precision. Since binding energy is often radiated as
light, we can also say that these modern techniques make it possible to weigh light.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Thinking about light and its mass was the basis for Einstein’s derivation of the mass–
energy relation. When an object of mass m emits two equal light beams of total energy
E in opposite directions, its own energy decreases by the emitted amount. Let us look at
what happens to its mass. Since the two light beams are equal in energy and momentum,
the body does not move, and we cannot deduce anything about its mass change. But
we can deduce something if we describe the same situation when moving with the non-
relativistic velocity 󰑣 along the beams. We know that due to the Doppler effect one beam
is red-shifted and the other blue-shifted, by the factors 1 + 󰑣/c and 1 − 󰑣/c. The blue-
Challenge 85 e shifted beam therefore acquires an extra momentum 󰑣E/2c 2 and the red-shifted beam
loses momentum by the same amount. In nature, momentum is conserved. Therefore,
after emission, we find that the body has a momentum p = m󰑣 − 󰑣E/c 2 = 󰑣(m − E/c 2 ).
We thus conclude that a body that loses an energy E reduces its mass by E/c 2 . This is the
equivalence of mass and energy.
In short, we find that the rest energy E0 of an object, the maximum energy that can be
extracted from a mass m, is
E0 = mc 2 . (38)

We saw above that the Doppler effect is a consequence of the invariance of the speed of
light. Whenever the invariance of the speed of light is combined with momentum and
energy conservation we find the equivalence of mass and energy.
How are momentum and energy related? The definitions of momentum (32) and en- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 86 e ergy (35) lead to two basic relations. First of all, their magnitudes are related by

m2 c 4 = E 2 − p2 c 2 (39)

for all relativistic systems, be they objects or, as we will see below, radiation. For the
momentum vector we get the other important relation

E
p= 󰑣, (40)
c2
which is equally valid for any type of moving energy, be it an object or a beam or pulse of
 66 2 rel ativistic

time t τ

E2’ p2’
E1’ p1’
E
p
E2 p2
E1 p1
F I G U R E 43
object 1 Space-time
object 2 object 1 object 2
diagrams of the
same collision for
ξ two different
space x
observers.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 87 e radiation.* We will use both relations often in the rest of our ascent of Motion Mountain,
including the following discussion.

Collisions, virtual objects and tachyons

We have just seen that in relativistic collisions the conservation of total energy and mo-
mentum are intrinsic consequences of the definition of mass. Let us now have a look at
collisions in more detail. A collision is a process, i.e., a series of events, for which
— the total momentum before the interaction and after the interaction is the same;
— the momentum is exchanged in a small region of space-time;
— for small velocities, the Galilean description is valid.
In everyday life an impact is the event at which both objects change momentum. But
the two colliding objects are located at different points when this happens. A collision is
Ref. 71 therefore described by a space-time diagram such as the left-hand one in Figure 43; it is
reminiscent of the Orion constellation. It is easy to check that the process described by
Challenge 88 e such a diagram is a collision according to the above definition.
The right-hand side of Figure 43 shows the same process seen from another, Greek,
frame of reference. The Greek observer says that the first object has changed its momen-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tum before the second one. That would mean that there is a short interval when momen-
tum and energy are not conserved!
The only way to make sense of the situation is to assume that there is an exchange of
a third object, drawn with a dotted line. Let us find out what the properties of this object
are. We give numerical subscripts to the masses, energies and momenta of the two bodies,
Challenge 89 e and give them a prime after the collision. Then the unknown mass m obeys

1 − 󰑣1 󰑣1󳰀
2 4
m c = (E1 − E1󳰀 )2 − (p1 − p1󳰀 )2 c 2 = 2m12 c 4 − 2E1 E1󳰀 󶀦 󶀶<0. (41)
c2

* Using 4-vector notation, we can write 󰑣/c = p/P0 , where P0 = E/c.

 mechanics 67

This is a strange result, because it means that the unknown mass is an imaginary num-
ber!* On top of that, we also see directly from the second graph that the exchanged ob-
ject moves faster than light. It is a tachyon, from the Greek ταχύς ‘rapid’. In other words,
collisions involve motion that is faster than light! We will see later that collisions are in-
deed the only processes where tachyons play a role in nature. Since the exchanged objects
appear only during collisions, never on their own, they are called virtual objects, to dis-
tinguish them from the usual, real objects, which we observe everyday.** We will study
Vol. IV, page 55 the properties of virtual particle later on, when we come to discuss quantum theory.
In nature, a tachyon is always a virtual object. Real objects are always bradyons – from
the Greek βραδύς ‘slow’ – or objects moving slower than light. Note that tachyons, despite
their high velocity, do not allow the transport of energy faster than light; and that they
do not violate causality if and only if they are emitted or absorbed with equal probability.
Challenge 90 ny Can you confirm all this?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
When we will study quantum theory, we will also discover that a general contact in-
teraction between objects is described not by the exchange of a single virtual object, but
by a continuous stream of virtual particles. For standard collisions of everyday objects,
the interaction turns out to be electromagnetic. In this case, the exchanged particles are
virtual photons. In other words, when one hand touches another, when it pushes a stone,
or when a mountain supports the trees on it, streams of virtual photons are continuously
Vol. IV, page 54 exchanged.
There is an additional secret hidden in collisions. In the right-hand side of Figure 43,
the tachyon is emitted by the first object and absorbed by the second one. However, it is
Challenge 91 s easy to imagine an observer for which the opposite happens. In short, the direction of
travel of a tachyon depends on the observer! In fact, this is a hint about antimatter. In
space-time diagrams, matter and antimatter travel in opposite directions. The connection
Vol. IV, page 166 between relativity and antimatter will become more apparent in quantum theory.

Systems of particles – no centre of mass

Relativity also forces us to eliminate the cherished concept of centre of mass. We can see
this already in the simplest example possible: that of two equal objects colliding.
Figure 44 shows that from the viewpoint in which one of two colliding particles is at
rest, there are at least three different ways to define the centre of mass. In other words, the
Ref. 72 centre of mass is not an observer-invariant concept. We can deduce from the figure that
the concept only makes sense for systems whose components move with small velocities
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

relative to each other. An atom is an example. For more general systems, centre of mass
is not uniquely definable. Will this hinder us in our ascent? No. We are more interested
in the motion of single particles than that of composite objects or systems.

* It is usual to change the mass–energy and mass–momentum relation of tachyons to E = ±mc 2 /󵀆󰑣 2 /c 2 − 1
and p = ±m󰑣/󵀆󰑣 2 /c 2 − 1 ; this amounts to a redefinition of m. After the redefinition, tachyons have real
mass. The energy and momentum relations show that tachyons lose energy and momentum when they get
faster. (Provocatively, a single tachyon in a box could provide humanity with all the energy we need.) Both
signs for the energy and momentum relations must be retained, because otherwise the equivalence of all
inertial observers would not be generated. Tachyons thus do not have a minimum energy or a minimum
momentum.
** More precisely, a virtual particle does not obey the relation m2 c 4 = E 2 − p2 c 2 , valid for real particles.
 68 2 rel ativistic

A CM-0 B
v v

transformed CM
A CM-1 B
v=0 v 2v/(1+v2 /c2)

geometrical CM
A CM-2 B

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
v=0 2v/(1+v2 /c2)
v/(1+v2 /c2 )

momentum CM
A CM-3 B
v=0 F I G U R E 44 There is no consistent
2v/(1-v2/c2)1/2 2v/(1+v2 /c2)
way to define a relativistic centre
of mass.

Why is most motion so slow?

For most everyday systems, dilation factors γ are very near to 1; noticeable departures
from 1, thus speeds of more than a few per cent of the speed of light, are uncommon.
Most such situations are microscopic. We have already mentioned the electrons inside a
television tube or inside a particle accelerator. The particles making up cosmic radiation
are another example; it is important, because their high energy has produced many of
the mutations that are the basis of evolution of animals and plants on this planet. Later
we will discover that the particles involved in radioactivity are also relativistic.
But why don’t we observe any relativistic macroscopic bodies? Because the universe
exists since as long time. Bodies that collide with relativistic velocities undergo processes Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

not found in everyday life: when they collide, part of their kinetic energy is converted
into new matter via E = γmc 2 . In the history of the universe this has happened so many
times that practically all macroscopic bodies move with low speed with respect to their
environment, and practically all of the bodies still in relativistic motion are microscopic
particles.
A second reason for the disappearance of rapid relative motion is radiation damping.
Can you imagine what happens to relativistic charges during collisions, or in a bath of
Challenge 92 s light? Radiation damping also slows down microscopic particles.
In short, almost all matter in the universe moves with small velocity relative to other
matter. The few known counter-examples are either very old, such as the quasar jets men-
tioned above, or stop after a short time. For example, the huge energies necessary for
macroscopic relativistic motion are available in supernova explosions, but the relativis-
 mechanics 69

tic motion ceases to exist after a few weeks. In summary, the universe is mainly filled
Page 210 with slow motion because it is old. We will determine its age shortly.

The history of the mass–energy equivalence formula

Albert Einstein took several months after his first paper on special relativity to deduce
the expression
E = γmc 2 (42)

which is often called the most famous formula of physics. He published it in a second,
Ref. 15 separate paper towards the end of 1905. Arguably, the formula could have been discov-
ered thirty years earlier, from the theory of electromagnetism.
In fact, several persons deduced similar results before Einstein. In 1903 and 1904, be-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 74 fore Einstein’s first relativity paper, Olinto De Pretto, a little-known Italian engineer, cal-
culated, discussed and published the formula E = mc 2 . It might well be that Einstein
got the idea for the formula from De Pretto,*possibly through Einstein’s friend Michele
Besso or other Italian-speaking friends he met when he visited his parents, who were
living in Italy at the time. Of course, the value of Einstein’s efforts is not diminished by
this.
Ref. 74 In fact, a similar formula had also been deduced in 1904 by Friedrich Hasenöhrl and
published again in Annalen der Physik in 1905, before Einstein, though with an incorrect
numerical factor, due to a calculation mistake. The formula E = mc 2 is also part of several
expressions in two publications in 1900 by Henri Poincaré. Also Paul Langevin knew the
formula, and Einstein said of him that he would surely have discovered the theory of
special relativity had it not been done before. The real hero in the story might well be
Tolver Preston, who discussed the equivalence of mass and energy already in 1875, in his
book Physics of the Ether. The mass–energy equivalence was thus indeed floating in the
air, waiting to be understood and put into the correct context.
Vol. V, page 102 In the 1970s, a similar story occurred: a simple relation between the acceleration and
the temperature of the vacuum was discovered. The result had been waiting to be dis-
covered for over 50 years. Indeed, a number of similar, anterior results were found in the
libraries. Could other simple relations be hidden in modern physics waiting to be found?
Challenge 93 s

4-vectors
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

How can we describe motion consistently for all observers? We have to introduce a sim-
ple idea: 4-vectors. We already know that the motion of a particle can be seen as a se-
quence of events. Events are points in space-time. To describe events with precision, we
introduce event coordinates, also called 4-coordinates. These are written as

X = (ct, x) = (ct, x, y, z) = X i . (43)

* Umberto Bartocci, mathematics professor of the University of Perugia in Italy, published the details of
Ref. 73 this surprising story in several papers and in a book.
 70 2 rel ativistic

Inside the lightcone, or

future and past:
events with timelike
interval from event E Lightcone:
events with
t
time null interval
from event E
fu
tu
re

future T
lig
ht

Outside the lightcone,

co
ne

or elsewhere: events with

spacelike interval from E
E y

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ne
co
ht

x
lig

past
st
pa

F I G U R E 45 The space-time
diagram of a moving object T,
with one spatial dimension
missing.

In this way, an event is a point in four-dimensional space-time, and is described by four

coordinates. The four coordinates are called the zeroth, namely time X 0 = ct, the first,
usually called X 1 = x, the second, X 2 = y, and the third, X 3 = z. In fact, X is the simplest
example of a 4-vector. The old vectors x of Galilean physics are also called 3-vectors. We
see that time is treated like the zeroth of four dimensions.
We can now define a space-time distance or space-time interval between two events as
the length of the difference vector X. In fact, we usually use the square of the length, the
magnitude, to avoid those unwieldy square roots. In special relativity, the magnitude X 2
of any 4-vector X is defined as

X 2 = X0 2 − X1 2 − X2 2 − X3 2 = ct 2 − x 2 − y 2 − z 2 = Xa X a = ηab X a X b = η ab Xa Xb .(44)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The squared space-time interval is thus the squared time interval minus the squared
Page 38 length interval. We have seen above that this minus sign results from the invariance of
the speed of light. In contrast to a squared space interval, a squared space-time interval
can be positive, negative or even zero.
How can we imagine the space-time interval? The magnitude of the space-time inter-
val is the square of c times the proper time. The proper time is the time shown by a clock
moving in a straight line and with constant velocity between two events in space-time.
For example, if the start and end events in space-time require motion with the speed of
light, the proper time and the space-time interval vanish. This situation defines the so-
called null vectors or lightlike intervals. We call the set of all null vector end points the
Page 42 light cone; it is shown in Figure 45. If the motion between two events is slower than the
speed of light, the squared proper time is positive and the space-time interval is called
 mechanics 71

timelike. For negative space-time intervals the interval is called spacelike. In this last case,
the negative of the magnitude, which then is a positive number, is called the squared
proper distance. The proper distance is the length measured by an odometer as the object
moves along.
We note that the definition of the light cone, its interior and its exterior, are observer-
Challenge 94 e invariant. We therefore use these concepts regularly.
In the definition for the space-time interval we have introduced for the first time two
notations that are useful in relativity. First of all, we automatically sum over repeated
indices. Thus, Xa X a means the sum of all products Xa X a as a ranges over all indices.
Secondly, for every 4-vector X we distinguish two ways to write the coordinates, namely
coordinates with superscripts and coordinates with subscripts. (For 3-vectors, we only
use subscripts.) They are related by the following general relation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
X b = (ct, x, y, z)
Xa = (ct, −x, −y, −z) = ηab X b , (45)

where we have introduced the so-called metric η ab , an abbreviation of the matrix*

1 0 0 0
0 −1 0 0
η ab = ηab =󶀫 󶀻 . (46)
0 0 −1 0
0 0 0 −1

Don’t panic: this is all, and it won’t get more difficult! (A generalization of this matrix is
used later on, in general relativity.) We now go back to physics; in particular, we are now
ready to describe motion in space-time.

4-velocity
We now define velocity of an body in a way that is useful for all observers. We cannot
define the velocity as the derivative of its coordinates with respect to time, since time
and temporal sequences depend on the observer. The solution is to define all observables
with respect to the just-mentioned proper time τ, which is defined as the time shown by
a clock attached to the body. In relativity, motion and change are always measured with Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

respect to clocks attached to the moving system.

Therefore the relativistic velocity or 4-velocity U of an body is defined as the rate of
change of its 4-coordinates X = (ct, x) with respect to proper time, i.e., as

dX
U= . (47)
dτ
The coordinates X are measured in the coordinate system defined by the chosen inertial
observer. The value of the 4-velocity U depends on the observer or coordinate system
Ref. 75 * This is the so-called timelike convention, used in about 70 % of all physics texts worldwide. Note that 30 %
of all physics textbooks use the negative of η as the metric, the so-called spacelike convention, and thus have
opposite signs in this definition.
 72 2 rel ativistic

used, as does usual velocity in everyday life. Using dt = γ dτ and thus

dx dx dt dx 1
= =γ , where as usual γ= , (48)
dτ dt dτ dt 󵀆1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2

we get the relation of 4-velocity with the 3-velocity 󰑣 = dx/dt:

U 0 = γc , U i = γ󰑣i or U = (γc, γ󰑣) . (49)

For small velocities we have γ ≈ 1, and then the last three components of the 4-velocity
are those of the usual, Galilean 3-velocity. For the magnitude of the 4-velocity U we find
UU = UaU a = ηabU aU b = c 2 , which is therefore independent of the magnitude of the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
3-velocity 󰑣 and makes it a timelike vector, i.e., a vector inside the light cone.
In general, a 4-vector is defined as a quantity (H 0 , H 1 , H 2 , H 3 ) that transforms under
boosts as

HV0 = γV (H 0 − H 1V /c)
HV1 = γV (H 1 − H 0V /c)
HV2 = H 2
HV3 = H 3 (50)

when changing from one inertial observer to another moving with a relative velocity
V in the x direction; the corresponding generalizations for the other coordinates are
understood. This relation allows us to deduce the relativistic transformation laws for any
Challenge 95 s 3-vector. Can you deduce the 3-velocity composition formula (9) from this definition?
We know that the magnitude of a 4-vector can be zero even though all its components
are different from zero. Such a vector is called null. Which motions have a null velocity
Challenge 96 s vector?

4-acceleration and proper acceleration

Similarly, the 4-acceleration B of a body is defined as Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

dU d2 X
B= = . (51)
dτ dτ 2

Using dγ/dτ = γdγ/dt = γ 4 󰑣a/c 2 , we get the following relations between the four com-
Ref. 76 ponents of B and the 3-acceleration a = d󰑣/dt:

󰑣a (󰑣a)󰑣i
B 0 = γ4 , B i = γ 2 ai + γ 4 . (52)
c c2

Challenge 97 e The magnitude B of the 4-acceleration is easily found via BB = η cd B c B d = −γ4 (a2 +
γ2 (󰑣a)2 /c 2 ) = −γ 6 (a2 −(󰑣 ×a)2 /c 2 ). Note that the magnitude does depend on the value of
 mechanics 73

the 3-acceleration a. We see that a body that is accelerated for one inertial observer is also
accelerated for all other inertial observers. We also see directly that 3-accelerations are
not Lorentz invariant, unless the velocities are small compared to the speed of light. Differ-
ent inertial observers measure different 3-accelerations. This is in contrast to our everyday
experience and to Galilean physics, where accelerations are independent of the speed of
the observer.
We note that 4-acceleration lies outside the light cone, i.e., that it is a spacelike vector.
We also note that BU = η cd B c U d = 0, which means that the 4-acceleration is always
perpendicular to the 4-velocity.*
When the 3-acceleration a is parallel to the 3-velocity 󰑣, we get B = γ 3 a; when a is
perpendicular to 󰑣, as in circular motion, we get B = γ2 a. We will use this result shortly.
How does the 3-acceleration change from one inertial observer to another? To sim-
plify the discussion, we introduce the so-called comoving observer, the observer for which

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
a particle is at rest. We call the magnitude of the 3-acceleration for the comoving observer
the comoving or proper acceleration; in this case B = (0, a) and B 2 = −a2 . Proper acce-
leration describes what the comoving observer feels: proper acceleration describes the
experience of being pushed into the back of the accelerating seat. Proper acceleration is
the most important and useful concept when studying accelerated motion in relativity.
Proper acceleration is an important quantity, because no observer, whatever his speed
relative to the moving body, ever measures a 3-acceleration that is higher than the proper
acceleration, as we will see now.
We can calculate how the value of 3-acceleration a measured by a general inertial ob-
Ref. 77 server is related to the proper acceleration ac measured by the comoving observer using
expressions (52) and (50). In this case 󰑣 is both the relative speed of the two observers
and the speed of the accelerated particle. We get

2 1 2 (ac 󰑣)2
a = 4 󶀦ac − 󶀶 , (55)
γ󰑣 c2

Page 72 which we know already in a slightly different form. It shows (again) that the comoving or
proper 3-acceleration is always larger than the 3-acceleration measured by any other iner-
tial observer. The faster an inertial observer is moving relative to the accelerated system,
Challenge 99 e the smaller the 3-acceleration he observes. The expression also confirms that whenever
the speed is perpendicular to the acceleration, a boost yields a factor γ󰑣2 , whereas a speed
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

parallel to the acceleration gives the already mentioned factor γ󰑣3 .

* Similarly, the 4-jerk J of a body is defined as

J = dB/dτ = d2U /dτ 2 . (53)

Challenge 98 e For the relation with the 3-jerk j = da/dt we then get

γ5 (󰑣a)2 γ5 (󰑣a)2 󰑣i
J = (J 0 , J i ) = 󶀦 ( j󰑣 + a2 + 4γ2 2 ) , γ3 ji + 2 (( j󰑣)󰑣i + a2 󰑣i + 4γ2 + 3(󰑣a)ai ) 󶀶 (54)
c c c c2

Page 86 which we will use later on. Surprisingly, J does not vanish when j vanishes. Why not?
74 2 rel ativistic

time
(E/c , p)

space

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 46 Energy–momentum is tangent
to the world line.

The maximum property of proper acceleration implies that accelerations, in contrast

to velocities, cannot be called relativistic. In other words, accelerations require relativistic
treatment only when the involved velocities are relativistic. If the velocities involved are
low, even the highest accelerations can be treated with Galilean physics.

4-momentum or energy–momentum or momenergy

To describe motion, we need the concept of momentum. The 4-momentum is defined as

P = mU (56)

and is therefore related to the 3-momentum p by

P = (γmc, γm󰑣) = (E/c, p) . (57)

For this reason 4-momentum is also called the energy–momentum 4-vector. In short, the
4-momentum of a body is given by the mass times 4-displacement per proper time. This is
the simplest possible definition of momentum and energy. The concept was introduced
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

by Max Planck in 1906.

The energy–momentum 4-vector, sometimes also called momenergy, is, like the 4-
velocity, tangent to the world line of a particle. This connection, shown in Figure 46,
follows directly from the definition, since

(E/c, p) = (γmc, γm󰑣) = m(γc, γ󰑣) = m(cdt/dτ, dx/dτ) . (58)

The (square of the) length of momenergy, namely PP = ηab P a P b , is, like any squared
length of a 4-vector, the same for all inertial observers; it is found to be

E 2 /c 2 − p2 = m2 c 2 , (59)
 mechanics 75

thus confirming a result given above. We have already mentioned that energies or sit-
uations are called relativistic if the kinetic energy T = E − E0 is not negligible when
compared to the rest energy E0 = mc 2 . A particle whose kinetic energy is much higher
than its rest mass is called ultrarelativistic. Particles in accelerators or in cosmic rays fall
Challenge 100 s into this category. What is their energy–momentum relation?
The conservation of energy, momentum and mass of Galilean mechanics thus merge,
in special relativity, into the conservation of momenergy. In short, in nature momenergy
is conserved. In particular, mass is not a conserved quantity any more.
In contrast to Galilean mechanics, relativity implies an absolute zero for the energy.
We cannot extract more energy than mc 2 from a system of mass m. In particular, a zero
value for potential energy is fixed in this way. In short, relativity shows that energy is
bounded from below. There is no infinite amount of energy available in nature.
Not all Galilean energy contributes to mass: potential energy in an outside field does

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
not. Relativity forces us into precise energy bookkeeping. We keep in mind for later that
‘potential energy’ in relativity is an abbreviation for ‘energy reduction of the outside field’.
Can you show that for two particles with 4-momenta P1 and P2 , one has P1 P2 =
m1 E2 = m2 E1 = c 2 γ12 m1 m2 , where γ12 is the Lorentz factor due to their relative velocity
Challenge 101 s 󰑣12 ?
Note that by the term ‘mass’ m we always mean what is sometimes called the rest
mass. This name derives from the bad habit of many science fiction and secondary-school
books of calling the product γm the relativistic mass. Workers in the field usually (but not
Ref. 78 unanimously) reject this concept, as did Einstein himself, and they also reject the often-
heard expression that ‘(relativistic) mass increases with velocity’. Relativistic mass and
energy would then be two words for the same concept: this way to talk is at the level of
the tabloid press.

4-force
The 4-force K is defined with 4-momentum P as

K = dP/dτ = mB . (60)

Therefore force remains equal to mass times acceleration in relativity. From the definition
Ref. 76, Ref. 79 of K we deduce the relation with 3-force F = dp/dt = md(γ󰑣)/dt, namely* Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

m󰑣a 2 m󰑣a γ dE dp F󰑣
K = (K 0 , K i ) = 󶀤γ4 , γ mai + γ4 󰑣i 2 󶀴 = 󶀥 , γ 󶀵 = 󶀤γ , γF󶀴 . (61)
c c c dt dt c

Challenge 102 e The 4-force, like the 4-acceleration, is orthogonal to the 4-velocity. The meaning of the
zeroth component of the 4-force can easily be discerned: it is the power required to ac-
celerate the object. Indeed, we have KU = c 2 dm/dτ = γ2 (dE/dt − F󰑣): this is the proper
rate at which the internal energy of a system increases. The product KU vanishes only
for rest-mass-conserving forces. Many particle collisions lead to reactions and thus do
not belong to this class of forces; such collisions and forces do not conserve rest mass. In

* Some authors define 3-force as dp/dτ; then K looks slightly different.

 76 2 rel ativistic

everyday life however, the rest mass is preserved, and then we get the Galilean expression
for power given by F󰑣 = dE/dt.
Challenge 103 s For rest-mass-preserving forces we get F = γma+(F󰑣)󰑣/c 2 . In other words, in the gen-
eral case, 3-force and 3-acceleration are neither parallel nor proportional to each other.
In contrast, 3-momentum is parallel, but not proportional to 3-velocity.
We note that 3- force has the largest possible value, the proper force, in the comoving
frame. A boost keeps the component of the force in the direction of the boost unchanged,
Challenge 104 ny and reduces the components in the perpendicular directions. In particular, boost cannot
be used to increase 3-force values beyond all bounds. The situation somewhat resembles
Page 73 the situation for 3-acceleration, though the transformation behaviour differs.
The 4-force can thus also be called the power–force 4-vector. In Galilean mechanics,
when we defined force, we also explored potentials. However, we cannot do this easily
in special relativity. In contrast to Galilean mechanics, where interactions and poten-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
tials can have almost any desired behaviour, special relativity has strict requirements for
them. There is no way to define potentials and interactions in a way that makes sense
Ref. 80 for all observers – except if the potentials are related to fields that can carry energy and
momentum. In other terms, relativity only allows potentials related to radiation. In fact,
only two type of potentials are allowed by relativity in everyday life: those due to electro-
magnetism and those due to gravity. (In the microscopic domain, also the two nuclear
interactions are possible.) In particular, this result implies that when two everyday ob-
jects collide, the collision is either due to gravitational or to electric effects. To put it
even more bluntly: relativity forbids ‘purely mechanical’ interactions. Mechanics is not a
fundamental part of nature. Indeed, in the volume on quantum theory we will confirm
that everything that we call mechanical in everyday life is, without exception, electromag-
netic. Every caress and every kiss is an electromagnetic process. To put it in another way,
and using the fact that light is an electromagnetic process, we can say: if we bang two
objects hard enough onto each other, we will inevitably produce light.
The inclusion of gravity into relativity yields the theory of general relativity. In general
relativity, the just defined power–force vector will play an important role. It will turn out
that in nature, the 3-force F and the 3-power F󰑣 are limited in magnitude. Can you guess
Challenge 105 d how?

Rotation in relativity
If at night we turn around our own axis while looking at the sky, the stars move with a
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

velocity much higher than that of light. Most stars are masses, not images. Their speed
should be limited by that of light. How does this fit with special relativity?
This example helps to clarify in another way what the limit velocity actually is. Phys-
ically speaking, a rotating sky does not allow superluminal energy transport, and thus
does not contradict the concept of a limit speed. Mathematically speaking, the speed of
light limits relative velocities only between objects that come near to each other, as shown
on the left of Figure 47. To compare velocities of distant objects, like between ourselves
and the stars, is only possible if all velocities involved are constant in time; this is not the
case if we turn. The differential version of the Lorentz transformations make this point
particularly clear. Indeed, the relative velocities of distant objects are frequently higher
Page 55 than the speed of light. We encountered one example earlier, when discussing the car in
 mechanics 77

A v

v
v'
B v'
D
F I G U R E 47 On the definition of
relative velocity (see text).

O3 O2 O

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
1
On
On–1

F I G U R E 48 Observers on a rotating object.

Page 91 the tunnel, and we will encounter a more examples shortly.

With this clarification, we can now briefly consider rotation in relativity. The first ques-
tion is how lengths and times change in a rotating frame of reference. You may want to
check that an observer in a rotating frame agrees with a non-rotating colleague on the
radius of a rotating body; however, both find that the rotating body, even if it is rigid, has
Challenge 106 e a circumference different from the one it had before it started rotating. Sloppily speaking,
the value of π changes for rotating observers! For the rotating observer, the ratio between
the circumference c and the radius r turns out to be c/r = 2πγ: the ratio increases with
Challenge 107 e rotation speed. This counter-intuitive result is often called Ehrenfest’s paradox. It shows Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 81 that space-time for a rotating observer is not the flat Minkowski space-time of special
relativity. The paradox also shows that rigid bodies do not exist.
Rotating bodies behave strangely in many ways. For example, we get into trouble when
we try to synchronize clocks mounted on a rotating circle, as shown in Figure 48. If we
start synchronizing the clock at position O2 with that at O1 , and so on, continuing up
to last clock On , we find that the last clock is not synchronized with the first. This result
reflects the change in circumference just mentioned. In fact, a careful study shows that
the measurements of length and time intervals lead all observers Ok to conclude that
they live in a rotating space-time, one that is not flat. Rotating discs can thus be used
as an introduction to general relativity, where spatial curvature and its effects form the
central topic. More about this in the next chapter.
Ref. 21 In relativity, rotation and translation combine in strange ways. Imagine a cylinder in
 78 2 rel ativistic

uniform rotation along its axis, as seen by an observer at rest. As Max von Laue has
discussed, the cylinder will appear twisted to an observer moving along the rotation axis.
Challenge 108 e Can you confirm this?
For train lovers, here is a well-known puzzle. A train travels on a circular train track.
The train is as long as the track, so that is forms a circle. What happens if the same train
runs at relativistic speeds: does the train fall out of the track, remain on the track or fall
Challenge 109 ny inside the track?
Is angular velocity limited? Yes: the tangential speed in an inertial frame of reference
cannot reach that of light. The limit on angular velocity thus depends on the size of
the body in question. That leads to a neat puzzle: can we see an object that rotates very
Challenge 110 s rapidly?
We mention that 4-angular momentum is defined naturally as

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
l ab = x a pb − x b pa . (62)

The two indices imply that the 4-angular momentum is a tensor, not a vector. Angular
Challenge 111 ny momentum is conserved, also in special relativity. The moment of inertia is naturally
defined as the proportionality factor between angular velocity and angular momentum.
By the way, how would you determine whether a microscopic particle, too small to be
Challenge 112 ny seen, is rotating?
For a rotating particle, the rotational energy is part of the rest mass. You may want to
Challenge 113 e calculate the fraction for the Earth and the Sun. It is not large.
Here are some puzzles about relativistic rotation. We know that velocity is relative:
its measured value depends on the observer. Is this the case also for angular velocity?
Challenge 114 s What is the expression for relativistic rotational energy, and for its relation to 4-angular
Challenge 115 ny momentum?

Wave motion
Vol. I, page 253 We saw in Galilean physics that a harmonic or sine wave is described, among others, by
an angular frequency ω = 2π󰜈 and by a wave vector k, with k = 2π/λ. In special relativity,
the two quantities are combined in the wave 4-vector L that is given by

ω
L a = 󶀤 , k󶀴 . (63)
c
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

As usual, the phase velocity of a harmonic wave is ω/k = λ󰜈. The wave 4-vector for light
has magnitude 0, it is a null vector. For slower waves, such as sound waves, the wave
Challenge 116 e 4-vector is timelike.
The phase φ of a wave can now be defined as

φ = L a x a = L a xa . (64)

Being a scalar, as expected, the phase of any wave, be it light, sound or any other type, is
Challenge 117 e the same for all observers; the phase is a relativistic invariant.*

* In component notation, the important relations are (ω/c, k)(ct, x) = φ, then (ω/c, k)(c, vphase ) = 0 and
 mechanics 79

Suppose an observer with 4-velocity U finds that a wave with wave 4-vector L has
frequency 󰜈. Show that
󰜈 = LU (65)

Challenge 118 s must be obeyed.

Interestingly, the wave phase 4-velocity ω/k transforms in a different way than particle
Ref. 20 velocity, except in the case ω/k = c. Also the aberration formula for wave motion differs
from that for particle motion, except in the case ω/k = c. Can you find the two relations?
Challenge 119 ny

The action of a free particle – how do things move?

If we want to describe relativistic motion of a free particle in terms of the least action

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Vol. I, page 213 principle, we need a definition of the action. We already know that physical action is a
measure of the change occurring in a system. For an inertially moving or free particle, the
only change is the ticking of its proper clock. As a result, the action of a free particle will
be proportional to the elapsed proper time. In order to get the standard unit of energy
times time, or Js, for the action, the obvious guess for the action of a free particle is
τ2
S = −mc 2 󵐐 dτ , (66)
τ1

where τ is the proper time along its path. This is indeed the correct expression.
Indeed, in nature, all particles move in such a way that the elapsed proper time – or
wristwatch time – is maximal. In other words, we again find that in nature things change
as little as possible. Nature is like a wise old man: its motions are as slow as possible – it
does as little as possible. If you prefer, every change in nature is maximally effective. As
Vol. I, page 217 we mentioned before, Bertrand Russell called this the ‘law’ of cosmic laziness.
Using the invariance of the speed of light, the principle of least action can thus be
rephrased: Bodies idle as much as they can. Figure 49 shows some examples of values of
proper times for a body moving from one point to another in free space. The straight
motion, the one that nature chooses, is the motion with the longest proper time. (Re-
Page 44 call the result given above: travelling more keeps younger.) However, this difference in
proper time is noticeable only for relativistic speeds and large distances – such as those
shown in the figure – and therefore we do not experience any such effect in everyday,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

non-relativistic life.
For a free body, the change in proper time is maximal, and the action minimal, for
straight-line motion with constant velocity. The principle of least action thus implies con-
Challenge 120 ny servation of (relativistic) energy and momentum. Can you confirm this?
The expression (66) for the action is due to Max Planck. In 1906, by exploring it in
detail, he found that the quantum of action ħ, which he had discovered together with the
Boltzmann constant, is a relativistic invariant (like the Boltzmann constant k). Can you
Challenge 121 ny imagine how he did this?
The action can also be written in more complex, seemingly more frightening ways.
These equivalent ways to write it are particularly appropriate to prepare us for general
finally (dω/c, dk)(c, vgroup ) = 0.
 80 2 rel ativistic

time

1h30min
B
1h29min 1h29min
1h28min 1h28min

space

0 150 Gm

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
A
F I G U R E 49 The straight motion between
two points A and B is the motion that
requires the longest proper time.

relativity:

t2 τ2 s2
1 dx dx
S = 󵐐 L dt = −mc 2 󵐐 dt = −mc 󵐐 󵀆ua ua dτ = −mc 󵐐 󵀊η ab a b ds ,(67)
t1 γ τ1 s1 ds ds

where s is some arbitrary, but monotonically increasing, function of τ, such as τ itself.

As usual, the metric η αβ of special relativity is

1 0 0 0
ab 0 −1 0 0
η = ηab =󶀫 󶀻 . (68)
0 0 −1 0
0 0 0 −1

You can easily confirm the form of the action (67) by deducing the equation of motion Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 122 ny in the usual way.

In short, nature is not in a hurry: every object moves in a such way that its own clock
shows the longest delay possible, compared with any alternative motion nearby. This gen-
eral principle is also valid for particles under the influence of gravity, as we will see in
the section on general relativity, and for particles under the influence of electric or mag-
netic interactions. In fact, the principle of maximum proper time, i.e., the least action
principle, is valid in all cases of motion found in nature, as we will discover step by step.
For the moment, we just note that the longest proper time is realized when the average
Challenge 123 ny difference between kinetic and potential energy is minimal. (Can you confirm this?) We
thus recover the principle of least action in its everyday formulation.
Vol. I, page 213 Earlier on, we saw that the action measures the change going on in a system. Special
relativity shows that nature minimizes change by maximizing proper time. In nature,
 mechanics 81

proper time is always maximal. In other words, things move along paths defined by the
principle of maximal ageing. Can you explain why ‘maximal ageing’ and ‘cosmic laziness’
Challenge 124 e are equivalent?
When you throw a stone, the stone follows more or less a parabolic path. Had it flown
higher, it would have to move faster, which slows down its aging. Had it flown lower, it
Page 136 would also age more slowly, because at lower height you stay younger, as we will see. The
actual path is thus indeed the path of maximum aging.
We thus again find that nature is the opposite of a Hollywood film: nature changes in
the most economical way possible – all motion realizes the smallest possible amount of
action. Exploring the deeper meaning of this result is left to you: enjoy it!

Conformal transformations

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The distinction between space and time in special relativity depends on the inertial ob-
server. On the other hand, all inertial observers agree on the position, shape and orien-
tation of the light cone at a point. Thus, in the theory of relativity, the light cones are
the basic physical ‘objects’. For any expert of relativity, space-time is a large collection of
light cones. Given the importance of light cones, we might ask if inertial observers are
the only ones that observe the same light cones. Interestingly, it turns out that additional
observers do as well.
The first category of additional observers that keep light cones invariant are those
using units of measurement in which all time and length intervals are multiplied by a
scale factor λ. The transformations among these observers or points of view are given by

xa 󳨃→ λxa (69)

and are called dilations or scaling transformations.

A second category of additional observers are found by applying the so-called special
conformal transformations. These are compositions of an inversion

xa
xa 󳨃→ (70)
x2
with a translation by a 4-vector ba , namely

xa 󳨃→ xa + ba ,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

(71)

Challenge 125 e and a second inversion. Therefore the special conformal transformations are

xa + b a x 2
xa 󳨃→ . (72)
1 + 2ba x a + b2 x 2

These transformations are called conformal because they do not change angles of (in-
Challenge 126 ny finitesimally) small shapes, as you may want to check. The transformations therefore
leave the form (of infinitesimally small objects) unchanged. For example, they transform
infinitesimal circles into infinitesimal circles, and infinitesimal (hyper-)spheres into in-
 82 2 rel ativistic

finitesimal (hyper-)spheres. The transformations are called special because the full con-
formal group includes the dilations and the inhomogeneous Lorentz transformations as
well.*
Note that the way in which special conformal transformations leave light cones invari-
Challenge 128 ny ant is rather subtle. Explore the issue!
Since dilations do not commute with time translations, there is no conserved quantity
associated with this symmetry. (The same is true of Lorentz boosts.) In contrast, rotations
and spatial translations do commute with time translations and thus do lead to conserved
quantities.
In summary, vacuum is conformally invariant – in the special sense just mentioned
– and thus also dilation invariant. This is another way to say that vacuum alone is not
sufficient to define lengths, as it does not fix a scale factor. As we would expect, matter
is necessary to do so. Indeed, (special) conformal transformations are not symmetries

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
of situations containing matter. Vacuum is conformally invariant; nature as a whole is
not.**
However, conformal invariance, or the invariance of light cones, is sufficient to al-
low velocity measurements. Conformal invariance is also necessary for velocity measure-
Challenge 130 ny ments, as you might want to check.
We have seen that conformal invariance implies inversion symmetry: that is, that the
large and small scales of a vacuum are related. This suggests that the invariance of the
speed of light is related to the existence of inversion symmetry. This mysterious connec-
tion gives us a first glimpse of the adventures that we will encounter in the final part of
our ascent of Motion Mountain.

Accelerating observers
So far, we have only studied what inertial, or free-flying, observers say to each other
when they talk about the same observation. For example, we saw that moving clocks

Challenge 127 e * The set of all special conformal transformations forms a group with four parameters; adding dilations
and the inhomogeneous Lorentz transformations one gets fifteen parameters for the full conformal group.
Mathematically speaking, the conformal group is locally isomorphic to SU(2,2) and to the simple group
Vol. V, page 280 SO(4,2). These concepts are explained later on. Note that all this is true only for four space-time dimensions.
In two dimensions – the other important case – the conformal group is isomorphic to the group of arbitrary
analytic coordinate transformations, and is thus infinite-dimensional.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

** A field that has mass cannot be conformally invariant; therefore conformal invariance is not an exact
symmetry of all of nature. Can you confirm that a mass term mφ2 in a Lagrangian density is not conformally
Challenge 129 ny invariant?
We note that the conformal group does not appear only in the kinematics of special relativity and thus
is not only a symmetry of the vacuum: the conformal group is also the symmetry group of physical inter-
actions, such as electromagnetism, as long as the involved radiation bosons have zero mass, as is the case
for the photon. In simple words, both the vacuum and all those radiation fields that are made of massless
particles are conformally invariant. Fields due to massive particles are not.
We can go even further. All elementary particles observed up to now have masses that are many orders
of magnitude smaller than the Planck mass 󵀄 ħc/G . Thus it can be said that they have almost vanishing
mass; conformal symmetry can then be seen as an approximate symmetry of nature. In this view, all mas-
sive particles can be seen as small corrections, or perturbations, of massless, i.e., conformally invariant,
fields. Therefore, for the construction of a fundamental theory, conformally invariant Lagrangians are often
assumed to provide a good starting approximation.
 mechanics 83

F I G U R E 50 The animation shows an

observer accelerating down the road in a
desert, until he reaches relativistic speeds.
The inset shows the position along the
road. Note how things seem to recede,
despite the advancing motion. (Quicktime
film © Anthony Searle and Australian
National University, from www.anu.edu.au/
Physics/Savage/TEE.)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
observer (Greek)
󰑣
light
c
observer (Roman)
F I G U R E 51 The simplest situation for
an inertial and an accelerated observer.

always run slow. The story gets even more interesting when one or both of the observers
are accelerating.
One sometimes hears that special relativity cannot be used to describe accelerating
observers. That is wrong, just as it is wrong to say that Galilean physics cannot be used
for accelerating observers. Special relativity’s only limitation is that it cannot be used
in non-flat, i.e., curved, space-time. Accelerating bodies do exist in flat space-time, and
therefore they can be discussed in special relativity.
As an appetizer, let us see what an accelerating, Greek, observer says about the clock
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 82 of an inertial, Roman, one, and vice versa. We assume that the Greek observer, shown in
Figure 51, moves along the path x(t), as observed by the inertial Roman one. In general,
the Greek–Roman clock rate ratio is given by Δτ/Δt = (τ2 − τ1 )/(t2 − t1 ). Here the Greek
coordinates are constructed with a simple procedure: take the two sets of events defined
by t = t1 and t = t2 , and let τ1 and τ2 be the points where these sets intersect the time
axis of the Greek observer.*
We first briefly assume that the Greek observer is also inertial and moving with veloc-
ity 󰑣 as observed by the Roman one. The clock ratio of a Greek observer is then given

* These sets form what mathematicians call hypersurfaces.

 84 2 rel ativistic

by
Δτ dτ 󵀆 1
= = 1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2 = , (73)
Δt dt γ󰑣

Challenge 131 ny a formula we are now used to. We find again that inertially moving clocks run slow.
For accelerated motions of the Greek observer, the differential version of the above
Ref. 82 reasoning is necessary. The Greek/Roman clock rate ratio is dτ/dt, and τ and τ + dτ are
calculated in the same way from the times t and t + dt. To do this, we assume again that
the Greek observer moves along the path x(t), as measured by the Roman one. We find
directly that
τ
= t − x(t)󰑣(t)/c 2 (74)
γ󰑣

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
and thus
τ + dτ
= (t + dt) − [x(t) + dt󰑣(t)][󰑣(t) + dta(t)]/c 2 . (75)
γ󰑣

Together, and to first order, these equations yield

‘dτ/dt’ = γ󰑣 (1 − 󰑣󰑣/c 2 − xa/c 2 ) . (76)

This result shows that accelerated clocks can run fast or slow, depending on their position
x and the sign of their acceleration a. There are quotes in the above equation because we
can see directly that the Greek observer notes

‘dt/dτ’ = γ󰑣 , (77)

which is not the inverse of equation (76). This difference becomes most apparent in the
simple case of two clocks with the same velocity, one of which has a constant acceleration
Ref. 82 д towards the origin, whereas the other moves inertially. We then have

‘dτ/dt’ = 1 + дx/c 2 (78)

and
‘dt/dτ’ = 1 . (79)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 90 We will discuss this situation in more detail shortly. But first we must clarify the concept
of acceleration.

Accelerating frames of reference

How do we check whether we live in an inertial frame of reference? Let us first define
the term. An inertial frame (of reference) has two defining properties. First, lengths and
distances measured with a ruler are described by Euclidean geometry. In other words,
rulers behave as they do in daily life. In particular, distances found by counting how
many rulers (rods) have to be laid down end to end to reach from one point to another –
 mechanics 85

F I G U R E 52 An observer
accelerating down a road
in a city. The film shows
the 360° view around the
observer; the borders thus
show the situation behind
his back, where the
houses, located near the
event horizon, remain at
constant size and distance.
(Mpg film © Anthony
Searle and Australian
National University.)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the so-called rod distances – behave as in everyday life. For example, rod distances obey
Pythagoras’ theorem in the case of right-angled triangles. Secondly, in inertial frames, the
speed of light is invariant. In other words, any two observers in that frame, independent
of their time and of the position, make the following observation: the ratio c between
twice the rod distance between two points and the time taken by light to travel from one
point to the other and back is always the same.
Equivalently, an inertial frame is one for which all clocks always remain synchronized
and whose geometry is Euclidean. In particular, in an inertial frame all observers at fixed
coordinates always remain at rest with respect to each other. This last condition is, how-
ever, a more general one. There are other, non-inertial, situations where this is still the
case.
Non-inertial frames, or accelerating frames, are a useful concept in special relativity.
In fact, we all live in such a frame. And we can use special relativity to describe motion
in such a accelerating frame, in the same way that we used Galilean physics to describe
it at the beginning of our journey.
A general frame of reference is a continuous set of observers remaining at rest with
Ref. 83 respect to each other. Here, ‘at rest with respect to each other’ means that the time for a
light signal to go from one observer to another and back again is constant over time, or
equivalently, that the rod distance between the two observers is constant. Any frame of
reference can therefore also be called a rigid collection of observers. We therefore note
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

that a general frame of reference is not the same as a general set of coordinates; the latter
is usually not rigid. But if all the rigidly connected observers have constant coordinate
values, we speak of a rigid coordinate system. Obviously, these are the most useful when
it comes to describing accelerating frames of reference.*

Ref. 84 * There are essentially only two other types of rigid coordinate frames, apart from the inertial frames:

— The frame ds 2 = dx 2 + dy 2 + dz 2 − c 2 dt 2 (1 + дk xk /c 2 )2 with arbitrary, but constant, acceleration of the

origin. The acceleration is a = −д(1 + дx/c 2 ).
— The uniformly rotating frame ds 2 = dx 2 + dy 2 + dz 2 + 2ω(−y dx + x dy)dt − (1 − r 2 ω2 /c 2 )dt. Here the
z-axis is the rotation axis, and r 2 = x 2 + y 2 .
 86 2 rel ativistic

τ
t

on
II

riz
ξ

ho
re
tu
fu
Ω
O
III c2/g x
I

pa
st
ho
IV
riz
on F I G U R E 53 The hyperbolic motion of an
rectilinearly, uniformly accelerating observer Ω.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 83 Note that if two observers both move with a velocity 󰑣, as measured in some inertial
frame, they observe that they are at rest with respect to each other only if this velocity
Challenge 132 ny is constant. Again we find, as above, that two people tied to each other by a rope, and at
Page 49 a distance such that the rope is under tension, will see the rope break (or hang loose) if
they accelerate together to (or decelerate from) relativistic speeds in precisely the same
way. Acceleration in relativity requires careful thinking.
Page 60 Can you state how the acceleration ratio enters into the definition of mass in special
Challenge 133 ny relativity?

Constant acceleration
Acceleration is a tricky topic. An observer who always feels the same force on his body is
called uniformly accelerating. His proper acceleration is constant. More precisely, a uni-
formly accelerating observer is an observer whose acceleration at every moment, mea-
sured by the inertial frame with respect to which the observer is at rest at that moment,
always has the same value B. It is important to note that uniform acceleration is not
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

uniformly accelerating when always observed from the same inertial frame. This is an
important difference from the Galilean case.
For uniformly accelerated motion in the sense just defined, 4-jerk is zero, and we need

B ⋅ B = −д 2 , (80)

Ref. 85 where д is a constant independent of t. The simplest case is uniformly accelerating mo-
tion that is also rectilinear, i.e., for which the acceleration a is parallel to 󰑣 at one instant of
time and (therefore) for all other times as well. In this case we can write, using 3-vectors,
Challenge 134 e
dγ󰑣
γ3 a = д or =д. (81)
dt
 mechanics 87

Challenge 135 e Taking the direction we are talking about to be the x-axis, and solving for 󰑣(t), we get

дt
󰑣= , (82)
󵀆1 + д2 t 2
c2

where it was assumed that 󰑣(0) = 0. We note that for small times we get 󰑣 = дt and for
large times 󰑣 = c, both as expected. The momentum of the accelerated observer increases
Challenge 136 e linearly with time, again as expected. Integrating, we find that the accelerated observer
moves along the path
c2 󵀌 д2 t 2
x(t) = 1+ 2 , (83)
д c

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
where we assumed that x(0) = c 2 /д, in order to keep the expression simple. Because of
this result, visualized in Figure 53, a rectilinearly and uniformly accelerating observer is
said to undergo hyperbolic motion. For small times, the world-line reduces to the usual
x = дt 2 /2 + x0 , whereas for large times it is x = ct, as expected. The motion is thus
uniformly accelerated only for the moving body itself, but not for an outside observer,
again as expected.
The proper time τ of the accelerated observer is related to the time t of the inertial
frame in the usual way by dt = γdτ. Using the expression for the velocity 󰑣(t) of equation
Ref. 85, Ref. 86 (82) we get*
c дτ c2 дτ
t = sinh and x = cosh (84)
д c д c

for the relationship between proper time τ and the time t and position x measured by
the external, inertial Roman observer. We will encounter this relation again during our
study of black holes.
Does the last formula sound boring? Just imagine accelerating on your motorbike at
д = 10 m/s2 for the proper time τ of 25 years. That would bring you beyond the end of the
known universe! Isn’t that worth a try? Unfortunately, neither motorbikes nor missiles
Challenge 137 s that accelerate like this exist, as their fuel tanks would have to be enormous. Can you
confirm this?
For uniform rectilinear acceleration, the coordinates transform as
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

c ξ дτ
t=󶀥 + 󶀵 sinh
д c c
2
c дτ
x = 󶀦 + ξ󶀶 cosh
д c
y=υ
z=ζ , (85)

Ref. 87 * Use your favourite mathematical formula collection – every person should have one – to deduce this. The
hyperbolic sine and the hyperbolic cosine are defined by sinh y = (e y − e−y )/2 and cosh y = (e y + e−y )/2.
They imply that ∫ dy/󵀆 y 2 + a2 = arsinh y/a = Arsh y/a = ln(y + 󵀆 y 2 + a2 ).
 88 2 rel ativistic

where τ now is the time coordinate in the Greek, accelerated frame. We note also that
the space-time interval dσ satisfies

dσ 2 = (1 + дξ/c 2 )2 c 2 dτ 2 − dξ 2 − dυ2 − dζ 2 = c 2 dt 2 − dx 2 − dy 2 − dz 2 , (86)

and since for dτ = 0 distances are given by Pythagoras’ theorem, the Greek, accelerated
Ref. 88 reference frame is indeed rigid.
After this forest of formulae, let’s tackle a simple question, shown in Figure 53. The
inertial, Roman observer O sees the Greek observer Ω departing under continuous acce-
leration, moving further and further away, following equation (83). What does the Greek
observer say about his Roman colleague? With all the knowledge we have now, that is
easy to answer. At each point of his trajectory Ω sees that O has the coordinate τ = 0
Challenge 138 e (can you confirm this?), which means that the distance to the Roman observer, as seen

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
by the Greek one, is the same as the space-time interval OΩ. Using expression (83), we
Ref. 89 see that this is
dOΩ = 󵀆ξ 2 = 󵀄x 2 − c 2 t 2 = c 2 /д , (87)

which, surprisingly enough, is constant in time! In other words, the Greek observer will
observe that he stays at a constant distance from the Roman one, in complete contrast to
what the Roman observer says. Take your time to check this strange result in some other
way. We will need it again later on, to explain why the Earth does not explode. (Can you
Challenge 139 s guess how that is related to this result?)

Event horizons
We now explore one of the most surprising consequences of accelerated motion, one that
is intimately connected with the result just deduced. We explore the trajectory, in the
coordinates ξ and τ of the rigidly accelerated frame, of an object located at the departure
Challenge 140 ny point x = x0 = c 2 /д at all times t. We get the two relations*

c2 дτ
ξ=− 󶀤1 − sech 󶀴
д c
дτ дτ
dξ/dτ = −c sech tanh . (89)
c c
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

These equations are strange. For large times τ the coordinate ξ approaches the limit value
−c 2 /д and dξ/dτ approaches zero. The situation is similar to that of riding a car acceler-
ating away from a woman standing on a long road. For the car driver, the woman moves
away; however, after a while, the only thing the driver notices is that she is slowly ap-
proaching the horizon. In everyday life, both the car driver and the woman on the road

* The functions appearing above, the hyperbolic secant and the hyperbolic tangent, are defined using the
expressions from the footnote on page 87:
1 sinh y
sech y = and tanh y = . (88)
cosh y cosh y
 mechanics 89

τ
t

on
II

riz
ξ

ho
re
tu
fu
Ω
O
III c2/g x
I

pa
st
ho
IV
riz
on
F I G U R E 54 Hyperbolic motion and event horizons.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
see the other person approaching their respective horizon; in special relativity, only the
accelerated observer makes a observation of this type.
A graph of the situation helps to clarify the result. In Figure 54 we can see that light
emitted from any event in regions II and III cannot reach the Greek observer. Those
events are hidden from him and cannot be observed. The boundary between the part
of space-time that can be observed and the part that cannot is called the event horizon.
Strangely enough, however, light from the Greek observer can reach region II. Event
horizons thus act like one-way gates for light and other signals. For completeness, the
graph also shows the past event horizon. We note that an event horizon is a surface. It is
thus a different phenomenon than the everyday horizon, which is a line. Can you confirm
Challenge 141 ny that event horizons are black?
So, not all events observed in an inertial frame of reference can be observed in a uni-
formly accelerating frame of reference. Accelerated observers are limited. Uniformly ac-
celerating frames of reference produce event horizons at a distance −c 2 /д. For example,
a person who is standing can never see further than this distance below his feet.
By the way, is it true that a light beam cannot catch up with a massive observer in
Challenge 142 s hyperbolic motion, if the observer has a sufficient head start?
Here is a more advanced challenge, which prepares us for general relativity. What is
Challenge 143 s the two-dimensional shape of the horizon seen by a uniformly accelerated observer?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 144 s Another challenge: what horizon is seen by an observer on a carousel?

The importance of horizons

In special relativity, horizons might seem to play a secondary role. But this impression
is wrong, for two reasons. First, in general relativity, horizons become frequent: the dark
night sky is an example of a horizon, and so is the surface of a black hole. And there are
billions of black holes in the universe. But the second reason for the interest of horizons
is even more important.
Two and a half thousand years ago, Leucippus of Elea (c. 490 to c. 430 bce) and Dem-
ocritus of Abdera (c. 460 to c. 356 or 370 bce) founded atomic theory. In particular, they
made the statement that everything found in nature is – in modern words – particles
 90 2 rel ativistic

and empty space. For many centuries, modern physics corroborated this statement. For
example, all matter turned out to be made of particles. Also light and all other types of
radiation are made of particles. But then came relativity and the discovery of horizons.
Horizons show that atomism is wrong: we will discover soon that horizons have
colours, and that they can have mass, spin and charge. But horizons are extended, not
localized. In short, we will discover that horizons are neither space nor particles. Hori-
zons are something new.
Only in the last two volumes of our adventure will we discover that horizons are effec-
tively a mixture of space and particles. But we will need some time to find out what this
means exactly. So far, special relativity only tells us that horizons are a new phenomenon
of nature, an unexpected addition to particles and space-time.

Acceleration changes colours

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Page 27 We saw above that a moving receiver sees different colours than the sender. So far, we
discussed this colour shift, or Doppler effect, for inertial motion only. For accelerating
frames the situation is even stranger: sender and receiver do not agree on colours even
Ref. 85, Ref. 90 if they are at rest with respect to each other. Indeed, if light is emitted in the direction of
the acceleration, the formula for the space-time interval gives

д0 x 2 2 2
dσ 2 = 󶀤1 + 󶀴 c dt (90)
c2

in which д0 is the proper acceleration of an observer located at x = 0. We can deduce in

Challenge 145 ny a straightforward way that
fr дh 1
= 1 − r2 = дh
(91)
fs c 1 + s2 c

where h is the rod distance between the source and the receiver, and where дs = д0 /(1 +
д0 xs /c 2 ) and дr = д0 /(1 + дo xr /c 2 ) are the proper accelerations measured at the source
and at the detector. In short, the frequency of light decreases when light moves in the
direction of acceleration. By the way, does this have an effect on the colour of trees along
Challenge 146 s their vertical extension?
The formula usually given, namely Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

fr дh
=1− 2 , (92)
fs c

is only correct to a first approximation. In accelerated frames of reference, we have to

be careful about the meaning of every quantity. For everyday accelerations, however, the
Challenge 147 e differences between the two formulae are negligible. Can you confirm this?
 mechanics 91

Can light move faster than c?

What speed of light does an accelerating observer measure? Using expression (92) above,
an accelerated observer deduces that
дh
󰑣light = c 󶀥1 + 󶀵 (93)
c2

which is higher than c for light moving in front of or ‘above’ him, and lower than c for
light moving behind or ‘below’ him. This strange result follows from a basic property of
any accelerating frame of reference: in such a frame, even though all observers are at rest
with respect to each other, clocks do not remain synchronized. This predicted change of
the speed of light has also been confirmed by experiment: the propagation delays to be
Page 163 discussed in general relativity can be seen as confirmations of this effect.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In short, the speed of light is only invariant when it is defined as c = dx/dt, and if dx
is measured with a ruler located at a point inside the interval dx, and if dt is measured
with a clock read off during the interval dt. In other words, the speed of light is only
invariant if measured locally.
If, however, the speed of light is defined as Δx/Δt, or if the ruler measuring distances
or the clock measuring times is located away from the propagating light, the speed of
light is different from c for accelerating observers! This is the same effect you can experi-
ence when you turn around your vertical axis at night: the star velocities you observe are
much higher than the speed of light. In short, c is the speed of light only relative to nearby
matter.
Note that this result does not imply that signals or energy can be moved faster than c.
Challenge 148 s You may want to check this for yourself.
In fact, all these effects are negligible for distances l that are much less than c 2 /a. For
an acceleration of 9.5 m/s2 (about that of free fall), distances would have to be of the
order of one light year, or 9.5 ⋅ 1012 km, in order for any sizeable effects to be observed.
By the way, everyday gravity is equivalent to a constant acceleration. So, why then do
Challenge 149 s distant objects, such as stars, not move faster than light, following expression (93)?

The composition of accelerations

To get a better feeling for acceleration, we explore another topic: the composition the-
orem for accelerations. This situation is more complex than for velocities, and is often
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 91 avoided. However, a good explanation of this was published by Mishra.

If we call anm the acceleration of system n by observer m, we are seeking to express
the object acceleration a01 as function of the value a02 measured by the other observer,
the relative acceleration a12 , and the proper acceleration a22 of the other observer: see
Figure 55. Here we will only study one-dimensional situations, where all observers and
all objects move along one axis. (For clarity, we also write 󰑣12 = 󰑣 and 󰑣02 = u.)
Challenge 150 e In Galilean physics we have the general connection

a01 = a02 − a12 + a22 (94)

 92 2 rel ativistic

a11 : proper acceleration

v11 = 0

y
Observer 1
x
a22 : proper acceleration
v22 = 0
v0n : object speed seen by observer n
Observer 2
x a0n : object acceleration

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Object seen by observer n

F I G U R E 55 The definitions necessary to deduce the composition behaviour of accelerations.

because accelerations behave simply. In special relativity, we get

(1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2 )3/2 (1 − u2 /c 2 )(1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2 )−1/2 (1 − u2 /c 2 )(1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2 )3/2

a01 = a02 − a12 + a22
(1 − u󰑣/c 2 )3 (1 − u󰑣/c 2 )2 (1 − u󰑣/c 2 )3
(95)
Challenge 151 ny and you might enjoy checking the expression.

A curiosity: what is the one-way speed of light?

We have seen that the speed of light, as usually defined, is given by c only if either the
observer is inertial or the observer measures the speed of light passing nearby (rather
than light passing at a distance). In short, the speed of light has to be measured locally.
But this condition does not eliminate one last subtlety.
Usually, length is measured by the time it takes light to travel. In this case the speed Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

of light will obviously be invariant. So how can we check the invariance? We need to
eliminate length measurements. The simplest way to do this is to reflect light from a
mirror, as shown in Figure 56. The invariance of the speed of light implies that if light
goes up and down a short straight line, then the clocks at the two ends measure times
given by
t3 − t1 = 2 (t2 − t1 ) . (96)

Here it is assumed that the clocks have been synchronised according to the prescription
on page 46. If the factor were not exactly two, the speed of light would not be invariant.
In fact, all experiments so far have yielded a factor of two, within measurement errors.
Ref. 92, Ref. 93 But these experiments instil us with a doubt: it seems that the one-way velocity of light
Challenge 152 s cannot be measured. Do you agree? Is the issue important?
 mechanics 93

time
clock 1 clock 2

t3

t2

t1

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 56 Clocks and the measurement of the speed of light as
space
two-way velocity.

Limits on the length of solid bodies

An everyday solid object breaks when some part of it moves with respect to some nearby
part with more than the speed of sound c of the material.* For example, when an object
hits the floor and its front end is stopped within a distance d, the object breaks at the
latest when
󰑣 2 2d
⩾ . (97)
c2 l
In this way, we see that we can avoid the breaking of fragile objects by packing them
into foam rubber – which increases the stopping distance. This may explain why boxes
containing presents are usually so much larger than their contents.
The fracture limit can also be written in a different way. To avoid breaking, the acce-
leration a of a solid body with length l must obey

la < c 2 , (98)

where c is the speed of sound, which is the speed limit for the material parts of solids. Let
us now repeat the argument in relativity, using the speed of light instead of that of sound.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 94
Imagine accelerating the front of a solid body with some proper acceleration a. The back
end cannot move with an acceleration α equal or larger than infinity, or if one prefers, it
Challenge 153 s cannot move with more than the speed of light. A quick check shows that therefore the
length l of a solid body must obey
la < c 2 , (99)

where c is now the speed of light. The speed of light thus limits the size of solid bodies. For
example, for 9.8 m/s2 , the acceleration of good motorbike, this expression gives a length

* The (longitudinal) speed of sound is about 5.9 km/s for glass, iron or steel; about 4.5 km/s for gold; and
Vol. I, page 253 about 2 km/s for lead. Other sound speeds are given earlier on..
 94 2 rel ativistic

limit of 9.2 Pm, about a light year. Not a big restriction: most motorbikes are shorter.
However, there are other, more interesting situations. Today, high accelerations are
produced in particle accelerators. Atomic nuclei have a size of a few femtometres. Can
Challenge 154 ny you deduce at which energies they break when smashed together in an accelerator?
In fact, inside a nucleus, the nucleons move with accelerations of the order of 󰑣 2 /r ≈
ħ2 /m2 r 3 ≈ 1031 m/s2 ; this is one of the highest values found in nature. Is the length limit
Challenge 155 s also obeyed by nuclei?
We find that Galilean physics and relativity produce similar conclusions: a limiting
speed, be it that of sound or that of light, makes it impossible for solid bodies to be rigid.
When we push one end of a body, the other end always can move only a little bit later.
A puzzle: does the speed limit imply a relativistic ‘indeterminacy relation’

Δl Δa ⩽ c 2 (100)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 156 s for the length and acceleration indeterminacies?
What does all this mean for the size of elementary particles? Take two electrons a
distance d apart, and call their size l. The acceleration due to electrostatic repulsion then
Challenge 157 ny leads to an upper limit for their size given by

4πε0 c 2 d 2 m
l< . (101)
e2
The nearer electrons can get, the smaller they must be. The present experimental limit
gives a size smaller than 10−19 m. Can electrons be exactly point-like? We will come back
to this question during our study of general relativity and quantum theory.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 Chapter 3

SPE C IAL R E L ATI V I T Y I N FOUR

SENTENC ES

The results that we encountered so far can be summarized in four statements.

— All (free floating and nearby) observers observe that there is a unique, maximal and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
invariant energy speed in nature, the ‘perfect’ speed c = 0.3 Gm/s, which is realized
by massless radiation such as light or radio signals, but cannot be achieved by material
systems. This observation defines special relativity.
— Therefore, even though space-time is the same for every observer, times and lengths
vary from one observer to another, as described by the Lorentz transformations (14)
Page 39 and (15), and as confirmed by experiment.
— Collisions show that the maximum energy speed implies that mass is equivalent to
energy, that the total energy of a moving massive body is given by E = γmc 2 and that
mass is not conserved.
— Applied to accelerated objects, these results lead to numerous counter-intuitive con-
sequences, such as the twin paradox, the appearance of event horizons and the appear-
ance of short-lived, i.e., virtual, tachyons in collisions.
Experiments show that all motion of radiation and matter is limited in speed. Further-
more, all speeds are defined and measured using the propagation of light. The other
properties of everyday motion remain. In particular, the six basic properties of everyday
Vol. I, page 28 motion that follow from its predictability are still valid: also relativistic motion is contin-
uous, conserves energy–momentum and angular momentum, is relative, is reversible,
is mirror-invariant (except for the weak interaction, where a different way to predict
Vol. V, page 182 mirror-inverse motion holds) and is lazy, i.e., it minimizes action.

Could the speed of light vary?

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The speed of massless light is the limit speed of energy in nature. Could the limit speed
change from place to place, or as time goes by? This tricky question still makes a fool out
of many physicists. The first answer is usually a loud: ‘Yes, of course! Just look at what
Ref. 95 happens when the value of c is changed in formulae.’ (Several such ‘variable speed of
light’ conjectures have even been explored.) However, this often-heard answer is wrong.
Since the speed of light enters into our definition of time and space, it thus enters, even
if we do not notice it, into the construction of all rulers, all measurement standards and
all measuring instruments. Therefore there is no way to detect whether the value actually
varies. No imaginable experiment could detect a variation of the limit speed, as the limit
Challenge 158 s speed is the basis for all measurements. ‘That is intellectual cruelty!’, you might say. ‘All
96 3 special relativit y

experiments show that the speed of light is invariant; we had to swallow one counter-
intuitive result after another to accept the invariance of the speed of light, and now we
are even supposed to admit that there is no other choice?’ Yes, we are. That is the irony of
progress in physics. The observer-invariance of the speed of light is counter-intuitive and
astonishing when compared to the observer-dependence of everyday, Galilean speeds.
But had we taken into account that every speed measurement is – whether we like it
or not – a comparison with the speed of light, we would not have been astonished by
the invariance of the speed of light at all; rather, we would have been astonished by the
strange properties of small speeds.
There is, in principle, no way to check the invariance of a measurement standard. To
put it another way, the truly surprising aspect of relativity is not the invariance of c; it is
the disappearance of c from the formulae of everyday motion.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Where does special relativity break down?
As we approach the speed of light, the quantities in the Lorentz transformation diverge.
However, this is only half the story. In nature, no observable actually reaches arbitrary
large values. Indeed, approaching the speed of light as nearly as possible, even special
relativity breaks down.
At extremely large Lorentz contractions, there is no way to ignore the curvature of
space-time that the moving matter or radiation creates; gravitation has to be taken into
account. At extremely large Lorentz contractions, there is also no way to ignore the fluc-
tuations of speed and position of the moving particles; quantum theory has to be taken
into account. The exploration of these two limitations define the next two stages of our
ascent of Motion Mountain. We start with the first.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 Chapter 4

SI MPLE GENER AL R EL ATIVIT Y:

GR AV ITATION, MA XIMUM SPEED
AND MA XIMUM FORCE

G
eneral relativity is easy! Nowadays, it can be made as intuitive as universal
ravity and its inverse square law – by using the right approach.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The main ideas of
eneral relativity, like those of special relativity, are accessible to secondary-school stu-
dents. In particular, black holes, gravitational waves, space-time curvature and the limits
of the universe can then be understood as easily as the Doppler effect or the twins
paradox.
In the following pages we will discover that, just as special relativity is based on a max-
imum speed c, general relativity is based on a maximum force c 4 /4G or on a maximum
power c 5 /4G. We first show that all known experimental data are consistent with these
limits. Then we find that the maximum force and the maximum power are achieved only
on insurmountable limit surfaces.

⊳ The surfaces that realize maximum force (momentum change) or maximum

power are called horizons.

Horizons are simple generalizations of those horizons that we encountered in special

Page 88 relativity. Horizons play the role in general relativity that is played by light beams in
special relativity: they are the systems that realize the limit. A horizon is the reason that
the sky is dark at night and that the universe is of finite size. Horizons tell us that in
general, space-time is curved. And horizons will allow us to deduce the field equations
of general relativity.
We also discuss the main counter-arguments and paradoxes arising from the force
and power limits. The resolutions of the paradoxes clarify why the limits have remained
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

dormant for so long, both in experiments and in teaching.

After this introduction, we will study the effects of relativistic gravity in detail. We
will explore the consequences of space-time curvature for the motions of bodies and of
light in our everyday environment. For example, the inverse square law will be modified.
Challenge 159 s (Can you explain why this is necessary in view of what we have learned so far?) Most
fascinating of all, we will discover how to move and bend the vacuum. Then we will
study the universe at large. Finally, we will explore the most extreme form of gravity:
black holes.
 98 4 simple general rel ativit y

F I G U R E 57 Effects of gravity: a dripping stalactite (© Richard Cindric) and the rings of Saturn,
photographed when the Sun is hidden behind the planet (courtesy CICLOPS, JPL, ESA, NASA).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Maximum force – general relativity in one statement

“
One of the principal objects of theoretical
research in any department of knowledge is to
find the point of view from which the subject

”
Ref. 96 appears in its greatest simplicity.
Willard Gibbs

We just saw that the theory of special relativity appears when we recognize the speed limit
c in nature and take this limit as a basic principle. At the turn of the twenty-first century
Ref. 97, Ref. 98 it was shown that general relativity can be approached by using a similar basic principle:
⊳ There is in nature a maximum force:

c4
F⩽ = 3.0 ⋅ 1043 N . (102)
4G
In nature, no force in any muscle, machine or system can exceed this value. For the curi-
ous, the value of the force limit is the energy of a (Schwarzschild) black hole divided by
twice its radius. The force limit can be understood intuitively by noting that (Schwarz-
schild) black holes are the densest bodies possible for a given mass. Since there is a limit
to how much a body can be compressed, forces – whether gravitational, electric, cen-
tripetal or of any other type – cannot be arbitrary large.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Alternatively, it is possible to use another, equivalent statement as a basic principle:

⊳ There is a maximum power in nature:

c5
P⩽ = 9.1 ⋅ 1051 W . (103)
4G
No power of any lamp, engine or explosion can exceed this value. The maximum power
is realized when a (Schwarzschild) black hole is radiated away in the time that light takes
to travel along a length corresponding to its diameter. We will see below precisely what
black holes are and why they are connected to these limits.
The existence of a maximum force or power implies the full theory of general rela-
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 99

TA B L E 3 How to convince yourself and others that there is a maximum

force c 4 /4G or a maximum power c 5 /4G in nature. Compare this table
with the table about maximum speed, on page 23 above, and with the
table about a smallest action, on page 16 in volume IV.

Issue Method

The force value c 4 /4G is check all observations

observer-invariant
Force values > c 4 /4G are not check all observations
observed
Force values > c 4 /4G are either check all observations
non-local or not due to energy
transport
Force values > c 4 /4G cannot be check all attempts

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
produced
Force values > c 4 /4G cannot be solve all paradoxes
imagined
A maximum force value c 4 /4G is 1 – show that all
consistent consequences, however
weird, are confirmed by
observation
2 – deduce the theory of
general relativity from it
and check it

tivity. In order to prove the correctness and usefulness of this approach, a sequence of
Page 23 arguments is required. The sequence is the same as the one we used for the establishment
of the limit speed in special relativity; it is shown in Table 3. The basis is to recognize that
the force value is invariant. This follows from the invariance of c and G. For the first ar-
gument, we need to gather all observational evidence for the claimed limit. Secondly, we
have to show that the limit applies in all possible and imaginable situations; any apparent
paradoxes will need to be resolved. Finally, in order to establish the limit as a principle
of nature, we have to show that general relativity follows from it.
These three steps structure this introduction to general relativity. We start the story
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

by explaining the origin of the idea of a limiting value.

The force and power limits

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries many physicists took pains to avoid the con-
cept of force. Heinrich Hertz made this a guiding principle of his work, and wrote an in-
fluential textbook on classical mechanics without ever using the concept. The fathers of
quantum theory, who all knew this text, then dropped the term ‘force’ completely from
the vocabulary of microscopic physics. Meanwhile, the concept of ‘gravitational force’
was eliminated from general relativity by reducing it to a ‘pseudo-force’. Force fell out of
fashion.
Nevertheless, the maximum force principle does make sense, provided that we visu-
 100 4 simple general rel ativit y

alize it by means of the definition of force: force is the flow of momentum per unit time.
In nature, momentum cannot be created or destroyed. We use the term ‘flow’ to remind
us that momentum, being a conserved quantity, can only change by inflow or outflow.
In other words, change of momentum, and thus force, always takes place through some
boundary surface. This fact is of central importance. Whenever we think about force at a
point, we really mean the momentum ‘flowing’ through a surface at that point. General
relativity states this idea usually as follows: forces keep bodies from following geodesics.
(A geodesic is a path followed by a freely falling particle.) The mechanism underlying a
measured force is not important; in order to have a concrete example to guide the discus-
sion it can be helpful to imagine force as electromagnetic in origin. However, any type
of force is possible.
We also stress that the force limit concerns 3-force, or what we call force in everyday
life, and that the power limit concerns what we call power in everyday life. In other words,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
in nature, both 3-velocity and 3-force are limited.
The maximum force principle boils down to the following statement: if we imag-
ine any physical surface (and cover it with observers), the integral of momentum flow
through the surface (measured by all those observers) never exceeds the limit value
c 4 /4G. It does not matter how the surface is chosen, as long as it is physical, i.e., as long
as we can fix observers* onto it.
The principle of maximum force imposes a limit on muscles, the effect of hammers,
the flow of material, the acceleration of massive bodies, and much more. No system can
create, measure or experience a force above the limit. No particle, no galaxy and no bull-
dozer can exceed it.
The existence of a force limit has an appealing consequence. In nature, forces can be
measured. Every measurement is a comparison with a standard. The force limit provides
a natural unit of force that fits into the system of natural units** that Max Planck derived
from c, G and h (or ħ). The maximum force thus provides a standard of force valid in
every place and at every instant of time.
The limit value of c 4 /4G differs from Planck’s proposed unit in two ways. First, the
numerical factor is different (Planck had in mind the value c 4 /G). Secondly, the force
unit is a limiting value. In this respect, the maximum force plays the same role as the
Ref. 99 maximum speed. As we will see later on, this limit property is valid for all other Planck
Vol. VI, page 24 units as well, once the numerical factors have been properly corrected. The factor 1/4 has
no deeper meaning: it is just the value that leads to the correct form of the field equations Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

of general relativity. The factor 1/4 in the limit is also required to recover, in everyday
Page 118 situations, the inverse square law of universal gravitation. When the factor is properly
taken into account, the maximum force (or power) is simply given by the (corrected)
Planck energy divided by the (corrected) Planck length or Planck time.
The expression for the maximum force involves the speed of light c and the gravita-
tional constant G; it thus qualifies as a statement on relativistic gravitation. The funda-
mental principle of special relativity states that speed 󰑣 obeys 󰑣 ⩽ c for all observers.
* Observers in general relativity, like in special relativity, are massive physical systems that are small enough
so that their influence on the system under observation is negligible.
** When Planck discovered the quantum of action, he noticed at once the possibility to define natural units.
Vol. IV, page 17 On a walk with his seven-year-old son in the forest around Berlin, he told him that he had made a discovery
as important as the discovery of universal gravity.
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 101

Analogously, the basic principle of general relativity states that in all cases force F and
power P obey F ⩽ c 4 /4G and P ⩽ c 5 /4G. It does not matter whether the observer mea-
sures the force or power while moving with high velocity relative to the system under
observation, during free fall, or while being strongly accelerated. However, we will see
that it is essential that the observer records values measured at his own location and that
the observer is realistic, i.e., made of matter and not separated from the system by a hori-
zon. These conditions are the same that must be obeyed by observers measuring velocity
in special relativity.
Since physical power is force times speed, and since nature provides a speed limit,
the force bound and the power bound are equivalent. We have already seen that force
Page 75 and power appear together in the definition of 4-force. The statement of a maximum
3-force is valid for every component of the 3-force, as well as for its magnitude. (As we
will see below, a boost to an observer with high γ value cannot be used to overcome

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Page 111 the force or power limits.) The power bound limits the output of car and motorcycle
engines, lamps, lasers, stars, gravitational radiation sources and galaxies. It is equivalent
to 1.2 ⋅ 1049 horsepower. The maximum power principle states that there is no way to
move or get rid of energy more quickly than that.
The power limit can be understood intuitively by noting that every engine produces
exhausts, i.e., some matter or energy that is left behind. For a lamp, a star or an evapo-
rating black hole, the exhausts are the emitted radiation; for a car or jet engine they are
hot gases; for a water turbine the exhaust is the slowly moving water leaving the turbine;
for a rocket it is the matter ejected at its back end; for a photon rocket or an electric mo-
tor it is electromagnetic energy. Whenever the power of an engine gets close to the limit
value, the exhausts increase dramatically in mass–energy. For extremely high exhaust
masses, the gravitational attraction from these exhausts – even if they are only radiation
– prevents further acceleration of the engine with respect to them. The maximum power
principle thus expresses that there is a built-in braking mechanism in nature; this braking
mechanism is gravity.
Yet another, equivalent limit appears when the maximum power is divided by c 2 .
⊳ There is a maximum rate of mass change in nature:

dm c3
⩽ = 1.0 ⋅ 1035 kg/s . (104)
dt 4G Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

This bound imposes a limit on pumps, jet engines and fast eaters. Indeed, the rate of flow
of water or any other material through tubes is limited. The mass flow limit is obviously
equivalent to either the force or the power limit.
The claim of a maximum force, power or mass change in nature seems almost too
fantastic to be true. Our first task is therefore to check it empirically as thoroughly as we
can.

The experimental evidence

Like the maximum speed principle, the maximum force principle must first of all be
checked experimentally. Michelson spent a large part of his research life looking for pos-
sible changes in the value of the speed of light. No one has yet dedicated so much effort
 102 4 simple general rel ativit y

to testing the maximum force or power. However, it is straightforward to confirm that

no experiment, whether microscopic, macroscopic or astronomical, has ever measured
force values larger than the stated limit. Many people have claimed to have produced
speeds larger than that of light. So far, nobody has ever claimed to have produced or
Challenge 160 s observed a force larger than the limit value.
The large accelerations that particles undergo in collisions inside the Sun, in the most
powerful accelerators or in reactions due to cosmic rays correspond to force values much
smaller than the force limit. The same is true for neutrons in neutron stars, for quarks
inside protons, and for all matter that has been observed to fall towards black holes. Fur-
thermore, the search for space-time singularities, which would allow forces to achieve or
exceed the force limit, has been fruitless.
In the astronomical domain, all forces between stars or galaxies are below the limit
value, as are the forces in their interior. Not even the interactions between any two halves

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
of the universe exceed the limit, whatever physically sensible division between the two
Page 116 halves is taken. (The meaning of ‘physically sensible division’ will be defined below; for di-
visions that are not sensible, exceptions to the maximum force claim can be constructed.
Challenge 161 s You might enjoy searching for such an exception.)
Astronomers have also failed to find any region of space-time whose curvature (a
concept to be introduced below) is large enough to allow forces to exceed the force limit.
Indeed, none of the numerous recent observations of black holes has brought to light
forces larger than the limit value or objects smaller than the corresponding black hole
radii.
The power limit can also be checked experimentally. It turns out that the power –
or luminosity – of stars, quasars, binary pulsars, gamma ray bursters, galaxies or galaxy
clusters can indeed be a sizeable fraction of the power limit. However, no violation of
Ref. 100 the limit has ever been observed. In fact, the sum of all light output from all stars in the
universe does not exceed the limit. Similarly, even the brightest sources of gravitational
waves, merging black holes, do not exceed the power limit. Only the brightness of evap-
orating black holes in their final phase could equal the limit. But so far, none has ever
been observed. (Surprisingly, both localised sources can approach the power limit, like
the universe itself. This suggests the so-called power paradox, which will be discussed
Page 116 below.)
Similarly, all observed mass flow rates are orders of magnitude below the correspond-
ing limit. Even physical systems that are mathematical analogues of black holes – for Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 101 example, silent acoustical black holes or optical black holes – do not invalidate the force
and power limits that hold in the corresponding systems.
In summary, the experimental situation is somewhat disappointing. Experiments do
not contradict the limit values. But neither do the data do much to confirm them. The
reason is the lack of horizons in everyday life and in experimentally accessible systems.
The maximum speed at the basis of special relativity is found almost everywhere; maxi-
mum force and maximum power are found almost nowhere. Below we will propose some
Page 121 dedicated tests of the limits that could be performed in the future.
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 103

Maximum force c4/4G, First law of horizon Field

are is equations
mechanics
Maximum power c5/4G, equivalent equivalent of general
to to relativity
(horizon equation)
Maximum mass rate c3/4G

F I G U R E 58 Showing the equivalence of the maximum force or power with the field equations of
general relativity.

Deducing general relativity*

In order to establish the maximum force and power limits as fundamental physical prin-
ciples, it is not sufficient to show that they are consistent with what we observe in nature.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
It is necessary to show that they imply the complete theory of general relativity. (This sec-
tion is only for readers who already know the field equations of general relativity. Other
Page 107 readers may skip to the next section.)
In order to derive the theory of relativity we need to study those systems that real-
ize the limit under scrutiny. In the case of the special theory of relativity, the main sys-
tem that realizes the limit speed is light. For this reason, light is central to the explo-
ration of special relativity. In the case of general relativity, the systems that realize the
limit are less obvious. We note first that a maximum force (or power) cannot be realized
throughout a volume of space. If this were possible, a simple boost** could transform
the force (or power) to a higher value. Therefore, nature can realize maximum force and
power only on surfaces, not volumes. In addition, these surfaces must be unattainable.
Ref. 99 These unattainable surfaces are basic to general relativity; they are called horizons. Maxi-
mum force and power only appear on horizons. We have encountered horizons in special
Page 89 relativity, where they were defined as surfaces that impose limits to observation. (Note
the contrast with everyday life, where a horizon is only a line, not a surface.) The present
definition of a horizon as a surface of maximum force (or power) is equivalent to the
definition as a surface beyond which no signal may be received. In both cases, a horizon
is a surface beyond which interaction is impossible.
The connection between horizons and the maximum force is a central point of rel-
ativistic gravity. It is as important as the connection between light and the maximum
speed in special relativity. In special relativity, we showed that the fact that light speed
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

is the maximum speed in nature implies the Lorentz transformations. In general relativ-
ity, we will now prove that the maximum force in nature, which we can call the horizon
force, implies the field equations of general relativity. To achieve this aim, we start with
the realization that all horizons have an energy flow across them. The flow depends on
the horizon curvature, as we will see. This connection implies that horizons cannot be
planes, as an infinitely extended plane would imply an infinite energy flow.
The deduction of the equations of general relativity has only two steps, as shown in
Figure 58. In the first step, we show that the maximum force or power principle implies

* This section can be skipped at first reading. (The mentioned proof dates from December 2003.)
** A boost was defined in special relativity as a change of viewpoint to a second observer moving in relation
to the first.
 104 4 simple general rel ativit y

the first ‘law’ of horizon mechanics. In the second step, we show that the first ‘law’ implies
the field equations of general relativity.
The simplest finite horizon is a static sphere, corresponding to a Schwarzschild black
hole. A spherical horizon is characterized by its radius of curvature R, or equivalently, by
its surface gravity a; the two quantities are related by 2aR = c 2 . Now, the energy flowing
through any horizon is always finite in extension, when measured along the propaga-
tion direction. We can thus speak more specifically of an energy pulse. Any energy pulse
through a horizon is thus characterized by an energy E and a proper length L. When the
energy pulse flows perpendicularly through a horizon, the rate of momentum change, or
force, for an observer at the horizon is

E
F= . (105)
L

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Our goal is to show that the existence of a maximum force implies general relativity. Now,
maximum force is realized on horizons. We thus need to insert the maximum possible
values on both sides of equation (105) and to show that general relativity follows.
Using the maximum force value and the area 4πR2 for a spherical horizon we get

c4 E
= 4πR2 . (106)
4G LA
The fraction E/A is the energy per area flowing through any area A that is part of a
horizon. The insertion of the maximum values is complete when we note that the length
L of the energy pulse is limited by the radius R. The limit L ⩽ R follows from geometrical
considerations: seen from the concave side of the horizon, the pulse must be shorter than
the radius of curvature. An independent argument is the following. The length L of an
Ref. 102 object accelerated by a is limited, by special relativity, by L ⩽ c 2 /2a. Special relativity
already shows that this limit is related to the appearance of a horizon. Together with
relation (106), the statement that horizons are surfaces of maximum force leads to the
following important relation for static, spherical horizons:

c2
E= aA . (107)
8πG Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

This horizon equation relates the energy flow E through an area A of a spherical horizon
with surface gravity a. It states that the energy flowing through a horizon is limited, that
this energy is proportional to the area of the horizon, and that the energy flow is propor-
tional to the surface gravity. (The horizon equation is also called the first law of black hole
Ref. 103 mechanics or the first law of horizon mechanics.)
The above derivation also yields the intermediate result

c4 A
E⩽ . (108)
16πG L
This form of the horizon equation states more clearly that no surface other than a hori-
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 105

zon can achieve the maximum energy flow, when the area and pulse length (or surface
gravity) are given. No other domain of physics makes comparable statements: they are
intrinsic to the theory of gravitation.
An alternative derivation of the horizon equation starts with the emphasis on power
instead of on force, using P = E/T as the initial equation.
It is important to stress that the horizon equations (107) and (108) follow from only
two assumptions: first, there is a maximum speed in nature, and secondly, there is a max-
imum force (or power) in nature. No specific theory of gravitation is assumed. The hori-
zon equation might even be testable experimentally, as argued below. (We also note that
the horizon equation – or, equivalently, the force or power limit – implies a maximum
mass change rate in nature given by dm/dt ⩽ c 3 /4G.)
Next, we have to generalize the horizon equation from static and spherical horizons
to general horizons. Since the maximum force is assumed to be valid for all observers,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
whether inertial or accelerating, the generalization is straightforward. For a horizon that
is irregularly curved or time-varying the horizon equation becomes

c2
δE = a δA . (109)
8πG
This differential relation – it might be called the general horizon equation – is valid for
any horizon. It can be applied separately for every piece δA of a dynamic or spatially
changing horizon. The general horizon equation (109) has been known to be equivalent
to general relativity at least since 1995, when this equivalence was (implicitly) shown
Ref. 104 by Jacobson. We will show that the differential horizon equation has the same role for
general relativity as the equation dx = c dt has for special relativity. From now on, when
we speak of the horizon equation, we mean the general, differential form (109) of the
relation.
It is instructive to restate the behaviour of energy pulses of length L in a way that holds
for any surface, even one that is not a horizon. Repeating the above derivation, we get

δE c4 1
⩽ . (110)
δA 16πG L
Equality is only realized when the surface A is a horizon. In other words, whenever the
value δE/δA in a physical system approaches the right-hand side, a horizon starts to
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

form. This connection will be essential in our discussion of apparent counter-examples

to the limit principles.
If we keep in mind that on a horizon the pulse length L obeys L ⩽ c 2 /2a, it becomes
clear that the general horizon equation is a consequence of the maximum force c 4 /4G
or the maximum power c 5 /4G. In addition, the horizon equation takes also into account
maximum speed, which is at the origin of the relation L ⩽ c 2 /2a. The horizon equation
thus follows purely from these two limits of nature.
The remaining, second step of the argument is the derivation of general relativity
Ref. 104 from the general horizon equation. This derivation was provided by Jacobson, and the
essential points are given in the following paragraphs. To see the connection between
the general horizon equation (109) and the field equations, we only need to generalize
106 4 simple general rel ativit y

the general horizon equation to general coordinate systems and to general directions of
energy–momentum flow. This is achieved by introducing tensor notation that is adapted
to curved space-time.
To generalize the general horizon equation, we introduce the general surface element
dΣ and the local boost Killing vector field k that generates the horizon (with suitable
norm). Jacobson uses these two quantities to rewrite the left-hand side of the general
horizon equation (109) as
δE = 󵐐 Tab k a dΣ b , (111)

where Tab is the energy–momentum tensor. This expression obviously gives the energy
at the horizon for arbitrary coordinate systems and arbitrary energy flow directions.
Jacobson’s main result is that the factor a δA in the right hand side of the general hori-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
zon equation (109) can be rewritten, making use of the (purely geometric) Raychaudhuri
equation, as
a δA = c 2 󵐐 Rab k a dΣ b , (112)

where Rab is the Ricci tensor describing space-time curvature. This relation describes
how the local properties of the horizon depend on the local curvature.
Combining these two steps, the general horizon equation (109) becomes

c4
󵐐 Tab k a dΣ b = 󵐐 Rab k a dΣ b . (113)
8πG

Jacobson then shows that this equation, together with local conservation of energy (i.e.,
vanishing divergence of the energy–momentum tensor) can only be satisfied if

c4 R
Tab = 󶀤R − ( + Λ)дab 󶀴 , (114)
8πG ab 2

where R is the Ricci scalar and Λ is a constant of integration the value of which is not
determined by the problem. The above equations are the full field equations of general
relativity, including the cosmological constant Λ. The field equations thus follow from
the horizon equation. They are therefore shown to be valid at horizons.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Since it is possible, by choosing a suitable coordinate transformation, to position a

horizon at any desired space-time point, the field equations must be valid over the whole
of space-time. This observation completes Jacobson’s argument. Since the field equations
follow, via the horizon equation, from the maximum force principle, we have also shown
that at every space-time point in nature the same maximum force holds: the value of the
maximum force is an invariant and a constant of nature.
In other words, the field equations of general relativity are a direct consequence of
the limit on energy flow at horizons, which in turn is due to the existence of a maximum
force (or power). In fact, Jacobson’s derivation shows that the argument works in both
directions. Maximum force (or power), the horizon equation, and general relativity are
equivalent.
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 107

In short, the maximum force principle is a simple way to state that, on horizons, energy
flow is proportional to area and surface gravity. This connection makes it possible to de-
duce the full theory of general relativity. In particular, a maximum force value is sufficient
to tell space-time how to curve. We will explore the details of this relation shortly. Note
that if no force limit existed in nature, it would be possible to ‘pump’ any desired amount
of energy through a given surface, including any horizon. In this case, the energy flow
would not be proportional to area, horizons would not have the properties they have, and
general relativity would not hold. We thus get an idea how the maximum flow of energy,
the maximum flow of momentum and the maximum flow of mass are all connected to
horizons. The connection is most obvious for black holes, where the energy, momentum
Page 243 or mass are those falling into the black hole.
We note that the deduction of general relativity’s field equations from the maximum
power of force is correct only under the assumption that gravity is purely geometric. This

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
is the essential statement of general relativity. If the mechanism of gravity would be based
on other fields, such as hitherto unknown particles, the equivalence between gravity and
a maximum force would not be given.
Since the derivation of general relativity from the maximum force principle or from
the maximum power principle is now established, we can rightly call these limits hori-
zon force and horizon power. Every experimental or theoretical confirmation of the field
equations indirectly confirms their existence.

Space-time is curved
Imagine two observers who start moving parallel to each other and who both continue
straight ahead. If after a while they discover that they are not moving parallel to each
other any more, then they can deduce that they have moved on a curved surface (try it!)
Challenge 162 s or in a curved space. In particular, this happens near localized energy, such as masses.
The existence of a maximum force implies that space-time is curved near masses.
A horizon so strongly curved that it forms a closed boundary, like the surface of a
Page 240 sphere, is called a black hole. We will study black holes in detail below. The main property
of a black hole, like that of any horizon, is that it is impossible to detect what is ‘behind’
the boundary.*
The analogy between special and general relativity can thus be carried further. In spe-
cial relativity, maximum speed implies dx = c dt, and the change of time depends on the
observer. In general relativity, maximum force (or power) implies the horizon equation
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

c2
δE = 8πG a δA and the observation that space-time is curved.
The maximum force (or power) thus has the same double role in general relativity as
the maximum speed has in special relativity. In special relativity, the speed of light is the
maximum speed; it is also the proportionality constant that connects space and time, as
the equation dx = c dt makes apparent. In general relativity, the horizon force is the max-
imum force; it also appears (with a factor 2π) in the field equations as the proportionality
constant connecting energy and curvature. The maximum force thus describes both the
elasticity of space-time and – if we use the simple image of space-time as a medium – the
maximum tension to which space-time can be subjected. This double role of a material

* Analogously, in special relativity it is impossible to detect what moves faster than the light barrier.
 108 4 simple general rel ativit y

constant as proportionality factor and as limit value is well known in materials science.
Why is the maximum force also the proportionality factor between curvature and en-
ergy? Imagine space-time as an elastic material.* The elasticity of a material is described
by a numerical material constant. The simplest definition of this material constant is the
ratio of stress (force per area) to strain (the proportional change of length). An exact
definition has to take into account the geometry of the situation. For example, the shear
modulus G (or μ) describes how difficult it is to move two parallel surfaces of a material
against each other. If the force F is needed to move two parallel surfaces of area A and
length l against each other by a distance Δl, we define the shear modulus G by

F Δl
=G . (115)
A l

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The shear modulus for metals and alloys ranges between 25 and 80 GPa. The continuum
theory of solids shows that for any crystalline solid without any defect (a ‘perfect’ solid)
there is a so-called theoretical shear stress: when stresses higher than this value are ap-
plied, the material breaks. The theoretical shear stress, in other words, the maximum
stress in a material, is given by
G
Gtss = . (116)
2π
The maximum stress is thus essentially given by the shear modulus. This connection is
similar to the one we found for the vacuum. Indeed, imagining the vacuum as a material
Ref. 105 that can be bent is a helpful way to understand general relativity. We will use it regularly
in the following.
What happens when the vacuum is stressed with the maximum force? Is it also torn
apart like a solid? Almost: in fact, when vacuum is torn apart, particles appear. We will
find out more about this connection later on: since particles are quantum entities, we
need to study quantum theory first, before we can describe the effect in the last part of
Vol. VI, page 266 our mountain ascent.

Conditions of validity of the force and power limits

The maximum force value is valid only under certain conditions. To clarify this point,
we can compare the situation to the maximum speed. There are three conditions for the
validity of maximum speed.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

First of all, the speed of light (in vacuum) is an upper limit for motion of systems with
momentum or energy only. It can, however, be exceeded for motions of non-material
points. Indeed, the cutting point of a pair of scissors, a laser light spot on the Moon,
shadows, or the group velocity or phase velocity of wave groups can exceed the speed of
Page 53 light.
Secondly, the speed of light is a limit only if measured near the moving mass or energy:
the Moon moves faster than light if one turns around one’s axis in a second; distant points

* Does this analogy make you think about aether? Do not worry: physics has no need for the concept of
Vol. III, page 117 aether, because it is indistinguishable from vacuum. General relativity does describe the vacuum as a sort
of material that can be deformed and move – but it does not need nor introduce the aether.
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 109

in a Friedmann universe move apart from each other with speeds larger than the speed
of light.
Thirdly, the observer measuring speeds must be realistic: the observer must be made
of matter and energy, thus must move more slowly than light, and must be able to observe
Ref. 106 the system. No system moving at or above the speed of light can be an observer.
The same three conditions apply in general relativity for the validity of maximum
force and power. The third point is especially important. In particular, relativistic gravity
forbids point-like observers and test masses: they are not realistic. Surfaces moving faster
than light are also not realistic. In such cases, counter-examples to the maximum force
Challenge 163 s claim can be found. Try and find one – many are possible, and all are fascinating. We
now explore some of the most important ones.

Gedanken experiments and paradoxes about the force limit

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
“
Wenn eine Idee am Horizonte eben aufgeht, ist
gewöhnlich die Temperatur der Seele dabei sehr
kalt. Erst allmählich entwickelt die Idee ihre
Wärme, und am heissesten ist diese (das heisst
sie tut ihre grössten Wirkungen), wenn der

”
Glaube an die Idee schon wieder im Sinken ist.
Friedrich Nietzsche*

The last, but central, step in our discussion of the force limit is the same as in the dis-
cussion of the speed limit. We saw that no real experiment has ever led to a force value
large than the force limit. But we also need to show that no imaginable experiment can
overcome the force limit. Following a tradition dating back to the early twentieth cen-
tury, such an imagined experiment is called a Gedanken experiment, from the German
Gedankenexperiment, meaning ‘thought experiment’.
In order to dismiss all imaginable attempts to exceed the maximum speed, it was suf-
ficient to study the properties of velocity addition and the divergence of kinetic energy
near the speed of light. In the case of maximum force, the task is more involved. Indeed,
stating a maximum force, a maximum power and a maximum mass change easily pro-
vokes numerous attempts to contradict them.
∗∗
The brute force approach. The simplest attempt to exceed the force limit is to try to accel- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

erate an object with a force larger than the maximum value. Now, acceleration implies
the transfer of energy. This transfer is limited by the horizon equation (109) or the limit
(110). For any attempt to exceed the force limit, the flowing energy results in the appear-
ance of a horizon. But a horizon prevents the force from exceeding the limit, because it
imposes a limit on interaction.
Page 93 We can explore this limit directly. In special relativity we found that the acceleration
of an object is limited by its length. Indeed, at a distance given by c 2 /2a in the direction
* ‘When an idea is just rising on the horizon, the soul’s temperature with respect to it is usually very cold.
Only gradually does the idea develop its warmth, and it is hottest (which is to say, exerting its greatest in-
fluence) when belief in the idea is already once again in decline.’ Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German
philosopher and scholar. This is aphorism 207 – Sonnenbahn der Idee – from his text Menschliches Allzu-
menschliches – Der Wanderer und sein Schatten.
 110 4 simple general rel ativit y

opposite to the acceleration a, a horizon appears. In other words, an accelerated body

breaks, at the latest, at that point. The force F on a body of mass M and radius R is thus
limited by
M 2
F⩽ c . (117)
2R
It is straightforward to add the (usually small) effects of gravity. To be observable, an ac-
celerated body must remain larger than a black hole; inserting the corresponding radius
R = 2GM/c 2 we get the force limit (102). Dynamic attempts to exceed the force limit
thus fail.
∗∗
The rope attempt. We can also try to generate a higher force in a static situation, for

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
example by pulling two ends of a rope in opposite directions. We assume for simplicity
that an unbreakable rope exists. Any rope works because the potential energy between its
atoms can produce high forces between them. To produce a rope force exceeding the limit
value, we need to store large (elastic) energy in the rope. This energy must enter from the
ends. When we increase the tension in the rope to higher and higher values, more and
more (elastic) energy must be stored in smaller and smaller distances. To exceed the force
limit, we would need to add more energy per distance and area than is allowed by the
horizon equation. A horizon thus inevitably appears. But there is no way to stretch a rope
across a horizon, even if it is unbreakable. A horizon leads either to the breaking of the
rope or to its detachment from the pulling system. Horizons thus make it impossible to
generate forces larger than the force limit. In fact, the assumption of infinite wire strength
is unnecessary: the force limit cannot be exceeded even if the strength of the wire is only
finite.
We note that it is not important whether an applied force pulls – as for ropes or wires
– or pushes. In the case of pushing two objects against each other, an attempt to increase
the force value without end will equally lead to the formation of a horizon, due to the
limit provided by the horizon equation. By definition, this happens precisely at the force
limit. As there is no way to use a horizon to push (or pull) on something, the attempt
to achieve a higher force ends once a horizon is formed. Static forces cannot exceed the
limit value.
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The braking attempt. A force limit provides a maximum momentum change per time. We
can thus search for a way to stop a moving physical system so abruptly that the maximum
force might be exceeded. The non-existence of rigid bodies in nature, already known
Page 93 from special relativity, makes a completely sudden stop impossible; but special relativity
on its own provides no lower limit to the stopping time. However, the inclusion of gravity
does. Stopping a moving system implies a transfer of energy. The energy flow per area
cannot exceed the value given by the horizon equation. Thus we cannot exceed the force
limit by stopping an object.
Similarly, if a rapid system is reflected instead of stopped, a certain amount of energy
needs to be transferred and stored for a short time. For example, when a tennis ball is
reflected from a large wall its momentum changes and a force is applied. If many such
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 111

balls are reflected at the same time, surely a force larger than the limit can be realized?
It turns out that this is impossible. If we attempted it, the energy flow at the wall would
reach the limit given by the horizon equation and thus create a horizon. In that case, no
reflection is possible any more. So the limit cannot be exceeded.
∗∗
The classical radiation attempt. Instead of systems that pull, push, stop or reflect mat-
ter, we can explore systems where radiation is involved. However, the arguments hold
in exactly the same way, whether photons, gravitons or other particles are involved. In
particular, mirrors, like walls, are limited in their capabilities.
It is also impossible to create a force larger than the maximum force by concentrating
a large amount of light onto a surface. The same situation as for tennis balls arises: when
the limit value E/A given by the horizon equation (110) is reached, a horizon appears that

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
prevents the limit from being broken.
∗∗
The brick attempt. The force and power limits can also be tested with more concrete
Gedanken experiments. We can try to exceed the force limit by stacking weight. But even
building an infinitely high brick tower does not generate a sufficiently strong force on its
foundations: integrating the weight, taking into account its decrease with height, yields a
finite value that cannot reach the force limit. If we continually increase the mass density
of the bricks, we need to take into account that the tower and the Earth will change into
a black hole. And black holes, as mentioned above, do not allow the force limit to be
exceeded.
∗∗
The boost attempt. A boost can apparently be chosen in such a way that a 3-force value
Ref. 107 F in one frame is transformed into any desired value F 󳰀 in another frame. This turns out
to be wrong. In relativity, 3-force cannot be increased beyond all bounds using boosts.
Page 76 In all reference frames, the measured 3-force can never exceed the proper force, i.e., the
3-force value measured in the comoving frame. (The situation can be compared to 3-
velocity, where a boost cannot be used to exceed the value c, whatever boost we may
choose; however, there is no strict equivalence, as the transformation behaviour of 3-
force and of 3-velocity differ markedly.) Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
The divergence attempt. The force on a test mass m at a radial distance d from a Schwarz-
Ref. 100 schild black hole (for Λ = 0) is given by

GMm
F= . (118)
d 2 󵀆1 − 2GM
dc2

In addition, the inverse square law of universal gravitation states that the force between
two masses m and M is
GMm
F= . (119)
d2
 112 4 simple general rel ativit y

Both expressions can take any value; this suggest that no maximum force limit exists.
A detailed investigation shows that the maximum force still holds. Indeed, the force
in the two situations diverges only for non-physical point-like masses. However, the max-
imum force implies a minimum approach distance to a mass m given by

2Gm
dmin = . (120)
c2
The minimum approach distance – in simple terms, this would be the corresponding
black hole radius – makes it impossible to achieve zero distance between two masses or
between a horizon and a mass. This implies that a mass can never be point-like, and that
there is a (real) minimum approach distance, proportional to the mass. If this minimum
approach distance is introduced in equations (118) and (119), we get

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
c4 Mm 1 c4
F= ⩽ (121)
4G (M + m)2 󵀆1 − M 4G
M+m

and
c4 Mm c4
F= ⩽ . (122)
4G (M + m)2 4G

The maximum force value is thus never exceeded, as long as we take into account the size
of observers.
∗∗
The consistency problem. If observers cannot be point-like, we might question whether
it is still correct to apply the original definition of momentum change or energy change
as the integral of values measured by observers attached to a given surface. In general
relativity, observers cannot be point-like, but they can be as small as desired. The original
definition thus remains applicable when taken as a limit procedure for ever-decreasing
observer size. Obviously, if quantum theory is taken into account, this limit procedure
comes to an end at the Planck length. This is not an issue for general relativity, as long as
the typical dimensions in the situation are much larger than this value.
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The quantum problem. If quantum effects are neglected, it is possible to construct sur-
Challenge 164 e faces with sharp angles or even fractal shapes that overcome the force limit. However,
such surfaces are not physical, as they assume that lengths smaller than the Planck length
can be realized or measured. The condition that a surface be physical implies that it must
Ref. 99 have an intrinsic indeterminacy given by the Planck length. A detailed study shows that
quantum effects do not allow the horizon force to be exceeded.
∗∗
The relativistically extreme observer attempt. Any extreme observer, whether in rapid
inertial or in accelerated motion, has no chance to beat the limit. In classical physics
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 113

we are used to thinking that the interaction necessary for a measurement can be made
as small as desired. This statement, however, is not valid for all observers; in particular,
extreme observers cannot fulfil it. For them, the measurement interaction is large. As a
result, a horizon forms that prevents the limit from being exceeded.
∗∗
The microscopic attempt. We can attempt to exceed the force limit by accelerating a small
particle as strongly as possible or by colliding it with other particles. High forces do in-
deed appear when two high energy particles are smashed against each other. However,
if the combined energy of the two particles became high enough to challenge the force
limit, a horizon would appear before they could get sufficiently close.
In fact, quantum theory gives exactly the same result. Quantum theory by itself al-
Ref. 108 ready provides a limit to acceleration. For a particle of mass m it is given by

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
2mc 3
a⩽ . (123)
ħ

Here, ħ = 1.1 ⋅ 10−34 Js is the quantum of action, a fundamental constant of nature. In

particular, this acceleration limit is satisfied in particle accelerators, in particle collisions
and in pair creation. For example, the spontaneous generation of electron–positron pairs
in intense electromagnetic fields or near black hole horizons does respect the limit (123).
Inserting the maximum possible mass for an elementary particle, namely the (corrected)
Vol. VI, page 36 Planck mass, we find that equation (123) then states that the horizon force is the upper
bound for elementary particles.
∗∗
The compaction attempt. Are black holes really the most dense form of matter or energy?
The study of black hole thermodynamics shows that mass concentrations with higher
Ref. 100 density than black holes would contradict the principles of thermodynamics. In black
hole thermodynamics, surface and entropy are related: reversible processes that reduce
entropy could be realized if physical systems could be compressed to smaller values than
the black hole radius. As a result, the size of a black hole is the limit size for a mass in
nature. Equivalently, the force limit cannot be exceeded in nature.
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The force addition attempt. In special relativity, composing velocities by a simple vector
addition is not possible. Similarly, in the case of forces such a naive sum is incorrect; any
attempt to add forces in this way would generate a horizon. If textbooks on relativity had
explored the behaviour of force vectors under addition with the same care with which
they explored that of velocity vectors, the force bound would have appeared much earlier
in the literature. (Obviously, general relativity is required for a proper treatment.)
∗∗
In special relativity, a body moving more slowly than light in one frame does so in all
frames. Can you show that a force smaller than the invariant limit c 4 /4G in one frame
 114 4 simple general rel ativit y

6000 m

mountain

nuclei

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
surface A

0m F I G U R E 59 The mountain
surface B attempt to exceed the
maximum mass flow value.

Challenge 165 s of reference is also smaller in any other frame?

∗∗
Can you propose and then resolve an additional attempt to exceed the force or power
Challenge 166 r limit?

Gedanken experiments with the power limit and the mass flow
limit
Like the force bound, the power bound must be valid for all imaginable systems. Here
are some attempts to refute it.
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The cable-car attempt. Imagine an engine that accelerates a mass with an unbreakable
and massless wire (assuming that such a wire could exist). As soon as the engine reached
the power bound, either the engine or the exhausts would reach the horizon equation.
When a horizon appears, the engine cannot continue to pull the wire, as a wire, even
an infinitely strong one, cannot pass a horizon. The power limit thus holds whether the
engine is mounted inside the accelerating body or outside, at the end of the wire pulling
it.
∗∗
The mountain attempt. It is possible to define a surface that is so strangely bent that
it passes just below every nucleus of every atom of a mountain, like the surface A in
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 115

Figure 59. All atoms of the mountain above sea level are then just above the surface,
barely touching it. In addition, imagine that this surface is moving upwards with almost
the speed of light. It is not difficult to show that the mass flow through this surface is
higher than the mass flow limit. Indeed, the mass flow limit c 3 /4G has a value of about
1035 kg/s. In a time of 10−22 s, the diameter of a nucleus divided by the speed of light,
only 1013 kg need to flow through the surface: that is the mass of a mountain.
This surface seems to provide a counter-example to the limit. However, a closer look
shows that this is not the case. The problem is the expression ‘just below’. Nuclei are
quantum particles and have an indeterminacy in their position; this indeterminacy is
essentially the nucleus–nucleus distance. As a result, in order to be sure that the surface
of interest has all atoms above it, the shape cannot be that of surface A in Figure 59. It
must be a flat plane that remains below the whole mountain, like surface B in the figure.
However, a flat surface beneath a mountain does not allow the mass change limit to be

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
exceeded.
∗∗
The multiple atom attempt. We can imagine a number of atoms equal to the number
of the atoms of a mountain that all lie with large spacing (roughly) in a single plane.
Again, the plane is moving upwards with the speed of light. But also in this case the
indeterminacy in the atomic positions makes it impossible to say that the mass flow limit
has been exceeded.
∗∗
The multiple black hole attempt. Black holes are typically large and the indeterminacy in
their position is thus negligible. The mass limit c 3 /4G, or power limit c 5 /4G, corresponds
to the flow of a single black hole moving through a plane at the speed of light. Several
black holes crossing a plane together at just under the speed of light thus seem to beat the
limit. However, the surface has to be physical: an observer must be possible on each of
its points. But no observer can cross a black hole. A black hole thus effectively punctures
the plane surface. No black hole can ever be said to cross a plane surface; even less so a
multiplicity of black holes. The limit remains valid.
∗∗
The multiple neutron star attempt. The mass limit seems to be in reach when several Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

neutron stars (which are slightly less dense than a black hole of the same mass) cross a
plane surface at the same time, at high speed. However, when the speed approaches the
speed of light, the crossing time for points far from the neutron stars and for those that
actually cross the stars differ by large amounts. Neutron stars that are almost black holes
cannot be crossed in a short time in units of a coordinate clock that is located far from
the stars. Again, the limit is not exceeded.
∗∗
The luminosity attempt. The existence of a maximum luminosity bound has been dis-
Ref. 100 cussed by astrophysicists. In its full generality, the maximum bound on power, i.e., on
energy per time, is valid for any energy flow through any physical surface whatsoever.
The physical surface may even run across the whole universe. However, not even bring-
 116 4 simple general rel ativit y

ing together all lamps, all stars and all galaxies of the universe yields a surface which has
a larger power output than the proposed limit.
The surface must be physical.* A surface is physical if an observer can be placed on
each of its points. In particular, a physical surface may not cross a horizon, or have local
detail finer than a certain minimum length. This minimum length will be introduced
Vol. VI, page 61 later on; it is given by the corrected Planck length. If a surface is not physical, it may pro-
Challenge 167 s vide a counter-example to the power or force limits. However, these counter-examples
make no statements about nature. (Ex falso quodlibet.**)
∗∗
The many lamp attempt, or power paradox. An absolute power limit imposes a limit on
the rate of energy transport through any imaginable surface. At first sight, it may seem
that the combined power emitted by two radiation sources that each emit 3/4 of the max-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
imum value should emit 3/2 times the maximum value, and thus allow us to overcome
the power limit. However, two such lamps would be so massive that they would form a
horizon around them – a black hole would form. No amount of radiation that exceeds the
power limit can leave. Again, since the horizon limit (110) is achieved, a horizon appears
that swallows the light and prevents the force or power limit from being exceeded.
∗∗
The light concentration attempt. Another approach is to shine a powerful, short and
spherical flash of light onto a spherical mass. At first sight it seems that the force and
power limits can be exceeded, because light energy can be concentrated into small vol-
umes. However, a high concentration of light energy forms a black hole or induces the
mass to form one. There is no way to pump energy into a mass at a faster rate than that
dictated by the power limit. In fact, it is impossible to group light sources in such a way
that their total output is larger than the power limit. Every time the force limit is ap-
proached, a horizon appears that prevents the limit from being exceeded.
∗∗
The black hole attempt. One possible system in nature that actually achieves the power
limit is the final stage of black hole evaporation. However, even in this case the power
limit is not exceeded, but only equalled.
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The saturation attempt. If the universe already saturates the power limit, a new source
would break it, or at least imply that another elsewhere must close down. Can you find
Challenge 168 ny the fallacy in this argument?
∗∗
The water flow attempt. We could try to pump water as rapidly as possible through a
large tube of cross-section A. However, when a tube of length L filled with water flowing
at speed 󰑣 gets near to the mass flow limit, the gravity of the water waiting to be pumped

* It can also be called physically sensible.

** ‘Anything can be deduced from a falsehood.’
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 117

through the area A will slow down the water that is being pumped through the area. The
limit is again reached when the cross-section A turns into a horizon.

Checking that no system – from microscopic to astrophysical – ever exceeds the maxi-
mum power or maximum mass flow is a further test of general relativity. It may seem easy
to find a counter-example, as the surface may run across the whole universe or envelop
any number of elementary particle reactions. However, no such attempt succeeds.
In summary, in all situations where the force, power or mass-flow limit is challenged,
whenever the energy flow reaches the black hole mass–energy density in space or the
corresponding momentum flow in time, an event horizon appears; this horizon makes it
impossible to exceed the limits. All three limits are confirmed both in observation and
in theory. Values exceeding the limits can neither be generated nor measured. Gedanken
experiments also show that the three bounds are the tightest ones possible. Obviously,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
all three limits are open to future tests and to further Gedanken experiments. (If you can
Challenge 169 r think of a good one, let me know.)

Why maximum force has remained undiscovered for so long

The first reason why the maximum force principle remained undiscovered for so long is
the absence of horizons in everyday life. Due to this lack, experiments in everyday life do
not highlight the force or power limits. It took many decades before physicists realized
that the dark night sky is not something unique, but only one example of an observation
that is common in nature: nature is full of horizons. But in everyday life, horizons do not
play an important role – fortunately – because the nearest one is located at the centre of
the Milky Way.
The second reason why the principle of maximum force remained hidden is the erro-
neous belief that point particles exist. This is a theoretical prejudice due to a common
idealization used in Galilean physics. For a complete understanding of general relativity
it is essential to remember regularly that point particles, point masses and point-like ob-
servers do not exist. They are approximations that are only applicable in Galilean physics,
in special relativity or in quantum theory. In general relativity, horizons prevent the exis-
tence of point-like systems. The incorrect habit of believing that the size of a system can
be made as small as desired while keeping its mass constant prevents the force or power
limit from being noticed.
The third reason why the principle of maximum force remained hidden are prejudices
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

against the concept of force. In general relativity, gravitational force is hard to define.
Even in Galilean physics it is rarely stressed that force is the flow of momentum through
a surface. The teaching of the concept of force is incomplete since centuries – with rare
Ref. 109 notable exceptions – and thus the concept is often avoided.
In short, the principle of maximum force – or of maximum power – has thus remained
undiscovered for so long because a ‘conspiracy’ of nature and of thinking habits hid it
from most experimental and theoretical physicists.
 118 4 simple general rel ativit y

An intuitive understanding of general relativity

“
Wir leben zwar alle unter dem gleichen
Himmel, aber wir haben nicht alle den gleichen

”
Horizont.*
Konrad Adenauer

The concepts of horizon force and horizon power can be used as the basis for a direct,
intuitive approach to general relativity.
∗∗
What is gravity? Of the many possible answers we will encounter, we now have the first:
gravity is the ‘shadow’ of the maximum force. Whenever we experience gravity as weak,
we can remember that a different observer at the same point and time would experience

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the maximum force. Searching for the precise properties of that observer is a good exer-
cise. Another way to put it: if there were no maximum force, gravity would not exist.
∗∗
The maximum force implies universal gravity. To see this, we study a simple planetary
system, i.e., one with small velocities and small forces. A simple planetary system of size
L consists of a (small) satellite circling a central mass M at a radial distance R = L/2.
Let a be the acceleration of the object. Small velocity implies the condition aL ≪ c 2 ,
deduced from special relativity; small force implies 󵀂4GMa ≪ c 2 , deduced from the
force limit. These conditions are valid for the system as a whole and for all its components.
Both expressions have the dimensions of speed squared. Since the system has only one
characteristic speed, the two expressions aL = 2aR and 󵀂4GMa must be proportional,
yielding
GM
a= f 2 , (124)
R
where the numerical factor f must still be determined. To determine it, we study the
escape velocity necessary to leave the central body. The escape velocity must be smaller
than the speed of light for any body larger than a black hole. The escape velocity, derived
from expression (124), from a body of mass M and radius R is given by 󰑣esc 2
= 2 f GM/R.
The minimum radius R of objects, given by R = 2GM/c , then implies that f = 1.
2

Therefore, for low speeds and low forces, the inverse square law describes the orbit of a
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

satellite around a central mass.

∗∗
If empty space-time is elastic, like a piece of metal, it must also be able to oscillate. Any
physical system can show oscillations when a deformation brings about a restoring force.
We saw above that there is such a force in the vacuum: it is called gravitation. In other
words, vacuum must be able to oscillate, and since it is extended, it must also be able to
sustain waves. Indeed, gravitational waves are predicted by general relativity, as we will
Page 153 see below.

* ‘We all live under the same sky, but we do not have the same horizon.’ Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967),
West German Chancellor.
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 119

∗∗
If curvature and energy are linked, the maximum speed must also hold for gravitational
energy. Indeed, we will find that gravity has a finite speed of propagation. The inverse
square law of everyday life cannot be correct, as it is inconsistent with any speed limit.
More about the corrections induced by the maximum speed will become clear shortly.
In addition, since gravitational waves are waves of massless energy, we would expect the
Page 153 maximum speed to be their propagation speed. This is indeed the case, as we will see.
∗∗
A body cannot be denser than a (non-rotating) black hole of the same mass. The maxi-
mum force and power limits that apply to horizons make it impossible to squeeze mass
into smaller horizons. The maximum force limit can therefore be rewritten as a limit for
the size L of physical systems of mass m:

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
4Gm
L⩾ . (125)
c2
If we call twice the radius of a black hole its ‘size’, we can state that no physical system
of mass m is smaller than this value.* The size limit plays an important role in general
relativity. The opposite inequality, m ⩾ 󵀄 A/16π c 2 /G, which describes the maximum
‘size’ of black holes, is called the Penrose inequality and has been proven for many physi-
cally realistic situations. The Penrose inequality can be seen to imply the maximum force
limit, and vice versa. The maximum force principle, or the equivalent minimum size of
Ref. 110, Ref. 111, Ref. 112
matter–energy systems, thus prevents the formation of naked singularities. (Physicists
call the lack of naked singularities the so-called cosmic censorship. conjecture.)
∗∗
There is a power limit for all energy sources. In particular, the value c 5 /4G limits the lu-
minosity of all gravitational sources. Indeed, all formulae for gravitational wave emission
Ref. 100 imply this value as an upper limit. Furthermore, numerical relativity simulations never
exceed it: for example, the power emitted during the simulated merger of two black holes
is below the limit.
∗∗
Perfectly plane waves do not exist in nature. Plane waves are of infinite extension. But
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

neither electrodynamic nor gravitational waves can be infinite, since such waves would
carry more momentum per time through a plane surface than is allowed by the force
limit. The non-existence of plane gravitational waves also precludes the production of
singularities when two such waves collide.
∗∗
In nature, there are no infinite forces. There are thus no naked singularities in nature.
Horizons prevent the appearance of naked singularities. In particular, the big bang was

* The maximum value for the mass to size limit is obviously equivalent to the maximum mass change given
above.
 120 4 simple general rel ativit y

not a singularity. The mathematical theorems by Penrose and Hawking that seem to im-
ply the existence of singularities tacitly assume the existence of point masses – often in
the form of ‘dust’ – in contrast to what general relativity implies. Careful re-evaluation
of each such proof is necessary.
∗∗
The force limit means that space-time has a limited stability. The limit suggests that space-
time can be torn into pieces. This is indeed the case. However, the way that this happens
is not described by general relativity. We will study it in the last part of this text.
∗∗
The maximum force is the standard of force. This implies that the gravitational constant
G is constant in space and time – or at least, that its variations across space and time

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 113 cannot be detected. Present data support this claim to a high degree of precision.
∗∗
The maximum force principle implies that gravitational energy – as long as it can be
defined – falls in gravitational fields in the same way as other type of energy. As a result,
Ref. 100 the maximum force principle predicts that the Nordtvedt effect vanishes. The Nordtvedt
effect is a hypothetical periodical change in the orbit of the Moon that would appear if the
gravitational energy of the Earth–Moon system did not fall, like other mass–energy, in
the gravitational field of the Sun. Lunar range measurements have confirmed the absence
of this effect.
∗∗
If horizons are surfaces, we can ask what their colour is. This question will be explored
Page 240 later on.
∗∗
Vol. VI, page 34 Later on we will find that quantum effects cannot be used to exceed the force or power
Challenge 170 e limit. (Can you guess why?) Quantum theory also provides a limit to motion, namely a
lower limit to action; however, this limit is independent of the force or power limit. (A
dimensional analysis already shows this: there is no way to define an action by combi-
nations of c and G.) Therefore, even the combination of quantum theory and general Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

relativity does not help in overcoming the force or power limits.

An intuitive understanding of cosmology

Page 219 A maximum power is the simplest possible explanation of Olbers’ paradox. Power and
luminosity are two names for the same observable. The sum of all luminosity values in the
universe is finite; the light and all other energy emitted by all stars, taken together, is finite.
If we assume that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic, the power limit P ⩽ c 5 /4G
must be valid across any plane that divides the universe into two halves. The part of the
universe’s luminosity that arrives on Earth is then so small that the sky is dark at night.
In fact, the actually measured luminosity is still smaller than this calculation, as a large
part of the power is not visible to the human eye (since most of it is matter anyway). In
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 121

other words, the night is dark because of nature’s power limit. This explanation is not in
contrast to the usual one, which uses the finite lifetime of stars, their finite density, their
finite size, and the finite age and the expansion of the universe. In fact, the combination
of all these usual arguments simply implies and repeats in more complex words that the
power limit cannot be exceeded. However, this more simple explanation seems to be
absent in the literature.
The existence of a maximum force in nature, together with homogeneity and isotropy,
implies that the visible universe is of finite size. The opposite case would be an infinitely
large, homogeneous and isotropic universe. But in that case, any two halves of the uni-
verse would attract each other with a force above the limit (provided the universe were
sufficiently old). This result can be made quantitative by imagining a sphere whose centre
lies at the Earth, which encompasses all the universe, and whose radius decreases with
time almost as rapidly as the speed of light. The mass flow dm/dt = ρA󰑣 is predicted to

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
reach the mass flow limit c 3 /4G; thus we have

dm c3
= ρ0 4πR02 c = , (126)
dt 4G

Ref. 114 a relation also predicted by the Friedmann models. The precision measurements of the
cosmic background radiation by the WMAP satellite confirm that the present-day total
energy density ρ0 (including dark matter and dark energy) and the horizon radius R0
just reach the limit value. The maximum force limit thus predicts the observed size of
the universe.
A finite power limit also suggests that a finite age for the universe can be deduced.
Challenge 171 s Can you find an argument?

Experimental challenges for the third millennium

The lack of direct tests of the horizon force, power or mass flow is obviously due to the
lack of horizons in the environment of all experiments performed so far. Despite the
difficulties in reaching the limits, their values are observable and falsifiable.
In fact, the force limit might be tested with high-precision measurements in binary
pulsars or binary black holes. Such systems allow precise determination of the positions
of the two stars. The maximum force principle implies a relation between the position
Ref. 99 error Δx and the energy error ΔE. For all systems we have
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ΔE c4
⩽ . (127)
Δx 4G

For example, a position error of 1 mm gives a mass error of below 3 ⋅ 1023 kg. In everyday
life, all measurements comply with this relation. Indeed, the left side is so much smaller
than the right side that the relation is rarely mentioned. For a direct check, only systems
which might achieve direct equality are interesting. Dual black holes or dual pulsars are
such systems.
It might be that one day the amount of matter falling into some black hole, such as
the one at the centre of the Milky Way, might be measured. The limit dm/dt ⩽ c 3 /4G
 122 4 simple general rel ativit y

could then be tested directly.

The power limit implies that the highest luminosities are only achieved when systems
emit energy at the speed of light. Indeed, the maximum emitted power is only achieved
when all matter is radiated away as rapidly as possible: the emitted power P = Mc 2 /(R/󰑣)
cannot reach the maximum value if the body radius R is larger than that of a black hole
(the densest body of a given mass) or the emission speed 󰑣 is lower than that of light. The
sources with highest luminosity must therefore be of maximum density and emit entities
without rest mass, such as gravitational waves, electromagnetic waves or (maybe) gluons.
Candidates to detect the limit are black holes in formation, in evaporation or undergoing
mergers.
A candidate surface that reaches the limit is the night sky. The night sky is a horizon.
Provided that light, neutrino, particle and gravitational wave flows are added together,
the limit c 5 /4G is predicted to be reached. If the measured power is smaller than the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
limit (as it seems to be at present), this might even give a hint about new particles yet
to be discovered. If the limit were exceeded or not reached, general relativity would be
shown to be incorrect. This might be an interesting future experimental test.
The power limit implies that a wave whose integrated intensity approaches the force
limit cannot be plane. The power limit thus implies a limit on the product of intensity
I (given as energy per unit time and unit area) and the size (curvature radius) R of the
front of a wave moving with the speed of light c:

c5
4πR2 I ⩽ . (128)
4G
Obviously, this statement is difficult to check experimentally, whatever the frequency
and type of wave might be, because the value appearing on the right-hand side is ex-
tremely large. Possibly, future experiments with gravitational wave detectors, X-ray de-
tectors, gamma ray detectors, radio receivers or particle detectors might allow us to test
relation (128) with precision. (You might want to predict which of these experiments will
Challenge 172 e confirm the limit first.)
The lack of direct experimental tests of the force and power limits implies that indirect
tests become particularly important. All such tests study the motion of matter or energy
and compare it with a famous consequence of the force and power limits: the field equa-
tions of general relativity. This will be our next topic. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

A summary of general relativity

There is a simple axiomatic formulation of general relativity: the horizon force c 4 /4G and
the horizon power c 5 /4G are the highest possible force and power values. No contradict-
ing observation is known. No counter-example has been imagined. General relativity
follows from these limits. Moreover, the limits imply the darkness of the night and the
finiteness of the size of the universe.
The principle of maximum force has obvious applications for the teaching of general
relativity. The principle brings general relativity to the level of first-year university, and
possibly to well-prepared secondary school, students: only the concepts of maximum
force and horizon are necessary. Space-time curvature is a consequence of horizon cur-
 gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force 123

vature.
The concept of a maximum force points to an additional aspect of gravitation. The cos-
Challenge 173 ny mological constant Λ is not fixed by the maximum force principle. (However, the princi-
ple does fix its sign to be positive.) Present measurements give the result Λ ≈ 10−52 /m2 .
Page 222 A positive cosmological constant implies the existence of a negative energy volume den-
sity −Λc 4 /G. This value corresponds to a negative pressure, as pressure and energy den-
sity have the same dimensions. Multiplication by the (numerically corrected) Planck area
Vol. VI, page 33 2Għ/c 3 , the smallest area in nature, gives a force value

F = 2Λħc = 0.60 ⋅ 10−77 N . (129)

This is also the gravitational force between two (numerically corrected) Planck masses
󵀄 ħc/8G located at the cosmological distance 1/4󵀂Λ . If we make the somewhat wishful

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
assumption that expression (129) is the smallest possible force in nature (the numerical
factors are not yet verified), we get the fascinating conjecture that the full theory of gen-
eral relativity, including the cosmological constant, may be defined by the combination
Challenge 174 d of a maximum and a minimum force in nature. (Can you find a smaller force?)
Proving the minimum force conjecture is more involved than for the case of the max-
imum force. So far, only some hints are possible. Like the maximum force, the minimum
force must be compatible with gravitation, must not be contradicted by any experiment,
and must withstand any Gedanken experiment. A quick check shows that the minimum
force, as we have just argued, allows us to deduce gravitation, is an invariant, and is not
contradicted by any experiment. There are also hints that there may be no way to gen-
erate or measure a smaller value. For example, the minimum force corresponds to the
energy per length contained by a photon with a wavelength of the size of the universe. It
is hard – but maybe not impossible – to imagine the production of a still smaller force.
We have seen that the maximum force principle and general relativity fail to fix the
value of the cosmological constant. Only a unified theory can do so. We thus get two re-
quirements for such a theory. First, any unified theory must predict the same upper limit
to force. Secondly, a unified theory must fix the cosmological constant. The appearance of
ħ in the conjectured expression for the minimum force suggests that the minimum force
is determined by a combination of general relativity and quantum theory. The proof of
this suggestion and the direct measurement of the minimum force are two important
challenges for our ascent beyond general relativity.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

We are now ready to explore the consequences of general relativity and its field equa-
tions in more detail. We start by focusing on the concept of space-time curvature in
everyday life, and in particular, on its consequences for the observation of motion.
 Chapter 5

HOW MA XIMUM SPEED CHANGES

SPAC E, TIME AND GR AVIT Y

“ ”
Sapere aude.*
Horace Epistulae, 1, 2, 40.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
O
bservation shows that gravitational influences do transport energy.**
ur description of gravity must therefore include the speed limit.
nly a description that takes into account that the limit speed for energy
transport can be a precise description of gravity. Henri Poincaré stated this requirement
for a precise description of gravitation as early as 1905. But universal gravity, with its
relation a = GM/r 2 , allows speeds higher than that of light. For example, the speed of
a mass in orbit is not limited. In universal gravity it is also unclear how the values of
a and r depend on the observer. In short, universal gravity cannot be correct. In order
to reach the correct description, called general relativity by Albert Einstein, we have to
Ref. 115, Ref. 116 throw quite a few preconceptions overboard.
The results of combining maximum speed with gravity will be fascinating: we will find
that empty space can bend and move, that the universe has a finite age and that objects
can be in permanent free fall. We will discover that even though empty space can be bent,
it is much stiffer than steel. Despite the strangeness of these and other consequences, they
have all been confirmed by all experiments performed so far.

Rest and free fall

The opposite of motion in daily life is a body at rest, such as a child sleeping or a rock
defying the waves. A body is at rest whenever it is not disturbed by other bodies. In
the everyday description of the world, rest is the absence of velocity. With Galilean and
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

special relativity, rest became inertial motion, since no inertially moving observer can
distinguish its own motion from rest: nothing disturbs him. Both the rock in the waves
and the rapid protons crossing the galaxy as cosmic rays are at rest. With the inclusion
of gravity, we are led to an even more general definition of rest.

⊳ Every observer and every body in free fall can rightly claim to be at rest.

Challenge 175 e If any body moving inertially is to be considered at rest, then any body in free fall must
also be. Nobody knows this better than Joseph Kittinger, the man who in August 1960

* ‘Venture to be wise.’ Horace is Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (65–8 bce ), the great Roman poet.
** The details of this statement are far from simple. They are discussed on page 153 and page 188.
 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y 125

Ref. 117 stepped out of a balloon capsule at the record height of 31.3 km. At that altitude, the air
is so thin that during the first minute of his free fall he felt completely at rest, as if he
were floating. Although an experienced parachutist, he was so surprised that he had to
turn upwards in order to convince himself that he was indeed moving away from his
balloon! Despite his lack of any sensation of movement, he was falling at up to 274 m/s
or 988 km/h with respect to the Earth’s surface. He only started feeling something when
he encountered the first substantial layers of air. That was when his free fall started to be
disturbed. Later, after four and a half minutes of fall, his special parachute opened; and
nine minutes later he landed in New Mexico.
Kittinger and all other observers in free fall, such as the cosmonauts circling the Earth
or the passengers in parabolic aeroplane flights,* make the same observation: it is impos-
sible to distinguish anything happening in free fall from what would happen at rest. This
impossibility is called the principle of equivalence; it is one of the starting points of gen-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
eral relativity. It leads to the most precise – and final – definition of rest that we will
encounter: rest is free fall. Rest is lack of disturbance; so is free fall.
The set of all free-falling observers at a point in space-time generalizes the special-
relativistic notion of the set of the inertial observers at a point. This means that we must
describe motion in such a way that not only all inertial but also all freely falling observers
can talk to each other. In addition, a full description of motion must be able to describe
gravitation and the motion it produces, and it must be able to describe motion for any
observer imaginable. General relativity realizes this aim.
As a first step, we put the result in simple words: true motion is the opposite of free fall.
This statement immediately rises a number of questions: Most trees or mountains are not
Challenge 176 s in free fall, thus they are not at rest. What motion are they undergoing? And if free fall is
rest, what is weight? And what then is gravity anyway? Let us start with the last question.

What clocks tell us about gravity

Page 118 Above, we described gravity as the shadow of the maximum force. But there is a sec-
ond way to describe it, more closely related to everyday life. As William Unruh likes to
Ref. 118 explain, the constancy of the speed of light for all observers implies a simple conclusion:

⊳ Gravity is the uneven running of clocks at different places.**

Challenge 178 e Of course, this seemingly absurd definition needs to be checked. The definition does not
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

talk about a single situation seen by different observers, as we often did in special relativ-
ity. The definition depends on the observation that neighbouring, identical clocks, fixed
against each other, run differently in the presence of a gravitational field when watched
by the same observer; moreover, this difference is directly related to what we usually call
gravity. There are two ways to check this connection: by experiment and by reasoning.
Let us start with the latter method, as it is cheaper, faster and more fun.

* Nowadays it is possible to book such flights in specialized travel agents.

** Gravity is also the uneven length of metre bars at different places, as we will see below. Both effects are
needed to describe it completely; but for daily life on Earth, the clock effect is sufficient, since it is much
Challenge 177 s larger than the length effect, which can usually be neglected. Can you see why?
 126 5 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y

󰑣(t) = д t

B light F

F I G U R E 60 Inside an accelerating train or

bus.

An observer feels no difference between gravity and constant acceleration. We can

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
thus study constant acceleration and use a way of reasoning we have encountered already
in the chapter on special relativity. We assume light is emitted at the back end of a train
of length Δh that is accelerating forward with acceleration д, as shown in Figure 60. The
light arrives at the front of the train after a time t = Δh/c. However, during this time the
accelerating train has picked up some additional velocity, namely Δ󰑣 = дt = дΔh/c. As a
result, because of the Doppler effect we encountered in our discussion of special relativity,
Page 50 the frequency f of the light arriving at the front has changed. Using the expression of the
Challenge 179 e Doppler effect, we thus get*
Δf дΔh
= 2 . (130)
f c

The sign of the frequency change depends on whether the light motion and the train
acceleration are in the same or in opposite directions. For actual trains or buses, the
Challenge 181 s frequency change is quite small; nevertheless, it is measurable. Acceleration induces fre-
quency changes in light. Let us compare this first effect of acceleration with the effects of
gravity.
To measure time and space, we use light. What happens to light when gravity is
Ref. 119 involved? The simplest experiment is to let light fall or rise. In order to deduce what
must happen, we add a few details. Imagine a conveyor belt carrying masses around two
wheels, a low and a high one, as shown in Figure 61. The descending, grey masses are
slightly larger. Whenever such a larger mass is near the bottom, some mechanism – not
shown in the figure – converts the mass surplus to light, in accordance with the equation
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

E = mc 2 , and sends the light up towards the top.** At the top, one of the lighter, white
masses passing by absorbs the light and, because of its added weight, turns the conveyor
belt until it reaches the bottom. Then the process repeats.***
As the grey masses on the descending side are always heavier, the belt would turn for
ever and this system could continuously generate energy. However, since energy conser-
Vol. I, page 241 vation is at the basis of our definition of time, as we saw in the beginning of our walk, the

* The expression 󰑣 = дt is valid only for non-relativistic speeds; nevertheless, the conclusion of this section
Challenge 180 e is not affected by this approximation.
** As in special relativity, here and in the rest of our mountain ascent, the term ‘mass’ always refers to rest
mass.
Challenge 182 s *** Can this process be performed with 100% efficiency?
 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y 127

m + E/c 2

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
light

F I G U R E 61 The necessity of blue- and red-shift of

light: why trees are greener at the bottom.

whole process must be impossible. We have to conclude that the light changes its energy
when climbing. The only possibility is that the light arrives at the top with a frequency
different from the one at which it is emitted from the bottom.*
In short, it turns out that rising light is gravitationally red-shifted. Similarly, the light
descending from the top of a tree down to an observer is blue-shifted; this gives a darker
colour to the top in comparison with the bottom of the tree. The combination of light
speed invariance and gravitation thus imply that trees have different shades of green
Challenge 184 e along their height.** How big is the effect? The result deduced from the drawing is again
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the one of formula (130). That is what we would, as light moving in an accelerating train
and light moving in gravity are equivalent situations, as you might want to check yourself.
Challenge 185 s The formula gives a relative change of frequency of only 1.1 ⋅ 10−16 /m near the surface
of the Earth. For trees, this so-called gravitational red-shift or gravitational Doppler effect
is far too small to be observable, at least using normal light.
Ref. 120 In 1911, Einstein proposed an experiment to check the change of frequency with height
by measuring the red-shift of light emitted by the Sun, using the famous Fraunhofer lines

* The precise relation between energy and frequency of light is described and explained in the discussion
Vol. IV, page 39 on quantum theory. But we know already from classical electrodynamics that the energy of light depends
on its intensity and on its frequency.
Challenge 183 ny ** How does this argument change if you include the illumination by the Sun?
 128 5 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y

Vol. IV, page 157 as colour markers. The results of the first experiments, by Schwarzschild and others, were
unclear or even negative, due to a number of other effects that induce colour changes at
high temperatures. But in 1920 and 1921, Leonhard Grebe and Albert Bachem, and inde-
Ref. 121 pendently Alfred Perot, confirmed the gravitational red-shift with careful experiments.
In later years, technological advances made the measurements much easier, until it was
even possible to measure the effect on Earth. In 1960, in a classic experiment using the
Mössbauer effect, Pound and Rebka confirmed the gravitational red-shift in their univer-
Ref. 122 sity tower using γ radiation.
But our two thought experiments tell us much more. Let us use the same argument as
in the case of special relativity: a colour change implies that clocks run differently at dif-
ferent heights, just as they run differently in the front and in the back of a train. The time
difference Δτ is predicted to depend on the height difference Δh and the acceleration of
gravity д according to

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Δτ Δ f дΔh
= = 2 . (131)
τ f c

Therefore, in gravity, time is height-dependent. That was exactly what we claimed above.
Challenge 186 e In fact, height makes old. Can you confirm this conclusion?
In 1972, by flying four precise clocks in an aeroplane while keeping an identical one
Ref. 48 on the ground, Hafele and Keating found that clocks indeed run differently at different
Ref. 123 altitudes according to expression (131). Subsequently, in 1976, the team of Vessot shot a
precision clock based on a maser – a precise microwave generator and oscillator – up-
wards on a missile. The team compared the maser inside the missile with an identical
maser on the ground and again confirmed the above expression. In 1977, Briatore and
Ref. 124 Leschiutta showed that a clock in Torino indeed ticks more slowly than one on the top of
the Monte Rosa. They confirmed the prediction that on Earth, for every 100 m of height
Challenge 187 e gained, people age more rapidly by about 1 ns per day. This effect has been confirmed for
all systems for which experiments have been performed, such as several planets, the Sun
and numerous other stars.
Do these experiments show that time changes or are they simply due to clocks that
Challenge 188 e function badly? Take some time and try to settle this question. We will give one argument
only: gravity does change the colour of light, and thus really does change time. Clock
precision is not an issue here.
In summary, gravity is indeed the uneven running of clocks at different heights. Note
that an observer at the lower position and another observer at the higher position agree
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

on the result: both find that the upper clock goes faster. In other words, when gravity is
present, space-time is not described by the Minkowski geometry of special relativity, but
by some more general geometry. To put it mathematically, whenever gravity is present,
the 4-distance ds 2 between events is different from the expression without gravity:

ds 2 ̸= c 2 dt 2 − dx 2 − dy 2 − dz 2 . (132)

We will give the correct expression shortly.

Is this view of gravity as height-dependent time really reasonable? No. It turns out that
it is not yet strange enough! Since the speed of light is the same for all observers, we can
 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y 129

before

after

F I G U R E 62 Tidal effects: the only effect bodies feel when falling.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
say more. If time changes with height, length must also do so! More precisely, if clocks
run differently at different heights, the length of metre bars must also change with height.
Challenge 189 s Can you confirm this for the case of horizontal bars at different heights?
If length changes with height, the circumference of a circle around the Earth cannot be
given by 2πr. An analogous discrepancy is also found by an ant measuring the radius and
circumference of a circle traced on the surface of a basketball. Indeed, gravity implies that
humans are in a situation analogous to that of ants on a basketball, the only difference
being that the circumstances are translated from two to three dimensions. We conclude
that wherever gravity plays a role, space is curved.

What tides tell us about gravity

During his free fall, Kittinger was able to specify an inertial frame for himself. Indeed,
he felt completely at rest. Does this mean that it is impossible to distinguish acceleration
from gravitation? No: distinction is possible. We only have to compare two (or more)
falling observers.
Kittinger could not have found a frame which is also inertial for a colleague falling
Challenge 190 e on the opposite side of the Earth. Such a common frame does not exist. In general, it is
impossible to find a single inertial reference frame describing different observers freely Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

falling near a mass. In fact, it is impossible to find a common inertial frame even for
nearby observers in a gravitational field. Two nearby observers observe that during their
Challenge 191 s fall, their relative distance changes. (Why?) The same happens to orbiting observers.
In a closed room in orbit around the Earth, a person or a mass at the centre of the
room would not feel any force, and in particular no gravity. But if several particles are
located in the room, they will behave differently depending on their exact positions in
the room. Only if two particles were on exactly the same orbit would they keep the same
relative position. If one particle is in a lower or higher orbit than the other, they will de-
part from each other over time. Even more interestingly, if a particle in orbit is displaced
Challenge 192 ny sideways, it will oscillate around the central position. (Can you confirm this?)
Gravitation leads to changes of relative distance. These changes evince another effect,
shown in Figure 62: an extended body in free fall is slightly squeezed. This effect also tells
 130 5 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y

us that it is an essential feature of gravity that free fall is different from point to point.
Vol. I, page 172 That rings a bell. The squeezing of a body is the same effect as that which causes the
tides. Indeed, the bulging oceans can be seen as the squeezed Earth in its fall towards the
Ref. 125 Moon. Using this result of universal gravity we can now affirm: the essence of gravity is
the observation of tidal effects.
In other words, gravity is simple only locally. Only locally does it look like acceleration.
Only locally does a falling observer like Kittinger feel at rest. In fact, only a point-like
observer does so! As soon as we take spatial extension into account, we find tidal effects.

⊳ Gravity is the presence of tidal effects.

The absence of tidal effects implies the absence of gravity. Tidal effects are the everyday
consequence of height-dependent time. Isn’t this a beautiful conclusion from the invari-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ance of the speed of light?
In principle, Kittinger could have felt gravitation during his free fall, even with his eyes
closed, had he paid attention to himself. Had he measured the distance change between
his two hands, he would have found a tiny decrease which could have told him that he
was falling. This tiny decrease would have forced Kittinger to a strange conclusion. Two
inertially moving hands should move along two parallel lines, always keeping the same
distance. Since the distance changes, he must conclude that in the space around him lines
starting out in parallel do not remain so. Kittinger would have concluded that the space
around him was similar to the surface of the Earth, where two lines starting out north,
parallel to each other, also change distance, until they meet at the North Pole. In other
words, Kittinger would have concluded that he was in a curved space.
By studying the change in distance between his hands, Kittinger could even have con-
cluded that the curvature of space changes with height. Physical space differs from a
sphere, which has constant curvature. Physical space is more involved. The effect is ex-
tremely small, and cannot be felt by human senses. Kittinger had no chance to detect any-
thing. However, the conclusion remains valid. Space-time is not described by Minkowski
geometry when gravity is present. Tidal effects imply space-time curvature.

⊳ Gravity is the curvature of space-time.

This is the main and final lesson that follows from the invariance of the speed of light.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Bent space and mattresses

“
Wenn ein Käfer über die Oberfläche einer Kugel
krabbelt, merkt er wahrscheinlich nicht, daß
der Weg, den er zurücklegt, gekrümmt ist. Ich

”
dagegen hatte das Glück, es zu merken.*
Albert Einstein’s answer to his son Eduard’s
question about the reason for his fame

* ‘When an insect walks over the surface of a sphere it probably does not notice that the path it walks is
curved. I, on the other hand, had the luck to notice it.’
 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y 131

On the 7th of November 1919, Albert Einstein became world-famous. On that day, an
article in the Times newspaper in London announced the results of a double expedition
to South America under the heading ‘Revolution in science / new theory of the universe /
Newtonian ideas overthrown’. The expedition had shown unequivocally – though not
for the first time – that the theory of universal gravity, essentially given by a = GM/r 2 ,
was wrong, and that instead space was curved. A worldwide mania started. Einstein was
presented as the greatest of all geniuses. ‘Space warped’ was the most common headline.
Einstein’s papers on general relativity were reprinted in full in popular magazines. People
could read the field equations of general relativity, in tensor form and with Greek indices,
in Time magazine. Nothing like this has happened to any other physicist before or since.
What was the reason for this excitement?
The expedition to the southern hemisphere had performed an experiment proposed
Ref. 126 by Einstein himself. Apart from seeking to verify the change of time with height, Einstein

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
had also thought about a number of experiments to detect the curvature of space. In the
one that eventually made him famous, Einstein proposed to take a picture of the stars
near the Sun, as is possible during a solar eclipse, and compare it with a picture of the
same stars at night, when the Sun is far away. Einstein predicted a change in position of
1.75󳰀 (1.75 seconds of arc) for star images at the border of the Sun, a value twice as large
Vol. I, page 177 as that predicted by universal gravity. The prediction was confirmed for the first time in
Ref. 127 1919, and thus universal gravity was ruled out.
Does this result imply that space is curved? Not by itself. In fact, other explanations
could be given for the result of the eclipse experiment, such as a potential differing from
the inverse square form. However, the eclipse results are not the only data. We already
know about the change of time with height. Experiments show that two observers at
different heights measure the same value for the speed of light c near themselves. But
these experiments also show that if an observer measures the speed of light at the position
of the other observer, he gets a value differing from c, since his clock runs differently.
There is only one possible solution to this dilemma: metre bars, like clocks, also change
with height, and in such a way as to yield the same speed of light everywhere.
If the speed of light is constant but clocks and metre bars change with height, the
Challenge 193 e conclusion must be that space is curved near masses. Many physicists in the twentieth
century checked whether metre bars really behave differently in places where gravity
is present. And indeed, curvature has been detected around several planets, around all
the hundreds of stars where it could be measured, and around dozens of galaxies. Many Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

indirect effects of curvature around masses, to be described in detail below, have also
been observed. All results confirm the curvature of space and space-time around masses,
and in addition confirm the curvature values predicted by general relativity. In other
words, metre bars near masses do indeed change their size from place to place, and even
from orientation to orientation. Figure 63 gives an impression of the situation.
But beware: the right-hand figure, although found in many textbooks, can be
Ref. 128 misleading. It can easily be mistaken for a reproduction of a potential around a body. In-
deed, it is impossible to draw a graph showing curvature and potential separately. (Why?)
Challenge 194 s We will see that for small curvatures, it is even possible to explain the change in metre
bar length using a potential only. Thus the figure does not really cheat, at least in the
case of weak gravity. But for large and changing values of gravity, a potential cannot be
defined, and thus there is indeed no way to avoid using curved space to describe grav-
 132 5 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y

image image
of star
position
star of star

Sun
Sun

Mercury Earth
Earth

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 63 The mattress model of space: the path of a light beam and of a satellite near a spherical
mass.

ity. In summary, if we imagine space as a sort of generalized mattress in which masses

produce deformations, we have a reasonable model of space-time. As masses move, the
deformation follows them.
The acceleration of a test particle only depends on the curvature of the mattress. It
does not depend on the mass of the test particle. So the mattress model explains why
all bodies fall in the same way. (In the old days, this was also called the equality of the
inertial and gravitational mass.)
Space thus behaves like a frictionless mattress that pervades everything. We live in-
side the mattress, but we do not feel it in everyday life. Massive objects pull the foam of
the mattress towards them, thus deforming the shape of the mattress. More force, more
energy or more mass imply a larger deformation. (Does the mattress remind you of the
Vol. III, page 117 aether? Do not worry: physics eliminated the concept of aether because it is indistin-
guishable from vacuum.)
If gravity means curved space, then any accelerated observer, such as a man in a de-
parting car, must also observe that space is curved. However, in everyday life we do not
notice any such effect, because for accelerations and sizes of everyday life the curvature
values are too small to be noticed. Could you devise a sensitive experiment to check the
Challenge 195 ny prediction?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Curved space-time
Figure 63 shows the curvature of space only, but in fact space-time is curved. We will
shortly find out how to describe both the shape of space and the shape of space-time,
and how to measure their curvature.
Let us have a first attempt to describe nature with the idea of curved space-time. In
the case of Figure 63, the best description of events is with the use of the time t shown
by a clock located at spatial infinity; that avoids problems with the uneven running of
clocks at different distances from the central mass. For the radial coordinate r, the most
practical choice to avoid problems with the curvature of space is to use the circumference
of a circle around the central body, divided by 2π. The curved shape of space-time is
 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y 133

best described by the behaviour of the space-time distance ds, or by the wristwatch time
Page 41 dτ = ds/c, between two neighbouring points with coordinates (t, r) and (t + dt, r + dr).
Page 128 As we saw above, gravity means that in spherical coordinates we have

ds 2
dτ 2 = ̸= dt 2 − dr 2 /c 2 − r 2 dφ2 /c 2 . (133)
c2
The inequality expresses the fact that space-time is curved. Indeed, the experiments on
time change with height confirm that the space-time interval around a spherical mass is
given by
ds 2 2GM dr 2 r2 2
dτ 2 = 2 = 󶀤1 − 󶀴 dt 2
− − dφ . (134)
c rc 2 c 2 − 2GMr
c2

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
This expression is called the Schwarzschild metric after one of its discoverers.* The metric
(134) describes the curved shape of space-time around a spherical non-rotating mass. It
is well approximated by the Earth or the Sun. (Why can their rotation be neglected?)
Challenge 196 s Expression (134) also shows that gravity’s strength around a body of mass M and radius
R is measured by a dimensionless number h defined as

2G M
h= . (135)
c2 R
This ratio expresses the gravitational strain with which lengths and the vacuum are de-
formed from the flat situation of special relativity, and thus also determines how much
clocks slow down when gravity is present. (The ratio also reveals how far one is from any
possible horizon.) On the surface of the Earth the ratio h has the small value of 1.4 ⋅ 10−9 ;
on the surface of the Sun is has the somewhat larger value of 4.2 ⋅ 10−6 . The precision of
modern clocks allows detecting such small effects quite easily. The various consequences
and uses of the deformation of space-time will be discussed shortly.
We note that if a mass is highly concentrated, in particular when its radius becomes
equal to its so-called Schwarzschild radius

2GM
RS = , (136)
c2 Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the Schwarzschild metric behaves strangely: at that location, time disappears (note that
t is time at infinity). At the Schwarzschild radius, the wristwatch time (as shown by a
clock at infinity) stops – and a horizon appears. What happens precisely will be explored
Page 244 below. This situation is not common: the Schwarzschild radius for a mass like the Earth is
8.8 mm, and for the Sun is 3.0 km; you might want to check that the object size for every
Challenge 197 e system in everyday life is larger than its Schwarzschild radius. Bodies which reach this

* Karl Schwarzschild (1873–1916), important German astronomer; he was one of the first people to under-
stand general relativity. He published his formula in December 1915, only a few months after Einstein had
published his field equations. He died prematurely, at the age of 42, much to Einstein’s distress. We will
deduce the form of the metric later on, directly from the field equations of general relativity. The other
Ref. 129 discoverer of the metric, unknown to Einstein, was the Dutch physicist J. Droste.
 134 5 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y

Ref. 130 limit are called black holes; we will study them in detail shortly. In fact, general relativity
states that no system in nature is smaller than its Schwarzschild size, in other words that
the ratio h defined by expression (135) is never above unity.
In summary, the results mentioned so far make it clear that mass generates curvature.
The mass–energy equivalence we know from special relativity then tells us that as a con-
sequence, space should also be curved by the presence of any type of energy–momentum.
Every type of energy curves space-time. For example, light should also curve space-time.
However, even the highest-energy beams we can create correspond to extremely small
masses, and thus to unmeasurably small curvatures. Even heat curves space-time; but in
most systems, heat is only about a fraction of 10−12 of total mass; its curvature effect is
thus unmeasurable and negligible. Nevertheless it is still possible to show experimentally
that energy curves space. In almost all atoms a sizeable fraction of the mass is due to the
electrostatic energy among the positively charged protons. In 1968 Kreuzer confirmed

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 131 that energy curves space with a clever experiment using a floating mass.
It is straightforward to deduce that the temporal equivalent of spatial curvature is the
Challenge 198 e uneven running of clock. Taking the two curvatures together, we conclude that when
gravity is present, space-time is curved.
Let us sum up our chain of thoughts. Energy is equivalent to mass; mass produces
gravity; gravity is equivalent to acceleration; acceleration is position-dependent time.
Since light speed is constant, we deduce that energy–momentum tells space-time to curve.
This statement is the first half of general relativity.
We will soon find out how to measure curvature, how to calculate it from energy–
momentum and what is found when measurement and calculation are compared. We
will also find out that different observers measure different curvature values. The set
of transformations relating one viewpoint to another in general relativity, the diffeomor-
phism symmetry, will tell us how to relate the measurements of different observers.
Since matter moves, we can say even more. Not only is space-time curved near masses,
it also bends back when a mass has passed by. In other words, general relativity states
that space, as well as space-time, is elastic. However, it is rather stiff: quite a lot stiffer
Ref. 132 than steel. To curve a piece of space by 1 % requires an energy density enormously larger
Challenge 199 ny than to curve a simple train rail by 1 %. This and other interesting consequences of the
elasticity of space-time will occupy us for a while.

The speed of light and the gravitational constant Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

“ ”
Si morior, moror.*
Antiquity

We continue on the way towards precision in our understanding of gravitation. All our
theoretical and empirical knowledge about gravity can be summed up in just two general
statements. The first principle states:

⊳ The speed 󰑣 of a physical system is bounded above:

󰑣⩽c (137)
* ‘If I rest, I die.’ This is the motto of the bird of paradise.
 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y 135

for all observers, where c is the speed of light.

The theory following from this first principle, special relativity, is extended to general rel-
ativity by adding a second principle, characterizing gravitation. There are several equiv-
alent ways to state this principle. Here is one.

⊳ For all observers, the force F on a system is limited by

c4
F⩽ , (138)
4G
where G is the universal constant of gravitation.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In short, there is a maximum force in nature. Gravitation leads to attraction of masses.
Challenge 200 e However, this force of attraction is limited. An equivalent statement is:

⊳ For all observers, the size L of a system of mass M is limited by

L 4G
⩾ 2 . (139)
M c

In other words, a massive system cannot be more concentrated than a non-rotating black
hole of the same mass. Another way to express the principle of gravitation is the follow-
ing:

⊳ For all systems, the emitted power P is limited by

c5
P⩽ . (140)
4G

In short, there is a maximum power in nature.

The three limits given above are all equivalent to each other; and no exception is
known or indeed possible. The limits include universal gravity in the non-relativistic
case. They tell us what gravity is, namely curvature, and how exactly it behaves. The lim-
its allow us to determine the curvature in all situations, at all space-time events. As we
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 103 have seen above, the speed limit together with any one of the last three principles imply
all of general relativity.*
For example, can you show that the formula describing gravitational red-shift com-
Challenge 201 ny plies with the general limit (139) on length-to-mass ratios?
We note that any formula that contains the speed of light c is based on special rela-
tivity, and if it contains the constant of gravitation G, it relates to universal gravity. If a
formula contains both c and G, it is a statement of general relativity. The present chapter
frequently underlines this connection.

* This didactic approach is unconventional. It is possible that is has been pioneered by the present author.
Ref. 98 The British physicist Gary Gibbons also developed similar ideas independently.
 136 5 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y

Our mountain ascent so far has taught us that a precise description of motion requires
the specification of all allowed viewpoints, their characteristics, their differences, and
the transformations between them. From now on, all viewpoints are allowed, without
exception: anybody must be able to talk to anybody else. It makes no difference whether
an observer feels gravity, is in free fall, is accelerated or is in inertial motion. Furthermore,
people who exchange left and right, people who exchange up and down or people who
say that the Sun turns around the Earth must be able to talk to each other and to us. This
gives a much larger set of viewpoint transformations than in the case of special relativity;
it makes general relativity both difficult and fascinating. And since all viewpoints are
allowed, the resulting description of motion is complete.*

Why does a stone thrown into the air fall back to Earth? –
Geodesics

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
“
A genius is somebody who makes all possible

”
mistakes in the shortest possible time.
Anonymous

In our discussion of special relativity, we saw that inertial or free-floating motion is the
Page 79 motion which connecting two events that requires the longest proper time. In the absence
of gravity, the motion fulfilling this requirement is straight (rectilinear) motion. On the
Vol. I, page 57 other hand, we are also used to thinking of light rays as being straight. Indeed, we are all
accustomed to check the straightness of an edge by looking along it. Whenever we draw
the axes of a physical coordinate system, we imagine either drawing paths of light rays
or drawing the motion of freely moving bodies.
In the absence of gravity, object paths and light paths coincide. However, in the pres-
ence of gravity, objects do not move along light paths, as every thrown stone shows. Light
does not define spatial straightness any more. In the presence of gravity, both light and
matter paths are bent, though by different amounts. But the original statement remains
valid: even when gravity is present, bodies follow paths of longest possible proper time.
For matter, such paths are called timelike geodesics. For light, such paths are called light-
like or null geodesics.
We note that in space-time, geodesics are the curves with maximal length. This is in
contrast with the case of pure space, such as the surface of a sphere, where geodesics are
the curves of minimal length.
In simple words, stones fall because they follow geodesics. Let us perform a few checks
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

of this statement. Since stones move by maximizing proper time for inertial observers,
they also must do so for freely falling observers, like Kittinger. In fact, they must do so
for all observers. The equivalence of falling paths and geodesics is at least coherent.
If falling is seen as a consequence of the Earth’s surface approaching – as we will argue
Page 145 below – we can deduce directly that falling implies a proper time that is as long as possible.
Challenge 202 ny Free fall indeed is motion along geodesics.
We saw above that gravitation follows from the existence of a maximum force. The
result can be visualized in another way. If the gravitational attraction between a central
body and a satellite were stronger than it is, black holes would be smaller than they are;

* Or it would be, were it not for a small deviation called quantum theory.
 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y 137

height
slow, steep throw c · time
h
d

rapid, flat throw

throw distance
F I G U R E 64 All paths of flying stones, independently of their speed and angle, have the same curvature
in space-time (photograph © Marco Fulle).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
in that case the maximum force limit and the maximum speed could be exceeded by
getting close to such a black hole. If, on the other hand, gravitation were weaker than it
is, there would be observers for which the two bodies would not interact, thus for which
they would not form a physical system. In summary, a maximum force of c 4 /4G implies
universal gravity. There is no difference between stating that all bodies attract through
gravitation and stating that there is a maximum force with the value c 4 /4G. But at the
same time, the maximum force principle implies that objects move on geodesics. Can
Challenge 203 ny you show this?
Let us turn to an experimental check. If falling is a consequence of curvature, then
the paths of all stones thrown or falling near the Earth must have the same curvature in
space-time. Take a stone thrown horizontally, a stone thrown vertically, a stone thrown
rapidly, or a stone thrown slowly: it takes only two lines of argument to show that in space-
Challenge 204 ny time all their paths are approximated to high precision by circle segments, as shown in
Figure 64. All paths have the same curvature radius r, given by

c2
r= ≈ 9.2 ⋅ 1015 m . (141)
д

The large value of the radius, corresponding to a low curvature, explains why we do not
notice it in everyday life. The parabolic shape typical of the path of a stone in everyday
life is just the projection of the more fundamental path in 4-dimensional space-time Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

into 3-dimensional space. The important point is that the value of the curvature does not
depend on the details of the throw. In fact, this simple result could have suggested the
ideas of general relativity to people a full century before Einstein; what was missing was
the recognition of the importance of the speed of light as limit speed. In any case, this
simple calculation confirms that falling and curvature are connected. As expected, and
as mentioned already above, the curvature diminishes at larger heights, until it vanishes
at infinite distance from the Earth. Now, given that the curvature of all paths for free fall
is the same, and given that all such paths are paths of least action, it is straightforward
that they are also geodesics.
If we describe fall as a consequence of the curvature of space-time, we must show that
the description with geodesics reproduces all its features. In particular, we must be able
to explain that stones thrown with small speed fall back, and stones thrown with high
 138 5 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y

Challenge 205 ny speed escape. Can you deduce this from space curvature?
In summary, the motion of any particle falling freely ‘in a gravitational field’ is de-
scribed by the same variational principle as the motion of a free particle in special rel-
ativity: the path maximizes the proper time ∫ dτ. We rephrase this by saying that any
particle in free fall from point A to point B minimizes the action S given by
B
S = −mc 2 󵐐 dτ . (142)
A

That is all we need to know about the free fall of objects. As a consequence, any deviation
from free fall keeps you young. The larger the deviation, the younger you stay.
Page 266 As we will see below, the minimum action description of free fall has been tested
Ref. 133 extremely precisely, and no difference from experiment has ever been observed. We will

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
also find out that for free fall, the predictions of general relativity and of universal gravity
differ substantially both for particles near the speed of light and for central bodies of
high density. So far, all experiments have shown that whenever the two predictions differ,
general relativity is right, and universal gravity and other alternative descriptions are
wrong.
All bodies fall along geodesics. This tells us something important. The fall of bodies
does not depend on their mass. The geodesics are like ‘rails’ in space-time that tell bod-
ies how to fall. In other words, space-time can indeed be imagined as a single, giant,
deformed entity. Space-time is not ‘nothing’; it is an entity of our thinking. The shape of
this entity tells objects how to move. Space-time is thus indeed like an intangible mat-
tress; this deformed mattress guides falling objects along its networks of geodesics.
Moreover, bound energy falls in the same way as mass, as is proven by comparing the
fall of objects made of different materials. They have different percentages of bound en-
Challenge 206 s ergy. (Why?) For example, on the Moon, where there is no air, cosmonauts dropped steel
balls and feathers and found that they fell together, alongside each other. The indepen-
Ref. 134 dence on material composition has been checked and confirmed over and over again.

Can light fall?

How does radiation fall? Light, like any radiation, is energy without rest mass. It moves
like a stream of extremely fast and light objects. Therefore deviations from universal
gravity become most apparent for light. How does light fall? Light cannot change speed.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 125 When light falls vertically, it only changes colour, as we have seen above. But light can
also change direction. Long before the ideas of relativity became current, in 1801, the
Ref. 135 Prussian astronomer Johann Soldner understood that universal gravity implies that light
is deflected when passing near a mass. He also calculated how the deflection angle de-
Vol. I, page 177 pends on the mass of the body and the distance of passage. However, nobody in the
nineteenth century was able to check the result experimentally.
Obviously, light has energy, and energy has weight; the deflection of light by itself is
thus not a proof of the curvature of space. General relativity also predicts a deflection
angle for light passing masses, but of twice the classical Soldner value, because the curva-
ture of space around large masses adds to the effect of universal gravity. The deflection of
light thus only confirms the curvature of space if the value agrees with the one predicted
 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y 139

by general relativity. This is the case: observations do coincide with predictions. More
Page 161 details will be given shortly.
Simply said, mass is not necessary to feel gravity; energy is sufficient. This result of the
mass–energy equivalence must become second nature when studying general relativity.
In particular, light is not light-weight, but heavy. Can you argue that the curvature of
Challenge 207 ny light near the Earth must be the same as that of stones, given by expression (141)?
In summary, all experiments show that not only mass, but also energy falls along
geodesics, whatever its type (bound or free), and whatever the interaction (be it elec-
tromagnetic or nuclear). Moreover, the motion of radiation confirms that space-time is
curved.
Since experiments show that all particles fall in the same way, independently of their
mass, charge or any other property, we can conclude that the system of all possible tra-
jectories forms an independent structure. This structure is what we call space-time.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
We thus find that space-time tells matter, energy and radiation how to fall. This state-
ment is the second half of general relativity. It complements the first half, which states
that energy tells space-time how to curve. To complete the description of macroscopic
motion, we only need to add numbers to these statements, so that they become testable.
As usual, we can proceed in two ways: we can deduce the equations of motion directly,
or we can first deduce the Lagrangian and then deduce the equations of motion from it.
But before we do that, let’s have some fun.

Curiosities and fun challenges about gravitation

“
Wenn Sie die Antwort nicht gar zu ernst
nehmen und sie nur als eine Art Spaß ansehen,
so kann ich Ihnen das so erklären: Früher hat
man geglaubt, wenn alle Dinge aus der Welt
verschwinden, so bleiben noch Raum und Zeit
übrig. Nach der Relativitätstheorie
verschwinden aber auch Zeit und Raum mit

”
den Dingen.*
Albert Einstein in 1921 in New York

Take a plastic bottle and make some holes in it near the bottom. Fill the bottle with water,
closing the holes with your fingers. If you let the bottle go, no water will leave the bottle
Challenge 208 s during the fall. Can you explain how this experiment confirms the equivalence of rest
and free fall?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
On his seventy-sixth birthday, Einstein received a birthday present specially made for
him, shown in Figure 65. A rather deep cup is mounted on the top of a broom stick.
The cup contains a weak piece of elastic rubber attached to its bottom, to which a ball
is attached at the other end. In the starting position, the ball hangs outside the cup. The
rubber is too weak to pull the ball into the cup against gravity. What is the most elegant
Challenge 209 s way to get the ball into the cup?
* ‘If you do not take the answer too seriously and regard it only for amusement, I can explain it to you in the
following way: in the past it was thought that if all things were to disappear from the world, space and time
would remain. But following relativity theory, space and time would disappear together with the things.’
 140 5 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y

rubber band

cup
ball

hand

wooden
stick,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
about
1.5 m
long

F I G U R E 65 A puzzle: what is the simplest way to get the ball attached

to the rubber band into the cup?

∗∗
Gravity has the same properties in the whole universe – except in the US patent office. In
2005, it awarded a patent, Nr. 6 960 975, for an antigravity device that works by distorting
space-time in such a way that gravity is ‘compensated’ (see patft.uspto.gov). Do you know
Challenge 210 s a simpler device?
∗∗
The radius of curvature of space-time at the Earth’s surface is 9.2 ⋅ 1015 m. Can you con-
Challenge 211 e firm this value?
∗∗ Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 212 s A piece of wood floats on water. Does it stick out more or less in a lift accelerating up-
wards?
∗∗
Page 50 We saw in special relativity that if two twins are identically accelerated in the same di-
rection, with one twin some distance ahead of the other, then the twin ahead ages more
than the twin behind. Does this happen in a gravitational field as well? And what happens
Challenge 213 s when the field varies with height, as on Earth?
∗∗
A maximum force and a maximum power also imply a maximum flow of mass. Can you
Challenge 214 s show that no mass flow can exceed 1.1 ⋅ 1035 kg/s?
 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y 141

∗∗
The experiments of Figure 60 and 61 differ in one point: one happens in flat space, the
other in curved space. One seems to be related energy conservation, the other not. Do
Challenge 215 s these differences invalidate the equivalence of the observations?
∗∗
Challenge 216 s How can cosmonauts weigh themselves to check whether they are eating enough?
∗∗
Is a cosmonaut in orbit really floating freely? No. It turns out that space stations and satel-
lites are accelerated by several small effects. The important ones are the pressure of the
light from the Sun, the friction of the thin air, and the effects of solar wind. (Micromete-
orites can usually be neglected.) These three effects all lead to accelerations of the order

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
of 10−6 m/s2 to 10−8 m/s2 , depending on the height of the orbit. Can you estimate how
long it would take an apple floating in space to hit the wall of a space station, starting
Challenge 217 s from the middle? By the way, what is the magnitude of the tidal accelerations in this
situation?
∗∗
Vol. I, page 97 There is no negative mass in nature, as discussed in the beginning of our walk (even
antimatter has positive mass). This means that gravitation cannot be shielded, in contrast
to electromagnetic interactions. Since gravitation cannot be shielded, there is no way to
make a perfectly isolated system. But such systems form the basis of thermodynamics!
Vol. V, page 98 We will study the fascinating implications of this later on: for example, we will discover
an upper limit for the entropy of physical systems.
∗∗
Can curved space be used to travel faster than light? Imagine a space-time in which
two points could be connected either by a path leading through a flat portion, or by a
second path leading through a partially curved portion. Could that curved portion be
used to travel between the points faster than through the flat one? Mathematically, this
is possible; however, such a curved space would need to have a negative energy density.
Such a situation is incompatible with the definition of energy and with the non-existence
Ref. 136 of negative mass. The statement that this does not happen in nature is also called the weak Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 218 ny energy condition. Is it implied by the limit on length-to-mass ratios?

∗∗
The statement of a length-to-mass limit L/M ⩾ 4G/c 2 invites experiments to try to over-
come it. Can you explain what happens when an observer moves so rapidly past a mass
Challenge 219 ny that the body’s length contraction reaches the limit?
∗∗
There is an important mathematical property of three-dimensional space ℝ3 that singles
it from all other dimensions. A closed (one-dimensional) curve can form knots only in
ℝ3 : in any higher dimension it can always be unknotted. (The existence of knots also ex-
plains why three is the smallest dimension that allows chaotic particle motion.) However,
 142 5 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y

general relativity does not say why space-time has three plus one dimensions. It is simply
based on the fact. This deep and difficult question will be settled only in the last part of
our mountain ascent.
∗∗
Henri Poincaré, who died in 1912, shortly before the general theory of relativity was fin-
ished, thought for a while that curved space was not a necessity, but only a possibility. He
imagined that one could continue using Euclidean space provided light was permitted
Challenge 220 s to follow curved paths. Can you explain why such a theory is impossible?
∗∗
Can two hydrogen atoms circle each other, in their mutual gravitational field? What
Challenge 221 s would the size of this ‘molecule’ be?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∗∗
Challenge 222 s Can two light pulses circle each other, in their mutual gravitational field?
∗∗
The various motions of the Earth mentioned in the section on Galilean physics, such as
Vol. I, page 141 its rotation around its axis or around the Sun, lead to various types of time in physics
and astronomy. The time defined by the best atomic clocks is called terrestrial dynamical
time. By inserting leap seconds every now and then to compensate for the bad definition
Vol. I, page 386 of the second (an Earth rotation does not take 86 400, but 86 400.002 seconds) and, in
minor ways, for the slowing of Earth’s rotation, one gets the universal time coordinate or
UTC. Then there is the time derived from this one by taking into account all leap seconds.
One then has the – different – time which would be shown by a non-rotating clock in
the centre of the Earth. Finally, there is barycentric dynamical time, which is the time
Ref. 137 that would be shown by a clock in the centre of mass of the solar system. Only using
this latter time can satellites be reliably steered through the solar system. In summary,
relativity says goodbye to Greenwich Mean Time, as does British law, in one of the rare
cases were the law follows science. (Only the BBC continues to use it.)
∗∗
Space agencies thus have to use general relativity if they want to get artificial satellites to Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Mars, Venus, or comets. Without its use, orbits would not be calculated correctly, and
satellites would miss their targets and usually even the whole planet. In fact, space agen-
cies play on the safe side: they use a generalization of general relativity, namely the so-
called parametrized post-Newtonian formalism, which includes a continuous check on
whether general relativity is correct. Within measurement errors, no deviation has been
found so far.*

* To give an idea of what this means, the unparametrized post-Newtonian formalism, based on general
relativity, writes the equation of motion of a body of mass m near a large mass M as a deviation from the
inverse square expression for the acceleration a:

GM GM 󰑣 2 GM 󰑣 4 Gm 󰑣 5
a= 2
+ f2 2 2 + f4 2 4 + f5 2 5 + ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ (143)
r r c r c r c
 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y 143

∗∗
General relativity is also used by space agencies around the world to calculate the exact
Ref. 138 positions of satellites and to tune radios to the frequency of radio emitters on them. In
addition, general relativity is essential for the so-called global positioning system, or GPS.
This modern navigation tool* consists of 24 satellites equipped with clocks that fly around
the world. Why does the system need general relativity to operate? Since all the satellites,
as well as any person on the surface of the Earth, travel in circles, we have dr = 0, and
we can rewrite the Schwarzschild metric (134) as

dτ 2 2GM r 2 dφ 2 2GM 󰑣 2
󶀥 󶀵 =1− − 󶀥 󶀵 = 1 − − 2 . (144)
dt rc 2 c 2 dt rc 2 c

Challenge 223 e For the relation between satellite time and Earth time we then get

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
2
󰑣sat
dtsat 2 1 − 2GM
rsat c2
− c2
󶀥 󶀵 = 󰑣Earth
2 . (145)
dtEarth 1 − r2GMc2 −
Earth c2

Can you deduce how many microseconds a satellite clock gains every day, given that the
Challenge 224 s GPS satellites orbit the Earth once every twelve hours? Since only three microseconds
would give a position error of one kilometre after a single day, the clocks in the satellites
Ref. 139 must be adjusted to run slow by the calculated amount. The necessary adjustments are
monitored, and so far have confirmed general relativity every single day, within experi-
mental errors, since the system began operation.
∗∗
General relativity is the base of the sport of geocaching, the world-wide treasure hunt
with the help of GPS receivers. See the www.terracaching.com and www.geocaching.com
websites for more details.
∗∗
Ref. 140 The gravitational constant G does not seem to change with time. The latest experiments
limit its rate of change to less than 1 part in 1012 per year. Can you imagine how this can
Challenge 225 d be checked?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Could our experience that we live in only three spatial dimensions be due to a limitation

Here the numerical factors fn are calculated from general relativity and are of order one. The first two odd
terms are missing because of the (approximate) reversibility of general relativistic motion: gravity wave
emission, which is irreversible, accounts for the small term f5 ; note that it contains the small mass m instead
of the large mass M. All factors fn up to f7 have now been calculated. However, in the solar system, only the
term f2 has ever been detected. This situation might change with future high-precision satellite experiments.
Page 158 Higher-order effects, up to f5 , have been measured in the binary pulsars, as discussed below.
In a parametrized post-Newtonian formalism, all factors fn , including the uneven ones, are fitted through
the data coming in; so far all these fits agree with the values predicted by general relativity.
* For more information, see the www.gpsworld.com website.
 144 5 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y

Challenge 226 s of our senses? How?

∗∗
Challenge 227 ny Can you estimate the effect of the tides on the colour of the light emitted by an atom?
∗∗
The strongest possible gravitational field is that of a small black hole. The strongest grav-
Ref. 141 itational field ever observed is somewhat less though. In 1998, Zhang and Lamb used the
X-ray data from a double star system to determine that space-time near the 10 km sized
neutron star is curved by up to 30 % of the maximum possible value. What is the corre-
sponding gravitational acceleration, assuming that the neutron star has the same mass
Challenge 228 ny as the Sun?
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 142 Light deflection changes the angular size δ of a mass M with radius r when observed at
Challenge 229 e distance d. The effect leads to the pretty expression

r󵀄1 − RS /d 2GM
δ = arcsin 󶀦 󶀶 where RS = . (146)
d󵀄1 − RS /r c2

Challenge 230 ny What percentage of the surface of the Sun can an observer at infinity see? We will exam-
Page 254 ine this issue in more detail shortly.

What is weight?
There is no way for a single (and point-like) observer to distinguish the effects of grav-
ity from those of acceleration. This property of nature allows making a strange state-
ment: things fall because the surface of the Earth accelerates towards them. Therefore,
the weight of an object results from the surface of the Earth accelerating upwards and
pushing against the object. That is the principle of equivalence applied to everyday life.
For the same reason, objects in free fall have no weight.
Let us check the numbers. Obviously, an accelerating surface of the Earth produces
a weight for each body resting on it. This weight is proportional to the inertial mass. In
other words, the inertial mass of a body is identical to the gravitational mass. This is
indeed observed in experiments, and to the highest precision achievable. Roland von
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 143
Eötvös* performed many such high-precision experiments throughout his life, without
finding any discrepancy. In these experiments, he used the fact that the inertial mass
determines centrifugal effects and the gravitational mass determines free fall. (Can you
Challenge 231 ny imagine how he tested the equality?) Recent experiments showed that the two masses
Ref. 143 agree to one part in 10−12 .
However, the mass equality is not a surprise. Remembering the definition of mass
Vol. I, page 93 ratio as negative inverse acceleration ratio, independently of the origin of the accelera-

* Roland von Eötvös (b. 1848 Budapest, d. 1919 Budapest), Hungarian physicist. He performed many high-
precision gravity experiments; among other discoveries, he discovered the effect named for him. The uni-
versity of Budapest bears his name.
 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y 145

tion, we are reminded that mass measurements cannot be used to distinguish between
inertial and gravitational mass. As we have seen, the two masses are equal by definition
Vol. I, page 178 in Galilean physics, and the whole discussion is a red herring. Weight is an intrinsic effect
of mass.
The equality of acceleration and gravity allows us to imagine the following. Imagine
stepping into a lift in order to move down a few stories. You push the button. The lift is
pushed upwards by the accelerating surface of the Earth somewhat less than is the build-
ing; the building overtakes the lift, which therefore remains behind. Moreover, because
of the weaker push, at the beginning everybody inside the lift feels a bit lighter. When
the contact with the building is restored, the lift is accelerated to catch up with the accel-
erating surface of the Earth. Therefore we all feel as if we were in a strongly accelerating
car, pushed in the direction opposite to the acceleration: for a short while, we feel heavier,
until the lift arrives at its destination.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Why do apples fall?

“ ”
Vires acquirit eundo.
Vergilius*

An accelerating car will soon catch up with an object thrown forward from it. For the
same reason, the surface of the Earth soon catches up with a stone thrown upwards,
because it is continually accelerating upwards. If you enjoy this way of seeing things,
imagine an apple falling from a tree. At the moment when it detaches, it stops being
accelerated upwards by the branch. The apple can now enjoy the calmness of real rest.
Because of our limited human perception, we call this state of rest free fall. Unfortunately,
the accelerating surface of the Earth approaches mercilessly and, depending on the time
for which the apple stayed at rest, the Earth hits it with a greater or lesser velocity, leading
to more or less severe shape deformation.
Falling apples also teach us not to be disturbed any more by the statement that gravity
is the uneven running of clocks with height. In fact, this statement is equivalent to saying
that the surface of the Earth is accelerating upwards, as the discussion above shows.
Can this reasoning be continued indefinitely? We can go on for quite a while. It is
fun to show how the Earth can be of constant radius even though its surface is acceler-
Challenge 232 ny ating upwards everywhere. We can thus play with the equivalence of acceleration and
gravity. However, this equivalence is only useful in situations involving only one acceler-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ating body. The equivalence between acceleration and gravity ends as soon as two falling
objects are studied. Any study of several bodies inevitably leads to the conclusion that
gravity is not acceleration; gravity is curved space-time.
Many aspects of gravity and curvature can be understood with no or only a little math-
ematics. The next section will highlight some of the differences between universal gravity
and general relativity, showing that only the latter description agrees with experiment.
After that, a few concepts relating to the measurement of curvature are introduced and
applied to the motion of objects and space-time. If the reasoning gets too involved for a

* ‘Going it acquires strength.’ Publius Vergilius Maro (b. 70 bce Andes, d. 19 bce Brundisium), from the
Aeneid 4, 175.
146 5 how maximum speed changes space, time and gravit y

first reading, skip ahead. In any case, the section on the stars, cosmology and black holes
again uses little mathematics.

A summary: the implications of the invariant speed of light on

gravitation
The invariance of the speed of light implies that space and space-time are curved in all
regions where gravity plays a role.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 6

OPEN OR BI T S, BENT LIGHT AND

WOBBLI NG VAC UUM

“
Einstein explained his theory to me every day,
and on my arrival I was fully convinced that he

”
understood it.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 144 Chaim Weizmann, first president of Israel.

B
efore we tackle the details of general relativity, we explore the differences
etween the motion of objects in general relativity and in universal gravity,
ecause the two descriptions lead to measurable differences. Since the invariance
of the speed of light implies that space is curved near masses, we first of all have to check
whether this curvature is indeed observed. After that, we explore how curvature is mea-
sured and how curvature measurements help to described motion with precision.

Weak fields
Gravity is strong near horizons. This happens when the mass M and the distance scale
R obey
2GM
≈1. (147)
Rc 2
Therefore, gravity is strong mainly in three situations: near black holes, near the horizon
of the universe, and at extremely high particle energies. The first two cases are explored
below, while the last will be explored in the final part of our mountain ascent. In contrast,
in most regions of the universe, including our own planet, there are no nearby horizons;
in these cases, gravity is a weak effect.
Despite the violence of avalanches or of falling asteroids, in everyday life gravity is
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

much weaker than the maximum force. On the Earth the ratio just mentioned is only
about 10−9 . In all cases of everyday life, gravitation can still be approximated by a field,
i.e., with a potential in flat space-time, despite what was said above. These weak field
situations are interesting because they are simple to understand; they mainly require for
their explanation the different running of clocks at different heights. Weak field situations
allow us to mention space-time curvature only in passing, and allow us to continue to
think of gravity as a source of acceleration. Nevertheless, the change of time with height
already induces many new and interesting effects that do not occur in universal gravity.
To explore them, the only thing we need is a consistent relativistic treatment.
 148 6 motion in general relativit y

Thirring effect

universal gravity prediction relativistic prediction

Moon a
m

Earth M

universe or mass shell

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Thirring–Lense effect
universal gravity prediction relativistic prediction

Foucault's pendulum
or
orbiting satellite

Earth
Earth
universe or mass shell F I G U R E 66 The Thirring and
the Thirring–Lense effects.

The Thirring effects

In 1918, the Austrian physicist Hans Thirring published two simple and beautiful predic-
tions of motions, one of them with his collaborator Josef Lense. Neither motion appears
Ref. 145 in universal gravity, but they both appear in general relativity. Figure 66 illustrates these
predictions.
The first example, nowadays called the Thirring effect, predicts centrifugal acceler-
ations and Coriolis accelerations for masses in the interior of a rotating mass shell.
Thirring showed that if an enclosing mass shell rotates, masses inside it are attracted
towards the shell. The effect is very small; however, this prediction is in stark contrast to
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

that of universal gravity, where a spherical mass shell – rotating or not – has no effect at
all on masses in its interior. Can you explain this effect using the figure and the mattress
Challenge 233 ny analogy?
The second effect, the Thirring–Lense effect,* is more famous. General relativity pre-
dicts that an oscillating Foucault pendulum, or a satellite circling the Earth in a polar
orbit, does not stay precisely in a fixed plane relative to the rest of the universe, but that
the rotation of the Earth drags the plane along a tiny bit. This frame-dragging, as the ef-
fect is also called, appears because the Earth in vacuum behaves like a rotating ball in a
foamy mattress. When a ball or a shell rotates inside the foam, it partly drags the foam

* Even though the order of the authors is Lense and Thirring, it is customary (but not universal) to stress
the idea of Hans Thirring by placing him first.
 open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum 149

F I G U R E 67 The LAGEOS satellites: metal spheres with a

diameter of 60 cm, a mass of 407 kg, and covered with 426
retroreflectors (NASA).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
along with it. Similarly, the Earth drags some vacuum with it, and thus turns the plane
of the pendulum. For the same reason, the Earth’s rotation turns the plane of an orbiting
satellite.
The Thirring–Lense or frame-dragging effect is extremely small. It might be that it
was measured for the first time in 1998 by an Italian group led by Ignazio Ciufolini, and
then again by the same group in the years up to 2004. The group followed the motion of
two special artificial satellites – shown in Figure 67 – consisting only of a body of steel
and some Cat’s-eyes. The group measured the satellite’s motion around the Earth with
Ref. 146 extremely high precision, making use of reflected laser pulses. This method allowed this
experiment to be comparatively cheap and quick. Unfortunately, the size of the system-
Ref. 147 atic effects and other reasons imply that the published results cannot be trusted.
So far, only one other group tried the experiment around Earth. The satellite for the
so-called Gravity Probe B experiment was put in orbit in 2005, after over 30 years of
Ref. 148 planning. These satellites were extremely involved and were carrying rapidly rotating
superconducting spheres. Despite several broken systems, in 2009 the experiment con-
firmed the existence of frame dragging around Earth. The evaluation confirmed the pre-
dictions of general relativity within about 25 %.
In the meantime, frame dragging effects have also been measured in various other
systems. The best confirmations have come from pulsars. Pulsars send out regular radio
pulses, e.g. every millisecond, with extremely high precision. By measuring the exact
times when the pulses arrive on Earth, one can deduce the details of the motion of these
Ref. 149 stars and confirm that such subtle effects as frame dragging do indeed take place.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Gravitomagnetism*
Frame-dragging and the Thirring effect can be seen as special cases of gravitomagnetism.
(We will show the connection below.) This approach to gravity was already studied in the
nineteenth century by Holzmüller and by Tisserand, long before general relativity was
Ref. 150 discovered. The approach has become popular again in recent years because it is simple
to understand. As mentioned above, talking about a gravitational field is always an ap-
proximation. In the case of weak gravity, such as occurs in everyday life, the approxima-
tion is very good. Many relativistic effects can be described in terms of the gravitational

* This section can be skipped at first reading.

 150 6 motion in general relativit y

field, without using the concept of space curvature or the metric tensor. Instead of de-
scribing the complete space-time mattress, the gravitational-field model only describes
the deviation of the mattress from the flat state, by pretending that the deviation is a sep-
arate entity, called the gravitational field. But what is the relativistically correct way to
describe the gravitational field?
We can compare the situation to electromagnetism. In a relativistic description of elec-
Vol. III, page 46 trodynamics, the electromagnetic field has an electric and a magnetic component. The
electric field is responsible for the inverse-square Coulomb force. In the same way, in
a relativistic description of (weak) gravity,* the gravitational field has an gravitoelectric
and a gravitomagnetic component. The gravitoelectric field is responsible for the inverse
square acceleration of gravity; what we call the gravitational field in everyday life is sim-
Ref. 151, Ref. 152 ply the gravitoelectric part of the full relativistic (weak) gravitational field.
What is the gravitomagnetic field? In electrodynamics, electric charge produces an

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
electric field, and a moving charge, i.e., a current, produces a magnetic field. Simi-
larly, in relativistic weak-field gravitation, mass–energy produces the gravitoelectric field,
and moving mass–energy produces the gravitomagnetic field. In other words, frame-
dragging is due to mass currents.
In the case of electromagnetism, the distinction between magnetic and electric field
depends on the observer; each of the two can (partly) be transformed into the other. The
Ref. 151 same happens in the case of gravitation. Electromagnetism provides a good indication
as to how the two types of gravitational fields behave; this intuition can be directly trans-
Vol. III, page 43 ferred to gravity. In electrodynamics, the motion x(t) of a charged particle is described
by the Lorentz equation
m ẍ = qE + q ẋ × B . (148)

In other words, the change of speed is due to electric field E, whereas the magnetic field
B produces a velocity-dependent change of the direction of velocity, without changing
the speed itself. Both changes depend on the value of the electric charge q. In the case of
gravity this expression becomes

m ẍ = mG + m ẋ × H . (149)

The role of charge is taken by mass. The role of the electric field is taken by the gravito-
electric field G – which we simply call gravitational field in everyday life – and the role Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

of the magnetic field is taken by the gravitomagnetic field H. In this expression for the
motion we already know the gravitoelectric field G; it is given by

GM GMx
G = ∇φ = ∇ =− 3 . (150)
r r
As usual, the quantity φ is the (scalar) potential. The field G is the usual gravitational field
of universal gravity, produced by every mass, and has the dimension of an acceleration.
Masses are the sources of the gravitoelectric field. The gravitoelectric field obeys ∇G =
−4πG ρ, where ρ is the mass density. A static field G has no vortices; it obeys ∇ × G = 0.

* The approximation requires low velocities, weak fields, and localized and stationary mass–energy distri-
 open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum 151

m particle

free
fall

M rod
󰑣
F I G U R E 68 The reality of gravitomagnetism.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
It is not hard to show that if gravitoelectric fields exist, gravitomagnetic fields must exist
Ref. 153 as well; the latter appear whenever we change from an observer at rest to a moving one.
Vol. III, page 46 (We will use the same argument in electrodynamics.) A particle falling perpendicularly
towards an infinitely long rod illustrates the point, as shown in Figure 68. An observer at
rest with respect to the rod can describe the whole situation with gravitoelectric forces
alone. A second observer, moving along the rod with constant speed, observes that the
momentum of the particle along the rod also increases. This observer will thus not only
measure a gravitoelectric field; he also measures a gravitomagnetic field. Indeed, a mass
moving with velocity 󰑣 produces a gravitomagnetic (3-) acceleration on a test mass m
given by
ma = m󰑣 × H (151)

Challenge 234 ny where, almost as in electrodynamics, the static gravitomagnetic field H obeys

H = 16πN ρ󰑣 (152)

where ρ is mass density of the source of the field and N is a proportionality constant.
In nature, there are no sources for the gravitomagnetic field; it thus obeys ∇H = 0. The
gravitomagnetic field has dimension of inverse time, like an angular velocity.
Challenge 235 ny When the situation in Figure 68 is evaluated, we find that the proportionality constant
N is given by
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

G
N = 2 = 7.4 ⋅ 10−28 m/kg , (153)
c
an extremely small value. We thus find that as in the electrodynamic case, the gravito-
magnetic field is weaker than the gravitoelectric field by a factor of c 2 . It is thus hard to
observe. In addition, a second aspect renders the observation of gravitomagnetism even
more difficult. In contrast to electromagnetism, in the case of gravity there is no way to
Challenge 236 s observe pure gravitomagnetic fields (why?); they are always mixed with the usual, grav-
itoelectric ones. For these reasons, gravitomagnetic effects were measured for the first

butions.
 152 6 motion in general relativit y

time only in the 1990s. In other words, universal gravity is the weak-field approximation
of general relativity that arises when all gravitomagnetic effects are neglected.
In summary, if a mass moves, it also produces a gravitomagnetic field. How can we
imagine gravitomagnetism? Let’s have a look at its effects. The experiment of Figure 68
showed that a moving rod has the effect to slightly accelerate a test mass in the same di-
rection as its motion. In our metaphor of the vacuum as a mattress, it looks as if a moving
rod drags the vacuum along with it, as well as any test mass that happens to be in that re-
gion. Gravitomagnetism can thus be seen as vacuum dragging. Because of a widespread
reluctance to think of the vacuum as a mattress, the expression frame dragging is used
instead.
In this description, all frame dragging effects are gravitomagnetic effects. In particular,
a gravitomagnetic field also appears when a large mass rotates, as in the Thirring–Lense
effect of Figure 66. For an angular momentum J the gravitomagnetic field H is a dipole

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
field; it is given by
J×x
H = ∇ × 󶀤−2 3 󶀴 (154)
r

exactly as in the electrodynamic case. The gravitomagnetic field around a spinning mass
has three main effects.
First of all, as in electromagnetism, a spinning test particle with angular momentum
S feels a torque if it is near a large spinning mass with angular momentum J. This torque
T is given by
dS 1
T= = 2S×H . (155)
dt
The torque leads to the precession of gyroscopes. For the Earth, this effect is extremely
small: at the North Pole, the precession has a conic angle of 0.6 milli-arcseconds and a
rotation rate of the order of 10−10 times that of the Earth.
Since for a torque we have T = Ω ̇ × S, the dipole field of a large rotating mass with
angular momentum J yields a second effect. An orbiting mass will experience precession
of its orbital plane. Seen from infinity one gets, for an orbit with semimajor axis a and
Challenge 237 ny eccentricity e,

̇ = − H = − G J + G 3(J x)x = G
Ω
2J
(156)
2 c |x|
2 3 c |x|
2 5 c a (1 − e 2 )3/2
2 3
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

which is the prediction of Lense and Thirring.* The effect is extremely small, giving an
angle change of only 8 󳰀󳰀 per orbit for a satellite near the surface of the Earth. This explains
the difficulties and controversies around such Earth-bound experiments. The effect is
much larger in pulsar systems.
As a third effect of gravitomagnetism, a rotating mass leads to the precession of the
periastron. This is a similar effect to the one produced by space curvature on orbiting
masses even if the central body does not rotate. The rotation just reduces the precession
due to space-time curvature. This effect has been fully confirmed for the famous binary
pulsar PSR 1913+16, discovered in 1974, as well as for the ‘real’ double pulsar PSR J0737-3039,
Challenge 238 ny * A homogeneous spinning sphere has an angular momentum given by J = 25 MωR2 .
 open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum 153

F I G U R E 69 A Gedanken
experiment showing the
necessity of gravity waves.

discovered in 2003. This latter system shows a periastron precession of 16.9°/a, the largest
Ref. 154 value observed so far.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The split into gravitoelectric and gravitomagnetic effects is thus a useful approxima-
tion to the description of gravity. It also helps to answer questions such as: How can
gravity keep the Earth orbiting around the Sun, if gravity needs 8 minutes to get from
Challenge 239 ny the Sun to us? To find the answer, thinking about the electromagnetic analogy can help.
Above all, the split of the gravitational field into gravitoelectric and gravitomagnetic com-
ponents allows a simple description of gravitational waves.

Gravitational waves
One of the most fantastic predictions of physics is the existence of gravitational waves.
Gravity waves* prove that empty space itself has the ability to move and vibrate. The basic
idea is simple. Since space is elastic, like a large mattress in which we live, space should
be able to oscillate in the form of propagating waves, like a mattress or any other elastic
medium.
Starting from the existence of a maximum energy speed, Jørgen Kalckar and Ole Ulf-
Ref. 155 beck have given a simple argument for the necessity of gravitational. They studied two
equal masses falling towards each other under the effect of gravitational attraction, and
imagined a spring between them. The situation is illustrated in Figure 69. Such a spring
will make the masses bounce towards each other again and again. The central spring
stores the kinetic energy from the falling masses. The energy value can be measured by
determining the length by which the spring is compressed. When the spring expands
again and hurls the masses back into space, the gravitational attraction will gradually
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

slow down the masses, until they again fall towards each other, thus starting the same
cycle again.
However, the energy stored in the spring must get smaller with each cycle. Whenever
a sphere detaches from the spring, it is decelerated by the gravitational pull of the other
sphere. Now, the value of this deceleration depends on the distance to the other mass;
but since there is a maximal propagation velocity, the effective deceleration is given by
the distance the other mass had when its gravity effect started out towards the second
mass. For two masses departing from each other, the effective distance is thus somewhat

* To be strict, the term ‘gravity wave’ has a special meaning: gravity waves are the surface waves of the sea,
where gravity is the restoring force. However, in general relativity, the term is used interchangeably with
‘gravitational wave’.
 154 6 motion in general relativit y

TA B L E 4 The predicted spectrum of gravitational waves.

Frequency Wa v e l e n g t h N a m e Expected
appearance

< 10−4 Hz > 3 Tm extremely low slow binary star systems,

frequencies supermassive black holes
10−4 Hz–10−1 Hz 3 Tm–3 Gm very low frequencies
fast binary star systems,
massive black holes, white
dwarf vibrations
10−1 Hz–102 Hz 3 Gm–3 Mm low frequencies binary pulsars, medium and
light black holes
102 Hz–105 Hz 3 Mm–3 km medium frequencies supernovae, pulsar
vibrations

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
105 Hz–108 Hz 3 km–3 m high frequencies unknown; maybe future
human-made sources
> 108 Hz < 3m maybe unknown
cosmological sources

smaller than the actual distance. In short, while departing, the real deceleration is larger
than the one calculated without taking the time delay into account.
Similarly, when one mass falls back towards the other, it is accelerated by the other
mass according to the distance it had when the gravity effect started moving towards it.
Therefore, while approaching, the acceleration is smaller than the one calculated without
time delay.
Therefore, the masses arrive with a smaller energy than they departed with. At every
bounce, the spring is compressed a little less. The difference between these two energies
is lost by each mass: it is taken away by space-time, in other words, it is radiated away as
gravitational radiation. The same thing happens with mattresses. Remember that a mass Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

deforms the space around it as a metal ball on a mattress deforms the surface around it.
(However, in contrast to actual mattresses, there is no friction between the ball and the
mattress.) If two metal balls repeatedly bang against each other and then depart again,
until they come back together, they will send out surface waves on the mattress. Over
time, this effect will reduce the distance that the two balls depart from each other after
each bang. As we will see shortly, a similar effect has already been measured; the two
masses, instead of being repelled by a spring, were orbiting each other.
A simple mathematical description of gravity waves follows from the split into gravit-
Ref. 156 omagnetic and gravitoelectric effects. It does not take much effort to extend gravitomag-
netostatics and gravitoelectrostatics to gravitodynamics. Just as electrodynamics can be
deduced from Coulomb’s attraction by boosting to general inertial observers, gravitody-
Challenge 240 ny namics can be deduced from universal gravity by boosting to other observers. One gets
 open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum 155

the four equations

1 ∂H
∇ G = −4πG ρ , ∇×G = −
4 ∂t
N ∂G
∇H = 0 , ∇ × H = −16πN ρ󰑣 + 4 . (157)
G ∂t
We have met two of these equations already. The two other equations are expanded ver-
sions of what we have encountered, taking time-dependence into account. Except for the
various factors of 4, the equations for gravitodynamics are the same as Maxwell’s equa-
tions for electrodynamics. The additional factors of 4 appear because the ratio between
angular momentum and energy (the ‘spin’) of gravity waves is different from that of elec-
tromagnetic waves. Gravity waves have spin 2, whereas electromagnetic waves have spin

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
1. Note that since gravity is universal, there can exist only a single kind of spin 2 radiation
particle in nature. This is in strong contrast to the spin 1 case, of which there are several
examples in nature. It is worth recalling that the spin of radiation is a classical property.
The spin of a wave is the ratio E/Lω, where E is the energy, L the angular momentum,
and ω is the angular frequency. For electromagnetic waves, this ratio is equal to 1; for
gravitational waves, it is 2.
The equations of gravitodynamics must be complemented by the definition of the
fields through the acceleration they produce:

m ẍ = mG + m ẋ × H . (158)

Definitions with different numerical factors are also common and then lead to different
numerical factors in the equations of gravitodynamics.
The equations of gravitodynamics have a simple property: in vacuum, we can deduce
from them a wave equation for the gravitoelectric and the gravitomagnetic fields G and H.
Challenge 241 ny (It is not hard: try!) In other words, gravity can behave like a wave: gravity can radiate. All
this follows from the expression of universal gravity when applied to moving observers,
with the requirement that neither observers nor energy can move faster than c. Both the
above argument involving the spring and the present mathematical argument use the
same assumptions and arrive at the same conclusion.
Challenge 242 e A few manipulations show that the speed of gravitational waves is given by Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

G
c=󵀊 . (159)
N

Vol. III, page 98 This result corresponds to the electromagnetic expression

1
c= . (160)
󵀂ε0 μ0

The same letter has been used for the two speeds, as they are identical. Both influences
travel with the speed common to all energy with vanishing rest mass. We note that
this is, strictly speaking, a prediction: the speed of gravitational waves has not yet been
 156 6 motion in general relativit y

No wave Four gravitational waves, all moving perpendicularly to the page

(all times)
t1 t2 t3 t4 t5

test
body

linear polarization in + direction

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
linear polarization in x direction

circular polarization in R sense

circular polarization in L sense

F I G U R E 70 Effects on a circular or spherical body due to a plane gravitational wave moving in a

direction perpendicular to the page.

Ref. 157 measured.

Ref. 158 How should we imagine gravitational waves? We sloppily said above that a gravita-
tional wave corresponds to a surface wave of a mattress; now we have to do better and
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

imagine that we live inside the mattress. Gravitational waves are thus moving and oscil-
lating deformations of the mattress, i.e., of space. Like (certain) mattress waves, it turns
out that gravity waves are transverse. Thus they can be polarized. In fact, gravity waves
can be polarized in two ways. The effects of a gravitational wave are shown in Figure 70,
for both linear and circular polarization.* We note that the waves are invariant under

* A (small amplitude) plane gravity wave travelling in the z-direction is described by a metric д given by

1 0 0 0
0 −1 + hxx hx y 0
д=󶀫 󶀻 (161)
0 hx y −1 + hxx 0
0 0 0 −1
 open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum 157

a rotation by π and that the two linear polarizations differ by an angle π/4; this shows
that the particles corresponding to the waves, the gravitons, are of spin 2. (In general,
the classical radiation field for a spin S particle is invariant under a rotation by 2π/S. In
addition, the two orthogonal linear polarizations of a spin S particle form an angle π/2S.
For the photon, for example, the spin is 1; indeed, its invariant rotation angle is 2π and
the angle formed by the two polarizations is π/2.)
If we image empty space as a mattress that fills space, gravitational waves are wobbling
deformations of the mattress. More precisely, Figure 70 shows that a wave of circular po-
larization has the same properties as a corkscrew advancing through the mattress. We
will discover later on why the analogy between a corkscrew and a gravity wave with cir-
cular polarization works so well. Indeed, in the last part of our adventure we will find
a specific model of the space-time mattress that automatically incorporates corkscrew
Vol. VI, page 262 waves (instead of the spin 1 waves shown by ordinary latex mattresses).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Production and detection of gravitational waves
How does one produce gravitational waves? Obviously, masses must be accelerated.
But how exactly? The conservation of energy forbids mass monopoles from varying in
strength. We also know from universal gravity that a spherical mass whose radius oscil-
lates would not emit gravitational waves. In addition, the conservation of momentum
Challenge 243 ny forbids mass dipoles from changing.
As a result, only changing quadrupoles can emit gravitational waves.* For example,
two masses in orbit around each other will emit gravitational waves. Also, any rotating
object that is not cylindrically symmetric around its rotation axis will do so. As a result,
rotating an arm leads to gravitational wave emission. Most of these statements also apply
Challenge 244 ny to masses in mattresses. Can you point out the differences?
Einstein found that the amplitude h of waves at a distance r from a source is given, to

where its two components, whose amplitude ratio determine the polarization, are given by

hab = Bab sin(kz − ωt + φab ) (162)

as in all plane harmonic waves. The amplitudes Bab , the frequency ω and the phase φ are determined by
the specific physical system. The general dispersion relation for the wave number k resulting from the wave
equation is
ω
=c (163)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

k
and shows that the waves move with the speed of light.
In another gauge, a plane wave can be written as

c 2 (1 + 2φ) A1 A2 A3
A1 −1 + 2φ hx y 0
д=󶀫 󶀻 (164)
A2 hx y −1 + hxx 0
A3 0 0 −1
∂A
where φ and A are the potentials such that G = ∇φ − c∂t and H = ∇ × A.
* A quadrupole is a symmetrical arrangement, on the four sides of a square, of four alternating poles. In
gravitation, a monopole is a point-like or two spherical masses, and, since masses cannot be negative, a
quadrupole is formed by two monopoles. A flattened sphere, such as the Earth, can be approximated by the
sum of a monopole and a quadrupole. The same is valid for an elongated sphere.
 158 6 motion in general relativit y

Ref. 159 a good approximation, by the second derivative of the retarded quadrupole moment Q:

2G 1 ret 2G 1
hab = 4
dtt Qab = 4 dtt Qab (t − r/c) . (165)
c r c r
This expression shows that the amplitude of gravity waves decreases only with 1/r, in
contrast to naive expectations. However, this feature is the same as for electromagnetic
waves. In addition, the small value of the prefactor, 1.6 ⋅ 10−44 Wm/s, shows that truly
gigantic systems are needed to produce quadrupole moment changes that yield any de-
tectable length variations in bodies. To be convinced, just insert a few numbers, keep-
Challenge 245 ny ing in mind that the best present detectors are able to measure length changes down to
h = δl/l = 10−19 . The production of detectable gravitational waves by humans is proba-
bly impossible.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Gravitational waves, like all other waves, transport energy.* If we apply the general
formula for the emitted power P to the case of two masses m1 and m2 in circular orbits
Ref. 116 around each other at distance l and get

dE G ⃛ ret ⃛ ret 32 G m1 m2 2 4 6
P=− = Q Q = 󶀥 󶀵 l ω (166)
dt 45c 5 ab ab 5 c 5 m1 + m2

which, using Kepler’s relation 4π2 r 3 /T 2 = G(m1 + m2 ), becomes

32 G 4 (m1 m2 )2 (m1 + m2 )
P= . (167)
5 c5 l5
For elliptical orbits, the rate increases with the ellipticity, as explained in the text by Goen-
Ref. 116 ner. Inserting the values for the case of the Earth and the Sun, we get a power of about
200 W, and a value of 400 W for the Jupiter–Sun system. These values are so small that
their effect cannot be detected at all.
For all orbiting systems, the frequency of the waves is twice the orbital frequency, as
Challenge 246 ny you might want to check. These low frequencies make it even more difficult to detect
them.
As a result, the only observation of effects of gravitational waves to date is in binary
pulsars. Pulsars are small but extremely dense stars; even with a mass equal to that of
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the Sun, their diameter is only about 10 km. Therefore they can orbit each other at small
distances and high speeds. Indeed, in the most famous binary pulsar system, PSR 1913+16,
the two stars orbit each other in an amazing 7.8 h, even though their semimajor axis is
about 700 Mm, just less than twice the Earth–Moon distance. Since their orbital speed is
up to 400 km/s, the system is noticeably relativistic.
Pulsars have a useful property: because of their rotation, they emit extremely regular
radio pulses (hence their name), often in millisecond periods. Therefore it is easy to fol-
low their orbit by measuring the change of pulse arrival time. In a famous experiment, a

Vol. III, page 78 * Gravitomagnetism and gravitoelectricity allow one to define a gravitational Poynting vector. It is as easy
Ref. 153 to define and use as in the case of electrodynamics.
 open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum 159

time
shift
(s) 0

data
points
5

10

15

prediction
20 by general

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
relativity

25
F I G U R E 71 Comparison between measured time
year delay for the periastron of the binary pulsar PSR
30 1913+16 and the prediction due to energy loss by
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
gravitational radiation.

team of astrophysicists led by Joseph Taylor* measured the speed decrease of the binary
Ref. 160 pulsar system just mentioned. Eliminating all other effects and collecting data for 20
Ref. 161 years, they found a decrease in the orbital frequency, shown in Figure 71. The slowdown
is due to gravity wave emission. The results exactly fit the prediction by general relativ-
ity, without any adjustable parameter. (You might want to check that the effect must be
Challenge 247 ny quadratic in time.) This is the only case so far in which general relativity has been tested
Page 142 up to (󰑣/c)5 precision. To get an idea of the precision, consider that this experiment de-
Ref. 160 tected a reduction of the orbital diameter of 3.1 mm per orbit, or 3.5 m per year! The
measurements were possible only because the two stars in this system are neutron stars
with small size, large velocities and purely gravitational interactions. The pulsar rotation
period around its axis, about 59 ms, is known to eleven digits of precision, the orbital
Ref. 116 time of 7.8 h is known to ten digits and the eccentricity of the orbit to six digits.
The direct detection of gravitational waves is one of the aims of experimental general
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

relativity. The race has been on since the 1990s. The basic idea is simple, as shown in
Figure 72: take four bodies, usually four mirrors, for which the line connecting one pair
is perpendicular to the line connecting the other pair. Then measure the distance changes
of each pair. If a gravitational wave comes by, one pair will increase in distance and the
other will decrease, at the same time.
Since detectable gravitational waves cannot be produced by humans, wave detection
first of all requires the patience to wait for a strong enough wave to come by. The merger
of two black holes could be the source of such a strong gravitational wave, as also shown
in Figure 72. Secondly, a system able to detect length changes of the order of 10−22 or
better is needed – in other words, a lot of money. Any detection is guaranteed to make the

* In 1993 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his life’s work.
 160 6 motion in general relativit y

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 72 Detection of gravitational waves: an illustration of the merger of two black holes emitting
such waves (top left). The other images show the VIRGO detector in Cascina, Italy, with one of its huge
mirror suspensions, the mirror suspension details, and two drawings of the laser interferometer (© INFN).

news on television.* Essential for a successful detection are the techniques to eliminate

Ref. 162 * The topic of gravity waves is full of interesting sidelines. For example, can gravity waves be used to power
 open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum 161

noise in the detection signal. The worlds’s best noise reduction experts are all working
on gravitational wave detectors.
It turns out that even for a body around a black hole, only about 6 % of the rest mass
can be radiated away as gravitational waves; furthermore, most of the energy is radiated
during the final fall into the black hole, so that only quite violent processes, such as black
hole collisions, are good candidates for detectable gravity wave sources.
Gravitational waves are a fascinating area of study. They still provide many topics to
Challenge 249 r explore. For example: can you find a method to measure their speed? No such measure-
Ref. 157 ment has been achieved, despite some serious attempts. Indeed, any measurement that
does not simply use two spaced detectors of the type of Figure 72 would be a scientific
sensation.
Another question on gravitational waves remains open at this point: If all change is
due to motion of particles, as the Greeks maintained, how do gravity waves fit into the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 250 ny picture? If gravitational waves were made of particles, space-time would also have to be.
We have to wait until the beginning of the final part of our ascent to say more.

Bending of light and radio waves

Gravity influences the motion of light. In particular, gravity bends light beams. The de-
Page 131 tection of the bending of light beams by the Sun made Einstein famous.
The bending of light by a mass is a pure gravitoelectric effect, and thus is easy to calcu-
late. The bending of light is observed because any distant observer measures a changing
value for the effective light speed 󰑣 near a mass. (Measured at a location nearby, the speed
of light is of course always c.) It turns out that a distant observer measures a lower speed,
so that for him, gravity has the same effects as a dense optical medium. It takes only a
little bit of imagination to see that this effect will thus increase the bending of light near
masses already deduced in 1801 by Soldner from universal gravity. In short, relativistic
light bending differs from non-relativistic light bending.
Let us calculate the bending angle. As usual, we use the coordinate system of flat space-
time at spatial infinity, shown in Figure 73. The idea is to do all calculations to first order,
Ref. 163 as the value of the bending is very small. The angle of deflection α, to first order, is simply
∞
∂󰑣
α=󵐐 dy , (168)
−∞ ∂x Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 251 e where 󰑣 is the speed of light measured by a distant observer. (Can you confirm this?) The
next step is to use the Schwarzschild metric

2GM dr 2 r2 2
dτ 2 = 󶀤1 − 󶀴 dt 2
− − dφ (169)
rc 2 c 2 − 2GMr
c2

Challenge 252 ny and transform it into (x, y) coordinates to first order. This gives

2GM 2GM 1
dτ 2 = 󶀤1 − 2
󶀴 dt 2 − 󶀤1 + 2
󶀴 2 (dx 2 + dy 2 ) (170)
rc rc c
Challenge 248 ny a rocket? Yes, maintain Bonnor and Piper. You might ponder the possibility yourself.
 162 6 motion in general relativit y

b
m

y
light
beam
x

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 73 Calculating the bending of light by a mass.

which again to first order leads to

∂󰑣 2GM
= 󶀤1 − 󶀴c . (171)
∂x rc 2

This confirms what we know already, namely that distant observers see light slowed down
when passing near a mass. Thus we can also speak of a height-dependent index of refrac-
tion. In other words, constant local light speed leads to a global slowdown.
Challenge 253 ny Inserting the last result into expression (168) and using a clever substitution, we get a
deviation angle α given by
4GM 1
α= (172)
c2 b
where the distance b is the so-called impact parameter of the approaching light beam. The
resulting deviation angle α is twice the result we and Soldner found for universal gravity.
Vol. I, page 177 For a beam just above the surface of the Sun, the result is the famous value of 1.75 󳰀󳰀 which Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

was confirmed by the measurement expedition of 1919. (How did they measure the de-
Challenge 254 ny viation angle?) This was the experiment that made Einstein famous, as it showed that
universal gravity is wrong. In fact, Einstein was lucky. Two earlier expeditions organized
to measure the value had failed. In 1912, it was impossible to take data because of rain,
and in 1914 in Crimea, scientists were arrested (by mistake) as spies, because the world
Ref. 164 war had just begun. But in 1911, Einstein had already published an incorrect calculation,
giving only the Soldner value with half the correct size; only in 1915, when he completed
Vol. I, page 177 general relativity, did he find the correct result. Therefore Einstein became famous only
because of the failure of the two expeditions that took place before he published his cor-
rect calculation.
For high-precision experiments around the Sun, it is more effective to measure the
bending of radio waves, as they encounter fewer problems when they propagate through
 open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum 163

the solar corona. So far, over a dozen independent experiments have done so, using ra-
Ref. 138, Ref. 115 dio sources in the sky which lie on the path of the Sun. They have confirmed general
Ref. 116 relativity’s prediction within a few per cent.
The bending of radiation has also been observed near Jupiter, near certain stars, near
Page 230 several galaxies and near galaxy clusters. For the Earth, the angle is at most 3 nrad, too
small to be measured yet, even though this may be feasible in the near future. There is
a chance to detect this value if, as Andrew Gould proposes, the data of the satellite Hip-
parcos, which was taking precision pictures of the night sky for many years, are analysed
properly in the future.
Page 173 Of course, the bending of light also confirms that in a triangle, the sum of the angles
does not add up to π (two right angles), as is predicted for curved space. (What is the
Challenge 255 ny sign of the curvature?)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Time delay
The calculation of the bending of light near masses shows that for a distant observer,
light is slowed down near a mass. Constant local light speed leads to a global light speed
slowdown. If light were not slowed down near a mass, it would have to go faster than c
Ref. 165 for an observer near the mass!* In 1964, Irwin Shapiro had the idea to measure this effect.
He proposed two methods. The first was to send radar pulses to Venus, and measure the
time taken for the reflection to get back to Earth. If the signals pass near the Sun, they
will be delayed. The second was to use an artificial satellite communicating with Earth.
Ref. 166 The first measurement was published in 1968, and directly confirmed the prediction of
general relativity within experimental errors. All subsequent tests of the same type, such
as the one shown in Figure 74, have also confirmed the prediction within experimental
errors, which nowadays are of the order of one part in a thousand. The delay has also
Ref. 167 been measured in binary pulsars, as there are a few such systems in the sky for which the
line of sight lies almost precisely in the orbital plane.
In short, relativistic gravitation is also confirmed by time delay measurements. The
simple calculations presented here suggest a challenge: Is it also possible to describe full
general relativity – thus gravitation in strong fields – as a change of the speed of light with
Challenge 257 ny position and time induced by mass and energy?

Relativistic effects on orbits Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Astronomy allows the most precise measurements of motions known. This is especially
valid for planet motion. So, Einstein first of all tried to apply his results on relativistic
gravitation to the motion of planets. He looked for deviations of their motions from
the predictions of universal gravity. Einstein found such a deviation: the precession of
the perihelion of Mercury. The effect is shown in Figure 75. Einstein said later that the
moment he found out that his calculation for the precession of Mercury matched obser-
vations was one of the happiest moments of his life.

* A nice exercise is to show that the bending of a slow particle gives the Soldner value, whereas with increas-
Challenge 256 e ing speed, the value of the bending approaches twice that value. In all these considerations, the rotation
of the mass has been neglected. As the effect of frame dragging shows, rotation also changes the deviation
angle; however, in all cases studied so far, the influence is below the detection threshold.
 164 6 motion in general relativit y

10 May 1970
Earth orbit
31 March 1970 periastron
(e.g. perihelion,
Sun Mariner 6 perigee)
a: semimajor
orbit
axis
a

240
Time delay (μs)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
180

120

60

0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
1970
F I G U R E 74 Time delay in radio signals – one of F I G U R E 75 The orbit around a central body in
the experiments by Irwin Shapiro. general relativity.

The calculation is not difficult. In universal gravity, orbits are calculated by setting
agrav = acentri , in other words, by setting GM/r 2 = ω2 r and fixing energy and angular
momentum. The mass of the orbiting satellite does not appear explicitly.
In general relativity, the mass of the orbiting satellite is made to disappear by rescaling
Ref. 115, Ref. 116 energy and angular momentum as e = E/mc 2 and j = J/m. Next, the space curvature
Page 132 needs to be included. We use the Schwarzschild metric (169) mentioned above to de-
duce that the initial condition for the energy e, together with its conservation, leads to a
Challenge 258 e relation between proper time τ and time t at infinity:

dt e
=
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

, (173)
dτ 1 − 2GM/rc 2

whereas the initial condition on the angular momentum j and its conservation imply
that
dφ j
= 2 . (174)
dτ r
These relations are valid for any particle, whatever its mass m. Inserting all this into the
Schwarzschild metric, we find that the motion of a particle follows

dr 2
󶀥 󶀵 + V 2 ( j, r) = e 2 (175)
cdτ
 open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum 165

where the effective potential V is given by

2 2GM j2
V (J , r) = 󶀤1 − 󶀴 󶀦1 + 2 2 󶀶 . (176)
rc 2 r c

Challenge 259 ny The expression differs slightly from the one in universal gravity, as you might want to
Challenge 260 e check. We now need to solve for r(φ). For circular orbits we get two possibilities

6GM/c 2
r± = (177)
1 ± 󵀆1 − 12( GM
cj
)2

where the minus sign gives a stable and the plus sign an unstable orbit. If c j/GM < 2󵀂3 ,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
no stable orbit exists; the object will impact the surface or, for a black hole, be swallowed.
There is a stable circular orbit only if the angular momentum j is larger than 2󵀂3 GM/c.
We thus find that in general relativity, in contrast to universal gravity, there is a smallest
stable circular orbit. The radius of this smallest stable circular orbit is 6GM/c 2 = 3RS .
What is the situation for elliptical orbits? Setting u = 1/r in (175) and differentiating,
the equation for u(φ) becomes

GM 3GM 2
u󳰀 + u = + 2 u . (178)
j2 c

Without the nonlinear correction due to general relativity on the far right, the solutions
Challenge 261 e are the famous conic sections

GM
u0 (φ) = (1 + ε cos φ) , (179)
j2

i.e., ellipses, parabolas or hyperbolas. The type of conic section depends on the value
of the parameter ε, the so-called eccentricity. We know the shapes of these curves from
Vol. I, page 169 universal gravity. Now, general relativity introduces the nonlinear term on the right-hand
side of equation (178). Thus the solutions are not conic sections any more; however, as
Challenge 262 e the correction is small, a good approximation is given by Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

GM 3G 2 M 2
u1 (φ) = 󶀦1 + ε cos(φ − φ)󶀶 . (180)
j2 j2 c2

The hyperbolas and parabolas of universal gravity are thus slightly deformed. Instead of
elliptical orbits we get the famous rosetta path shown in Figure 75. Such a path is above
all characterized by a periastron shift. The periastron, or perihelion in the case of the Sun,
is the nearest point to the central body reached by an orbiting body. The periastron turns
 166 6 motion in general relativit y

geodesic
precession
Earth
start
Lense– S
after one
Thirring
orbit
precession

F I G U R E 76 The geodesic

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
effect.

Challenge 263 e around the central body by an angle

GM
α ≈ 6π (181)
a(1 − ε 2 )c 2

for every orbit, where a is the semimajor axis. For Mercury, the value is 43 󳰀󳰀 per century.
Around 1900, this was the only known effect that was unexplained by universal gravity;
when Einstein’s calculation led him to exactly that value, he was overflowing with joy for
many days.
To be sure about the equality between calculation and experiment, all other effects
leading to rosetta paths must be eliminated. For some time, it was thought that the
quadrupole moment of the Sun could be an alternative source of this effect; later mea-
surements ruled out this possibility.
In the meantime, the perihelion shift has been measured also for the orbits of Icarus,
Venus and Mars around the Sun, as well as for several binary star systems. In binary pul-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 167 sars, the periastron shift can be as large as several degrees per year. In all cases, expression
(181) describes the motion within experimental errors.
We note that even the rosetta orbit itself is not really stable, due to the emission of
gravitational waves. But in the solar system, the power lost this way is completely negli-
Page 158 gible even over thousands of millions of years, as we saw above, so that the rosetta path
remains a good description of observations.

The geodesic effect

Relativistic gravitation has a further effect on orbiting bodies. When a pointed body or-
bits a central mass m at distance r, the direction of the tip will change after a full orbit.
This effect, shown in Figure 76, exists only in general relativity. The angle α describing
 open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum 167

the direction change after one orbit is given by

3Gm 3πGm
α = 2π 󶀦1 − 󵀊1 − 󶀶≈ . (182)
rc 2 rc 2

This angle change is called the geodesic effect – ‘geodetic’ in other languages. It is a further
consequence of the split into gravitoelectric and gravitomagnetic fields, as you may want
Challenge 264 e to show. Obviously, it does not exist in universal gravity.
In cases where the pointing of the orbiting body is realized by an intrinsic rotation,
such as a spinning satellite, the geodesic effect produces a precession of the axis. Thus the
effect is comparable to spin–orbit coupling in atomic theory. (The Thirring–Lense effect
mentioned above is analogous to spin–spin coupling.)
The geodesic effect, or geodesic precession, was predicted by Willem de Sitter* in

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 168 1916; in particular, he proposed detecting that the Earth–Moon system would change
its pointing direction in its fall around the Sun. The effect is tiny; for the axis of the
Moon the precession angle is about 0.019 arcsec per year. The effect was first detected
Ref. 169 in 1987 by an Italian team for the Earth–Moon system, through a combination of radio-
interferometry and lunar ranging, making use of the Cat’s-eyes, shown in Figure 77, de-
posited by Lunokhod and Apollo on the Moon. Experiments to detect the geodesic effect
in artificial satellites are also under way.
At first sight, geodesic precession is similar to the Thomas precession found in special
Page 56 relativity. In both cases, a transport along a closed line results in the loss of the original
direction. However, a careful investigation shows that Thomas precession can be added
to geodesic precession by applying some additional, non-gravitational interaction, so the
analogy is shaky.

Curiosities and fun challenges about weak fields

Challenge 265 ny Is there a static gravitational field that oscillates in space?
∗∗
If we explore the options for the speed of gravitational waves, an interesting connection
appears. If the speed of gravitational waves were smaller than the speed of light, moving
bodies that move almost as rapidly as the speed of light, like cosmic ray particles, would
Page 24 be slowed down by emitting Vavilov–Čerenkov radiation, until they reach the lower speed.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

This is not observed.

If on the other hand, the speed of gravitational waves were larger than that of light,
the waves would not obey causality or the second principle of thermodynamics. In short,
gravitational waves, if they exist, must propagate with the speed of light. (A speed very
near to the speed of light might also be possible.)
∗∗
Challenge 266 ny Are narrow beams of gravitational waves, analogous to beams of light, possible?
∗∗

* Willem de Sitter (b. 1872 Sneek, d. 1934 Leiden) Dutch mathematician, physicist and astronomer.
168 6 motion in general relativit y

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 77 The lunar retroreflectors deposited by Apollo 11 (top right), the two Lunokhods (right),
Apollo 14 (bottom right) and Apollo 15 (bottom left), their locations on the Moon (top left) and a
telescope performing a laser distance measurement (© NASA, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur).
 open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum 169

On effect that disturbs gravitational wave detectors are the tides. On the GEO600 detec-
tor in Hannover, tides change the distance of the mirrors, around 600 m, by 2 μm.
∗∗
Challenge 267 ny Would two parallel beams of gravitational waves attract each other?

A summary on orbits and waves

In summary, the curvature of space and space-time implies that, in contrast to univer-
sal gravity, orbits are not closed, that orbiting objects change their orientation in space,
that light is effectively slowed down near masses and therefore deflected by masses more
than naively expected, and that empty vacuum can propagate gravitational waves. All
experiments performed so far confirm these conclusions.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 7

FROM CURVATURE TO MOTION

I
n the precise description of gravity, motion depends on space-time curvature.
n order to quantify this idea, we first of all need to accurately describe curvature

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
tself. To clarify the issue, we will start the discussion in two dimensions, and then
move to three and four dimensions. Then we explore the precise relation between curva-
ture and motion.

How to measure curvature in two dimensions

Obviously, a flat sheet of paper has no curvature. If we roll it into a cone or a cylinder, it
gets what is called extrinsic curvature; however, the sheet of paper still looks flat for any
two-dimensional animal living on it – as approximated by an ant walking over it. In other
words, the intrinsic curvature of the sheet of paper is zero even if the sheet as a whole is
extrinsically curved.
Intrinsic curvature is thus the stronger concept, measuring the curvature which can
be observed even by an ant. We not that all intrinsically curved surfaces are also ex-
trinsically curved. The surface of the Earth, the surface of an island, or the slopes of a
mountain* are intrinsically curved. Whenever we talk about curvature in general relativ-
ity, we always mean intrinsic curvature, since any observer in nature is by definition in
the same situation as an ant on a surface: their experience, their actions and plans always
only concern their closest neighbourhood in space and time.
But how can an ant determine whether it lives on an intrinsically curved surface?**
One way is shown in Figure 78. The ant can check whether either the circumference of a
circle bears a Euclidean relation to the measured radius. She can even use the difference
between the measured and the Euclidean values as a measure for the local intrinsic cur-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

vature, if she takes the limit for vanishingly small circles and if she normalizes the values
correctly. In other words, the ant can imagine to cut out a little disc around the point
she is on, to iron it flat and to check whether the disc would tear or produce folds. Any
two-dimensional surface is intrinsically curved whenever ironing is not able to make a
flat street map out of it. The ‘density’ of folds or tears is related to the curvature. Folds
imply negative intrinsic curvature, tears positive curvature.

Challenge 268 e * Unless the mountain has the shape of a perfect cone. Can you confirm this?
** Note that the answer to this question also tells us how to distinguish real curvature from curved coordi-
nate systems on a flat space. This question is often asked by those approaching general relativity for the first
time.
 from curvature to motion 171

F I G U R E 78
Positive,
vanishing and
negative
curvature in two
dimensions.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Check your understanding: Can a one-dimensional space have intrinsic curvature? Is
Challenge 269 s a torus intrinsically curved?
Alternatively, we can recognize intrinsic curvature also by checking whether two par-
allel lines stay parallel, approach each other, or depart from each other. On a paper cylin-
der, parallel lines remain parallel; in this case, the surface is said to have vanishing in-
trinsic curvature. A surface with approaching parallels, such as the Earth, is said to have
positive intrinsic curvature, and a surface with diverging parallels, such as a saddle, is
said to have negative intrinsic curvature. Speaking simply, positive curvature means that
we are more restricted in our movements, negative that we are less restricted. A constant
curvature even implies being locked in a finite space. You might want to check this with
Figure 78 and Figure 80.
A third way to measure intrinsic curvature of surfaces uses triangles. On curved sur-
faces the sum of angles in a triangle is larger than π (two right angles) for positive curva-
ture, and smaller than π for negative curvature.
Ref. 170 Let us see how we can quantify and measure the curvature of surfaces. First a question
of vocabulary: a sphere with radius a is said, by definition, to have an intrinsic curvature
K = 1/a2 . Therefore a plane has zero curvature. You might check that for a circle on a
Challenge 270 e sphere, the measured radius r, circumference C, and area A are related by
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

K 2 K 2
C = 2πr 󶀤1 − r + ...󶀴 and A = πr 2 󶀤1 − r + ...󶀴 (183)
6 12

where the dots imply higher-order terms. This allows us to define the intrinsic curvature
K, also called the Gaussian curvature, for a general point on a two-dimensional surface
in either of the following two equivalent ways:

C 1 A 1
K = 6 lim 󶀤1 − 󶀴 or K = 12 lim 󶀤1 − 󶀴 . (184)
r→0 2πr r 2 r→0 πr 2 r 2

These expressions allow an ant to measure the intrinsic curvature at each point for any
 172 7 from curvature to motion

direction of point of interest

minimal curvature

right
angle ! direction of F I G U R E 79 The maximum and
maximal curvature minimum curvature of a surface are
always at a right angle to each other.

smooth surface.*

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
From now on in this text, curvature will always mean intrinsic curvature. Like an ant
on a surface, also observers in space can only detect intrinsic curvature. Therefore, only
intrinsic curvature is of interest in the description of nature.
Note that the curvature can be different from place to place, and that it can be pos-
itive, as for an egg, or negative, as for the part of a torus nearest to the hole. A saddle
is another example of the latter case, but, unlike the torus, its curvature changes along
all directions. In fact, it is not possible at all to fit a two-dimensional surface of constant
negative curvature inside three-dimensional space; one needs at least four dimensions,
Challenge 272 e as you can find out if you try to imagine the situation.
For any surface, at every point, the direction of maximum curvature and the direc-
tion of minimum curvature are perpendicular to each other. This relationship, shown in
Figure 79, was discovered by Leonhard Euler in the eighteenth century. You might want
to check this with a tea cup, with a sculpture by Henry Moore, or with any other curved
Challenge 273 e object from your surroundings, such as a Volkswagen Beetle. The Gaussian curvature K
defined in (184) is in fact the product of the two corresponding inverse curvature radii.
Thus, even though line curvature is not an intrinsic property, the Gaussian curvature is.
Gaussian curvature is a measure of the intrinsic curvature of two-dimensional sur-
faces. Intrinsic measures of curvature are needed if we are forced to stay inside the sur-
face or space that we are exploring. Physicists are thus particularly interested in Gaussian
curvature and its higher-dimensional analogues.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Three dimensions: curvature of space

For three-dimensional space, describing intrinsic curvature is a bit more involved. First
of all, we have difficulties imagining the situation, because we usually associate curvature
with extrinsic curvature. In fact, the only way to explore three-dimensional curvature of
space is to think like the ant on a surface, and to concentrate on intrinsic curvature. In

* If the n-dimensional volume of a sphere is written as Vn = Cn r n and its (n − 1)-dimensional ‘surface’ as

Ref. 171 On = nCn r n−1 , we can generalize the expressions for curvature to

Vn 1 On 1
K = 3(n + 2) lim 󶀥1 − 󶀵 or K = 3n lim 󶀥1 − 󶀵 , (185)
r→0 Cn r n r 2 r→0 nCn r n−1 r 2

Challenge 271 ny as shown by Vermeil. A famous riddle is to determine the number Cn .

 from curvature to motion 173

fact, we will describe three-dimensional curvature with help of two-dimensional curva-

ture.
In curved three-dimensional space, the Gaussian curvature of an arbitrary, small two-
dimensional disc around a general point will depend on the orientation of the disc. Let
us first look at the simplest case. If the Gaussian curvature at a point is the same for
all orientations of the disc, the point is called isotropic. We can imagine a small sphere
around that point. In this special case, in three dimensions, the relation between the
Challenge 274 ny measured radius r and the measured surface area A and volume V of the sphere lead to

K 2 4π 3 K
A = 4πr 2 󶀤1 − r + ...󶀴 and V = r 󶀤1 − r 2 + ...󶀴 , (186)
3 3 5
where K is the curvature for an isotropic point. This leads to

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
A 1 r − 󵀄A/4π r
K = 3 lim 󶀤1 − 2
󶀴 2 = 6 lim 3
= 6 lim excess , (187)
r→0 4πr r r→0 r r→0 r3

where we defined the excess radius as rexcess = r − 󵀄A/4π . We thus find that for a three-
dimensional space, the average curvature is six times the excess radius of a small sphere
divided by the cube of the radius. A positive curvature is equivalent to a positive excess
radius, and similarly for vanishing and negative cases.
If we apply the curvature definition with a small sphere to an arbitrary, non-isotropic
point, we only get an average curvature at that point. For a non-isotropic point, the Gaus-
sian curvature value will depend on the orientation of the disc. In fact, there is a relation-
ship between all possible disc curvatures at a given point; taken together, they must form
Challenge 275 ny a tensor. (Why?) In other words, the curvature values define an ellipsoid at each point.
For a full description of curvature, we thus have to specify, as for any tensor in three
dimensions, the main curvature values in three orthogonal directions, corresponding to
the thee main axes of the ellipsoid.*
What are the curvature values for the space around us? Already in 1827, the mathe-
matician and physicist Carl-Friedrich Gauß** is said to have checked whether the three

* These three disc values are not independent however, since together, they must yield the just-mentioned
average volume curvature K. In total, there are thus three independent scalars describing the curvature in
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

three dimensions (at each point). Using the metric tensor дab and the Ricci tensor Rab to be introduced be-
low, one possibility is to take for the three independent numbers the values R = −2K, Rab R ab and detR/detд.
** Carl-Friedrich Gauß (b. 1777 Braunschweig, d. 1855 Göttingen), German mathematician. Together with
the Leonhard Euler, he was the most important mathematician of all times. A famous enfant prodige, when
he was 19 years old, he constructed the regular heptadecagon with compass and ruler (see www.mathworld.
wolfram.com/Heptadecagon.html). He was so proud of this result that he put a drawing of the figure on his
tomb. Gauss produced many results in number theory, topology, statistics, algebra, complex numbers and
differential geometry which are part of modern mathematics and bear his name. Among his many accom-
plishments, he produced a theory of curvature and developed non-Euclidean geometry. He also worked on
electromagnetism and astronomy.
Gauss was a difficult character, worked always for himself, and did not found a school. He published
little, as his motto was: pauca sed matura. As a consequence, when another mathematician published a new
result, he regularly produced a notebook in which he had noted the very same result already years before.
His notebooks are now available online at www.sub.uni-goettingen.de.
174 7 from curvature to motion

F I G U R E 80
Positive,
vanishing and
negative
curvature (in
two dimensions)
illustrated with
the
corresponding
geodesic
behaviour.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
angles formed by three mountain peaks near his place of residence added up to π. Nowa-
days we know that the deviation δ from the angle π on the surface of a body of mass M
and radius r is given by

GM
δ = π − (α + β + γ) ≈ −A triangle K = A triangle . (188)
r3 c2
This expression is typical for hyperbolic geometries. For the case of mathematical nega-
tive curvature K, the first equality was deduced by Johann Lambert.* The last equation
came only one and a half century later, and is due to Einstein, who made clear that the
negative curvature K of the space around us is related to the mass and gravitation of a
body. For the case of the Earth and typical mountain distances, the angle δ is of the order
of 10−14 rad. Gauss had no chance to detect any deviation, and in fact he detected none.
Even today, studies with lasers and high-precision apparatus have detected no deviation
yet – on Earth. The proportionality factor that determines the curvature of space-time
on the surface of the Earth, is simply too small. But Gauss did not know, as we do today,
that gravity and curvature go hand in hand.

Curvature in space-time

“
Notre tête est ronde pour permettre à la pensée

”
de changer de direction.**
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Francis Picabia

In nature, with four space-time dimensions, specifying curvature requires a more in-
volved approach. First of all, the use of space-time coordinates automatically introduces
the speed of light c as limit speed. Furthermore, the number of dimensions being four, we
expect several types of curvature: We expect a value for an average curvature at a point,
defined by comparing the 4-volume of a 4-sphere in space-time with the one deduced
from the measured radius; then we expect a set of ‘almost average’ curvatures defined

* Johann Lambert (1728–1777), Swiss mathematician, physicist and philosopher. Among many achieve-
ments, he proved the irrationality of π; also several laws of optics are named after him.
** ‘Our head is round in order to allow our thougths to change direction.’ Francis Picabia (b. 1879 Paris, d.
1953 Paris) French dadaist and surrealist painter.
 from curvature to motion 175

before

after

F I G U R E 81 Tidal effects measure the curvature of space-time.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
by 3-volumes of 3-spheres in various orientations, plus a set of ‘low-level’ curvatures de-
fined by usual 2-areas of usual 2-discs in even more orientations. Obviously, we need to
bring some order to bear on this set.
Fortunately, physics can help to make the mathematics easier. We start by defining
what we mean by curvature in space-time. To achieve this, we use the definition of cur-
vature of Figure 80. As shown in the figure, the curvature K also describes how geodesics
diverge or converge.
Geodesics are the straightest paths on a surface, i.e., those paths that a tiny car or
tricycle would follow if it drove on the surface keeping the steering wheel straight. Locally,
nearby geodesics are parallel lines. If two nearby geodesics are in a curved space, their
Challenge 276 e separation s will change along the geodesics. This happens as

d2 s
= −K s + higher orders (189)
dl 2

where l measures the length along the geodesic. Here, K is the local curvature, in other
words, the inverse squared curvature radius. In the case of space-time, this relation is
extended by substituting proper time τ (times the speed of light) for proper length. Thus
separation and curvature are related by
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

d2 s
2
= −K c 2 s + higher orders . (190)
dτ
But this is the definition of an acceleration! In space-time, geodesics are the paths fol-
lowed by freely falling particles. In other words, what in the purely spatial case is de-
scribed by curvature, in the case of space-time becomes the relative acceleration of two
nearby, freely falling particles. Indeed, we have encountered these accelerations already:
Vol. I, page 172 they describe tidal effects. In short, space-time curvature and tidal effects are precisely
the same.
Obviously, the magnitude of tidal effects, and thus of curvature, will depend on the
orientation – more precisely on the orientation of the space-time plane formed by the
 176 7 from curvature to motion

two particle velocities. Figure 81 shows that the sign of tidal effects, and thus the sign
of curvature, depends on the orientation: particles above each other diverge, particles
side-by-side converge.
The definition of curvature also implies that K is a tensor, so that later on we will have
Challenge 277 ny to add indices to it. (How many?) The fun is that we can avoid indices for a while by
Ref. 172 looking at a special combination of spatial curvatures. If we take three planes in space,
all orthogonal to each other and intersecting at a given point, the sum of these three so-
called sectional curvatures does not depend on the observer. (This corresponds to the
Challenge 278 ny tensor trace.) Can you confirm this, by using the definition of the curvature just given?
The sum of the three sectional curvatures defined for mutually orthogonal planes
K(12) , K(23) and K(31) , is related to the excess radius defined above. Can you find out how?
Challenge 279 ny
If a surface has constant curvature, i.e., the same curvature at all locations, geometrical

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 280 e objects can be moved around without deforming them. Can you picture this?
In summary, space-time curvature is an intuitive concept that describes how space-
time is deformed. The local curvature of space-time is determined by following the mo-
Ref. 173 tion of nearby, freely falling particles. If we imagine space (-time) as a mattress, a big
blob of rubber inside which we live, the curvature at a point describes how this mattress
is squeezed at that point. Since we live inside the mattress, we need to use ‘insider’ meth-
ods, such as excess radii and sectional curvatures, to describe the deformation.
General relativity often seems difficult to learn because people do not like to think
about the vacuum as a mattress, and even less to explain it in this way. We recall that for
a hundred years it is an article of faith for every physicist to say that the vacuum is empty.
This remains true. Nevertheless, picturing vacuum as a mattress, or as a substance, helps
in many ways to understand general relativity.

Average curvature and motion in general relativity

One half of general relativity is the statement that any object moves along geodesics, i.e.,
along paths of maximum proper time. The other half is contained in a single expression:
for every observer, the sum of all three proper sectional spatial curvatures at a point, the
average curvature, is given by

8πG (0)
K(12) + K(23) + K(31) = W (191)
c4
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

where W (0) is the proper energy density at the point. The lower indices indicate the mixed
curvatures defined by the three orthogonal directions 1, 2 and 3. This is all of general
relativity in one paragraph.
We know that space-time is curved around mass and energy. Expression (191) specifies
how much mass and energy curve space. We note that the factor on the right side is 2π
divided by the maximum force.
Challenge 281 e An equivalent description is easily found using the excess radius defined above, by
introducing the mass M = VW (0) /c 2 . For the surface area A of the spherical volume V
 from curvature to motion 177

containing the mass, we get

G
rexcess = r − 󵀄A/4π = M. (192)
3c 2
In short, general relativity affirms that for every observer, the excess radius of a small
sphere is given by the mass inside the sphere.*
Note that both descriptions imply that the average space curvature at a point in empty
space vanishes. As we will see shortly, this means that near a spherical mass the negative
of the curvature towards the mass is equal to twice the curvature around the mass; the
total sum is thus zero.
Curvature differs from point to point. In particular, the two descriptions imply that if
energy moves, curvature will move with it. In short, both space curvature and, as we will

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
see shortly, space-time curvature change over space and time.
We note in passing that curvature has an annoying effect: the relative velocity of dis-
Challenge 282 ny tant observers is undefined. Can you provide the argument? In curved space, relative
velocity is defined only for nearby objects – in fact only for objects at no distance at all.
Relative velocities of distant objects are well defined only in flat space.
The quantities appearing in expression (191) are independent of the observer. But often
people want to use observer-dependent quantities. The relation then gets more involved;
the single equation (191) must be expanded to ten equations, called Einstein’s field equa-
tions. They will be introduced below. But before we do that, we will check that general
relativity makes sense. We will skip the check that it contains special relativity as a limit-
ing case, and go directly to the main test.

Universal gravity

“ ”
The only reason which keeps me here is gravity.
Anonymous

For small velocities and low curvature values, the temporal curvatures K(0 j) turn out to
have a special property. In this case, they can be defined as the second spatial derivatives
Challenge 283 e of a single scalar function φ. In other words, in everyday situations we can write

∂2 φ
K(0 j) = . (194)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∂(x j )2

In everyday situations, this approximation is excellent, and the function φ turns out to
be the gravitational potential. Indeed, low velocities and low curvature imply that we can

Ref. 174 * Another, equivalent formulation is that for small radii the area A is given by

1
A = 4πr 2 󶀤1 + r 2 R󶀴 (193)
9

where R is the Ricci scalar, to be introduced later on.

 178 7 from curvature to motion

set W (0) = ρc 2 and c → ∞, so that we get

K(i j) = 0 and K(01) + K(02) + K(03) = Δφ = 4πG ρ . (195)

In other words, for small speeds, space is flat and the potential φ obeys Poisson’s equa-
tion. Universal gravity is thus indeed the low speed and low curvature limit of general
relativity.
Challenge 284 ny Can you show that relation (191) between curvature and energy density indeed im-
plies, in a more precise approximation, that time near a mass depends on the height, as
Page 125 mentioned before?

The Schwarzschild metric

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 172 What is the exact curvature of space-time near a spherical mass? The answer was given
in 1915 by Karl Schwarzschild, who calculated the result during his military service in the
first world war. Einstein then called the solution after him.
Page 132 In spherical coordinates the line element is

2GM 2 2 dr 2
ds 2 = 󶀤1 − 󶀴 c dt − − r 2 dφ2 . (196)
rc 2 1 − 2GM
rc2

Challenge 285 ny The curvature of the Schwarzschild metric is then by

GM GM
Krφ = Krθ = − 2 3
and Kθφ = 2 2 3
c r c r
GM GM
Ktφ = Ktθ = 2 3 and Ktr = −2 2 3 (197)
c r c r

Ref. 172 everywhere. The dependence on 1/r 3 follows from the general dependence of all tidal
Vol. I, page 172 effects; we have already calculated them in the chapter on universal gravity. The factors
G/c 2 are due to the maximum force of gravity. Only the numerical prefactors need to be
calculated from general relativity. The average curvature obviously vanishes, as it does
Challenge 286 ny for all points in vacuum. As expected, the values of the curvatures near the surface of the
Earth are exceedingly small.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Curiosities and fun challenges about curvature

“ ”
Il faut suivre sa pente, surtout si elle monte.*
André Gide

A fly has landed on the outside of a cylindrical glass, 1 cm below its rim. A drop of honey
is located halfway around the glass, also on the outside, 2 cm below the rim. What is the
Challenge 287 e shortest distance from the fly to the drop? What is the shortest distance if the drop is on
the inside of the glass?

* ‘One has to follow one’s inclination, especially if it climbs upwards.’

 from curvature to motion 179

∗∗
Challenge 288 e Where are the points of highest and lowest Gaussian curvature on an egg?

Three-dimensional curvature: the Ricci tensor*

“
Jeder Straßenjunge in unserem mathematischen
Göttingen versteht mehr von vierdimensionaler
Geometrie als Einstein. Aber trotzdem hat
Einstein die Sache gemacht, und nicht die

”
großen Mathematiker.
David Hilbert**

Now that we have a feeling for curvature, let us describe it in a way that allows any ob-
server to talk to any other observer. Unfortunately, this means using formulae with ten-
sors. These formulae look daunting. The challenge is to see in each of the expressions the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
essential point (e.g. by forgetting all indices for a while) and not to be distracted by those
small letters sprinkled all over them.
We mentioned above that a 4-dimensional space-time is described by 2-curvature,
3-curvature and 4-curvature. Many introductions to general relativity start with 3-
curvature. 3-curvature describes the distinction between the 3-volume calculated from
a radius and the actual 3-volume. The details are described by the Ricci tensor.*** Ex-
ploring geodesic deviation, it turns out that the Ricci tensor describes how the shape of
a spherical cloud of freely falling particles – a coffee cloud – is deformed along its path.
More precisely, the Ricci tensor Rab is (the precise formulation of) the second (proper)
time derivative of the cloud volume divided by the cloud volume. In vacuum, the volume
Ref. 175 of such a falling coffee cloud always stays constant, and this despite the deformation due
Page 175 to tidal forces. Figure 81 illustrates that gravitation does not change coffee cloud volumes.
In short, the Ricci tensor is the general-relativistic version of the Laplacian of the poten-
tial Δφ, or better, of ◻φ.

Average curvature: the Ricci scalar

The most global, but least detailed, definition of curvature is the one describing the
distinction between the 4-volume calculated from a measured radius and the actual 4-
volume. This is the average curvature at a space-time point and is represented by the
so-called Ricci scalar R, defined as Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

−2
R = −2K = 2
. (198)
rcurvature

It turns out that the Ricci scalar can be derived from the Ricci tensor by a so-called con-
traction, which is a precise averaging procedure. For tensors of rank two, contraction is

** ‘Every street urchin in our mathematical Göttingen knows more about four-dimensional geometry than
Einstein. Nevertheless, it was Einstein who did the work, not the great mathematicians.’
** The rest of this chapter might be skipped at first reading.
*** Gregorio Ricci-Cubastro (b. 1853 Lugo , d. 1925 Bologna), Italian mathematician. He is the father of
absolute differential calculus, also called ‘Ricci calculus’. Tullio Levi-Civita was his pupil.
 180 7 from curvature to motion

the same as taking the trace:

R = R λ λ = д λμ Rλμ . (199)

The Ricci scalar describes the curvature averaged over space and time. In the image of
a falling spherical cloud, the Ricci scalar describes the volume change of the cloud. The
Ricci scalar always vanishes in vacuum. This result allows us to relate the spatial curva-
Challenge 289 ny ture to the change of time with height on the surface of the Earth.

The Einstein tensor

After two years of hard work, Einstein discovered that the best quantity for the descrip-
tion of curvature in nature is not the Ricci tensor Rab , but a tensor built from it. This
Einstein tensor Gab is defined mathematically (for vanishing cosmological constant) as

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
1
Gab = Rab − д R. (200)
2 ab
It is not difficult to understand its meaning. The value G00 is the sum of sectional curva-
tures in the planes orthogonal to the 0 direction and thus the sum of all spatial sectional
curvatures:
G00 = K(12) + K(23) + K(31) . (201)

Similarly, for each dimension i the diagonal element Gii is the sum (taking into consid-
eration the minus signs of the metric) of sectional curvatures in the planes orthogonal to
the i direction. For example, we have

G11 = K(02) + K(03) − K(23) . (202)

The distinction between the Ricci tensor and the Einstein tensor thus lies in the way in
which the sectional curvatures are combined: discs containing the coordinate in question
for the Ricci tensor, and discs orthogonal to the coordinate for the Einstein tensor. Both
describe the curvature of space-time equally well, and fixing one means fixing the other.
Challenge 290 d (What are the trace and the determinant of the Einstein tensor?)
The Einstein tensor is symmetric, which means that it has ten independent compo-
nents. Most importantly, its divergence vanishes; it therefore describes a conserved quan-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tity. This was the essential property which allowed Einstein to relate it to mass and energy
in mathematical language.

The description of momentum, mass and energy

Obviously, for a complete description of gravity, the motion of momentum and energy
need to be quantified in such a way that any observer can talk to any other. We have seen
that momentum and energy always appear together in relativistic descriptions; the next
step is thus to find out how their motions can be quantified for general observers.
First of all, the quantity describing energy, let us call it T, must be defined using the
energy–momentum vector p = mu = (γmc, γm󰑣) of special relativity. Furthermore, T
does not describe a single particle, but the way energy–momentum is distributed over
 from curvature to motion 181

space and time. As a consequence, it is most practical to use T to describe a density of

energy and momentum. T will thus be a field, and depend on time and space, a fact
usually indicated by the notation T = T(t, x).
Since the energy–momentum density T describes a density over space and time, it de-
fines, at every space-time point and for every infinitesimal surface dA around that point,
the flow of energy–momentum dp through that surface. In other words, T is defined by
the relation
dp = T dA . (203)

The surface is assumed to be characterized by its normal vector dA. Since the energy–
momentum density is a proportionality factor between two vectors, T is a tensor.
Of course, we are talking about 4-flows and 4-surfaces here. Therefore the energy–
momentum density tensor can be split in the following way:

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
󰑤 S1 S2 S3 energy energy flow or
S t11 t12 t13 density momentum density
T =󶀫 1 󶀻=󶀫 󶀻 (204)
S2 t21 t22 t23 energy flow or momentum
S3 t31 t32 t33 momentum density flow density

where 󰑤 = T00 is a 3-scalar, S a 3-vector and t a 3-tensor. The total quantity T is called
the energy–momentum (density) tensor. It has two essential properties: it is symmetric
and its divergence vanishes.
The vanishing divergence of the tensor T, often written as

∂a T ab = 0 or abbreviated T ab , a = 0 , (205)

implies that the tensor describes a conserved quantity. In every volume, energy can
change only via flow through its boundary surface. Can you confirm that the description
of energy–momentum with this tensor satisfies the requirement that any two observers,
differing in position, orientation, speed and acceleration, can communicate their results
Challenge 291 ny to each other?
The energy–momentum density tensor gives a full description of the distribution of
energy, momentum and mass over space and time. As an example, let us determine the
energy–momentum density for a moving liquid. For a liquid of density ρ, a pressure p
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

and a 4-velocity u, we have

T ab = (ρ0 + p)ua ub − pд ab (206)

where ρ0 is the density measured in the comoving frame, the so-called proper density.*

* In the comoving frame we thus have

ρ0 c 2 0 0 0
0 p 0 0
T ab =󶀫 󶀻 . (207)
0 0 p 0
0 0 0 p
 182 7 from curvature to motion

Obviously, ρ, ρ0 and p depend on space and time.

Of course, for a particular material fluid, we need to know how pressure p and density
ρ are related. A full material characterization thus requires the knowledge of the relation

p = p(ρ) . (208)

This relation is a material property and thus cannot be determined from relativity. It has
to be derived from the constituents of matter or radiation and their interactions. The
simplest possible case is dust, i.e., matter made of point particles* with no interactions at
all. Its energy–momentum tensor is given by

T ab = ρ0 ua ub . (209)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 292 ny Can you explain the difference from the liquid case?
The divergence of the energy–momentum tensor vanishes for all times and positions,
Challenge 293 ny as you may want to check. This property is the same as for the Einstein tensor presented
above. But before we elaborate on this issue, a short remark. We did not take into account
gravitational energy. It turns out that gravitational energy cannot be defined in general.
In general, gravity does not have an associated energy. In certain special circumstances,
such as weak fields, slow motion, or an asymptotically flat space-time, we can define the
integral of the G 00 component of the Einstein tensor as negative gravitational energy.
Gravitational energy is thus only defined approximately, and only for our everyday envi-
ronment.**

Einstein’s field equations

“
[Einstein’s general theory of relativity] cloaked

”
the ghastly appearance of atheism.
A witch hunter from Boston, around 1935

“ ”
Do you believe in god? Prepaid reply 50 words.
Subsequent telegram by another witch hunter
to his hero Albert Einstein

“
I believe in Spinoza’s god, who reveals himself
in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

god who concerns himself with fates and

”
actions of human beings.
Albert Einstein’s answer
Einstein’s famous field equations were the basis of many religious worries. They contain
the full description of general relativity. The equations can be deduced in many ways. The
Page 103 simplest way to deduce them is to start from the principle of maximum force. Another
way is to deduce the equation from the Hilbert action, as done below. A third way is we

* Even though general relativity expressly forbids the existence of point particles, the approximation is useful
in cases when the particle distances are large compared to their own size.
** This approximation leads to the famous speculation that the total energy of the universe is zero. Do you
Challenge 294 s agree?
 from curvature to motion 183

are doing at present, namely to generalize the relation between curvature and energy to
general observers.
Einstein’s field equations are given by

Gab = −κ Tab
or
1
Rab − д R − Λ дab = −κ T ab . (210)
2 ab
The constant κ, called the gravitational coupling constant, has been measured to be

8πG
κ= = 2.1 ⋅ 10−43 /N (211)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
c4

and its small value – the value 2π divided by the maximum force c 4 /4G – reflects the
weakness of gravity in everyday life, or better, the difficulty of bending space-time. The
constant Λ, the so-called cosmological constant, corresponds to a vacuum energy volume
density, or pressure Λ/κ. Its low value is quite hard to measure. The currently favoured
Page 222 value is
Λ ≈ 10−52 /m2 or Λ/κ ≈ 0.5 nJ/m3 = 0.5 nPa . (212)

Ref. 176 Current measurements and simulations suggest that this parameter, even though it is
numerically near to the inverse square of the present radius of the universe, is a constant
of nature that does not vary with time.
In summary, the field equations state that the curvature at a point is equal to the flow of
energy–momentum through that point, taking into account the vacuum energy density.
In other words: Energy–momentum tells space-time how to curve, using the maximum
force as proportionality factor.*

* Einstein arrived at his field equations using a number of intellectual guidelines that are called principles in
the literature. Today, many of them are not seen as central any more. Nevertheless, we give a short overview.
- Principle of general relativity: all observers are equivalent; this principle, even though often stated, is
probably empty of any physical content.
- Principle of general covariance: the equations of physics must be stated in tensor form; even though it
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 177 is known today that all equations can be written with tensors, even universal gravity, in many cases they
require unphysical ‘absolute’ elements, i.e., quantities which affect others but are not affected themselves.
Vol. III, page 258 This unphysical idea is in contrast with the idea of interaction, as explained later on.
- Principle of minimal coupling: the field equations of gravity are found from those of special relativity
by taking the simplest possible generalization. Of course, now that the equations are known and tested
experimentally, this principle is only of historical interest.
- Equivalence principle: acceleration is locally indistinguishable from gravitation; we used it to argue that
space-time is semi-Riemannian, and that gravity is its curvature.
- Mach’s principle: inertia is due to the interaction with the rest of the universe; this principle is correct,
even though it is often maintained that it is not fulfilled in general relativity. In any case, it is not the essence
Page 236 of general relativity.
- Identity of gravitational and inertial mass: this is included in the definition of mass from the outset, but
restated ad nauseam in general relativity texts; it is implicitly used in the definition of the Riemann tensor.
- Correspondence principle: a new, more general theory, such as general relativity, must reduce to previous
 184 7 from curvature to motion

Universal gravitation – again

The field equations of general relativity can be simplified for the case in which speeds are
small. In that case T00 = ρc 2 and all other components of T vanish. Using the definition
Challenge 295 ny of the constant κ and setting φ = (c 2 /2)h00 in дab = ηab + hab , we find

d2 x
∇2 φ = 4πρ and = −∇φ (213)
dt 2
which we know well, since it can be restated as follows: a body of mass m near a body of
mass M is accelerated by
M
a=G 2, (214)
r

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
a value which is independent of the mass m of the falling body. And indeed, as noted
already by Galileo, all bodies fall with the same acceleration, independently of their size,
their mass, their colour, etc. In general relativity also, gravitation is completely demo-
cratic.* The independence of free fall from the mass of the falling body follows from the
description of space-time as a bent mattress. Objects moving on a mattress also move in
the same way, independently of the mass value.

Understanding the field equations

To get a feeling for the complete field equations, we will take a short walk through their
main properties. First of all, all motion due to space-time curvature is reversible, differ-
Challenge 296 e entiable and thus deterministic. Note that only the complete motion, of space-time and
matter and energy, has these properties. For particle motion only, motion is in fact irre-
versible, since some gravitational radiation is usually emitted.
By contracting the field equations we find, for vanishing cosmological constant, the
following expression for the Ricci scalar:

R = −κT . (219)

theories, in this case universal gravity or special relativity, when restricted to the domains in which those
are valid.
* Here is yet another way to show that general relativity fits with universal gravity. From the definition of
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the Riemann tensor we know that relative acceleration ba and speed of nearby particles are related by

∇e ba = Rceda 󰑣 c 󰑣 d . (215)

From the symmetries of R we know there is a φ such that ba = −∇a φ. That means that

∇e ba = ∇e ∇a φ = Raced 󰑣 c 󰑣 d (216)

which implies that

Δφ = ∇a ∇a φ = Racad 󰑣 c 󰑣 d = Rcd 󰑣 c 󰑣 d = κ(Tcd 󰑣 c 󰑣 d − T/2) (217)

Introducing Tab = ρ󰑣a 󰑣b we get

Δφ = 4πG ρ (218)
as we wanted to show.
 from curvature to motion 185

This result also implies the relation between the excess radius and the mass inside a
Challenge 297 ny sphere.
The field equations are nonlinear in the metric д, meaning that sums of solutions usu-
ally are not solutions. That makes the search for solutions rather difficult. For a complete
solution of the field equations, initial and boundary conditions should be specified. The
Ref. 178 ways to do this form a specialized part of mathematical physics; it is not explored here.
Albert Einstein used to say that general relativity only provides the understanding of
one side of the field equations (210), but not of the other. Can you see which side he
Challenge 298 ny meant?
What can we do of interest with these equations? In fact, to be honest, not much that
we have not done already. Very few processes require the use of the full equations. Many
textbooks on relativity even stop after writing them down! However, studying them is
worthwhile. For example, one can show that the Schwarzschild solution is the only spher-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ically symmetric solution. Similarly, in 1923, Birkhoff showed that every rotationally sym-
metric vacuum solution is static. This is the case even if masses themselves move, as for
example during the collapse of a star.
Maybe the most beautiful applications of the field equations are the various films made
of relativistic processes. The worldwide web hosts several of these; they allow one to see
what happens when two black holes collide, what happens when an observer falls into
a black hole, etc. To generate these films, the field equations usually need to be solved
directly, without approximations.*
Another area of application concerns gravitational waves. The full field equations show
that gravity waves are not harmonic, but nonlinear. Sine waves exist only approximately,
for small amplitudes. Even more interestingly, if two waves collide, in many cases sin-
gularities are predicted to appear. This whole theme is still a research topic and might
provide new insights for the quantization of general relativity in the coming years.
We end this section with a side note. Usually, the field equations are read in one sense
only, as stating that energy–momentum produces curvature. One can also read them in
the other way, calculating the energy–momentum needed to produces a given curvature.
When one does this, one discovers that not all curved space-times are possible, as some
would lead to negative energy (or mass) densities. Such solutions would contradict the
mentioned limit on length-to-mass ratios for physical systems.

Hilbert’s action – how do things fall? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

When Einstein discussed his research with David Hilbert, Hilbert found a way to do in
a few weeks what had taken years for Einstein. Hilbert showed that general relativity in
empty space could be described with the least action principle, like all other examples
of motion. Hilbert knew that all motion minimizes action, i.e., all motion minimizes
change.
Hilbert set out to find the Lagrangian, i.e., the measure of change, for the motion of
space-time. Obviously, the measure must be observer-invariant; in particular, it must be
invariant under all possible changes of viewpoints.
Motion due to gravity is determined by curvature. Any curvature measure indepen-
dent of the observer must be a combination of the Ricci scalar R and the cosmological
* See for example the www.photon.at/~werner/black-earth website.
 186 7 from curvature to motion

constant Λ. In this way both the equivalence principle and general covariance are re-
spected. It thus makes sense to expect that the change of space-time is described by an
action S given by
c4
S= 󵐐 (R + 2Λ) dV . (220)
16πG

The volume element dV must be specified to use this expression in calculations. The cos-
mological constant Λ (added some years after Hilbert’s work) appears as a mathematical
possibility to describe the most general action that is diffeomorphism-invariant. We will
see below that its value in nature, though small, seems to be different from zero.
A lengthy calculation confirms that the Hilbert action allows deducing Einstein’s field
equations and vice versa. Both formulations are completely equivalent. The Hilbert ac-
tion of a chunk of space-time is thus the integral of the Ricci scalar plus twice the cos-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
mological constant over that chunk. The principle of least action states that space-time
moves in such a way that this integral changes as little as possible.
In addition to the Hilbert action, for a full description of motion we need initial con-
Ref. 115 ditions. The various ways to do this define a specific research field. This topic however,
leads too far from our path.
In summary, the question ‘how do things move?’ is answered by general relativity in
the same way as by special relativity: things follow the path of maximal ageing.
Challenge 299 ny Can you show that the Hilbert action follows from the maximum force?

The symmetries of general relativity

The main symmetry of the Lagrangian of general relativity is called diffeomorphism in-
variance or general covariance. The symmetry states that motion is independent of the
coordinate system used. More precisely, the motion of matter, radiation and space-time
does not change under arbitrary differentiable coordinate transformations. Diffeomor-
phism invariance is the essential symmetry of the Hilbert action.
The field equations for empty space-time also show scale symmetry. This is the in-
variance of the equations after multiplication of all coordinates by a common numerical
factor. In 1993, Torre and Anderson showed that diffeomorphism symmetry and trivial
Ref. 179 scale symmetry are the only symmetries of the vacuum field equations.
Apart from diffeomorphism symmetry, full general relativity, including mass–energy,
has an additional symmetry which is not yet fully elucidated. This symmetry connects
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the various possible initial conditions of the field equations; the symmetry is extremely
Ref. 180 complex and is still a topic of research. These fascinating investigations should give new
insights into the classical description of the big bang.

Mass in general relativity

The diffeomorphism-invariance of general relativity makes life quite interesting. We will
Page 263 see that it allows us to say that we live on the inside of a hollow sphere. We have seen
that general relativity does not allow us to say where energy is actually located. If energy
cannot be located, what about mass? Exploring the issue shows that mass, like energy,
can be localized only if distant space-time is known to be flat. It is then possible to define
a localized mass value by making precise an intuitive idea: the mass of an unknown body
 from curvature to motion 187

is measured by the time a probe takes to orbit the unknown body.*

The intuitive mass definition requires flat space-time at infinity; it cannot be extended
Challenge 300 ny to other situations. In short, mass can only be localized if total mass can be defined. And
total mass is defined only for asymptotically flat space-time. The only other notion of
mass that is precise in general relativity is the local mass density at a point. In contrast, it
is not well understood how to define the mass contained in a region larger than a point
but smaller than the entirety of space-time (in the case that it is not asymptotically flat).

The force limit and the cosmological constant

When the cosmological constant is taken into the picture, the maximum force principle
requires a second look. In the case of a non-vanishing cosmological constant, the force
Ref. 181 limit makes sense only if the constant Λ is positive; this is the case for the currently
measured value, which is Λ ≈ 10−52 /m2 . Indeed, the radius–mass relation of black holes

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 115, Ref. 116

Λ 2
2GM = Rc 2 󶀤1 − R 󶀴 (223)
3

implies that a radius-independent maximum force is valid only for positive or zero cos-
mological constant. For a negative cosmological constant the force limit would only be
valid for infinitely small black holes. In the following, we take a pragmatic approach and
note that a maximum force limit can be seen to imply a vanishing or positive cosmo-
logical constant. Obviously, the force limit does not specify the value of the constant; to
achieve this, a second principle needs to be added. A straightforward formulation, using
Page 123 the additional principle of a minimum force in nature, was proposed above.
One might ask also whether rotating or charged black holes change the argument that
leads from maximum force to the derivation of general relativity. However, the deriva-
tion using the Raychaudhuri equation does not change. In fact, the only change of the
argument appears with the inclusion of torsion, which changes the Raychaudhuri equa-
tion itself. As long as torsion plays no role, the derivation given above remains valid. The
inclusion of torsion is still an open research issue.

Ref. 182 * This definition was formalized by Arnowitt, Deser and Misner, and since then has often been called the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ADM mass. The idea is to use the metric дi j and to take the integral

c2
m= 󵐐 (д 󰜈 − дii, j 󰜈 j )dA (221)
32πG S󰑅 i j,i j

where SR is the coordinate sphere of radius R, 󰜈 is the unit vector normal to the sphere and dA is the
area element on the sphere. The limit exists for large R if space-time is asymptotically flat and if the mass
Ref. 183 distribution is sufficiently concentrated. Mathematical physicists have also shown that for any manifold
whose metric changes at infinity as

дi j = (1 + f /r + O(1/r 2 ))δi j (222)

the total mass is given by M = f c 2 /G.

 188 7 from curvature to motion

Is gravity an interaction?
We tend to answer this question affirmatively, as in Galilean physics gravity was seen
as an influence on the motion of bodies. In Galilean physics, we described gravity by
a potential, because gravity changes motion. Indeed, a force or an interaction is what
changes the motion of objects. However, we just saw that when two bodies attract each
other through gravitation, both always remain in free fall. For example, the Moon cir-
cles the Earth because it continuously falls around it. Since any freely falling observer
continuously remains at rest, the statement that gravity changes the motion of bodies
is not correct for all observers. In fact, given that geodesics are the path of maximum
straightness, we can also argue that the Moon and the Earth both follow ‘straight’ paths,
and for all observers. But objects that follow straight paths are not under the influence
of interactions, are they?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Vol. III, page 258 Let us explore this issue in another way. The most fundamental definition of ‘inter-
action’ is as the difference between the whole and the sum of its parts. In the case of
gravity, an observer in free fall could indeed claim that nothing special is going on, in-
dependently of whether the other body is present or not, and could claim that gravity is
not an interaction.
However, an interaction also transports energy between systems. Now, we have seen
Page 182 that gravity can be said to transport energy only approximately. The properties of gravi-
Challenge 301 s tational energy confirm this argument. Even in its energy aspect, gravitation is an inter-
action only approximately.
A mathematical way to look at these issue is the following. Take a satellite orbiting
Jupiter with energy–momentum p = mu. If we calculate the energy–momentum change
Challenge 302 ny along its path s, we get

dp du dua dea a dua

=m = m 󶀥ea + u 󶀵 = mea 󶀥 + Γa bd ub u c 󶀵 = 0 (224)
ds ds ds ds ds

where e describes the unit vector along a coordinate axis. The energy–momentum
Challenge 303 ny change vanishes along any geodesic, as you might check. Therefore, the energy–
momentum of this motion is conserved. In other words, no force is acting on the
satellite. We could reply that in equation (224) the second term alone is the real gravita-
Ref. 184 tional force. But this term can be made to vanish along the entirety of any given world
Challenge 304 ny line. In short, also the mathematics confirm that nothing changes between two bodies
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

in free fall around each other: gravity could be said not to be an interaction.
Let us look at the behaviour of light. In vacuum, light is always moving freely. In a
sense, we can say that radiation always is in free fall. Strangely, since we called free fall
the same as rest, we should conclude that radiation always is at rest. This is not wrong! We
have already seen that light cannot be accelerated.* We have also seen that gravitational
bending is not an acceleration, since light follows straight paths in space-time in this
case as well. Even though light seems to slow down near masses for distant observers, it

* Refraction, the slowdown of light inside matter, is not a counter-example. Strictly speaking, light inside
matter is constantly being absorbed and re-emitted. In between these processes, light still propagates with
the speed of light in vacuum. The whole process only looks like a slowdown in the macroscopic limit. The
Vol. III, page 132 same applies to diffraction and to reflection. A full list of ways to bend light can be found elsewhere.
 from curvature to motion 189

always moves at the speed of light locally. In short, even gravitation doesn’t manage to
move light.
In short, if we like such intellectual games, we can argue that gravitation is not an inter-
action, even though it puts objects into orbits and deflect light. For all practical purposes,
gravity remains an interaction.

How to calculate the shape of geodesics

One half of general relativity states that bodies fall along geodesics. All orbits are
geodesics, thus curves with the longest proper time. It is thus useful to be able to cal-
culate these trajectories.* To start, one needs to know the shape of space-time, the notion
of ‘shape’ being generalized from its familiar two-dimensional meaning. For a being liv-
ing on the surface, it is usually described by the metric дab , which defines the distances

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
between neighbouring points through

ds 2 = dxa dx a = дab (x) dx a dx b . (225)

It is a famous exercise of calculus to show from this expression that a curve x a (s) depend-
ing on a well behaved (affine) parameter s is a timelike or spacelike (metric) geodesic, i.e.,
Challenge 305 ny the longest possible path between the two events,** only if

d dx d 1 ∂дbc dx b dx c
󶀦дad 󶀶= , (226)
ds ds 2 ∂x a ds ds

as long as ds is different from zero along the path.*** All bodies in free fall follow such
Page 136 geodesics. We showed above that the geodesic property implies that a stone thrown in the
air falls back, unless if it is thrown with a speed larger than the escape velocity. Expression
(226) thus replaces both the expression d2 x/dt 2 = −∇φ valid for falling bodies and the
expression d2 x/dt 2 = 0 valid for freely floating bodies in special relativity.
The path does not depend on the mass or on the material of the body. Therefore an-
Ref. 185 timatter also falls along geodesics. In other words, antimatter and matter do not repel;

* This is a short section for the more curious; it can be skipped at first reading.
** We remember that in space in everyday life, geodesics are the shortest possible paths; however, in space-
time in general relativity, geodesics are the longest possible paths. In both cases, they are the ‘straightest’
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

possible paths.
*** This is often written as
d2 x a b
a dx dx
c

2
+ Γbc =0 (227)
ds ds ds
where the condition
dx a dx b
дab =1 (228)
ds ds
must be fulfilled, thus simply requiring that all the tangent vectors are unit vectors, and that ds ̸= 0 all along
the path. The symbols Γ appearing above are given by

a 1
Γa bc = 󶁅 󶁕 = д ad (∂b дdc + ∂c дdb − ∂d дbc ) , (229)
bc 2
and are called Christoffel symbols of the second kind or simply the metric connection.
 190 7 from curvature to motion

they also attract each other. Interestingly, even experiments performed with normal mat-
Challenge 306 ny ter can show this, if they are carefully evaluated. Can you find out how?
For completeness, we mention that light follows lightlike or null geodesics. In other
words, there is an affine parameter u such that the geodesics follow

d2 x a b
a dx dx
c
+ Γ bc =0 (230)
du2 du du
with the different condition
dx a dx b
дab =0. (231)
du du
Given all these definitions of various types of geodesics, what are the lines drawn in

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 307 ny Figure 63 on page 132?

Riemann gymnastics*
Most books introduce curvature the hard way, namely historically, using the Riemann
curvature tensor. This is a short summary, so that you can understand that old stuff when
you come across it.
We saw above that curvature is best described by a tensor. In 4 dimensions, this cur-
vature tensor, usually called R, must be a quantity which allows us to calculate, among
other things, the area for any orientation of a 2-disc in space-time. Now, in 4 dimensions,
Challenge 308 e orientations of a disc are defined in terms of two 4-vectors; let us call them p and q. And
instead of a disc, we take the parallelogram spanned by p and q. There are several possible
definitions.
The Riemann-Christoffel curvature tensor R is then defined as a quantity which allows
us to calculate the curvature K(p, q) for the surface spanned by p and q, with area A,
through
R pqpq Rabcd pa q b p c q d
K(p, q) = 2 = (232)
A (p, q) (дαδ д βγ − дαγ д βδ )pα q β pγ q δ

where, as usual, Latin indices a, b, c, d, etc. run from 0 to 3, as do Greek indices here,
and a summation is implied when an index name appears twice. Obviously R is a tensor,
of rank 4. This tensor thus describes only the intrinsic curvature of a space-time. In con-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

trast, the metric д describes the complete shape of the surface, not only the curvature.
The curvature is thus the physical quantity of relevance locally, and physical descriptions
therefore use only the Riemann** tensor R or quantities derived from it.***

* This is a short section for the more curious; it can be skipped at first reading.
** Bernhard Riemann (b. 1826 Breselenz, d. 1866 Selasca), important German mathematician. One among
his numerous important achievements is the foundation of non-Euclidean geometry.
*** We showed above that space-time is curved by noting changes in clock rates, in metre bar lengths and
in light propagation. Such experiments are the easiest way to determine the metric д. We know that space-
time is described by a 4-dimensional manifold M with a metric дab that locally, at each space-time point,
is a Minkowski metric. Such a manifold is called a Riemannian manifold. Only such a metric allows one to
define a local inertial system, i.e., a local Minkowski space-time at every space-time point. In particular, we
 from curvature to motion 191

But we can forget the just-mentioned definition of curvature. There is a second, more
physical way to look at the Riemann tensor. We know that curvature means gravity. As
we said above, gravity means that when two nearby particles move freely with the same
Challenge 309 e velocity and the same direction, the distance between them changes. In other words, the
local effect of gravity is relative acceleration of nearby particles.
It turns out that the tensor R describes precisely this relative acceleration, i.e., what
we called the tidal effects earlier on. Obviously, the relative acceleration b increases with
Challenge 310 ny the separation d and the square (why?) of the speed u of the two particles. Therefore we
can also define R as a (generalized) proportionality factor among these quantities:

b=Ruud or, more clearly, b a = R a bcd ub u c d d . (235)

The components of the Riemann curvature tensor have the dimensions of inverse square

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
length. Since it contains all information about intrinsic curvature, we conclude that if R
vanishes in a region, space-time in that region is flat. This connection is easily deduced
Challenge 311 ny from this second definition.*
A final way to define the tensor R is the following. For a free-falling observer, the
metric дab is given by the metric ηab from special relativity. In its neighbourhood, we
have
1
дab = ηab + Racbd x c x d + O(x 3 )
3
1
= (∂ c ∂ d дab )x c x d + O(x 3 ) . (237)
2
The curvature term thus describes the departure of the space-time metric from that of flat
space-time. The curvature tensor R is a large beast; it has 44 = 256 components at each

have
дab = 1/д ab and дa b = д a b = δba . (233)
How are curvature and metric related? The solution to this question usually occupies a large number of
pages in relativity books; just for information, the relation is

∂Γa bd ∂Γa bc
Ra bcd = − + Γa ec Γ e bd − Γa f d Γ f bc . (234)
∂x c ∂x d
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The curvature tensor is built from the second derivatives of the metric. On the other hand, we can also
determine the metric if the curvature is known. An approximate relation is given below.
* This second definition is also called the definition through geodesic deviation. It is of course not evident
Ref. 186 that it coincides with the first. For an explicit proof, see the literature. There is also a third way to picture
the tensor R, a more mathematical one, namely the original way Riemann introduced it. If one parallel-
transports a vector 󰑤 around a parallelogram formed by two vectors u and 󰑣, each of length ε, the vector 󰑤
is changed to 󰑤 + δ󰑤. One then has

δ󰑤 = −ε 2 R u 󰑣 󰑤 + higher-order terms . (236)

More can be learned about the geodesic deviation by studying the behaviour of the famous south-pointing
Vol. I, page 209 carriage which we have encountered before. This device, common in China before the compass was discov-
ered, only works if the world is flat. Indeed, on a curved surface, after following a large closed path, it will
Challenge 312 ny show a different direction than at the start of the trip. Can you explain why?
 192 7 from curvature to motion

point of space-time; however, its symmetry properties reduce them to 20 independent

numbers.* The actual number of importance in physical problems is still smaller, namely
only 10. These are the components of the Ricci tensor, which can be defined with the help
of the Riemann tensor by contraction, i.e., by setting

Rbc = R a bac . (240)

Its components, like those of the Riemann tensor, are inverse square lengths. The values
a
of the tensor Rbc , or those of Rbcd , are independent of the sign convention used in the
Challenge 314 e Minkowski metric, in contrast to Rabcd .
Challenge 315 ny Can you confirm the relation Rabcd R abcd = 48m2 /r 6 for the Schwarzschild solution?

Curiosities and fun challenges about general relativity

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
For a long time, people have speculated why the Pioneer 10 and 11 artificial satellites,
which are now over 70 astronomical units away from the Sun, are subject to a constant
deceleration of 8 ⋅ 10−10 m/s2 (towards the Sun) since they passed the orbit of Saturn.
This effect is called the Pioneer anomaly. For a while, the origin was not clear and was an
intense subject of research. But several investigations have shown that the reason is not a
Ref. 187 deviation from the inverse square dependence of gravitation, as is sometimes proposed.
In other words, the effect is electromagnetic.
There were many hints that pointed to an asymmetry in heat radiation emission of the
satellites. The on-board generators produce 2.5 kW of heat that is radiated away by the
satellite. A front-to-back asymmetry of only 80 W is sufficient to explain the measured
Ref. 188 anomaly. Recent research has shown that such an asymmetry indeed exists, so that the
problem is now solved.
∗∗
Maximum power or force appearing on horizons is the basis for general relativity. Are
physical systems other than space-time that can also be described in this way?
Page 32 For special relativity, we found that all its main effects – such as a limit speed, Lorentz
contraction or energy–mass equivalence – are also found for dislocations in solids. Do
systems analogous to general relativity exist? So far, attempts to find such systems have
only been partially successful.
Several equations and ideas of general relativity are applicable to deformations of
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 105 solids, since general relativity describes the deformation of the space-time mattress.
Kröner has studied this analogy in great detail.

* The free-fall definition shows that the Riemann tensor is symmetric in certain indices and antisymmetric
Challenge 313 ny in others:
Rabcd = Rcdab , Rabcd = −Rbacd = −Rabdc . (238)
These relations also imply that many components vanish. Of importance also is the relation

Rabcd + Radbc + Racdb = 0 . (239)

Note that the order of the indices is not standardized in the literature. The list of invariants which can be
constructed from R is long. We mention that 12 ε abcd R cd e f Rabe f , namely the product ∗ R R of the Riemann
tensor with its dual, is the invariant characterizing the Thirring–Lense effect.
 from curvature to motion 193

Other physical systems with ‘horizons’, and thus with observables analogous to curva-
ture, are found in certain liquids – where vortices play the role of black holes – and in
Ref. 189 certain quantum fluids for the propagation of light. Exploring such systems has become
a research topic in its own right.
A full analogy of general relativity in a macroscopic system was discovered only a few
Vol. VI, page 248 years ago. This analogy will be presented in the final part of our adventure.
∗∗
Can the maximum force principle be used to eliminate competing theories of gravitation?
The most frequently discussed competitors to general relativity are scalar–tensor theories
of gravity, such as the proposal by Brans and Dicke and its generalizations.
Page 105 If a particular scalar-tensor theory obeys the general horizon equation (109) then it
must also imply a maximum force. The general horizon equation must be obeyed both

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
for static and for dynamic horizons. If that were the case, the specific scalar–tensor theory
would be equivalent to general relativity, because it would allow one, using the argument
of Jacobson, to deduce the usual field equations. This case can appear if the scalar field be-
haves like matter, i.e., if it has mass–energy like matter and curves space-time like matter.
On the other hand, if in the particular scalar–tensor theory the general horizon equa-
tion is not obeyed for all moving horizons – which is the general case, as scalar–tensor
theories have more defining constants than general relativity – then the maximum force
does not appear and the theory is not equivalent to general relativity. This connection
also shows that an experimental test of the horizon equation for static horizons only is
not sufficient to confirm general relativity; such a test rules out only some, but not all,
scalar–tensor theories.

A summary of the field equations

The field equations of general relativity state that (1) the local curvature of space is given
by the local energy density divided by the maximum force, and (2) that objects move
along the geodesics defined by this local curvature.
This description is confirmed by all experiments performed so far.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 Chapter 8

WHY C AN WE SEE THE STARS?

– MOTION I N THE UNI V ER SE

“
Zwei Dinge erfüllen das Gemüt mit immer
neuer und zunehmender Bewunderung und
Ehrfurcht, je öfter und anhaltender sich das

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Nachdenken damit beschäftigt: der bestirnte
Himmel über mir und das moralische Gesetz in

”
mir.*
Immanuel Kant

Ref. 191
O n clear nights, between two and five thousand stars are visible with the naked eye.
f them, several hundred have names. Why? Because in all parts
f the world, the stars and the constellations they form are attached to myths.
Myths are stories told to make the incomprehensible more comprehensible. But the
simple fact that we can see the stars is the basis for a story much more fantastic than all
myths. It touches almost all aspects of modern physics and is based on the full history
of the universe.

Which stars do we see?

“
Democritus says [about the Milky Way] that it
is a region of light emanating from numerous
stars small and near to each other, of which the

”
grouping produces the brightness of the whole.
Ref. 192 Aetius, Opinions.

The stars we see on a clear night are mainly the brightest of our nearest neighbours in
the surrounding region of the Milky Way. They lie at distances between four and a few
thousand light years from us. Roughly speaking, in our environment there is a star about
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

every 400 cubic light years. Our Sun is just one of the one hundred thousand million stars
of the Milky Way.
At night, almost all stars visible with the naked eye are from our own galaxy. The only
extragalactic object constantly visible to the naked eye in the northern hemisphere is the
so-called Andromeda nebula, shown enlarged in Figure 86. It is a whole galaxy like our
own, as Immanuel Kant had already conjectured in 1755. Several extragalactic objects are

* ‘Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and persistently
Ref. 190 thought considers them: the starred sky above me and the moral law inside me.’ Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
was the most important philospher of the Enlightenment, the movement that lead to modern science and
western standard of wealth and living by pushing aside the false ideas spread by relgion-based governments.
 motion in the universe 195

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 82 A modern photograph of the night sky, showing a few thousand stars and the milky way.
The image is a digital composite of many photographs of cloudless night skies taken all over the Earth.
The Milky Way is positioned horizontally (© Axel Mellinger, from Ref. 193).

F I G U R E 83 How the night sky, and our galaxy in particular, looks in the near infrared (NASA false colour
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

image).

visible with the naked eye in the southern hemisphere: the Tarantula nebula, as well as
the large and the small Magellanic clouds. The Magellanic clouds are neighbour galaxies
to our own. Other, temporarily visible extragalactic objects are the rare novae, exploding
stars which can be seen if they appear in nearby galaxies, or the still rarer supernovae,
which can often be seen even in faraway galaxies.
In fact, the visible stars are special in other respects also. For example, telescopes show
that about half of them are in fact double: they consist of two stars circling around each
other, as in the case of Sirius. Measuring the orbits they follow around each other allows
Challenge 316 ny one to determine their masses. Can you explain how?
 196 8 why can we see the stars?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 84 The X-rays observed in the night sky, for energies between 1 and 30 MeV (NASA).

F I G U R E 85 A false colour image, composed from infrared data, showing the large-scale structure of the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

universe around us; the colour of each galaxy represents its distance and the numbers in parentheses
specify the redshift; an infrared image of the Milky Way is superposed (courtesy Thomas
JarretIPAC/Caltech).

Vol. III, page 136 Many more extragalactic objects are visible with telescopes. Nowadays, this is one of
the main reasons to build them, and to build them as large as technically possible.
Is the universe different from our Milky Way? Yes, it is. There are several arguments to
demonstrate this. First of all, our galaxy – the word galaxy is just the original Greek term
for ‘Milky Way’ – is flattened, because of its rotation. If the galaxy rotates, there must be
other masses which determine the background with respect to which this rotation takes
place. In fact, there is a huge number of other galaxies – about 1011 – in the universe, a
 motion in the universe 197

F I G U R E 86 The Andromeda nebula M31, on of our

neighbour galaxies (and the 31st member of the
Messier object listing) (NASA).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
discovery dating only from the twentieth century. Some examples are shown in Figure 86,
Figure 87 and Figure 88. The last figure shows how galaxies usually die: by colliding with
other galaxies.
Why did our understanding of the place of our galaxy in the universe happen so late?
Well, people had the same difficulty as they had when trying to determine the shape of
the Earth. They had to understand that the galaxy is not only a milky strip seen on clear
nights, but an actual physical system, made of about 1011 stars gravitating around each
other.* Like the Earth, the Milky Way was found to have a three-dimensional shape: As
shown by the photograph in Figure 83, our galaxy is a flat and circular structure, with
a spherical bulge at its centre. The diameter is 100 000 light years. It rotates about once
Challenge 317 ny every 200 to 250 million years. (Can you guess how this is measured?) The rotation is
quite slow: since the Sun was formed, it has made only about 20 to 25 full turns around
the centre.
It is even possible to measure the mass of our galaxy. The trick is to use a binary pulsar
on its outskirts. If it is observed for many years, one can deduce its acceleration around
the galactic centre, as the pulsar reacts with a frequency shift which can be measured
on Earth. Many decades of observation are needed and many spurious effects have to
Ref. 194 be eliminated. Nevertheless, such measurements are ongoing. Present estimates put the
mass of our galaxy at 1042 kg or 5 ⋅ 1011 solar masses.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

What do we see at night?

Astrophysics leads to a strange conclusion about matter, quite different from how we are
used to thinking in classical physics: the matter observed in the sky is found in clouds.
Clouds are systems in which the matter density diminishes with the distance from the
centre, with no sharp border and with no definite size. The object shown in Figure 90
is a molecular cloud. But this is not the only case. Most astrophysical objects, including
planets and stars, are clouds.

* The Milky Way, or galaxy in Greek, was said to have originated when Zeus, the main Greek god, tried
to let his son Heracles feed at Hera’s breast in order to make him immortal; the young Heracles, in a sign
showing his future strength, sucked so forcefully that the milk splashed all over the sky.
198 8 why can we see the stars?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 87 The elliptical galaxy NGC 205 (the 205th member of the New Galactic Catalogue) (NASA).

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 88 The colliding galaxies M51 and M51B, 65 000 al across, 31 Mal away, show how a galaxy dies
(NASA).

The Earth is also a cloud, if we take its atmosphere, its magnetosphere and the dust
ring around it as part of it. The Sun is a cloud. It is a gas ball to start with, but is even
more a cloud if we take into consideration its protuberances, its heliosphere, the solar
wind it generates and its magnetosphere. The solar system is a cloud if we consider its
 motion in the universe 199

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 89 The universe is full of galaxies – this photograph shows the Perseus cluster (NASA).

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 90 The universe contains many

clouds; an example is this molecular
cloud in Ophiuchus (© ESO).

comet cloud, its asteroid belt and its local interstellar gas cloud. The galaxy is a cloud if
we remember its matter distribution and the cloud of cosmic radiation it is surrounded
by. In fact, even people can be seen as clouds, as every person is surrounded by gases,
little dust particles from skin, vapour, etc.
Ref. 195 In the universe, almost all clouds are plasma clouds. A plasma is an ionized gas, such
200 8 why can we see the stars?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 91 Rotating clouds emitting jets along their axis; top row: a composite image (visible and
infrared) of the galaxy 0313-192, the galaxy 3C296, and the Vela pulsar; middle row: the star in
formation HH30, the star in formation DG Tauri B, and a black hole jet from the galaxy M87; bottom row:
the discovery of jets in our own galaxy (all NASA).

as fire, lightning, the inside of neon tubes, or the Sun. At least 99.9 % of all matter in the
universe is in the form of plasma clouds. Only a very small percentage exists in solid or
liquid form, such as toasters, toothpicks or their users.
All clouds in the universe share a number of common properties. First, all clouds
seen in the universe – when undisturbed by collisions or other interactions from neigh-
 motion in the universe 201

bouring objects – are rotating. Most clouds are therefore flattened: they are in shape of
discs. Secondly, in many rotating clouds, matter is falling towards the centre: most clouds
are accretion discs. Finally, undisturbed accretion discs usually emit something along the
rotation axis: they possess jets. This basic cloud structure has been observed for young
stars, for pulsars, for galaxies, for quasars and for many other systems. Figure 91 gives
some examples. Finally, in 2010, jets have been found in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
Challenge 318 r (Does the Sun have jets? So far, none has been detected.)
In summary, at night we see mostly rotating, flattened plasma clouds emitting jets
along their axes. But the night sky has many other phenomena. A large part of astronomy
Ref. 196 and astrophysics collects information about them. An overview about the observations
is given in Table 5.

TA B L E 5 Some observations about the universe.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Aspect Main Va l u e
properties
Phenomena
Galaxy formation observed by Hubble several times
trigger event unknown
Galactic collisions momentum 1045 to 1047 kg m/s
Star formation cloud collapse form stars between 0.04 and 200 solar
masses
frequency between 0 and 1000 solar masses per
year per galaxy; around 1 solar mass
per year in the Milky Way
Novae new luminous stars, L < 1031 W
ejecting bubble R ≈ t ⋅ c/100
Supernovae new bright stars, L < 1036 W
rate 1 to 5 per galaxy per 1000 a
Hypernovae optical bursts L > 1037 W
Gamma-ray bursts luminosity L up to 1045 W, about 1% of the whole
visible universe’s luminosity
energy c. 1046 J
duration c. 0.015 to 1000 s
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

observed number c. 2 per day

Radio sources radio emission 1033 to 1038 W
X-ray sources X-ray emission 1023 to 1034 W
Cosmic rays energy from 1 eV to 1022 eV
Gravitational lensing light bending angles down to 10−4 󳰀󳰀
Comets recurrence, evaporation typ. period 50 a, typ. visibility lifetime
2 ka, typ. lifetime 100 ka
Meteorites age up to 4.57 ⋅ 109 a
Components
Intergalactic space mass density c. 10−26 kg/m3
202 8 why can we see the stars?

TA B L E 5 (Continued) Some observations about the universe.

Aspect Main Va l u e
properties
Quasars red-shift up to z = 6
luminosity L = 1040 W, about the same as one
galaxy
Galaxy superclusters number of galaxies c. 108 inside our horizon
Our own local supercluster number of galaxies about 4000
Galaxy groups size 100 Zm
number of galaxies between a dozen and 1000
Our local group number of galaxies 30
Galaxies size 0.5 to 2 Zm

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
number c. 1011 inside horizon
containing 10 to 400 globular clusters
containing typically 1011 stars each
containing typically one supermassive and several
intermediate-mass black holes
The Milky Way, our galaxy diameter 1.0(0.1) Zm
mass 1042 kg or 5 ⋅ 1011 solar masses Ref. 194
speed 600 km/s towards Hydra-Centaurus
containing about 30 000 pulsars Ref. 197
containing 100 globular clusters each with 1
million stars
Globular clusters (e.g. M15) containing thousands of stars, one
intermediate-mass black hole
age up to 12 Ga (oldest known objects)
Nebulae, clouds composition dust, oxygen, hydrogen
Our local interstellar cloud size 20 light years
composition atomic hydrogen at 7500 K
Star systems types orbiting double stars, over 70 stars
orbited by brown dwarfs, several
planetary systems
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Our solar system size 2 light years (Oort cloud)

speed 368 km/s from Aquarius towards Leo
Stars mass up to 130 solar masses (except when
stars fuse) Ref. 198
giants and supergiants large size up to 1 Tm
main sequence stars
brown dwarfs low mass below 0.072 solar masses
low temperature below 2800 K Ref. 199
L dwarfs low temperature 1200 to 2800 K
T dwarfs low temperature 900 to 1100 K
white dwarfs small radius r ≈ 5000 km
motion in the universe 203

TA B L E 5 (Continued) Some observations about the universe.

Aspect Main Va l u e
properties
high temperature cools from 100 000 to 5000 K
neutron stars nuclear mass density ρ ≈ 1017 kg/m3
small size r ≈ 10 km
emitters of X-ray X-ray emission
bursts
pulsars periodic radio emission
mass up to around 25 solar masses
magnetars high magnetic fields up to 1011 T and higher Ref. 200
some are gamma repeaters, others are anomalous X-ray pulsars

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
mass above 25 solar masses Ref. 201
Black holes horizon radius r = 2GM/c 2 , observed mass range
from 3 solar masses to 1011 solar
masses
General properties
Cosmic horizon distance c. 1026 m = 100 Ym
Expansion Hubble’s constant 71(4) km s−1 Mpc−1 or 2.3(2) ⋅ 10−18 s−1
‘Age’ of the universe 13.7(2) Ga
Vacuum energy density 0.5 nJ/m3 or ΩΛ = 0.73 for k = 0
no evidence for time-dependence
Large-scale shape space curvature k ≈ ΩK = 0 Page 215
topology simple at all measured scales
Dimensions number 3 for space, 1 for time, at all measured
energies and scales
Matter density 2 to 11 ⋅ 10−27 kg/m3 or 1 to 6
hydrogen atoms per cubic metre
ΩM = 0.25
Baryons density Ωb = 0.04, one sixth of the previous
(included in ΩM )
Dark matter density ΩDM = 0.21 (included in ΩM ),
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

unknown
Dark energy density ΩDM = 0.75, unknown
Photons number density 4 to 5 ⋅ 108 /m3
= 1.7 to 2.1 ⋅ 10−31 kg/m3
energy density ΩR = 4.6 ⋅ 10−5
Neutrinos energy density Ω󰜈 unknown
Average temperature photons 2.725(2) K
neutrinos not measured, predicted value is 2 K
Perturbations photon anisotropy ΔT /T = 1 ⋅ 10−5
density amplitude A = 0.8(1)
204 8 why can we see the stars?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 92 The beauty of
astronomy: the Cygnus Bubble,
discovered in 2008, a nebula
expelled from a central star (false
colour image courtesy T.A.
Rector, H. Schweiker).

TA B L E 5 (Continued) Some observations about the universe.

Aspect Main Va l u e
properties
spectral index n = 0.97(3)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tensor-to-scalar ratio r < 0.53 with 95% confidence

Ionization optical depth τ = 0.15(7)
Decoupling z = 1100

But while we are speaking of what we see in the sky, we need to clarify a general issue.

What is the universe?

“
I’m astounded by people who want to ‘know’
the universe when it’s hard enough to find your

”
way around Chinatown.
Woody Allen
motion in the universe 205

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 93 An atlas of our cosmic environment: illustrations at scales up to 12.5, 50, 250, 5 000, 50 000,
500 000, 5 million, 100 million, 1 000 million and 14 000 million light years (© Richard Powell, www.
atlasoftheuniverse.com).
 206 8 why can we see the stars?

The term ‘universe’ implies turning. The universe is what turns around us at night. For a
physicist, at least three definitions are possible for the term ‘universe’:
— The (observable) universe is the totality of all observable mass and energy. This in-
cludes everything inside the cosmological horizon. Since the horizon is moving away
from us, the amount of observable mass and energy is constantly increasing. The con-
tent of the term ‘observable universe’ is thus not fixed in time. (What is the origin of
Vol. VI, page 269 this increase? We will come back to this issue in the final leg of our adventure.)
— The (believed) universe is the totality of all mass and energy, including any that is
not observable. Numerous books on general relativity state that there definitely exists
matter or energy beyond the observation boundaries. We will explain the origin of
Challenge 319 e this belief below. (Do you agree with it?)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
— The (full) universe is the sum of matter and energy as well as space-time itself.
These definitions are often mixed up in physical and philosophical discussions. There
is no generally accepted consensus on the terms, so one has to be careful. In this text,
when we use the term ‘universe’, we imply the last definition only. We will discover re-
peatedly that without clear distinction between the definitions the complete ascent of
Motion Mountain becomes impossible. (For example: Is the amount of matter and en-
Challenge 320 s ergy in the full universe the same as in the observable universe?)
Note that the ‘size’ of the visible universe, or better, the distance to its horizon, is a
quantity which can be imagined. The value of 1026 m, or ten thousand million light years,
is not beyond imagination. If one took all the iron from the Earth’s core and made it into
Challenge 321 s a wire reaching to the edge of the observable universe, how thick would it be? The answer
might surprise you. Also, the content of the universe is clearly finite. There are about as
many visible galaxies in the universe as there are grains in a cubic metre of sand. To
expand on the comparison, can you deduce how much space you would need to contain
all the flour you would get if every little speck, with a typical size of 150 μm, represented
Challenge 322 s one star?

The colour and the motion of the stars

“ ”
᾽Η τοι μὲν πρώτιστα Ξάος γένετ΄ ... *
Hesiod, Theogony. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Obviously, the universe is full of motion. To get to know the universe a bit, it is useful
to measure the speed and position of as many objects in it as possible. In the twenti-
eth century, a large number of such observations were obtained from stars and galaxies.
Challenge 323 s (Can you imagine how distance and velocity are determined?) This wealth of data can be
summed up in two points.
First of all, on large scales, i.e., averaged over about five hundred million light years,
the matter density in the universe is homogeneous and isotropic. Obviously, at smaller
scales inhomogeneities exist, such as galaxies or cheesecakes. Our galaxy for example is

* ‘Verily, at first chaos came to be ...’. The Theogony, attributed to the probably mythical Hesiodos, was
finalized around 700 bce. It can be read in English and Greek on the www.perseus.tufts.edu website. The
famous quotation here is from verse 117.
 motion in the universe 207

Ref. 202 neither isotropic nor homogeneous. But at large scales the differences average out. This
large-scale homogeneity of matter distribution is often called the cosmological principle.
The second point about the universe is even more important. In the 1920s, indepen-
Ref. 203 dently, Carl Wirtz, Knut Lundmark and Gustaf Stromberg showed that on the whole, all
galaxies move away from the Earth, and the more so, the more they were distant. There are
a few exceptions for nearby galaxies, such as the Andromeda nebula itself; but in general,
the speed of flight 󰑣 of an object increases with distance d. In 1929, the US-American as-
tronomer Edwin Hubble* published the first measurement of the relation between speed
and distance. Despite his use of incorrect length scales he found a relation

󰑣=H d, (241)

where the proportionality constant H is today called the Hubble constant. A modern

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
graph of the relation is given in Figure 94. The Hubble constant is known today to have
a value around 71 km s−1 Mpc−1 . (Hubble’s own value was so far from this value that it is
not cited any more.) For example, a star at a distance of 2 Mpc** is moving away from
Earth with a speed of around 142 km/s, and proportionally more for stars further away.
In fact, the discovery by Wirtz, Lundmark and Stromberg implies that every galaxy
Challenge 324 ny moves away from all the others. (Why?) In other words, the matter in the universe is
expanding. The scale of this expansion and the enormous dimensions involved are amaz-
ing. The motion of all the thousand million galaxy groups in the sky is described by the
single equation (241)! Some deviations are observed for nearby galaxies, as mentioned
above, and for faraway galaxies, as we will see.
The cosmological principle and the expansion taken together imply that the universe
cannot have existed before time when it was of vanishing size; the universe thus has a
finite age. Together with the evolution equations, as explained in more detail below, the
Hubble constant points to an age value of around 13 700 million years. The expansion
also means that the universe has a horizon, i.e., a finite maximum distance for sources
whose signals can arrive on Earth. Signals from sources beyond the horizon cannot reach
us.
The motion of galaxies tells something important: in the past, the night sky, and thus
the universe, has been much smaller; matter has been much denser than it is now. It
Ref. 204 turns out that matter has also been much hotter. George Gamow*** predicted in 1948
that since hot objects radiate light, the sky cannot be completely black at night, but must Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

be filled with black-body radiation emitted when it was ‘in heat’. That radiation, called
the background radiation, must have cooled down due to the expansion of the universe.
Challenge 325 ny (Can you confirm this?) Despite various similar predictions by other authors, in one of

* Edwin Powell Hubble (1889–1953), important US-American astronomer. After being an athlete and taking
a law degree, he returned to his childhood passion of the stars; he finally proved Immanuel Kant’s 1755
conjecture that the Andromeda nebula was a galaxy like our own. He thus showed that the Milky Way is
only a tiny part of the universe.
Page 284 ** A megaparsec or Mpc is a distance of 30.8 Zm.
*** George Gamow (b. 1904 Odessa, d. 1968 St. Boulder), Russian-American physicist. He explained alpha
decay as a tunnelling effect and predicted the microwave background. He wrote the first successful popular
physics texts, such as 1, 2, 3, infinity and the Mr. Thompkins series, which were later imitated by many other
writers.
 208 8 why can we see the stars?

Type Ia Supernovae

0.0001 26
Supernova Cosmology Project
24
High-Z Supernova Search
fainter

0.001
22 y
pt
Relative brightness

Calan/Tololo m
25 0e

density
0.01 Supernova Survey y
erg

mass
20
en
m
0.2 0.4 0.6 1.0 cuu 1
18 24 va
0.1 th
wi y
erg
en
16 um
1 v acu

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ut
23 ho
14 wit
0.01 0.02 0.04 0.1
Magnitude

22 Accelerating
Universe

21 Decelerating
Universe

20
0.2 0.4 0.6 1.0
Redshift

0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5

Scale of the Universe
relative to today's scale
F I G U R E 94 The relation between star distance and star velocity (courtesy Saul Perlmutter and the
Supernova Cosmology Project).
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the most famous cases of missed scientific communication, the radiation was found only
much later, by two researchers completely unaware of all this work. A famous paper in
Ref. 205 1964 by Doroshkevich and Novikov had even stated that the antenna used by the (un-
aware) later discoverers was the best device to search for the radiation! In any case, only
in 1965 did Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discover the radiation. It was in one of the
most beautiful discoveries of science, for which both later received the Nobel Prize for
Ref. 206 physics. The radiation turns out to be described by the black-body radiation for a body
with a temperature of 2.728(1) K, as illustrated in Figure 95. In fact, the spectrum follows
the black-body dependence to a precision of less than 1 part in 104 .
In summary, the universe started with a hot big bang. But apart from expansion and
cooling, the past fourteen thousand million years have also produced a few other mem-
 motion in the universe 209

F I G U R E 95 The measured spectrum of the

cosmic background radiation, with the error
bars multiplied by 500, compared to the
calculated Planck spectrum for 2.728 K (NASA).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
orable events.

Do stars shine every night?

“
Don’t the stars shine beautifully? I am the only

”
person in the world who knows why they do.
Friedrich (Fritz) Houtermans (1903–1966)

Stars seem to be there for ever. In fact, every now and then a new star appears in the
sky: a nova. The name is Latin and means ‘new’. Especially bright novae are called super-
novae. Novae and similar phenomena remind us that stars usually live much longer than
humans, but that like people, stars are born, shine and die.
It turns out that one can plot all stars on the so-called Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.
This diagram, central to every book on astronomy, is shown in Figure 96. It is a beautiful
example of a standard method used by astrophysicists: collecting statistics over many
examples of a type of object, one can deduce the life cycle of the object, even though
their lifetime is much longer than that of a human. For example, it is possible, by clever
use of the diagram, to estimate the age of stellar clusters, and thus arrive at a minimum
age of the universe. The result is around thirteen thousand million years.
The finite lifetime of stars leads to restrictions on their visibility, especially for high Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

red-shifts. Indeed, modern telescope can look at places (and times) so far in the past that
they contained no stars yet. At those distances one only observes quasars; these light
sources are not stars, but much more massive and bright systems. Their precise structure
is still being studied by astrophysicists.
Since the stars shine, they were also formed somehow. Over millions of years, vast dust
clouds in space can contract, due to the influence of gravity, and form a dense, hot and
rotating structure: a new star. The fascinating details of their birth from dust clouds are
Ref. 207 a central part of astrophysics, but we will not explore them here. Stars differ in life and
lifetime. Above all, this depends on their birth mass. Stars of the mass of the Sun live 10
to 20 Ga and die as red giants. Stars with a mass that is 20 times that of the Sun live only
a few million years and die as supernovas. The most massive stars seem to have about
130 solar masses. Exceptions are those stars that form through merging of several stars;
 210 8 why can we see the stars?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 96 The
Hertzsprung–Russell
diagram (© Richard
Powell).

Ref. 208 they can be as massive as 250 solar masses.

Yet we do not have the full answer to our question. Why do stars shine at all? Clearly,
they shine because they are hot. They are hot because of nuclear reactions in their interior.
Vol. V, page 152 We will discuss these processes in more detail in the volume on the nucleus.

A short history of the universe Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

“ ”
Anima scintilla stellaris essentiae.*
Ref. 209 Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 540 to c. 480 bce )

Not only stars are born, shine and die. Also galaxies do so. What about the universe? The
most important adventures that the matter and radiation around us have experienced
Ref. 210 are summarized in Table 6. The steps not yet discussed will be studied in the rest of our
ascent of Motion Mountain. The history table is awe-inspiring. This history table even
has applications no theoretical physicist would have imagined. The sequence of events is
so beautiful and impressive that nowadays it is used in certain psychotherapies to point

* ‘The soul is a spark of the substance of the stars.’

motion in the universe 211

out to people the story behind their existence, and to remind them of their own worth.
Enjoy.

TA B L E 6 A short history of the universe.

Ti me Ti me Event Temper -
before from big at u r e
n o wa b a n gb
c. 14 ⋅ 109 a ≈ tPl b Time, space, matter and initial conditions are 1032 K ≈ TPl
indeterminate
13 ⋅ 109 a c. 1000 tPl Distinction of space-time from matter and radiation, 1030 K
−42
≈ 10 s initial conditions are determinate
−35
10 s to Inflation & GUT epoch starts; strong and 5 ⋅ 1026 K
−32

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
10 s electroweak interactions diverge
10−12 s Antiquarks annihilate; electromagnetic and weak 1015 K
interaction separate
−6
2 ⋅ 10 s Quarks get confined into hadrons; universe is a 1013 K
plasma
Positrons annihilate
0.3 s Universe becomes transparent for neutrinos 1010 K
a few seconds Nucleosynthesis: D, He, He and Li nuclei form; 109 K
4 3 7

radiation still dominates

2500 a Matter domination starts; density perturbations 75 000 K
magnify
z = 1100 380 000 a Recombination: during these latter stages of the big 3000 K
bang, H, He and Li atoms form, and the universe
becomes ‘transparent’ for light, as matter and
radiation decouple, i.e., as they acquire different
temperatures; the ‘night’ sky starts to get darker and
darker
Sky is almost black except for black-body radiation Tγ =
To (1 + z)
z = 10 to 30 Galaxy formation
z = 9.6 Oldestobject seen so far
z=5 Galaxy clusters form
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

z=3 6
10 a First generation of stars (population II) is formed,
starting hydrogen fusion; helium fusion produces
carbon, silicon and oxygen
2 ⋅ 109 a First stars explode as supernovaec ; iron is produced
z=1 3 ⋅ 10 a
9
Second generation of stars (population I) appears,
and subsequent supernova explosions of the ageing
stars form the trace elements (Fe, Se, etc.) we are
made of and blow them into the galaxy
4.7 ⋅ 109 a Primitive cloud, made from such explosion
remnants, collapses; Sun forms
4.5 ⋅ 10 a
9
Earth and other planet formation: Azoicum startsd
212 8 why can we see the stars?

TA B L E 6 (Continued) A short history of the universe.

Ti me Ti me Event Temper -
before from big at u r e
n o wa b a n gb
4.5 ⋅ 109 a Moon forms from material ejected during the
collision of a large asteroid with the still-liquid Earth
4.3 ⋅ 109 a Craters form on the planets
4.0 ⋅ 109 a Archean eon (Archaeozoicum) starts: bombardment
from space stops; Earth’s crust solidifies; oldest
minerals form; water condenses
3.5 ⋅ 109 a Unicellular (microscopic) life appears; stromatolites
form

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
2.5 ⋅ 109 a Proterozoic eon (‘age of first life’) starts: atmosphere
becomes rich in oxygen thanks to the activity of
microorganisms Ref. 211
1.3 ⋅ 109 a Macroscopic, multicellular life appears, fungi
conquer land
800 ⋅ 106 a Earth is completely covered with ice for the first time
(reason still unknown) Ref. 212
600 to Earth is completely covered with ice for the last time
540 ⋅ 106 a
540(5) ⋅ 106 a Paleozoic era (Palaeozoicum, ‘age of old life’) starts,
after a gigantic ice age: animals appear, oldest fossils
(with 540(5) start of Cambrian, 495(5) Ordovician,
440(5) Silurian, 417(5) Devonian, 354(5)
Carboniferous and 292(5) Permian periods)
450 ⋅ 106 a Land plants appear
370 ⋅ 106 a Wooden trees appear
250(5) ⋅ 106 a Mesozoic era (Mesozoicum, ‘age of middle life’,
formerly called Secondary) starts: most insects and
other life forms are exterminated; mammals appear
(with 250(5) start of Triassic, 205(4) Jurassic and
142(3) Cretaceous periods)
150 ⋅ 106 a Continent Pangaea splits into Laurasia and
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Gondwana
The star cluster of the Pleiades forms
150 ⋅ 106 a Birds appear
142(3) ⋅ 106 a Golden time of dinosaurs (Cretaceous) starts
100 ⋅ 106 a Start of formation of Alps, Andes and Rocky
Mountains
 motion in the universe 213

TA B L E 6 (Continued) A short history of the universe.

Ti me Ti me Event Temper -
before from big at u r e
n o wa b a n gb
65.5 ⋅ 106 a Cenozoic era (Caenozoicum, ‘age of new life’) starts:
dinosaurs become extinct after an asteroid hits the
Earth in the Yucatan, grass and primates appear,
(with 65.5 start of Tertiary, consisting of Paleogene
period with Paleocene, 55.0 Eocene and 33.7
Oligocene epoch, and of Neogene period, with 23.8
Miocene and 5.32 Pliocene epoch; then 1.81
Quaternary period with Pleistocene (or Diluvium)
and 0.01 Holocene (or Alluvium) epoch)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
50 ⋅ 106 a Large mammals appear
7(1) ⋅ 106 a Hominids appears
3 ⋅ 106 a Supernova explodes, with following consequences:
more intense cosmic radiation, higher formation rate
of clouds, Earth cools down drastically, high
evolutionary pressure on the hominids and as a
result, Homo appears Ref. 213
500 000 a Formation of youngest stars in galaxy
500 000 a Homo sapiens appears
100 000 a Beginning of last ice age
90 000 a Homo sapiens sapiens appears
11 800 a End of last ice age, start of Holocene
6 000 a First written texts
2 500 a Physics starts
500 a Use of coffee, pencil and modern physics starts
200 a Electricity use begins
100 a Einstein publishes
10 to 120 a You were a unicellular being
Present c. 14 ⋅ 109 a You are reading this Tγ = 2.73 K,
T󰜈 ≈ 1.6 K,
Tb ≈ 0 K
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Future You enjoy life; for details and reasons, see the following volumes.

a. The time coordinate used here is the one given by the coordinate system defined by the microwave back-
ground radiation, as explained on page 217. A year is abbreviated ‘a’ (Latin ‘annus’). Errors in the last digits
are given between parentheses.
b. This quantity is not exactly defined since the big bang is not a space-time event. This issue will be explored
Vol. VI, page 85 later on..
c. The history of the atoms on Earth shows that we are made from the leftovers of a supernova. We truly are
made of stardust.
d. Apart from the term Azoicum, all other names and dates from the geological time scale are those of the
Vol. V, page 135 International Commission on Stratigraphy; the dates are measured through radioactive dating.
 214 8 why can we see the stars?

Despite its length and its interest, the history table has its limitations. For example, what
happened elsewhere in the last few thousand million years? There is still a story to be
written of which next to nothing is known. For obvious reasons, investigations have been
rather Earth-centred.
Research in astrophysics is directed at discovering and understanding all phenomena
observed in the skies. In our adventure we have to skip most of this fascinating topic,
because we want to focus on motion. Interestingly, general relativity allows us to explain
many of the general observations about motion in the universe.

The history of space-time

“
A number of rabbits run away from a central
point in various directions, all with the same
speed. While running, one rabbit turns its head,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
”
Challenge 326 s and makes a startling observation. Which one?

Page 205 The data showing that the universe is sprinkled with stars all over lead to a simple conclu-
sion: the universe cannot be static. Gravity always changes the distances between bodies;
the only exceptions are circular orbits. Gravity also changes the average distances be-
tween bodies: gravity always tries to collapse clouds. The biggest cloud of all, the one
formed by all the matter in the universe, must therefore be changing: either it is collaps-
ing, or it is still expanding.
Ref. 214 The first to dare to draw this conclusion was Aleksander Friedmann.* In 1922 he de-
duced the possible evolutions of the universe in the case of homogeneous, isotropic mass
distribution. His calculation is a classic example of simple but powerful reasoning. For a
universe which is homogeneous and isotropic for every point, the line element of space-
Challenge 327 ny time is given by
ds 2 = c 2 dt 2 − a2 (t)(dx 2 + dy 2 + dz 2 ) . (242)

The quantity a(t) is called the scale factor. Matter is described by a density ρM and a
pressure pM . Inserting all this into the field equations, we get two equations that any
school student can grasp; they are

ȧ 2 k 8πG Λ
󶀤 󶀴 + 2 = ρM + (243)
a a 3 3
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* Aleksander Aleksandrowitsch Friedmann (1888–1925), Russian physicist who predicted the expansion of
the universe. Following his early death from typhus, his work remained almost unknown until Georges A.
Lemaître (b. 1894 Charleroi, d. 1966 Leuven), Belgian priest and cosmologist, took it up and expanded it in
1927, focusing, as his job required, on solutions with an initial singularity. Lemaître was one of the propaga-
tors of the (erroneous!) idea that the big bang was an ‘event’ of ‘creation’ and convinced his whole organi-
Page 225, page 226 zation of it. The Friedmann–Lemaître solutions are often erroneously called after two other physicists, who
studied them again much later, in 1935 and 1936, namely H.P. Robertson and A.G. Walker.
 motion in the universe 215

and

4πG Λ
ä = − (ρM + 3pM ) a + a . (244)
3 3

Together, they imply

ȧ
ρ̇M = −3 (ρM + pM ) . (245)
a
At the present time t0 , the pressure of matter is negligible. (In the following, the index 0
Challenge 328 e refers to the present time.) In this case, the expression ρM a3 is constant in time.
Equations (243) and (244) depend on only two constants of nature: the gravitational

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
constant G, related to the maximum force or power in nature, and the cosmological con-
stant Λ, describing the energy density of the vacuum, or, if one prefers, the smallest force
in nature.
Before we discuss the equations, first a few points of vocabulary. It is customary to
Challenge 329 ny relate all mass densities to the so-called critical mass density ρc given by

3H02
ρc = ≈ (8 ± 2) ⋅ 10−27 kg/m3 (246)
8πG
corresponding to about 8, give or take 2, hydrogen atoms per cubic metre. On Earth, one
would call this value an extremely good vacuum. Such are the differences between every-
day life and the universe as a whole. In any case, the critical density characterizes a matter
distribution leading to an evolution of the universe just between never-ending expansion
and collapse. In fact, this density is the critical one, leading to a so-called marginal evolu-
tion, only in the case of vanishing cosmological constant. Despite this restriction, the
term ‘critical mass density’ is now used in all other cases as well. We can thus speak of a
dimensionless mass density ΩM defined as

ΩM = ρ0 /ρc . (247)

The cosmological constant can also be related to this critical density by setting Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ρΛ Λc 2 Λc 2
ΩΛ = = = . (248)
ρc 8πG ρc 3H02

A third dimensionless parameter ΩK describes the curvature of space. It is defined in

terms of the present-day radius of the universe R0 and the curvature constant k =
{1, −1, 0} as
−k
ΩK = 2 2 (249)
R0 H0

and its sign is opposite to the one of the curvature k; ΩK vanishes for vanishing curvature.
Note that a positively curved universe, when homogeneous and isotropic, is necessarily
 216 8 why can we see the stars?

no big
bang

2
experimental on
values pa nsi
ex
ed ion
1 lerat ans
ce x p
ac it e
ted
ΩΛ lim elera
dec ansion
eternal exp
0 limit
llapse
eventual co
clo t
fla en
se

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
op

du
niv

-1
un

too
er
ive

se

young
rse

0 1 2 3
ΩM
F I G U R E 97 The ranges for the Ω
parameters and their consequences.

closed and of finite volume. A flat or negatively curved universe with the same matter
distribution can be open, i.e., of infinite volume, but does not need to be so. It could be
simply or multiply connected. In these cases the topology is not completely fixed by the
curvature.
The present-time Hubble parameter is defined by H0 = ȧ0 /a0 . From equation (243)
Challenge 330 ny we then get the central relation

ΩM + ΩΛ + ΩK = 1 . (250)

In the past, when data were lacking, physicists were divided into two camps: the claus-
trophobics believing that ΩK > 0 and the agoraphobics believing that ΩK < 0. More Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

details about the measured values of these parameters will be given shortly. The diagram
of Figure 97 shows the most interesting ranges of parameters together with the corre-
sponding behaviours of the universe. Modern measurements are consistent with a flat
universe, thus with ΩK = 0.
For the Hubble parameter, the most modern measurements give a value of

H0 = 71 ± 4 km/sMpc = 2.3 ± 2 ⋅ 10−18 /s (251)

which corresponds to an age of the universe of 13.7 ± 2 thousand million years. In other
words, the age deduced from the history of space-time agrees with the age, given above,
deduced from the history of stars.
To get a feeling of how the universe evolves, it is customary to use the so-called decel-
 motion in the universe 217

eration parameter q0 . It is defined as

ä0 1
q0 = − 2
= ΩM − ΩΛ . (252)
a0 H0 2

The parameter q0 is positive if the expansion is slowing down, and negative if the expan-
sion is accelerating. These possibilities are also shown in the diagram of Figure 97.
An even clearer way to picture the expansion of the universe for vanishing pressure
is to rewrite equation (243) using τ = t H0 and x(τ) = a(t)/a(t0 ), yielding

dx 2
󶀥 󶀵 + U(x) = ΩK
dτ
where U(x) = −ΩΛ x − ΩΛ x 2 . (253)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
This looks like the evolution equation for the motion of a particle with mass 1, with total
energy ΩK in a potential U(x). The resulting evolutions are easily deduced.
For vanishing ΩΛ , the universe either expands for ever, or recollapses, depending on
the value of the mass–energy density.
For non-vanishing (positive) ΩΛ , the potential has exactly one maximum; if the par-
ticle has enough energy to get over the maximum, it will accelerate continuously. That is
the situation the universe seems to be in today.
For a certain time range, the result is shown in Figure 98. There are two points to be
noted: first the set of possible curves is described by two parameters, not one. In addition,
lines cannot be drawn down to zero size. There are two main reasons: we do not yet
understand the behaviour of matter at very high energy, and we do not understand the
behaviour of space-time at very high energy. We return to this important issue later on.
The main conclusion to be drawn from Friedmann’s work is that a homogeneous and
isotropic universe is not static: it either expands or contracts. In either case, it has a finite
age. This profound idea took many years to spread around the cosmology community;
even Einstein took a long time to get accustomed to it.
Note that due to its isotropic expansion, the universe has a preferred reference frame:
the frame defined by average matter. The time measured in that frame is the time listed
in Table 6 and is the one we assume when we talk about the age of the universe.
An overview of the possibilities for the long time evolution is given in Figure 99.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The evolution can have various outcomes. In the early twentieth century, people decided
among them by personal preference. Albert Einstein first preferred the solution k = 1
and Λ = a−2 = 4πG ρM . It is the unstable solution found when x(τ) remains at the top of
the potential U(x).
In 1917, the Dutch physicist Willem de Sitter had found, much to Einstein’s personal
dismay, that an empty universe with ρM = pM = 0 and k = 1 is also possible. This type
Challenge 331 ny of universe expands for large times. The De Sitter universe shows that in special cases,
matter is not needed for space-time to exist.
Lemaître had found expanding universes for positive mass, and his results were also
contested by Einstein at first. When later the first measurements confirmed the calcu-
lations, the idea of a massive and expanding universe became popular. It became the
 218 8 why can we see the stars?

Expansion history of the universe

ds
an r
expreve
Scale relative fo s

0.0001

0.001

0.01
0.1
1
brightness pse
a , 1.5 colla
relative
to
today’s
scale
Scale 1.0 0
a

redshift
a(t) 0.5

ed
The expansion

rat
d
0.5 ate 1
either... ler

ele
e
ac c

dec
l Planck 1.5
hen

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
d, t
2

s
e

way
t 3
lera
ce

... or al
Quantum de
st past present future
effects
fir

t Planck Time t 0.0

–20 –10 0 10
Time t , in Gigayears from present

F I G U R E 98 The evolution of the universe’s scale a for different values of its mass density, as well as the
measured data (the graph on the right is courtesy of Saul Perlmutter and the Supernova Cosmology
Project).

standard model in textbooks. However, in a sort of collective blindness that lasted from
around 1950 to 1990, almost everybody believed that Λ = 0.* Only towards the end of
the twentieth century did experimental progress allow one to make statements based on
evidence rather than beliefs or personal preferences, as we will find out shortly. But first
of all we will settle an old issue.

Why is the sky dark at night?

“
In der Nacht hat ein Mensch nur ein
Nachthemd an, und darunter kommt gleich der

”
Charakter.**
Rober Musil Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

First of all, the sky is not black at night - it is dark blue. Seen from the surface of the
Earth, it has the same blue colour as during the day, as any long-exposure photograph,
such as Figure 100, shows. But that colour of the night sky, like the colour of the sky
during the day, is due to light from the stars that is scattered by the atmosphere. If we
want to know the real colour of the sky, we need to go above the atmosphere. There, to
the eye, the sky is pitch black. But measurements show that even the empty sky is not
completely black at night; it is filled with radiation of around 200 GHz; more precisely, it

Challenge 332 ny * In this case, for ΩM ⩾ 1, the age of the universe follows t0 ⩽ 2/(3H0 ), where the limits correspond. For
vanishing mass density one has t0 = 1/Ho .
** ‘At night, a person is dressed only with a nightgown, and directly under it there is the character.’ Robert
Musil (b. 1880 Klagenfurt, d. 1942 Geneva), German writer.
 motion in the universe 219

Λ>0 Λ=0 Λ<0

scale factor scale factor scale factor

k = –1

time t time t time t

confirmed by
modern
scale factor scale factor scale factor
data:

k=0

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
time t time t time t
Λ < Λc Λ = Λc Λ > Λc
scale factor scale factor scale factor scale factor scale factor

k = +1

time t time t time t time t time t

F I G U R E 99 The long-term evolution of the universe’s scale factor a for various parameters.

is filled with radiation that corresponds to the thermal emission of a body at 2.73 K. This
cosmic background radiation is the thermal radiation left over from the big bang.
Ref. 215 Thus the universe is indeed colder than the stars. But why is this so? If the universe
were homogeneous on large scales and infinitely large, it would have an infinite number
of stars. Looking in any direction, we would see the surface of a star. The night sky would
Challenge 333 s be as bright as the surface of the Sun! Can you convince your grandmother about this?
In a deep forest, one sees a tree in every direction. Similarly, in a ‘deep’ universe, we
would see a star in every direction. Now, the average star has a surface temperature of
about 6000 K. If we lived in a deep and old universe, we would effectively live inside an
oven with a temperature of around 6000 K! It would be impossible to enjoy ice cream. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

So why is the sky black at night, despite being filled with radiation from stars at 6000 K,
i.e., with white light? This paradox was most clearly formulated in 1823 by the astronomer
Wilhelm Olbers.* Because he extensively discussed the question, it is also called Olbers’
paradox.
Today we know that two main effects explain the darkness of the night. First, since
the universe is finite in age, distant stars are shining for less time. We see them in a

* Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers (b. 1758 Arbergen, d. 1840 Bremen), astronomer. He discovered two
planetoids, Pallas and Vesta, and five comets; he developed the method of calculating parabolic orbits
for comets which is still in use today. Olbers also actively supported the mathematician and astronomer
Vol. I, page 137 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel in his career choice. The paradox is named after Olbers, though others had made
similar points before, such as the Swiss astronomer Jean Philippe Loÿs de Cheseaux in 1744 and Johannes
Kepler in 1610.
 220 8 why can we see the stars?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 100 All colours, such as the blue of the sky, are present also at night, as this long-time
exposure shows. On the top left, the bright object is Mars; the lower half shows a rare coloured fog bow
created by moonlight (© Wally Pacholka).

younger stage or even during their formation, when they were darker. As a result, the
share of brightness of distant stars is smaller than that of nearby stars, so that the average
temperature of the sky is reduced.* Today we know that even if all matter in the universe
were converted into radiation, the universe would still not be as bright as just calculated.
In other words, the power and lifetime of stars are much too low to produce the oven
Ref. 216 brightness just mentioned. Secondly, we can argue that the radiation of distant stars is
red-shifted and that the volume that the radiation must fill is increasing continuously, so
that the effective average temperature of the sky is also reduced.
Calculations are necessary to decide which effect is the greater one. This issue has
Ref. 217 been studied in great detail by Paul Wesson; he explains that the first effect is larger than
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the second by a factor of about three. We may thus state correctly that the sky is dark
at night mostly because the universe has a finite age. We can add that the sky would be
somewhat brighter if the universe were not expanding.
Ref. 215 We note that the darkness of the sky arises only because the speed of light is finite.
Challenge 335 ny Can you confirm this?
The darkness of the sky also tells us that the universe has a large (but finite) age. In-
deed, the 2.7 K background radiation is that cold, despite having been emitted at 3000 K,
Ref. 218 because it is red-shifted, thanks to the Doppler effect. Under reasonable assumptions, the

* Can you explain that the sky is not black just because it is painted black or made of black chocolate? Or
more generally, that the sky is not made of and does not contain any dark and cold substance, as Olbers
Challenge 334 ny himself suggested, and as John Herschel refuted in 1848?
 motion in the universe 221

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 101 A false colour image of the fluctuations of the cosmic background radiation, after the
Doppler shift from our local motion and the signals from the Milky Way have been subtracted
(WMAP/NASA).

temperature T of this radiation changes with the scale factor a(t) of the universe as

1
T∼ . (254)
a(t)

In a young universe, we would thus not be able to see the stars, even if they existed.
From the brightness of the sky at night, measured to be about 3 ⋅ 10−13 times that of
an average star like the Sun, we can deduce something interesting: the density of stars in
the universe must be much smaller than in our galaxy. The density of stars in the galaxy
can be deduced by counting the stars we see at night. But the average star density in
the galaxy would lead to much higher values for the night brightness if it were constant
Ref. 216 throughout the universe. We can thus deduce that the galaxy is much smaller than the
universe simply by measuring the brightness of the night sky and by counting the stars
Challenge 336 ny in the sky! Can you make the explicit calculation?
In summary, the sky is black, or better, very dark at night because space-time and
matter are of finite, but old age. As a side issue, here is a quiz: is there an Olbers’ paradox
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 337 ny also for gravitation?

The colour variations of the night sky

Not only is the night sky not black; the darkness of the night sky even depends on the
direction one is looking.
Since the Earth is moving when compared to the average stars, the dark colour of the
sky shows a Doppler shift. But even when this motion is compensated some colour vari-
ations remain. The variations are tiny, but they can be measured with special satellites,
as done in Figure 101. These variations show that the universe had already some inhomo-
geneities when the detected light was emitted. Figure 101 thus gives an impression of the
universe when it was barely 380 000 years ‘young’.
 222 8 why can we see the stars?

The data of Figure 101 has been studied in great detail. It allows to deduce the precise
age of the universe, its composition, and many other aspects. These experiments and
studies are still ongoing.

Is the universe open, closed or marginal?

“
– Doesn’t the vastness of the universe make you
feel small?
– I can feel small without any help from the

”
universe.
Anonymous

Sometimes the history of the universe is summed up in two words: bang!...crunch. But
will the universe indeed recollapse, or will it expand for ever? Or is it in an intermediate,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
marginal situation? The parameters deciding its fate are the mass density and cosmolog-
ical constant.
The main news of the last decade of twentieth-century astrophysics are the experi-
mental results allowing one to determine all these parameters. Several methods are being
used. The first method is obvious: determine the speed and distance of distant stars. For
large distances, this is difficult, since the stars are so faint. But it has now become possible
to search the sky for supernovae, the bright exploding stars, and to determine their dis-
tance from their brightness. This is presently being done with the help of computerized
Ref. 219 searches of the sky, using the largest available telescopes.
A second method is the measurement of the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave back-
ground. From the observed power spectrum as a function of the angle, the curvature of
space-time can be deduced.
A third method is the determination of the mass density using the gravitational lens-
Page 230 ing effect for the light of distant quasars bent around galaxies or galaxy clusters.
A fourth method is the determination of the mass density using galaxy clusters. All
these measurements are expected to improve greatly in the years to come.
At present, these four completely independent sets of measurements provide the
Ref. 220 values
ΩM ≈ 0.3 , ΩΛ ≈ 0.7 , ΩK ≈ 0.0 (255)

where the errors are of the order of 0.1 or less. The values imply that the universe is spa-
tially flat, its expansion is accelerating and there will be no big crunch. However, no definite
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 232 statement on the topology is possible. We will return to this last issue shortly.
In particular, the data show that the density of matter, including all dark matter, is
only about one third of the critical value.* Over two thirds are given by the cosmological
term. For the cosmological constant Λ the present measurements yield

3H02
Λ = ΩΛ ≈ 10−52 /m2 . (256)
c2

* The difference between the total matter density and the separately measurable baryonic matter density,
only about one sixth of the former value, is also not explained yet. It might even be that the universe contains
matter of a type unknown so far. We can say that the universe is not WYSIWYG; there is invisible, or dark
matter. This issue, the dark matter problem, is one of the important unsolved questions of cosmology.
 motion in the universe 223

This value has important implications for quantum theory, since it corresponds to a vac-
uum energy density

Λc 4 10−46 (GeV)4
ρΛ c 2 = ≈ 0.5 nJ/m3 ≈ . (257)
8πG (ħc)3

But the cosmological term also implies a negative vacuum pressure pΛ = −ρΛ c 2 . In-
serting this result into the relation for the potential of universal gravity deduced from
Page 184 relativity
Δφ = 4πG(ρ + 3p/c 2 ) (258)

Ref. 221 we get

Δφ = 4πG(ρM − 2ρΛ ) . (259)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 338 ny Thus the gravitational acceleration around a mass M is

GM Λ 2 GM
a= − c r = 2 − ΩΛ H02 r , (260)
r2 3 r
which shows that a positive vacuum energy indeed leads to a repulsive gravitational effect.
Inserting the mentioned value (256) for the cosmological constant Λ we find that the
repulsive effect is negligibly small even for the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
In fact, the order of magnitude of the repulsive effect is so much smaller than that of
attraction that one cannot hope for a direct experimental confirmation of this deviation
Challenge 339 ny from universal gravity at all. Probably astrophysical determinations will remain the only
possible ones. In particular, a positive gravitational constant manifests itself through a
positive component in the expansion rate.
But the situation is puzzling. The origin of this cosmological constant is not explained
by general relativity. This mystery will be solved only with the help of quantum theory.
In any case, the cosmological constant is the first local and quantum aspect of nature
detected by astrophysical means.

Why is the universe transparent?

Could the universe be filled with water, which is transparent, as maintained by some
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 222 popular books in order to explain rain? No. Even if the universe were filled with air, the
total mass would never have allowed the universe to reach the present size; it would have
Challenge 340 ny recollapsed much earlier and we would not exist.
The universe is thus transparent because it is mostly empty. But why is it so empty?
First of all, in the times when the size of the universe was small, all antimatter annihilated
with the corresponding amount of matter. Only a tiny fraction of matter, which originally
was slightly more abundant than antimatter, was left over. This 10−9 fraction is the matter
Vol. V, page 188 we see now. As a consequence, there are 109 as many photons in the universe as electrons
or quarks.
In addition, 380 000 years after antimatter annihilation, all available nuclei and elec-
trons recombined, forming atoms, and their aggregates, like stars and people. No free
 224 8 why can we see the stars?

charges interacting with photons were lurking around any more, so that from that period
onwards light could travel through space as it does today, being affected only when it hits
a star or a dust particle or some other atom. The observation of this cosmic background
radiation shows that light can travel for over 13 000 million years without problems or
disturbance. Indeed, if we recall that the average density of the universe is 10−26 kg/m3
and that most of the matter is lumped by gravity in galaxies, we can imagine what an ex-
cellent vacuum lies in between. As a result, light can travel along large distances without
noticeable hindrance.
But why is the vacuum transparent? That is a deeper question. Vacuum is transpar-
ent because it contains no electric charges and no horizons: charges or horizons are in-
dispensable in order to absorb light. In fact, quantum theory shows that vacuum does
Vol. V, page 81 contain so-called virtual charges. However, these virtual charges have no effects on the
transparency of vacuum.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The big bang and its consequences

“ ”
Μελέτη θανάτου. Learn to die.
Plato, Phaedo, 81a.

Above all, the hot big bang model, which is deduced from the colour of the stars and
Page 207 galaxies, states that about fourteen thousand million years ago the whole universe was
Vol. III, page 272 extremely small. This fact gave the big bang its name. The term was created (with a sar-
castic undertone) in 1950 by Fred Hoyle, who by the way never believed that it applies
Ref. 223 to nature. Nevertheless, the term caught on. Since the past smallness of the universe be
checked directly, we need to look for other, verifiable consequences. The central ones are
the following:
— all matter moves away from all other matter;
— the mass of the universe is made up of about 75% hydrogen and 23% helium;
— there is thermal background radiation of about 2.7 K;
— the maximal age for any system in the universe is around fourteen thousand million
years;
— there are background neutrinos with a temperature of about 2 K;*
— for non-vanishing cosmological constant, Newtonian gravity is slightly reduced.
All predictions except the last two have been confirmed by observations. Technology will
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

probably not allow us to check the last two in the foreseeable future; however, there is no
evidence against them.
Competing descriptions of the universe have not been successful in matching
Ref. 223 observations. In addition, theoretical arguments state that with matter distributions
such as the observed one, and some rather weak general assumptions, there is no way
Ref. 224 to avoid a period in the finite past in which the universe was extremely small and hot.
Therefore it is worth having a close look at the situation.

* The theory states that T󰜈 /Tγ ≈ (4/11)1/3 . These neutrinos appeared about 0.3 s after the big bang.
 motion in the universe 225

Was the big bang a big bang?

First of all, was the big bang a kind of explosion? This description implies that some
material transforms internal energy into motion of its parts. However, there was no such
process in the early history of the universe. In fact, a better description is that space-
time is expanding, rather than matter moving. The mechanism and the origin of the
expansion is unknown at this point of our mountain ascent. Because of the importance
of spatial expansion, the whole phenomenon cannot be called an explosion at all. And
obviously there neither was nor is any sound carrying medium in interstellar space, so
that one cannot speak of a ‘bang’ in any sense of the term.
Was it big? The visible universe was rather small about fourteen thousand million
years ago, much smaller than an atom. In summary, the big bang was neither big nor a
bang; but the rest is correct.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Was the big bang an event?
The big bang theory is a description of what happened in the whole of space-time. Despite
what is often written in careless newspaper articles, at every moment of the expansion
space has been of non-vanishing size: space was never a single point. People who pretend
it was are making ostensibly plausible, but false statements. The big bang theory is a
description of the expansion of space-time, not of its beginning. Following the motion of
matter back in time – even neglecting the issue of measurement errors – general relativity
can deduce the existence of an initial singularity only if point-like matter is assumed to
exist. However, this assumption is wrong. In addition, the effect of the nonlinearities in
general relativity at situations of high energy densities is not even completely clarified
yet.
Most importantly, quantum theory shows that the big bang was not a true singular-
ity, as no physical observable, neither density nor temperature, ever reaches an infinitely
Vol. VI, page 95 large (or infinitely small) value. Such values cannot exist in nature.* In any case, there is
a general agreement that arguments based on pure general relativity alone cannot make
correct statements about the big bang. Nevertheless, most statements in newspaper arti-
cles are of this sort.

Was the big bang a beginning?

Asking what was before the big bang is like asking what is north of the North Pole. Just
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

as nothing is north of the North Pole, so nothing ‘was’ before the big bang. This analogy
could be misinterpreted to imply that the big bang took its start at a single point in time,
which of course is incorrect, as just explained. But the analogy is better than it looks: in
fact, there is no precise North Pole, since quantum theory shows that there is a funda-
mental indeterminacy as to its position. There is also a corresponding indeterminacy for
the big bang.
In fact, it does not take more than three lines to show with quantum theory that time
and space are not defined either at or near the big bang. We will give this simple argument
Vol. VI, page 59 in the first chapter of the final part of our mountain ascent. The big bang therefore cannot
* Many physicists are still wary of making such strong statements on this point. The first sections of the
Vol. VI, page 52 final part of our mountain ascent give the precise arguments leading to them.
 226 8 why can we see the stars?

be called a ‘beginning’ of the universe. There never was a time when the scale factor a(t)
of the universe was zero.
The conceptual mistake of stating that time and space exist from a ‘beginning’ on-
wards is frequently encountered. In fact, quantum theory shows that near the big bang,
events can neither be ordered nor even be defined. More bluntly, there is no beginning;
there has never been an initial event or singularity.
Obviously the concept of time is not defined ‘outside’ or ‘before’ the existence of the
Ref. 225 universe; this fact was already clear to thinkers over a thousand years ago. It is then tempt-
ing to conclude that time must have started. But as we saw, that is a logical mistake as
well: first of all, there is no starting event, and secondly, time does not flow, as clarified
Vol. I, page 47 already in the beginning of our walk.
A similar mistake lies behind the idea that the universe had certain ‘initial condi-
Vol. I, page 203 tions.’ Initial conditions by definition make sense only for objects or fields, i.e., for enti-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ties which can be observed from the outside, i.e., for entities which have an environment.
The universe does not comply with this requirement; it thus cannot have initial condi-
tions. Nevertheless, many people still insist on thinking about this issue; interestingly,
Ref. 226 Stephen Hawking sold millions of copies of a book explaining that a description with-
out initial conditions is the most appealing, without mentioning the fact that there is no
other possibility anyway.*
In summary, the big bang is not a beginning, nor does it imply one. We will uncover
Vol. VI, page 268 the correct way to think about it in the final part of our mountain ascent.

Does the big bang imply creation?

“
[The general theory of relativity produces]

”
universal doubt about god and his creation.
A witch hunter

Creation, i.e., the appearance of something out of nothing, needs an existing concept of
Vol. III, page 265 space and time to make sense. The concept of ‘appearance’ makes no sense otherwise.
But whatever the description of the big bang, be it classical, as in this chapter, or quan-
tum mechanical, as in later ones, this condition is never fulfilled. Even in the present,
classical description of the big bang, which gave rise to its name, there is no appearance
of matter, nor of energy, nor of anything else. And this situation does not change in any
later, improved description, as time or space are never defined before the appearance of
matter.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In fact, all properties of a creation are missing: there is no ‘moment’ of creation, no

appearance from nothing, no possible choice of any ‘initial’ conditions out of some set
Vol. VI, page 138 of possibilities, and, as we will see in more detail in the last volume of this adventure, not
even any choice of particular physical ‘laws’ from any set of possibilities.
In summary, the big bang does not imply nor harbour a creation process. The big bang
was not an event, not a beginning and not a case of creation. It is impossible to continue
Challenge 341 ny the ascent of Motion Mountain if we do not accept each of these three conclusions. To
deny them is to continue in the domain of beliefs and prejudices, thus effectively giving
up on the mountain ascent.
* This statement will still provoke strong reactions among physicists; it will be discussed in more detail in
the section on quantum theory.
 motion in the universe 227

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 102 The transmittance of the atmosphere (NASA).

Why can we see the Sun?

First of all, the Sun is visible because air is transparent. It is not self-evident that air is
transparent; in fact it is transparent only to visible light and to a few selected other fre-
quencies. Infrared and ultraviolet radiation are mostly absorbed. The reasons lie in the
behaviour of the molecules the air consists of, namely mainly nitrogen, oxygen and a
few other transparent gases. Several moons and planets in the solar system have opaque
atmospheres: we are indeed lucky to be able to see the stars at all.
In fact, even air is not completely transparent; air molecules scatter light a little bit.
That is why the sky and distant mountains appear blue and sunsets red. However, our
eyes are not able to perceive this, and stars are invisible during daylight. At many wave-
lengths far from the visible spectrum the atmosphere is even opaque, as Figure 102 shows.
(It is also opaque for all wavelengths shorter than 200 nm, up to gamma rays. On the long
wavelength range, it remains transparent up to wavelength of around 10 to 20 m, depend-
ing on solar activity, when the extinction by the ionosphere sets in.)
Secondly, we can see the Sun because the Sun, like all hot bodies, emits light. We Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. III, page 186 describe the details of incandescence, as this effect is called, later on.
Thirdly, we can see the Sun because we and our environment and the Sun’s environ-
ment are colder than the Sun. In fact, incandescent bodies can be distinguished from
their background only if the background is colder. This is a consequence of the prop-
erties of incandescent light emission, usually called black-body radiation. The radiation
is material-independent, so that for an environment with the same temperature as the
body, nothing can be seen at all. Any oven, such as the shown in Figure 103 provides a
proof.
Finally, we can see the Sun because it is not a black hole. If it were, it would emit
(almost) no light.
Obviously, each of these conditions applies to stars as well. For example, we can only
see them because the night sky is black. But then, how to explain the multicoloured sky?
 228 8 why can we see the stars?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 103 A hot red oven shows that at high
temperature, objects and their environment cannot be
distinguished from each other.

Why do the colours of the stars differ?

Stars are visible because they emit visible light. We have encountered several important
effects which determine colours: the diverse temperatures among the stars, the Doppler
shift due to a relative speed with respect to the observer, and the gravitational red-shift.
Not all stars are good approximations to black bodies, so that the black-body radiation
Vol. III, page 125 law does not always accurately describe their colour. However, most stars are reasonable
approximations of black bodies. The temperature of a star depends mainly on its size,
Ref. 227 its mass, its composition and its age, as astrophysicists are happy to explain. Orion is a
good example of a coloured constellation: each star has a different colour. Long-exposure
Vol. I, page 84 photographs beautifully show this.
The basic colour determined by temperature is changed by two effects. The first, the
Challenge 342 ny Doppler red-shift z, depends on the speed 󰑣 between source and observer as

Δλ f c+󰑣
z= = S −1=󵀊 −1. (261)
λ fO c−󰑣
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Such shifts play a significant role only for remote, and thus faint, stars visible through
the telescope. With the naked eye, Doppler shifts cannot be seen. But Doppler shifts can
make distant stars shine in the infrared instead of in the visible domain. Indeed, the
highest Doppler shifts observed for luminous objects are larger than 5.0, corresponding
Challenge 343 ny to a recessional speed of more than 94 % of the speed of light. Note that in the universe,
the red-shift is also related to the scale factor R(t) by

R(t0 )
z= −1. (262)
R(temission )

Light at a red-shift of 5.0 was thus emitted when the universe was one sixth of its present
 motion in the universe 229

TA B L E 7 The colour of the stars.

C l as s Tempera- Example L o c at i o n Colour

ture
O 30 kK Mintaka δ Orionis blue-violet
O 31(10) kK Alnitak ζ Orionis blue-violet
B 22(6) kK Bellatrix γ Orionis blue
B 26 kK Saiph κ Orionis blue-white
B 12 kK Rigel β Orionis blue-white
B 25 kK Alnilam ε Orionis blue-white
B 17(5) kK Regulus α Leonis blue-white
A 9.9 kK Sirius α Canis Majoris blue-white
A 8.6 kK Megrez δ Ursae Majoris white

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
A 7.6(2) kK Altair α Aquilae yellow-white
F 7.4(7) kK Canopus α Carinae yellow-white
F 6.6 kK Procyon α Canis Minoris yellow-white
G 5.8 kK Sun ecliptic yellow
K 3.5(4) kK Aldebaran α Tauri orange
M 2.8(5) kK Betelgeuse α Orionis red
D <80 kK – – any

Note. White dwarfs, or class-D stars, are remnants of imploded stars, with a size of only a few tens of kilo-
metres. Not all are white; they can be yellow or red. They comprise 5% of all stars. None is visible with the
naked eye. Temperature uncertainties in the last digit are given between parentheses.
The size of all other stars is an independent variable and is sometimes added as roman numerals at the end
of the spectral type. (Sirius is an A1V star, Arcturus a K2III star.) Giants and supergiants exist in all classes
from O to M.
To accommodate brown dwarfs, two new star classes, L and T, have been proposed.

age.
The other colour-changing effect, the gravitational red-shift zg , depends on the matter
density of the source and is given by Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Δλ f 1
zg = = S −1= −1. (263)
λ f0 󵀆1 − 2GM
c2 R

Challenge 344 ny It is usually quite a bit smaller than the Doppler shift. Can you confirm this?
No other red-shift processes are known; moreover, such processes would contradict
Page 238 all the known properties of nature. But the colour issue leads to the next question.

Are there dark stars?

It could be that some stars are not seen because they are dark. This could be one ex-
planation for the large amount of dark matter seen in the recent measurements of the
 230 8 why can we see the stars?

Gravitational lensing Toplogical effect

first image first image

star star
Earth
galaxy
Earth

second image second image

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 104 Two ways in which a single star star can lead to several images.

background radiation. This issue is currently of great interest and hotly debated. It is
known that objects more massive than Jupiter but less massive than the Sun can exist in
states which emit hardly any light. Any star with a mass below 7.2% of the mass of the
Sun cannot start fusion and is called a brown dwarf. It is unclear at present how many
such objects exist.Many of the so-called extrasolar ‘planets’ are probably brown dwarfs.
The issue is not yet settled.
Page 240 Another possibility for dark stars are black holes. These are discussed in detail below.

Are all stars different? – Gravitational lenses

“ ”
Per aspera ad astra.*

Are we sure that at night, two stars are really different? The answer is no. Recently, it
was shown that two ‘stars’ were actually two images of the same object. This was found
by comparing the flicker of the two images. It was found that the flicker of one image
was exactly the same as the other, just shifted by 423 days. This result was found by the
Estonian astrophysicist Jaan Pelt and his research group while observing two images of
Ref. 228 quasars in the system Q0957+561.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The two images are the result of gravitational lensing, an effect illustrated in Figure 104.
Indeed, a large galaxy can be seen between the two images observed by Pelt, and much
nearer to the Earth that the star. This effect had been already considered by Einstein;
however he did not believe that it was observable. The real father of gravitational lensing
Ref. 229 is Fritz Zwicky, who predicted in 1937 that the effect would be quite common and easy to
observe, if lined-up galaxies instead of lined-up stars were considered, as indeed turned
out to be the case.
Interestingly, when the time delay is known, astronomers are able to determine the
Challenge 345 ny size of the universe from this observation. Can you imagine how?

* ‘Through hardship to the stars.’ A famous Latin motto. Often incorrectly given as ‘per ardua at astra’.
motion in the universe 231

F I G U R E 105 The Zwicky–Einstein ring

B1938+666, seen in the radio spectrum (left) and
in the optical domain (right) (NASA).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 106 Multiple blue images of a galaxy
formed by the yellow cluster CL0024+1654
(NASA).

If the two observed massive objects are lined up exactly behind each other, the more
distant one is seen as ring around the nearer one. Such rings have indeed been ob-
served, and the galaxy image around a central foreground galaxy at B1938+666, shown in Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Figure 105, is one of the most beautiful examples. In 2005, several cases of gravitational
lensing by stars were also discovered. More interestingly, three events where one of the
two stars has a Earth-mass planet have also been observed. The coming years will surely
lead to many additional observations, helped by the sky observation programme in the
southern hemisphere that checks the brightness of about 100 million stars every night.
Generally speaking, images of nearby stars are truly unique, but for the distant stars
the problem is tricky. For single stars, the issue is not so important, seen overall. Reas-
suringly, only about 80 multiple star images have been identified so far. But when whole
galaxies are seen as several images at once (and several dozens are known so far) we might
start to get nervous. In the case of the galaxy cluster CL0024+1654, shown in Figure 106,
seven thin, elongated, blue images of the same distant galaxy are seen around the yellow,
nearer, elliptical galaxies.
 232 8 why can we see the stars?

But multiple images can be created not only by gravitational lenses; the shape of the
universe could also play some tricks.

What is the shape of the universe?

A popular analogy for the expansion of the universe is the comparison to a rubber bal-
loon that increase in diameter by blowing air into it. The surface of the balloon is as-
sumed to correspond to the volume of the universe. The dots on the balloon correspond
to the galaxies; their distance continuously increases. The surface of the balloon is finite
and has no boundary. By analogy, this suggests that the volume of the universe has a fi-
nite volume, but no boundary. This analogy presupposes that the universe has the same
topology, the same ‘shape’ as that of a sphere with an additional dimension.
Ref. 230 But what is the experimental evidence for this analogy? Not much. Nothing definite

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
is known about the shape of the universe. It is extremely hard to determine it, simply
because of its sheer size. Experiments show that in the nearby region of the universe, say
within a few million light years, the topology is simply connected. But for large distances,
almost nothing is certain. Maybe research into gamma-ray bursts will tell us something
about the topology, as these bursts often originate from the dawn of time.* Maybe even
the study of fluctuations of the cosmic background radiation can tell us something. All
this research is still in its infancy.
Since little is known, we can ask about the range of possible answers. As just men-
tioned, in the standard model of cosmology, there are three options. For k = 0, com-
patible with experiments, the simplest topology of space is three-dimensional Euclidean
space ℝ3 . For k = 1, space-time is usually assumed to be a product of linear time, with
the topology R of the real line, and a sphere S 3 for space. That is the simplest possible
shape, corresponding to a simply-connected universe. For k = −1, the simplest option for
space is a hyperbolic manifold H 3 .
Page 216 In addition, Figure 97 showed that depending on the value of the cosmological con-
stant, space could be finite and bounded, or infinite and unbounded. In most Friedmann–
Lemaître calculations, simple-connectedness is usually tacitly assumed, even though it is
not at all required.
It could well be that space-time is multiply connected, like a higher-dimensional ver-
sion of a torus, as illustrated on the right-hand side of Figure 104. A torus still has k = 0
everywhere, but a non-trivial global topology. For k ̸= 0, space-time could also have even
more complex topologies.** If the topology is non-trivial, it could even be that the actual
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

number of galaxies is much smaller than the observed number. This situation would cor-
respond to a kaleidoscope, where a few beads produce a large number of images.
In fact, the range of possibilities is not limited to the simply and multiply connected
cases suggested by classical physics. If quantum effects are included, additional and much
Vol. VI, page 94 more complex options appear; they will be discussed in the last part of our walk.

* The story is told from the mathematical point of view by B ob Osserman, Poetry of the Universe, 1996.
** The Friedmann–Lemaître metric is also valid for any quotient of the just-mentioned simple topologies
by a group of isometries, leading to dihedral spaces and lens spaces in the case k = 1, to tori in the case
Ref. 231 k = 0, and to any hyperbolic manifold in the case k = −1.
 motion in the universe 233

What is behind the horizon?

“ ”
The universe is a big place; perhaps the biggest.
Kilgore Trout, Venus on the Half Shell.

The horizon of the night sky is a tricky entity. In fact, all cosmological models show that it
Ref. 232 moves rapidly away from us. A detailed investigation shows that for a matter-dominated
Challenge 346 ny universe the horizon moves away from us with a velocity

󰑣horizon = 3c . (264)

A pretty result, isn’t it? Obviously, since the horizon does not transport any signal, this is
not a contradiction of relativity. But what is behind the horizon?
If the universe is open or marginal, the matter we see at night is predicted by naively

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
applied general relativity to be a – literally – infinitely small part of all matter existing.
Indeed, an open or marginal universe implies that there is an infinite amount of matter
Challenge 347 ny behind the horizon. Is such a statement verifiable?
In a closed universe, matter is still predicted to exist behind the horizon; however, in
this case it is only a finite amount.
In short, the standard model of cosmology states that there is a lot of matter behind
the horizon. Like most cosmologists, we sweep the issue under the rug and take it up
only later in our walk. A precise description of the topic is provided by the hypothesis of
inflation.

Why are there stars all over the place? – Inflation

What were the initial conditions of matter? Matter was distributed in a constant density
over space expanding with great speed. How could this happen? The person who has
explored this question most thoroughly is Alan Guth. So far, we have based our studies
of the night sky, cosmology, on two observational principles: the isotropy and the homo-
geneity of the universe. In addition, the universe is (almost) flat. Inflation is an attempt
to understand the origin of these observations. Flatness at the present instant of time is
strange: the flat state is an unstable solution of the Friedmann equations. Since the uni-
verse is still flat after fourteen thousand million years, it must have been even flatter near
the big bang.
Guth argued that the precise flatness, the homogeneity and the isotropy could follow
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 233
if in the first second of its history, the universe had gone through a short phase of expo-
nential size increase, which he called inflation. This exponential size increase, by a factor
of about 1026 , would homogenize the universe. This extremely short evolution would be
driven by a still-unknown field, the inflaton field. Inflation also seems to describe cor-
rectly the growth of inhomogeneities in the cosmic background radiation.
However, so far, inflation poses as many questions as it solves. Twenty years after his
initial proposal, Guth himself is sceptical on whether it is a conceptual step forward. The
final word on the issue has not been said yet.
 234 8 why can we see the stars?

Why are there so few stars? – The energy and entropy content
of the universe

“
Die Energie der Welt ist constant. Die Entropie

”
der Welt strebt einem Maximum zu.*
Rudolph Clausius
The matter–energy density of the universe is near the critical one. Inflation, described in
the previous section, is the favourite explanation for this connection. This implies that the
actual number of stars is given by the behaviour of matter at extremely high temperatures,
and by the energy density left over at lower temperature. The precise connection is still
the topic of intense research. But this issue also raises a question about the quotation
above. Was the creator of the term ‘entropy’, Rudolph Clausius, right when he made this
famous statement? Let us have a look at what general relativity has to say about all this.
In general relativity, a total energy can indeed be defined, in contrast to localized energy,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
which cannot. The total energy of all matter and radiation is indeed a constant of motion.
It is given by the sum of the baryonic, luminous and neutrino parts:

c 2 M0 c2
E = Eb + Eγ + E󰜈 ≈ + ... + ... ≈ + ... . (265)
T0 G

This value is constant only when integrated over the whole universe, not when just the
inside of the horizon is taken.**
Many people also add a gravitational energy term. If one tries to do so, one is obliged
to define it in such a way that it is exactly the negative of the previous term. This value
for the gravitational energy leads to the popular speculation that the total energy of the
universe might be zero. In other words, the number of stars could also be limited by this
relation.
However, the discussion of entropy puts a strong question mark behind all these seem-
ingly obvious statements. Many people have tried to give values for the entropy of the
Ref. 234 universe. Some have checked whether the relation

kc 3 A kG
S= = 4πM 2 , (266)
Għ 4 ħc

Challenge 348 ny which is correct for black holes, also applies to the universe. This assumes that all the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

matter and all the radiation of the universe can be described by some average tempera-
ture. They argue that the entropy of the universe is surprisingly low, so that there must
be some ordering principle behind it. Others even speculate over where the entropy of
the universe comes from, and whether the horizon is the source for it.
But let us be careful. Clausius assumes, without the slightest doubt, that the universe is
a closed system, and thus deduces the statement quoted above. Let us check this assump-
tion. Entropy describes the maximum energy that can be extracted from a hot object.
After the discovery of the particle structure of matter, it became clear that entropy is also
given by the number of microstates that can make up a specific macrostate. But neither

* ‘The energy of the universe is constant. Its entropy tends towards a maximum.’
** Except for the case when pressure can be neglected.
 motion in the universe 235

definition makes any sense if applied to the universe as a whole. There is no way to ex-
tract energy from it, and no way to say how many microstates of the universe would look
like the macrostate.
The basic reason is the impossibility of applying the concept of state to the universe.
Vol. I, page 26 We first defined the state as all those properties of a system which allow one to distin-
guish it from other systems with the same intrinsic properties, or which differ from one
observer to another. You might want to check for yourself that for the universe, such state
Challenge 349 s properties do not exist at all.
We can speak of the state of space-time and we can speak of the state of matter and
energy. But we cannot speak of the state of the universe, because the concept makes no
sense. If there is no state of the universe, there is no entropy for it. And neither is there
an energy value. This is in fact the only correct conclusion one can draw about the issue.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Why is matter lumped?
We are able to see the stars because the universe consists mainly of empty space, in other
words, because stars are small and far apart. But why is this the case? Cosmic expansion
was deduced and calculated using a homogeneous mass distribution. So why did matter
lump together?
It turns out that homogeneous mass distributions are unstable. If for any reason the
density fluctuates, regions of higher density will attract more matter than regions of lower
density. Gravitation will thus cause the denser regions to increase in density and the re-
gions of lower density to be depleted. Can you confirm the instability, simply by assuming
Challenge 350 ny a space filled with dust and a = GM/r 2 ? In summary, even a tiny quantum fluctuation
in the mass density will lead, after a certain time, to lumped matter.
But how did the first inhomogeneities form? That is one of the big problems of mod-
ern physics and astrophysics, and there is no accepted answer yet. Several modern ex-
periments are measuring the variations of the cosmic background radiation spectrum
with angular position and with polarization; these results, which will be available in the
Ref. 235 coming years, might provide some information on the way to settle the issue.

Why are stars so small compared with the universe?

Given that the matter density is around the critical one, the size of stars, which contain
most of the matter, is a result of the interaction of the elementary particles composing Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 260 them. Below we will show that general relativity (alone) cannot explain any size appear-
ing in nature. The discussion of this issue is a theme of quantum theory.

Are stars and galaxies moving apart or is the universe

expanding?
Can we distinguish between space expanding and galaxies moving apart? Yes, we can.
Challenge 351 ny Can you find an argument or devise an experiment to do so?
The expansion of the universe does not apply to the space on the Earth. The expan-
sion is calculated for a homogeneous and isotropic mass distribution. Matter is neither
homogeneous nor isotropic inside the galaxy; the approximation of the cosmological
principle is not valid down here. It has even been checked experimentally, by studying
 236 8 why can we see the stars?

Ref. 236 atomic spectra in various places in the solar system, that there is no Hubble expansion
taking place around us.

Is there more than one universe?

The existence of ‘several’ universes might be an option when we study the question
whether we see all the stars. But you can check that neither definition of ‘universe’ given
above, be it ‘all matter-energy’ or ‘all matter–energy and all space-time’, allows us to an-
Challenge 352 ny swer the question positively.
There is no way to define a plural for universe: either the universe is everything, and
then it is unique, or it is not everything, and then it is not the universe. We will discover
Vol. IV, page 143 that quantum theory does not change this conclusion, despite recurring reports to the
contrary.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Whoever speaks of many universes is talking gibberish.

Why are the stars fixed? – Arms, stars and Mach’s principle

“
Si les astres étaient immobiles, le temps et

”
l’espace n’existeraient plus.*
Maurice Maeterlink.

The two arms possessed by humans have played an important role in discussions about
motion, and especially in the development of relativity. Looking at the stars at night, we
can make a simple observation, if we keep our arms relaxed. Standing still, our arms hang
down. Then we turn rapidly. Our arms lift up. In fact they do so whenever we see the stars
turning. Some people have spent a large part of their lives studying this phenomenon.
Why?
Ref. 237 Stars and arms prove that motion is relative, not absolute.** This observation leads to
two possible formulations of what Einstein called Mach’s principle.
— Inertial frames are determined by the rest of the matter in the universe.
This idea is indeed realized in general relativity. No question about it.
— Inertia is due to the interaction with the rest of the universe.
This formulation is more controversial. Many interpret it as meaning that the mass of an
object depends on the distribution of mass in the rest of the universe. That would mean
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

that one needs to investigate whether mass is anisotropic when a large body is nearby.
Of course, this question has been studied experimentally; one simply needs to measure
whether a particle has the same mass values when accelerated in different directions.
Ref. 238 Unsurprisingly, to a high degree of precision, no such anisotropy has been found. Many
therefore conclude that Mach’s principle is wrong. Others conclude with some pain in
Ref. 239 their stomach that the whole topic is not yet settled.
But in fact it is easy to see that Mach cannot have meant a mass variation at all: one

* ‘If the stars were immobile, time and space would not exist any more.’ Maurice Maeterlink (1862–1949) is
a famous Belgian dramatist.
** The original reasoning by Newton and many others used a bucket and the surface of the water in it; but
the arguments are the same.
 motion in the universe 237

then would also have to conclude that mass is distance-dependent, even in Galilean
physics. But this is known to be false; nobody in his right mind has ever had any doubts
Challenge 353 e about it.
The whole debate is due to a misunderstanding of what is meant by ‘inertia’: one
can interpret it as inertial mass or as inertial motion (like the moving arms under the
stars). There is no evidence that Mach believed either in anisotropic mass or in distance-
dependent mass; the whole discussion is an example people taking pride in not making
a mistake which is incorrectly imputed to another, supposedly more stupid, person.*
Obviously, inertial effects do depend on the distribution of mass in the rest of the
universe. Mach’s principle is correct. Mach made some blunders in his life (he is infa-
mous for opposing the idea of atoms until he died, against experimental evidence) but
his principle is not one of them. Unfortunately it is to be expected that the myth about
Ref. 239 the incorrectness of Mach’s principle will persist, like that of the derision of Columbus.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In fact, Mach’s principle is valuable. As an example, take our galaxy. Experiments show
that it is flattened and rotating. The Sun turns around its centre in about 250 million years.
Indeed, if the Sun did not turn around the galaxy’s centre, we would fall into it in about 20
million years. As the physicist Dennis Sciama pointed out, from the shape of our galaxy
we can draw a powerful conclusion: there must be a lot of other matter, i.e., a lot of other
Challenge 354 s stars and galaxies in the universe. Can you confirm his reasoning?

At rest in the universe

There is no preferred frame in special relativity, no absolute space. Is the same true in
the actual universe? No; there is a preferred frame. Indeed, in the standard big-bang
cosmology, the average galaxy is at rest. Even though we talk about the big bang, any
average galaxy can rightly maintain that it is at rest. Each one is in free fall. An even
better realization of this privileged frame of reference is provided by the background
radiation.
In other words, the night sky is black because we move with almost no speed through
background radiation. If the Earth had a large velocity relative to the background radi-
ation, the sky would be bright even at night, thanks to the Doppler effect for the back-
ground radiation. In other words, the night sky is dark in all directions because of our
slow motion against the background radiation.
This ‘slow’ motion has a speed of 368 km/s. (This is the value of the motion of the Sun;
there are variations due to addition of the motion of the Earth.) The speed value is large
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

in comparison to everyday life, but small compared to the speed of light. More detailed
studies do not change this conclusion. Even the motion of the Milky Way and that of the
local group against the cosmic background radiation is of the order of 600 km/s; that is
still much slower than the speed of light. The reasons why the galaxy and the solar system
move with these ‘low’ speeds across the universe have already been studied in our walk.
Challenge 355 ny Can you give a summary?

* A famous example is often learned at school. It is regularly suggested that Columbus was derided because
he thought the Earth to be spherical. But he was not derided at all for this reason; there were only disagree-
ments on the size of the Earth, and in fact it turned out that his critics were right, and that he was wrong in
his own, much too small, estimate of the radius.
 238 8 why can we see the stars?

By the way, is the term ‘universe’ correct? Does the universe rotate, as its name im-
plies? If by universe one means the whole of experience, the question does not make
sense, because rotation is only defined for bodies, i.e., for parts of the universe. However,
Ref. 240 if by universe one only means ‘all matter’, the answer can be determined by experiments.
It turns out that the rotation is extremely small, if there is any: measurements of the cos-
mic background radiation show that in the lifetime of the universe, it cannot have rotated
by more than a hundredth of a millionth of a turn! In short, ‘universe’ is a misnomer.

Does light attract light?

Another reason why we can see stars is that their light reaches us. But why are travelling
light rays not disturbed by each other’s gravitation? We know that light is energy and that
any energy attracts other energy through gravitation. In particular, light is electromag-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
netic energy, and experiments have shown that all electromagnetic energy is subject to
gravitation. Could two light beams that are advancing with a small angle between them
converge, because of mutual gravitational attraction? That could have measurable and
possibly interesting effects on the light observed from distant stars.
The simplest way to explore the issue is to study the following question: Do parallel
light beams remain parallel? Interestingly, a precise calculation shows that mutual grav-
Ref. 241 itation does not alter the path of two parallel light beams, even though it does alter the
path of antiparallel light beams.* The reason is that for parallel beams moving at light
Challenge 356 ny speed, the gravitomagnetic component exactly cancels the gravitoelectric component.
Since light does not attract light moving along, light is not disturbed by its own gravity
during the millions of years that it takes to reach us from distant stars. Light does not
attract or disturb light moving alongside. So far, all known quantum-mechanical effects
also confirm this conclusion.

Does light decay?

In the section on quantum theory we will encounter experiments showing that light is
made of particles. It is plausible that these photons might decay into some other particle,
as yet unknown, or into lower-frequency photons. If that actually happened, we would
not be able to see distant stars.
Challenge 357 ny But any decay would also mean that light would change its direction (why?) and thus
produce blurred images for remote objects. However, no blurring is observed. In addi- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tion, the Soviet physicist Matvey Bronstein demonstrated in the 1930s that any light decay
Ref. 242 process would have a larger rate for smaller frequencies. When people checked the shift
of radio waves, in particular the famous 21 cm line, and compared it with the shift of
light from the same source, no difference was found for any of the galaxies tested.
People even checked that Sommerfeld’s fine-structure constant, which determines the
Ref. 243 colour of objects, does not change over time. Despite an erroneous claim in recent years,
no change could be detected over thousands of millions of years.
Of course, instead of decaying, light could also be hit by some hitherto unknown
Challenge 358 ny entity. But this possibility is excluded by the same arguments. These investigations also
show that there is no additional red-shift mechanism in nature apart from the Doppler

* Antiparallel beams are parallel beams travelling in opposite directions.

 motion in the universe 239

Page 229 and gravitational red-shifts.

The visibility of the stars at night has indeed shed light on numerous properties of
nature. We now continue our mountain ascent with a more general issue, nearer to our
quest for the fundamentals of motion.

Summary on cosmology
In summary, asking what precisely we see at night leads to many awe-inspiring insights.
And if you ever have the chance to look through a telescope, do so!

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 9

BL AC K HOLES – FALLING FOREVER

“ ”
Qui iacet in terra non habet unde cadat.*
Alanus de Insulis

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Why explore black holes?

T
he most extreme gravitational phenomena in nature are black holes. They realize
he limit of length-to-mass ratios in nature. In other words, they produce
he highest force value possible in nature at their surface, the so-called event hori-
zon. Black holes also produce the highest space-time curvature values. In other terms,
black holes are the most extreme general relativistic systems that are found in nature.
Due to their extreme properties, the study of black holes is also a major stepping stone
towards unification and the final description of motion.
Ref. 130 Black hole is shorthand for ‘gravitationally completely collapsed object’. Predicted over
two centuries ago, it was unclear for a long time whether or not they exist. Around
the year 2000, the available experimental data have now led most experts to conclude
that there is a black hole at the centre of almost all galaxies, including our own (see
Ref. 244 Figure 107). Black holes are also suspected at the heart of quasars, of active galactic nuclei
and of gamma ray bursters. In short, it seems that the evolution of galaxies is strongly tied
to the evolution of black holes. In addition, about a dozen smaller black holes have been
identified elsewhere in our galaxy. For these reasons, black holes, the most impressive,
Ref. 245 the most powerful and the most relativistic systems in nature, are a fascinating subject
of study.

Mass concentration and horizons

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The escape velocity is the speed needed to launch an projectile in such a way that it never
falls back down. The escape velocity depends on the mass and the size of the planet from
which the launch takes place: the denser the planet is, the higher is the escape velocity.
What happens when a planet or star has an escape velocity that is larger than the speed of
light c? Such objects were first imagined by the British geologist John Michell in 1784, and
Ref. 246 independently by the French mathematician Pierre Laplace in 1795, long before general
relativity was developed. Michell and Laplace realized something fundamental: even if
an object with such a high escape velocity were a hot star, to a distant observer it would
appear to be completely black, as illustrated in Figure 108. The object would not allow
* ‘He who lies on the ground cannot fall down from it.’ The author’s original name is Alain de Lille (c. 1128
–1203).
 black holes – falling forever 241

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 107 A time-lapse film, taken over a period of 16 years, of the orbits of the stars near the centre
of our Galaxy. The invisible central object is so massive and small that it is almost surely a black hole
(QuickTime film © ESO).

any light to leave it; in addition, it would block all light coming from behind it. In 1967,
Ref. 130 John Wheeler* made the now standard term black hole, due to Anne Ewing, popular in
physics.
Challenge 359 e It only takes a few lines to show that light cannot escape from a body of mass M
whenever the radius is smaller than a critical value given by

2GM
RS = (267)
c2
called the Schwarzschild radius. The formula is valid both in universal gravity and in
general relativity, provided that in general relativity we take the radius as meaning the
circumference divided by 2π. Such a body realizes the limit value for length-to-mass
ratios in nature. For this and other reasons to be given shortly, we will call RS also the
size of the black hole of mass M. (But note that it is only half the diameter.) In principle,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

it is possible to imagine an object with a smaller length-to-mass ratio; however, we will

discover that there is no way to observe an object smaller than the Schwarzschild radius,
just as an object moving faster than the speed of light cannot be observed. However, we
can observe black holes – the limit case – just as we can observe entities moving at the
speed of light.
When a test mass is made to shrink and to approach the critical radius RS , two things
happen. First, the local proper acceleration for (imaginary) point masses increases with-
* John Archibald Wheeler (1911–2008), US-American physicist, important expert on general relativity and
author of several excellent textbooks, among them the beautiful John A. Wheeler, A Journey into Grav-
ity and Spacetime, Scientific American Library & Freeman, 1990, in which he explains general relativity with
passion and in detail, but without any mathematics.
 242 9 black holes – falling forever

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 108 A simplified simulated image of how a black hole of ten solar masses, with Schwarzschild
radius of 30 km, seen from a constant distance of 600 km, will distort an image of the Milky Way in the
background. Note the Zwicky–Einstein ring formed at around twice the black hole radius and the thin
bright rim (Image © Ute Kraus at www.tempolimit-lichtgeschwindigkeit.de).

out bound. For realistic objects of finite size, the black hole realizes the highest force
possible in nature. Something that falls into a black hole cannot be pulled back out. A
black hole thus swallows all matter that falls into it. It acts like a cosmic vacuum cleaner.
At the surface of a black hole, the red-shift factor for a distant observer also increases
without bound. The ratio between the two quantities is called the surface gravity of a
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 360 ny black hole. It is given by

GM c4 c2
дsurf = 2 = = . (268)
RS 4GM 2RS

A black hole thus does not allow any light to leave it.
A surface that realizes the force limit and an infinite red-shift makes it is impossible
to send light, matter, energy or signals of any kind to the outside world. A black hole
is thus surrounded by a horizon. We know that a horizon is a limit surface. In fact, a
horizon is a limit in two ways. First, a horizon is a limit to communication: nothing can
communicate across it. Secondly, a horizon is a surface of maximum force and power.
These properties are sufficient to answer all questions about the effects of horizons. For
 black holes – falling forever 243

event horizon

black
hole

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 109 The light cones in the
equatorial plane around a non-rotating
black hole, seen from above the plane.

Challenge 361 ny example: What happens when a light beam is sent upwards from the horizon? And from
slightly above the horizon? Figure 109 provides some hints.
Black holes, regarded as astronomical objects, are thus different from planets. During
the formation of planets, matter lumps together; as soon as it cannot be compressed any
further, an equilibrium is reached, which determines the radius of the planet. That is the
same mechanism as when a stone is thrown towards the Earth: it stops falling when it
hits the ground. A ‘ground’ is formed whenever matter hits other matter. In the case of a
black hole, there is no ground; everything continues falling. That is why, in Russian, black
holes used to be called collapsars.
This continuous falling of a black hole takes place when the concentration of matter
is so high that it overcomes all those interactions which make matter impenetrable in
Ref. 247 daily life. In 1939, Robert Oppenheimer* and Hartland Snyder showed theoretically that
a black hole forms whenever a star of sufficient mass stops burning. When a star of suffi-
cient mass stops burning, the interactions that form the ‘floor’ disappear, and everything
continues falling without end.
A black hole is matter in permanent free fall. Nevertheless, its radius for an outside
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

observer remains constant! But that is not all. Furthermore, because of this permanent
free fall, black holes are the only state of matter in thermodynamic equilibrium! In a
sense, floors and all other every-day states of matter are metastable: these forms are not
as stable as black holes.

* Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), important US-American physicist. He can be called the father of the-
oretical physics in the USA. He worked on quantum theory and atomic physics. He then headed the team
that developed the nuclear bomb during the Second World War. He was also the most prominent (innocent)
victim of one of the greatest witch-hunts ever organized in his home country. See also the www.nap.edu/
readingroom/books/biomems/joppenheimer.html website.
 244 9 black holes – falling forever

Black hole horizons as limit surfaces

The characterizing property of a black hole is thus its horizon. The first time we encoun-
Page 88 tered horizons was in special relativity, in the section on accelerated observers. The hori-
zons due to gravitation are similar in all their properties; the section on the maximum
force and power gave a first impression. The only difference we have found is due to the
neglect of gravitation in special relativity. As a result, horizons in nature cannot be planar,
in contrast to what is suggested by the observations of the imagined point-like observers
assumed to exist in special relativity.
Both the maximum force principle and the field equations imply that the space-time
around a rotationally symmetric (thus non-rotating) and electrically neutral mass is de-
Page 133 scribed by
2GM dr 2
di 2 = 󶀤1 − 󶀴 dt 2
− − r 2 dφ2 /c 2 . (269)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
2GM
rc 2 1 − rc2

This is the so-called Schwarzschild metric. As mentioned above, r is the circumference

divided by 2π; t is the time measured at infinity. No outside observer will ever receive
any signal emitted from a radius value r = 2GM/c 2 or smaller. Indeed, as the proper
time i of an observer at radius r is related to the time t of an observer at infinity through

2GM
di = 󵀊1 − dt , (270)
rc 2

we find that an observer at the horizon would have vanishing proper time. In other words,
at the horizon the red-shift is infinite. (In fact, the surface of infinite red-shift and the
horizon coincide only for non-rotating black holes. For rotating black holes, the two
surfaces are distinct.) Everything happening at the horizon goes on infinitely slowly, as
observed by a distant observer. In other words, for a distant observer observing what is
going on at the horizon itself, nothing at all ever happens.
In the same way that observers cannot reach the speed of light, observers cannot reach
a horizon. For a second observer, it can only happen that the first is moving almost as
fast as light; in the same way, for a second observer, it can only happen that the first
has almost reached the horizon. In addition, a traveller cannot feel how much he is near
the speed of light for another, and experiences light speed as unattainable; in the same
way, a traveller (into a large black hole) cannot feel how much he is near a horizon and
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

experiences the horizon as unattainable.

In general relativity, horizons of any kind are predicted to be black. Since light cannot
escape from them, classical horizons are completely dark surfaces. In fact, horizons are
the darkest entities imaginable: nothing in nature is darker. Nonetheless, we will discover
Page 250 below that physical horizons are not completely black.

Orbits around black holes

Ref. 242 Since black holes curve space-time strongly, a body moving near a black hole behaves in
more complicated ways than predicted by universal gravity. In universal gravity, paths
are either ellipses, parabolas, or hyperbolas; all these are plane curves. It turns out that
 black holes – falling forever 245

black hole

impact
parameter

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 110 Motions of massive objects around a non-rotating black hole – for different impact
parameters and initial velocities.

paths lie in a plane only near non-rotating black holes.*

Around non-rotating black holes, also called Schwarzschild black holes, circular paths
Challenge 363 ny are impossible for radii less than 3RS /2 (can you show why?) and are unstable to pertur-
bations from there up to a radius of 3RS . Only at larger radii are circular orbits stable.
Around black holes, there are no elliptic paths; the corresponding rosetta path is shown
in Figure 110. Such a path shows the famous periastron shift in all its glory.
Note that the potential around a black hole is not appreciably different from 1/r for
Challenge 364 ny distances above about fifteen Schwarzschild radii. For a black hole of the mass of the
Sun, that would be 42 km from its centre; therefore, we would not be able to note any
difference for the path of the Earth around the Sun.
We have mentioned several times in our adventure that gravitation is characterized
by its tidal effects. Black holes show extreme properties in this respect. If a cloud of dust
falls into a black hole, the size of the cloud increases as it falls, until the cloud envelops
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the whole horizon. In fact, the result is valid for any extended body. This property of
black holes will be of importance later on, when we will discuss the size of elementary
particles.
For falling bodies coming from infinity, the situation near black holes is even more in-
teresting. Of course there are no hyperbolic paths, only trajectories similar to hyperbolas

* For such paths, Kepler’s rule connecting the average distance and the time of orbit

GMt 3
= r3 (271)
(2π)2

Challenge 362 ny still holds, provided the proper time and the radius measured by a distant observer are used.
 246 9 black holes – falling forever

limit orbit

limit orbit

black black
hole hole

the photon sphere the photon sphere

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 111 Motions of light passing near a non-rotating black hole.

for bodies passing far enough away. But for small, but not too small impact parameters,
a body will make a number of turns around the black hole, before leaving again. The
number of turns increases beyond all bounds with decreasing impact parameter, until a
value is reached at which the body is captured into an orbit at a radius of 2R, as shown in
Figure 110. In other words, this orbit captures incoming bodies if they approach it below
a certain critical angle. For comparison, remember that in universal gravity, capture is
never possible. At still smaller impact parameters, the black hole swallows the incoming
mass. In both cases, capture and deflection, a body can make several turns around the
black hole, whereas in universal gravity it is impossible to make more than half a turn
around a body.
The most absurd-looking orbits, though, are those corresponding to the parabolic case
Challenge 365 ny of universal gravity. (These are of purely academic interest, as they occur with probability
zero.) In summary, relativity changes the motions due to gravity quite drastically.
Around rotating black holes, the orbits of point masses are even more complex than
those shown in Figure 110; for bound motion, for example, the ellipses do not stay in
one plane – thanks to the Thirring–Lense effect – leading to extremely involved orbits in
three dimensions filling the space around the black hole.
For light passing a black hole, the paths are equally interesting, as shown in Figure 111. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

There are no qualitative differences with the case of rapid particles. For a non-rotating
black hole, the path obviously lies in a single plane. Of course, if light passes sufficiently
nearby, it can be strongly bent, as well as captured. Again, light can also make one or
several turns around the black hole before leaving or being captured. The limit between
the two cases is the path in which light moves in a circle around a black hole, at 3R/2.
If we were located on that orbit, we would see the back of our head by looking forward!
Challenge 366 ny However, this orbit is unstable. The surface containing all orbits inside the circular one
is called the photon sphere. The photon sphere thus divides paths leading to capture from
those leading to infinity. Note that there is no stable orbit for light around a black hole.
Challenge 367 ny Are there any rosetta paths for light around a black hole?
For light around a rotating black hole, paths are much more complex. Already in the
equatorial plane there are two possible circular light paths: a smaller one in the direction
 black holes – falling forever 247

Challenge 368 ny of the rotation, and a larger one in the opposite direction.
For charged black holes, the orbits for falling charged particles are even more com-
plex. The electrical field lines need to be taken into account. Several fascinating effects
appear which have no correspondence in usual electromagnetism, such as effects similar
to electrical versions of the Meissner effect. The behaviour of such orbits is still an active
area of research in general relativity.

Black holes have no hair

How is a black hole characterized? It turns out that all properties of black holes follow
from a few basic quantities characterizing them, namely their mass M, their angular mo-
mentum J, and their electric charge Q.* All other properties – such as size, shape, colour,
magnetic field – are uniquely determined by these.** It is as though, to use Wheeler’s

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
colourful analogy, one could deduce every characteristic of a woman from her size, her
waist and her height. Physicists also say that black holes ‘have no hair,’ meaning that
(classical) black holes have no other degrees of freedom. This expression was also intro-
Ref. 250 duced by Wheeler.*** This fact was proved by Israel, Carter, Robinson and Mazur; they
showed that for a given mass, angular momentum and charge, there is only one possible
Ref. 251 black hole. (However, the uniqueness theorem is not valid any more if the black hole
carries nuclear quantum numbers, such as weak or strong charges.)
In other words, a black hole is independent of how it has formed, and of the materials
used when forming it. Black holes all have the same composition, or better, they have no
composition at all.
The mass M of a black hole is not restricted by general relativity. It may be as small
as that of a microscopic particle and as large as many million solar masses. But for their
angular momentum J and electric charge Q, the situation is different. A rotating black
hole has a maximum possible angular momentum and a maximum possible electric (and
magnetic) charge.**** The limit on the angular momentum appears because its perimeter
Challenge 369 ny may not move faster than light. The electric charge is also limited. The two limits are not
independent: they are related by

J 2 GQ 2 GM 2
󶀤 󶀴 + ⩽ 󶀤 󶀴 . (272)
cM 4πε0 c 4 c2
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* The existence of three basic characteristics is reminiscent of particles. We will find out more about the
Vol. VI, page 138 relation between black holes and particles in the final part of our mountain ascent.
** Mainly for marketing reasons, non-rotating and electrically neutral black holes are often called Schwarz-
Ref. 248 schild black holes; uncharged and rotating ones are often called Kerr black holes, after Roy Kerr, who discov-
ered the corresponding solution of Einstein’s field equations in 1963. Electrically charged but non-rotating
black holes are often called Reissner–Nordström black holes, after the German physicist Hans Reissner and
the Finnish physicist Gunnar Nordström. The general case, charged and rotating, is sometimes named after
Ref. 249 Kerr and Newman.
Ref. 130 *** Wheeler claims that he was inspired by the difficulty of distinguishing between bald men; however, it is
not a secret that Feynman, Ruffini and others had a clear anatomical image in mind when they stated that
‘black holes, in contrast to their surroundings, have no hair.’
Vol. III, page 47 **** More about the conjectured magnetic charge later on. In black holes, it enters like an additional type
of charge into all expressions in which electric charge appears.
 248 9 black holes – falling forever

rotation axis

event horizon

ergosphere

static limit

F I G U R E 112 The ergosphere of a rotating black hole.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
This follows from the limit on length-to-mass ratios at the basis of general relativity.
Challenge 370 ny Rotating black holes realizing the limit (272) are called extremal black holes. The limit
(272) implies that the horizon radius of a general black hole is given by

GM J 2 c2 Q2
rh = 󶀧1 + 󵀌1 − − 󶀷 (273)
c2 M 4 G 2 4πε0 GM 2

For example, for a black hole with the mass and half the angular momentum of the Sun,
namely 2 ⋅ 1030 kg and 0.45 ⋅ 1042 kg m2 /s, the charge limit is about 1.4 ⋅ 1020 C.
How does one distinguish rotating from non-rotating black holes? First of all by the
shape. Non-rotating black holes must be spherical (any non-sphericity is radiated away
Ref. 252 as gravitational waves) and rotating black holes have a slightly flattened shape, uniquely
determined by their angular momentum. Because of their rotation, their surface of in-
finite gravity or infinite red-shift, called the static limit, is different from their (outer)
horizon, as illustrated in Figure 112. The region in between is called the ergosphere; this
is a misnomer as it is not a sphere. (It is so called because, as we will see shortly, it can be
used to extract energy from the black hole.) The motion of bodies within the ergosphere
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

can be quite complex. It suffices to mention that rotating black holes drag any in-falling
body into an orbit around them; this is in contrast to non-rotating black holes, which
swallow in-falling bodies. In other words, rotating black holes are not really ‘holes’ at all,
but rather vortices.
The distinction between rotating and non-rotating black holes also appears in the hori-
zon surface area. The (horizon) surface area A of a non-rotating and uncharged black
Challenge 371 e hole is obviously related to its mass M by

16πG 2 2
A= M . (274)
c4
The relation between surface area and mass for a rotating and charged black hole is more
 black holes – falling forever 249

complex: it is given by

8πG 2 2 J 2 c2 Q2
A= M 󶀧1 + 󵀌1 − − 󶀷 (275)
c4 M 4 G 2 4πε0 GM 2

where J is the angular momentum and Q the charge. In fact, the relation

8πG
A= Mrh (276)
c2
is valid for all black holes. Obviously, in the case of an electrically charged black hole, the
rotation also produces a magnetic field around it. This is in contrast with non-rotating
black holes, which cannot have a magnetic field.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Black holes as energy sources
Can one extract energy from a black hole? Roger Penrose has discovered that this is
Ref. 253 possible for rotating black holes. A rocket orbiting a rotating black hole in its ergosphere
could switch its engines on and would then get hurled into outer space at tremendous
velocity, much greater than what the engines could have produced by themselves. In fact,
the same effect is used by rockets on the Earth, and is the reason why all satellites orbit
the Earth in the same direction; it would require much more fuel to make them turn the
other way.*
The energy gained by the rocket would be lost by the black hole, which would thus
slow down and lose some mass; on the other hand, there is a mass increases due to the
exhaust gases falling into the black hole. This increase always is larger than, or at best
equal to, the loss due to rotation slowdown. The best one can do is to turn the engines on
exactly at the horizon; then the horizon area of the black hole stays constant, and only
its rotation is slowed down.**
As a result, for a neutral black hole rotating with its maximum possible angular mo-
mentum, 1 − 1/󵀂2 = 29.3 % of its total energy can be extracted through the Penrose
Challenge 373 ny process. For black holes rotating more slowly, the percentage is obviously smaller.
For charged black holes, such irreversible energy extraction processes are also possible.
Challenge 374 ny Can you think of a way? Using expression (272), we find that up to 50 % of the mass of
Challenge 375 ny a non-rotating black hole can be due to its charge. In fact, in the quantum part of our
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

mountain ascent we will encounter an energy extraction process which nature seems to
Vol. V, page 108 use quite frequently.
The Penrose process allows one to determine how angular momentum and charge

* And it would be much more dangerous, since any small object would hit such an against-the-stream
Challenge 372 ny satellite at about 15.8 km/s, thus transforming the object into a dangerous projectile. In fact, any power
wanting to destroy satellites of the enemy would simply have to load a satellite with nuts or bolts, send it
into space the wrong way, and distribute the bolts into a cloud. It would make satellites impossible for many
decades to come.
** It is also possible to extract energy from rotational black holes through gravitational radiation.
 250 9 black holes – falling forever

Ref. 254 increase the mass of a black hole. The result is the famous mass–energy relation

2 2
E2 Q2 J 2 c2 Q2 J2 1
M2 = = 󶀦m irr + 󶀶 + 2 G2
= 󶀦m irr + 󶀶 + 2 c2
(277)
c4 16πε0 Gmirr 4mirr 8πε0 ρirr ρirr

which shows how the electrostatic and the rotational energy enter the mass of a black
hole. In the expression, mirr is the irreducible mass defined as
2
2 A(M, Q = 0, J = 0) c 4 c2
mirr = = 󶀦ρirr 󶀶 (278)
16π G2 2G

and ρirr is the irreducible radius.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Detailed investigations show that there is no process which decreases the horizon area,
and thus the irreducible mass or radius, of the black hole. People have checked this in
all ways possible and imaginable. For example, when two black holes merge, the total
area increases. One calls processes which keep the area and energy of the black hole
constant reversible, and all others irreversible. In fact, the area of black holes behaves
like the entropy of a closed system: it never decreases. That the area in fact is an entropy
Ref. 255 was first stated in 1970 by Jacob Bekenstein. He deduced that only when an entropy is
ascribed to a black hole, is it possible to understand where the entropy of all the material
falling into it is collected.
The black hole entropy is a function only of the mass, the angular momentum and
the charge of the black hole. You might want to confirm Bekenstein’s deduction that the
Challenge 376 ny entropy S is proportional to the horizon area. Later it was found, using quantum theory,
that
A kc 3 Ak
S= = 2 . (279)
4 ħG 4 lPl

This famous relation cannot be deduced without quantum theory, as the absolute value
of entropy, as for any other observable, is never fixed by classical physics alone. We will
Vol. V, page 109 discuss this expression later on in our mountain ascent.
If black holes have an entropy, they also must have a temperature. If they have a tem-
perature, they must shine. Black holes thus cannot be black! This was proven by Stephen
Hawking in 1974 with extremely involved calculations. However, it could have been de-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

duced in the 1930s, with a simple Gedanken experiment which we will present later on.
Vol. V, page 103 You might want to think about the issue, asking and investigating what strange conse-
quences would appear if black holes had no entropy. Black hole radiation is a further,
though tiny (quantum) mechanism for energy extraction, and is applicable even to non-
Vol. V, page 103 rotating, uncharged black holes. The interesting connections between black holes, ther-
modynamics, and quantum theory will be presented in the upcoming parts of our moun-
Challenge 377 ny tain ascent. Can you imagine other mechanisms that make black holes shine?
 black holes – falling forever 251

TA B L E 8 Types of black holes.

Black hole Mass Charge Angular E x pe ri m e n ta l

type momentum evidence

Supermassive black 105 to 1011 m⊙ unknown unknown orbits of nearby stars,

holes light emission from
accretion
Intermediate black 50 to 105 m⊙ unknown unknown X-ray emission of
holes accreting matter
Stellar black holes 1 to 50 m⊙ unknown unknown X-ray emission from
double star companion
Primordial black below 1 m⊙ unknown unknown undetected so far;
holes research ongoing

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Micro black holes below 1 g n.a. n.a. none; appear only in
science fiction and in
the mind of cranks

Formation of and search for black holes

How might black holes form? At present, at least three possible mechanisms have been
distinguished; the question is still a hot subject of research. First of all, black holes could
Ref. 256 have formed during the early stages of the universe. These primordial black holes might
grow through accretion, i.e., through the swallowing of nearby matter and radiation, or
Vol. V, page 106 disappear through one of the mechanisms to be studied later on.
Of the observed black holes, the so-called supermassive black holes are found at the
centre of every galaxy studied so far. They have typical masses in the range from 106 to
109 solar masses and contain about 0.5 % of the mass of a galaxy. For example, the black
Ref. 244 hole at the centre of the Milky Way has about 2.6 million solar masses, while the central
black hole of the galaxy M87 has 6400 million solar masses. Supermassive black holes
seem to exist at the centre of almost all galaxies, and seem to be related to the formation
of galaxies themselves. Supermassive black holes are supposed to have formed through
the collapse of large dust clouds, and to have grown through subsequent accretion of
matter. The latest ideas imply that these black holes accrete a lot of matter in their early
stage; the matter falling in emits lots of radiation, which would explain the brightness Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

of quasars. Later on, the rate of accretion slows, and the less spectacular Seyfert galaxies
form. It may even be that the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy triggers
the formation of stars. Still later, these supermassive black holes become almost dormant,
or quiescent, like the one at the centre of the Milky Way.
Ref. 257 On the other hand, black holes can form when old massive stars collapse. It is esti-
mated that when stars with at least three solar masses burn out their fuel, part of the
matter remaining will collapse into a black hole. Such stellar black holes have a mass
between one and a hundred solar masses; they can also continue growing through subse-
quent accretion. This situation provided the first ever candidate for a black hole, Cygnus
Ref. 244 X-1, which was discovered in 1971. Over a dozen stellar black holes of between 4 and 20
solar masses are known to be scattered around our own galaxy; all have been discovered
after 1971.
 252 9 black holes – falling forever

Recent measurements suggest also the existence of intermediate black holes, with typi-
cal masses around a thousand solar masses; the mechanisms and conditions for their for-
mation are still unknown. The first candidates were found in the year 2000. Astronomers
are also studying how large numbers of black holes in star clusters behave, how often they
collide. Under certain circumstances, the two black holes merge. Whatever the outcome,
black hole collisions emit strong gravitational waves. In fact, this signal is being looked
Page 160 for at the gravitational wave detectors that are in operation around the globe.
The search for black holes is a popular sport among astrophysicists. Conceptually, the
simplest way to search for them is to look for strong gravitational fields. But only double
stars allow one to measure gravitational fields directly, and the strongest ever measured
Ref. 258 is 30 % of the theoretical maximum value. Another obvious way is to look for strong
gravitational lenses, and try to get a mass-to-size ratio pointing to a black hole; however,
no black holes was found in this way yet. Still another method is to look at the dynamics

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
of stars near the centre of galaxies. Measuring their motion, one can deduce the mass
of the body they orbit. The most favoured method to search for black holes is to look
for extremely intense X-ray emission from point sources, using space-based satellites or
balloon-based detectors. If the distance to the object is known, its absolute brightness
can be deduced; if it is above a certain limit, it must be a black hole, since normal matter
cannot produce an unlimited amount of light. This method is being perfected with the
aim of directly observing of energy disappearing into a horizon. This disappearance may
Ref. 259 in fact have been observed recently.
Finally, there is the suspicion that small black holes might be found in the halos of
galaxies, and make up a substantial fraction of the so-called dark matter.
In summary, the list of discoveries around black holes is expected to expand dramat-
ically in the coming years.

Singularities
Solving the equations of general relativity for various initial conditions, one finds that
a cloud of dust usually collapses to a singularity, i.e., to a point of infinite density. The
same conclusion appears when one follows the evolution of the universe backwards in
time. In fact, Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking have proved several mathematical
theorems on the necessity of singularities for many classical matter distributions. These
theorems assume only the continuity of space-time and a few rather weak conditions on
Ref. 260 the matter in it. The theorems state that in expanding systems such as the universe itself,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

or in collapsing systems such as black holes in formation, events with infinite matter
density should exist somewhere in the past, or in the future, respectively. This result is
usually summarized by saying that there is a mathematical proof that the universe started
in a singularity.
In fact, the derivation of the initial singularities makes a hidden, but strong assump-
tion about matter: that dust particles have no proper size, i.e., that they are point-like.
In other words, it is assumed that dust particles are singularities. Only with this assump-
tion can one deduce the existence of initial or final singularities. However, we have seen
that the maximum force principle can be reformulated as a minimum size principle for
matter. The argument that there must have been an initial singularity of the universe is
thus flawed! The experimental situation is clear: there is overwhelming evidence for an
 black holes – falling forever 253

early state of the universe that was extremely hot and dense; but there is no evidence for
infinite temperature or density.
Mathematically inclined researchers distinguish two types of singularities: those with
a horizon – also called dressed singularities – and those without a horizon, the so-called
naked singularities. Naked singularities are especially strange: for example, a toothbrush
could fall into a naked singularity and disappear without leaving any trace. Since the
field equations are time invariant, we could thus expect that every now and then, naked
singularities emit toothbrushes. (Can you explain why dressed singularities are less dan-
Challenge 378 ny gerous?)
To avoid the spontaneous appearance of toothbrushes, over the years many people
have tried to discover some theoretical principles forbidding the existence of naked sin-
gularities. It turns out that there are two such principles. The first is the maximum force
or maximum power principle we encountered above. The maximum force implies that

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
no infinite force values appear in nature; in other words, there are no naked singularities
Ref. 261 in nature. This statement is often called cosmic censorship. Obviously, if general relativity
were not the correct description of nature, naked singularities could still appear. Cosmic
censorship is thus still discussed in research articles. The experimental search for naked
singularities has not yielded any success; in fact, there is not even a candidate observation
for the – less abstruse – dressed singularities. But the theoretical case for ‘dressed’ singu-
larities is also weak. Since there is no way to interact with anything behind a horizon, it
is futile to discuss what happens there. There is no way to prove that behind a horizon a
singularity exists. Dressed singularities are articles of faith, not of physics.
In fact, there is another principle preventing singularities, namely quantum theory.
Whenever we encounter a prediction of an infinite value, we have extended our descrip-
tion of nature to a domain for which it was not conceived. To speak about singularities,
one must assume the applicability of pure general relativity to very small distances and
Vol. VI, page 95 very high energies. As will become clear in the last volume, nature does not allow this:
the combination of general relativity and quantum theory shows that it makes no sense
to talk about ‘singularities’, nor about what happens ‘inside’ a black hole horizon. The
Vol. VI, page 59 reason is that arbitrary small time and space values do not exist in nature.

Curiosities and fun challenges about black holes

“ ”
Tiens, les trous noirs. C’est troublant.*
Anonymous
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Black holes have many counter-intuitive properties. We will first have a look at the clas-
Vol. V, page 112 sical effects, leaving the quantum effects for later on.
∗∗
Following universal gravity, light could climb upwards from the surface of a black hole
and then fall back down. In general relativity, a black hole does not allow light to climb
Challenge 379 ny up at all; it can only fall. Can you confirm this?
∗∗

* No translation possible.
 254 9 black holes – falling forever

observer dense
star

F I G U R E 113 Motion of some light rays from a

dense body to an observer.

What happens to a person falling into a black hole? An outside observer gives a clear
answer: the falling person never arrives there since she needs an infinite time to reach the
horizon. Can you confirm this result? The falling person, however, reaches the horizon

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 380 ny
Challenge 381 ny in a finite amount of her own time. Can you calculate it?
This result is surprising, as it means that for an outside observer in a universe with
finite age, black holes cannot have formed yet! At best, we can only observe systems that
are busy forming black holes. In a sense, it might be correct to say that black holes do not
exist. Black holes could have existed right from the start in the fabric of space-time. On
the other hand, we will find out later why this is impossible. In short, it is important to
keep in mind that the idea of black hole is a limit concept but that usually, limit concepts
(like baths or temperature) are useful descriptions of nature. Independently of this last
issue, we can confirm that in nature, the length-to-mass ratio always satisfies

L 4G
⩾ 2 . (280)
M c
No exception has ever been observed.
∗∗
Interestingly, the size of a person falling into a black hole is experienced in vastly different
ways by the falling person and a person staying outside. If the black hole is large, the in-
falling observer feels almost nothing, as the tidal effects are small. The outside observer
makes a startling observation: he sees the falling person spread all over the horizon of
the black hole. In-falling, extended bodies cover the whole horizon. Can you explain this Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 382 ny fact, for example by using the limit on length-to-mass ratios?
This strange result will be of importance later on in our exploration, and lead to im-
portant results about the size of point particles.
∗∗
An observer near a (non-rotating) black hole, or in fact near any object smaller than 7/4
times its gravitational radius, can even see the complete back side of the object, as shown
Challenge 383 ny in Figure 113. Can you imagine what the image looks like? Note that in addition to the
paths shown in Figure 113, light can also turn several times around the black hole before
reaching the observer! Therefore, such an observer sees an infinite number of images of
the black hole. The resulting formula for the angular size of the innermost image was
Page 144 given above.
 black holes – falling forever 255

In fact, the effect of gravity means that it is possible to observe more than half the
surface of any spherical object. In everyday life, however, the effect is small: for example,
light bending allows us to see about 50.0002 % of the surface of the Sun.
∗∗
A mass point inside the smallest circular path of light around a black hole, at 3R/2, can-
not stay in a circle, because in that region, something strange happens. A body which
circles another in everyday life always feels a tendency to be pushed outwards; this cen-
trifugal effect is due to the inertia of the body. But at values below 3R/2, a circulating
body is pushed inwards by its inertia. There are several ways to explain this paradoxical
Ref. 262 effect. The simplest is to note that near a black hole, the weight increases faster than the
Challenge 384 ny centrifugal force, as you may want to check yourself. Only a rocket with engines switched
on and pushing towards the sky can orbit a black hole at 3R/2.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∗∗
By the way, how can gravity, or an electrical field, come out of a black hole, if no signal
Challenge 385 s and no energy can leave it?
∗∗
Do white holes exist, i.e., time-inverted black holes, in which everything flows out of,
Challenge 386 ny instead of into, some bounded region?
∗∗
Challenge 387 ny Show that a cosmological constant Λ leads to the following metric for a black hole:

ds 2 2GM Λ 2 dr 2 r2 2
dτ 2 = 2
= 󶀤1 − − r 󶀴 dt 2 − Λc2 2
− dφ . (281)
c rc 2 3 c2 − 2GM
− r c2
r 3

Note that this metric does not turn into the Minkowski metric for large values of r.
However, in the case that Λ is small, the metric is almost flat for values of r that satisfy
1/󵀂Λ ≫ r ≫ 2Gm/c 2 .
As a result, the inverse square law is also modified:

Gm c 2 Λ
F=− +
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

r. (282)
r2 6
With the known values of the cosmological constant, the second term is negligible inside
the solar system.
∗∗
In quantum theory, the gyromagnetic ratio is an important quantity for any rotating
Challenge 388 ny charged system. What is the gyromagnetic ratio for rotating black holes?
∗∗
A large black hole is, as the name implies, black. Still, it can be seen. If we were to travel
 256 9 black holes – falling forever

towards it in a spaceship, we would note that the black hole is surrounded by a bright
rim, like a thin halo, as shown in Figure 108. The ring at the radial distance of the photon
sphere is due to those photons which come from other luminous objects, then circle the
hole, and finally, after one or several turns, end up in our eye. Can you confirm this result?
Challenge 389 s

∗∗
Challenge 390 ny Do moving black holes Lorentz-contract? Black holes do shine a little bit. It is true that
the images they form are complex, as light can turn around them a few times before
reaching the observer. In addition, the observer has to be far away, so that the effects of
curvature are small. All these effects can be taken into account; nevertheless, the question
remains subtle. The reason is that the concept of Lorentz contraction makes no sense in
general relativity, as the comparison with the uncontracted situation is difficult to define

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
precisely.
∗∗
Are black holes made of space or of matter? Both answers are correct. Can you show this?
Challenge 391 ny

∗∗
Challenge 392 ny Can you confirm that black holes imply a limit to power? Power is energy change over
time. General relativity limits power to P ⩽ c 5 /4G. In other words, no engine in nature
can provide more than 0.92 ⋅ 1052 W or 1.2 ⋅ 1049 horsepower.
∗∗
Black holes produce problems in the microscopic domain, where quantum theory, as
Ref. 263 was pointed out by Jürgen Ehlers. Quantum theory is built on point particles, and point
particles move on time-like world lines. But following general relativity, point particles
have a singularity inside their black hole horizon; and singularities always move on space-
like world lines. Microscopic black holes, in contrast to macroscopic black holes, thus
contradict quantum theory.

Summary on black holes

Black holes realize the maximum force, and realize maximum density, maximum black-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ness and maximum entropy for a given mass. Black holes also deflect and capture matter
and light in peculiar ways.

A quiz – is the universe a black hole?

Could it be that we live inside a black hole? Both the universe and black holes have hori-
zons. Interestingly, the horizon distance r0 of the universe is about

r0 ≈ 3ct0 ≈ 4 ⋅ 1026 m (283)

 black holes – falling forever 257

and its matter content is about

4π 3 2Gm0
m0 ≈ ρ r whence = 72πG ρ0 ct03 = 6 ⋅ 1026 m (284)
3 o 0 c2

for a density of 3 ⋅ 10−27 kg/m3 . Thus we have

2Gm0
r0 ≈ , (285)
c2

which is similar to the black hole relation rS = 2Gm/c 2 . Is this a coincidence? No, it is not:
all systems with high curvature more or less obey this relation. But are we nevertheless
Challenge 393 s falling into a large black hole? You can answer that question by yourself.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 C h a p t e r 10

D OES SPAC E DIFFER FROM TIME?

“ ”
Tempori parce.*
Seneca

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
T
ime is our master, says a frequently heard statement. Nobody says that of space.
ime and space are obviously different in everyday life. But what is
he difference between them in general relativity? Do we need them at all?
These questions are worth an exploration.
General relativity states that we live in a (pseudo-Riemannian) space-time of variable
curvature. The curvature is an observable and is related to the distribution and motion
of matter and energy. The precise relation is described by the field equations. However,
there is a fundamental problem.
The equations of general relativity are invariant under numerous transformations
which mix the coordinates x0 , x1 , x2 and x3 . For example, the viewpoint transformation

x0󳰀 = x0 + x1
x1󳰀 = −x0 + x1
x2󳰀 = x2
x3󳰀 = x3 (286)

is allowed in general relativity, and leaves the field equations invariant. You might want
to search for other examples of transformations that follow from diffeomorphism invari-
Challenge 394 e ance.
Viewpoint transformations that mix space and time imply a consequence that is
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

clearly in sharp contrast with everyday life: diffeomorphism invariance makes it impossi-
ble to distinguish space from time inside general relativity. More explicitly, the coordinate
x0 cannot simply be identified with the physical time t, as we implicitly did up to now.
This identification is only possible in special relativity. In special relativity the invariance
under Lorentz (or Poincaré) transformations of space and time singles out energy, linear
momentum and angular momentum as the fundamental observables. In general rela-
tivity, there is no (non-trivial) metric isometry group; consequently, there are no basic
physical observables singled out by their characteristic of being conserved. But invariant
quantities are necessary for communication! In fact, we can talk to each other only be-

* ‘Care about time.’ Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 bce–65), Epistolae 88, 39.
 d oes space differ from time? 259

cause we live in an approximately flat space-time: if the angles of a triangle did not add
up to π (two right angles), there would be no invariant quantities and we would not be
able to communicate.
How have we managed to sweep this problem under the rug so far? We have done
so in several ways. The simplest way was to always require that in some part of the sit-
uation under consideration space-time was our usual flat Minkowski space-time, where
x0 can be identified with t. We can fulfil this requirement either at infinity, as we did
around spherical masses, or in zeroth approximation, as we did for gravitational radia-
tion and for all other perturbation calculations. In this way, we eliminate the free mixing
of coordinates and the otherwise missing invariant quantities appear as expected. This
pragmatic approach is the usual way out of the problem. In fact, it is used in some oth-
erwise excellent texts on general relativity that preclude any deeper questioning of the
Ref. 218 issue.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
A common variation of this trick is to let the distinction between space and time
‘sneak’ into the calculations by the introduction of matter and its properties, or by the in-
troduction of radiation, or by the introduction of measurements. The material properties
of matter, for example their thermodynamic state equations, always distinguish between
space and time. Radiation does the same, by its propagation. Obviously this is true also
for those special combinations of matter and radiation called clocks and metre bars. Both
matter and radiation distinguish between space and time simply by their presence.
In fact, if we look closely, the method of introducing matter to distinguish pace and
time is the same as the method of introducing Minkowski space-time in some limit: all
properties of matter are defined using flat space-time descriptions.*
Another variation of the pragmatic approach is the use of the cosmological time coor-
dinate. An isotropic and homogeneous universe does have a preferred time coordinate,
Page 211 namely the one time coordinate that is used in all the tables on the past and the future
Vol. III, page 281 of the universe. This method is in fact a combination of the previous two.
But we are on a special quest here. We want to understand motion in principle, not
only to calculate it in practice. We want a fundamental answer, not a pragmatic one. And
for this we need to know how the positions xi and time t are connected, and how we
can define invariant quantities. The question also prepares us for the task of combining
gravity with quantum theory, which is the aim of the final part of our mountain ascent.
A fundamental solution to the problem requires a description of clocks together with
the system under consideration, and a deduction of how the reading t of a clock relates to Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the behaviour of the system in space-time. But we know that any description of a system
requires measurements: for example, in order to determine the initial conditions. And
initial conditions require space and time. We thus enter a vicious circle: that is precisely
what we wanted to avoid in the first place.
A suspicion arises. Is there in fact a fundamental difference between space and time?
Let us take a tour of various ways to investigate this question.

* We note something astonishing here: the inclusion of some condition at small distances (the description
of matter) has the same effect as the inclusion of some condition at infinity (the asymptotic Minkowski
Challenge
Vol. VI, page
395104
ny space). Is this just coincidence? We will come back to this issue in the last part of our mountain ascent.
 260 10 d oes space differ from time?

Can space and time be measured?

In order to distinguish between space and time in general relativity, we must be able
to measure them. But already in the section on universal gravity we have mentioned
Vol. I, page 370 the impossibility of measuring lengths, times and masses with gravitational effects alone.
Does this situation change in general relativity? Lengths and times are connected by the
speed of light, and in addition lengths and masses are connected by the gravitational
constant. Despite this additional connection, it takes only a moment to convince oneself
that the problem persists.
In fact, we need electrodynamics to solve it. We need the elementary charge e in order
Ref. 264 to form length scales. The simplest one is

e 󵀂G
lemscale = ≈ 1.4 ⋅ 10−36 m . (287)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
󵀄4πε0 c 2

Vol. III, page 23 Here, ε0 is the permittivity of free space. Alternatively, we can argue that quantum physics
provides a length scale, since we can use the quantum of action ħ to define the length
scale
ħG
lqtscale = 󵀊 3 ≈ 1.6 ⋅ 10−35 m , (288)
c

which is called the Planck length or Planck’s natural length unit. However, this does not
change the argument, because we need electrodynamics to measure the value of ħ. The
equivalence of the two arguments is shown by rewriting the elementary charge e as a
combination of nature’s fundamental constants:

e = 󵀆4πε0 cħα . (289)

Here, α ≈ 1/137.06 is the fine-structure constant that characterizes the strength of elec-
tromagnetism. In terms of α, expression (287) becomes

αħG
lscale = 󵀊 = 󵀂α lPl . (290)
c3

Summing up, every length measurement is based on the electromagnetic coupling con-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

stant α and on the Planck length. Of course, the same is true for every time and every
Challenge 396 e mass measurement. There is thus no way to define or measure lengths, times and masses
using gravitation or general relativity only.*
Given this sobering result, we can ask whether in general relativity space and time are
really required at all.

Ref. 265 * In the past, John Wheeler used to state that his geometrodynamic clock, a device which measures time
by bouncing light back and forth between two parallel mirrors, was a counter-example; that is not correct,
Challenge 397 s however. Can you confirm this?
 d oes space differ from time? 261

Are space and time necessary?

Ref. 266 Robert Geroch answers this question in a beautiful five-page article. He explains how to
formulate the general theory of relativity without the use of space and time, by taking as
starting point the physical observables only.
He starts with the set of all observables. Among them there is one, called 󰑣, which
stands out. It is the only observable which allows one to say that for any two observables
a1 , a2 there is a third one a3 , for which

(a3 − 󰑣) = (a1 − 󰑣) + (a2 − 󰑣) . (291)

Such an observable is called the vacuum. Geroch shows how to use such an observable to
construct derivatives of observables. Then he builds the so-called Einstein algebra, which

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
comprises the whole of general relativity.
Usually in general relativity, we describe motion in three steps: we deduce space-time
from matter observables, we calculate the evolution of space-time, and then we deduce
the motion of matter that follows from space-time evolution. Geroch’s description shows
that the middle step, and thus the use of space and time, is unnecessary.
Indirectly, the principle of maximum force makes the same statement. General rela-
tivity can be derived from the existence of limit values for force or power. Space and time
are only tools needed to translate this principle into consequences for real-life observers.
In short, it is possible to formulate general relativity without the use of space and
time. Since both are unnecessary, it seems unlikely that there should be a fundamental
difference between them. Nevertheless, one difference is well-known.

Do closed timelike curves exist?

Is it possible that the time coordinate behaves, at least in some regions, like a torus? When
we walk, we can return to the point of departure. Is it possible, to come back in time to
where we have started? The question has been studied in great detail. The standard refer-
Ref. 224 ence is the text by Hawking and Ellis; they list the required properties of space-time, ex-
plaining which are mutually compatible or exclusive. They find, for example, that space-
times which are smooth, globally hyperbolic, oriented and time-oriented do not contain
any such curves. It is usually assumed that the observed universe has these properties,
so that observation of closed timelike curves is unlikely. Indeed, no candidate has ever Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

been suggested. Later on, we will find that searches for such curves at the microscopic
Vol. V, page 116 scale have also failed to find any example in nature.
The impossibility of closed timelike curves seems to point to a difference between
space and time. But in fact, this difference is only apparent. All these investigations are
based on the behaviour of matter. Thus these arguments assume a specific distinction
between space and time right from the start. In short, this line of enquiry cannot help us
to decide whether space and time differ. Let us look at the issue in another way.

Is general relativity local? – The hole argument

When Albert Einstein developed general relativity, he had quite some trouble with diffeo-
morphism invariance. Most startling is his famous hole argument, better called the hole
 262 10 d oes space differ from time?

hole

deformed
hole
y Mass

x
F I G U R E 114 A ‘hole’ in

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
space in a schematic view.

paradox. Take the situation shown in Figure 114, in which a mass deforms the space-time
around it. Einstein imagined a small region of the vacuum, the hole, which is shown as
a small ellipse. What happens if we somehow change the curvature inside the hole while
Ref. 267 leaving the situation outside it unchanged, as shown in the inset of the picture?
On the one hand, the new situation is obviously physically different from the original
one, as the curvature inside the hole is different. This difference thus implies that the
curvature outside a region does not determine the curvature inside it. That is extremely
unsatisfactory. Worse, if we generalize this operation to the time domain, we seem to get
the biggest nightmare possible in physics: determinism is lost.
On the other hand, general relativity is diffeomorphism invariant. The deformation
shown in the figure is a diffeomorphism; so the new situation must be physically equiv-
alent to the original situation.
Which argument is correct? Einstein first favoured the first point of view, and there-
fore dropped the whole idea of diffeomorphism invariance for about a year. Only later did
he understand that the second assessment is correct, and that the first argument makes a
fundamental mistake: it assumes an independent existence of the coordinate axes x and
y, as shown in the figure. But during the deformation of the hole, the coordinates x and Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

y automatically change as well, so that there is no physical difference between the two
situations.
The moral of the story is that there is no difference between space-time and the gravita-
tional field. Space-time is a quality of the field, as Einstein put it, and not an entity with
a separate existence, as suggested by the graph. Coordinates have no physical meaning;
only distances (intervals) in space and time have one. In particular, diffeomorphism in-
variance proves that there is no flow of time. Time, like space, is only a relational entity:
time and space are relative; they are not absolute.
The relativity of space and time has practical consequences. For example, it turns out
that many problems in general relativity are equivalent to the Schwarzschild situation,
even though they appear completely different at first sight. As a result, researchers have
‘discovered’ the Schwarzschild solution (of course with different coordinate systems) over
 d oes space differ from time? 263

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 115 A model of the hollow Earth theory (© Helmut Diehl).

twenty times, often thinking that they had found a new, unknown solution. We now
discuss a startling consequence of diffeomorphism invariance.

Is the Earth hollow?

“
Any pair of shoes proves that we live on the
inside of a sphere. Their soles are worn out at

”
the ends, and hardly at all in between.
Anonymous

The hollow Earth hypothesis, i.e., the conjecture that we live on the inside of a sphere, was
popular in paranormal circles around the year 1900, and still remains so among certain
Vol. I, page 57 eccentrics today, especially in Britain, Germany and the US. They maintain, as illustrated
in Figure 115, that the solid Earth encloses the sky, together with the Moon, the Sun and Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the stars. Most of us are fooled by education into another description, because we are
brought up to believe that light travels in straight lines. Get rid of this wrong belief, they
say, and the hollow Earth appears in all its glory.
Interestingly, the reasoning is partially correct. There is no way to disprove this sort
of description of the universe. In fact, as the great Austrian physicist Roman Sexl used
Ref. 268 to explain, the diffeomorphism invariance of general relativity even proclaims the equiv-
alence between the two views. The fun starts when either of the two camps wants to tell
the other that only its own description can be correct. You might check that any such
argument is wrong; it is fun to slip into the shoes of such an eccentric and to defend the
Challenge 398 e hollow Earth hypothesis against your friends. It is easy to explain the appearance of day
and night, of the horizon, and of the satellite images of the Earth. It is easy to explain
what happened during the flight to the Moon. You can drive many bad physicists crazy
 264 10 d oes space differ from time?

in this way. The usual description and the hollow Earth description are exactly equiva-
lent. Can you confirm that even quantum theory, with its introduction of length scales
Challenge 399 s into nature, does not change this situation?
Such investigations show that diffeomorphism invariance is not an easy symmetry to
swallow. But it is best to get used to it now, as the rest of our adventure will throw up
even more surprises. Indeed, in the final part of our walk we will discover that there is
an even larger symmetry of nature that is similar to the change in viewpoint from the
hollow Earth view to the standard view. This symmetry, space-time duality, is valid not
only for distances measured from the centre of the Earth, but for distances measured
Vol. VI, page 104 from any point in nature.

A summary: are space, time and mass independent?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
We can conclude from this short discussion that there is no fundamental distinction
between space and time in general relativity. The only possible distinctions are the prag-
matic ones that use matter, radiation, or space-time at infinity.
Vol. I, page 369 In the beginning of our mountain ascent we found that we needed matter to define
space and time. Now we have found that we even need matter to distinguish between
space and time. Similarly, in the beginning of our ascent we found that space and time
Vol. I, page 186 are required to define matter; now we have found that we even need flat space-time to
define it. In this fundamental issue, general relativity has brought no improvement over
the results of Galilean physics.
In the rest of our adventure, quantum physics will confirm that matter is needed to
Vol. IV, page 144 distinguish between space and time. No distinction between space and time without mat-
ter is possible in principle. Still later, we will discover that mass and space-time are on an
equal footing in nature. Because either is defined with the other we deduce that particles
Vol. VI, page 73 and vacuum are made of the same substance. It will turn out that distinctions between
space and time are possible only at low, everyday energies; such distinctions do not exist
in principle.
In summary, general relativity does not provide a way out of the circular reasoning we
discovered in Galilean physics. Indeed, general relativity makes the issue even less clear
than before. Matter and radiation remain essential to define and distinguish space and
time, and space and time remain essential to define matter and radiation. Continuing
our mountain ascent is the only way out. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
C h a p t e r 11

GENER AL R EL ATIVIT Y I N A
NUT SHELL – A SUMMARY FOR THE
L AYMAN

“ ”
Sapientia felicitas.*
Antiquity

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
G
eneral relativity is the final description of all macroscopic motion.
eneral relativity describes, for all observers, all macroscopic motion due to
ravity, and in particular, describes how the observations of motion of any two
observers are related to each other. In addition, general relativity describes the universe
as a whole. The description of macroscopic motion with general relativity is final in
the sense that it matches all observations where the match is possible. (This is not yet
possible for dark matter; this issue is not settled yet.)
General relativity is based on two observations:
— All observers agree that there is a ‘perfect’ speed in nature, namely a common maxi-
mum energy speed relative to (nearby) matter. This speed value is realized by massless
radiation, such as light or radio signals.
— All observers agree that there is a ‘perfect’ force in nature, a common maximum force
that can be realized relative to (nearby) matter. This force value is realized on event
horizons.
These two observations contain the full theory of relativity. From these observation we
deduce:
— Space-time consists of events in 3+1 continuous dimensions, with a variable curvature.
The curvature can be deduced from distance measurements among events, for exam-
ple from tidal effects. Measured times, lengths and curvatures vary from observer to
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

observer in a predictable way. In short, we live in a pseudo-Riemannian space-time.

— Space-time and space are curved near mass and energy. The curvature at a point is
determined by the energy–momentum density at that point, and described by the
field equations. When matter and energy move, the space curvature moves along with
them. A built-in delay in this movement renders faster-than-light transport of energy
impossible. The proportionality constant between energy and curvature is so small
that the curvature is not observed in everyday life; only its indirect manifestation,
namely universal gravity, is observed.
— All macroscopic motion – that of matter, of radiation and of vacuum – is described
by the field equations of general relativity.
* ‘Wisdom is happiness.’ This old saying once was the motto of Oxford University.
 266 11 general rel ativit y in a nu tshell

— Space is elastic: it prefers being flat. Being elastic, it can oscillate independently of
matter; one then speaks of gravitational radiation or of gravity waves.
— Freely falling matter moves along geodesics, i.e., along paths of maximal length in
curved space-time; in space this means that light bends when it passes near large
masses by twice the amount predicted by universal gravity.
— In order to describe gravitation we need curved space-time, i.e., general relativity,
at the latest whenever distances are of the order of the Schwarzschild radius rS =
2Gm/c 2 . When distances are much larger than this value, the relativistic description
with gravity and gravitomagnetism (frame-dragging) is sufficient. When distances
are even larger and speeds much slower than those of light, the description by univer-
sal gravity, namely a = Gm/r 2 , together with flat Minkowski space-time, will do as a
first approximation.
— Space and time are not distinguished globally, but only locally. Matter is required to

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
make the distinction.
In addition, all the matter and energy we observe in the sky lead us to the following
conclusions:
— The universe has a finite age; this is the reason for the darkness of the sky at night. A
horizon limits the measurable space-time intervals to about fourteen thousand mil-
lion years.
— On the cosmological scale, everything moves away from everything else: the universe
is expanding. The details of the underlying expansion of space, as well as the night-sky
horizon, are described by the field equations of general relativity.
In summary, the principles of maximum force and of maximum speed – and the theory
of general relativity that follows from them – describe all motion due to gravity and all
macroscopic motion that is observed in the universe.

The accuracy of the description

Was general relativity worth the effort? The discussion of its accuracy is most conve-
Ref. 269 niently split into two sets of experiments. The first set consists of measurements of how
matter moves. Do objects really follow geodesics? As summarized in Table 9, all experi-
ments agree with the theory to within measurement errors, i.e., at least within 1 part in
Ref. 270 1012 . In short, the way matter falls is indeed well described by general relativity.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The second set of measurements concerns the dynamics of space-time itself. Does
space-time move following the field equations of general relativity? In other words, is
space-time really bent by matter in the way the theory predicts? Many experiments have
been performed, near to and far from Earth, in both weak and strong fields. All agree
Ref. 269, Ref. 270 with the predictions to within measurement errors. However, the best measurements so
far have only about 3 significant digits. Note that even though numerous experiments
have been performed, there are only few types of tests, as Table 9 shows. The discovery
Challenge 400 ny of a new type of experiment almost guarantees fame and riches. Most sought after, of
course, is the direct detection of gravitational waves.
Another comment on Table 9 is in order. After many decades in which all measured
effects were only of the order 󰑣 2 /c 2 , several so-called strong field effects in pulsars allowed
 a summary for the l ayman 267

TA B L E 9 Types of tests of general relativity.

Measured effect C o n f i r - Ty pe Refer-

m at i o n ence

Equivalence principle 10−12 motion of matter Ref. 143,

Ref. 269,
Ref. 271
1/r 2 dependence (dimensionality of space-time) 10−10 motion of matter Ref. 272
Time independence of G 10−19 /s motion of matter Ref. 269
Red-shift (light and microwaves on Sun, Earth, 10−4 space-time curvature Ref. 122,
Sirius) Ref. 120,
Ref. 269
Perihelion shift (four planets, Icarus, pulsars) 10−3 space-time curvature Ref. 269

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Light deflection (light, radio waves around Sun, 10−3 space-time curvature Ref. 269
stars, galaxies)
Time delay (radio signals near Sun, near pulsars)10−3 space-time curvature Ref. 269,
Ref. 154
−1
Gravitomagnetism (Earth, pulsar) 10 space-time curvature Ref. 146,
Ref. 147
Geodesic effect (Moon, pulsars) 10−1 space-time curvature Ref. 169,
Ref. 269
−3
Gravity wave emission delay (pulsars) 10 space-time curvature Ref. 269

Ref. 269 us to reach the order 󰑣 4 /c 4 . Soon a few effects of this order should also be detected even
inside the solar system, using high-precision satellite experiments. The present crown of
all measurements, the gravity wave emission delay, is the only 󰑣 5 /c 5 effect measured so
Page 158 far.
The difficulty of achieving high precision for space-time curvature measurements is
the reason why mass is measured with balances, always (indirectly) using the prototype
kilogram in Paris, instead of defining some standard curvature and fixing the value of
G. Indeed, no useful terrestrial curvature experiment has ever been carried out. A break-
through in this domain would make the news. The terrestrial curvature methods cur-
rently available would not even allow one to define a kilogram of gold or of oranges with Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

a precision of a single kilogram!

A different way to check general relativity is to search for alternative descriptions of
gravitation. Quite a number of alternative theories of gravity have been formulated and
Ref. 270, Ref. 273 studied, but so far, only general relativity is in agreement with all experiments.
In summary, as Thibault Damour likes to explain, general relativity is at least
99.999 999 999 9 % correct concerning the motion of matter and energy, and at least
Ref. 269 99.9 % correct about the way matter and energy curve and move space-time. No excep-
tions, no anti-gravity and no unclear experimental data are known. All motion on Earth
and in the skies is described by general relativity. Albert Einstein’s achievement has no
flaws.
We note that general relativity has not been tested for microscopic motion. In this
context, microscopic motion is any motion for which the action is around the quantum
 268 11 general rel ativit y in a nu tshell

of action, namely 10−34 Js. This issue is central to the last part of our adventure.

Research in general relativity and cosmology

Research in general relativity is still intense, though declining; it is declining most
strongly in Switzerland and Germany, the countries where Albert Einstein developed the
Ref. 274 theory. Research in cosmology and astrophysics, however, is at a high point at present.
Here is a short overview.
∗∗
The most interesting experimental studies of general relativity are the tests using double
pulsars, the search for gravitational waves, and the precision measurements using satel-
lites. Among others a special satellite will capture all possible pulsars of the galaxy. All

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
these experiments expand the experimental tests into domains that have not been acces-
sible before.
∗∗
The investigation of cosmic collisions and many-body problems, especially those involv-
ing neutron stars and black holes, helps astrophysicists to improve their understanding
Ref. 252 of the rich behaviour they observe in their telescopes.
∗∗
The study of chaos in the field equations is of fundamental interest in the study of the
early universe, and may be related to the problem of galaxy formation, one of the biggest
Ref. 275 open problems in physics.
∗∗
Gathering data about galaxy formation is the main aim of several satellite systems and
purpose-build telescopes. One focus is the search for localized cosmic microwave back-
Ref. 276 ground anisotropies due to protogalaxies.
∗∗
The determination of the cosmological parameters, such as the matter density, the curva-
Ref. 220 ture and the vacuum density, is a central effort of modern astrophysics. The exploration
of vacuum density – also called cosmological constant or dark energy – and the clarifica-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tion of the nature of dark matter occupy a large fraction of astrophysicists.

∗∗
Astronomers and astrophysicists regularly discover new phenomena in the skies. The var-
ious types of gamma-ray bursts, X-ray bursts and optical bursts are still not completely
Ref. 277 understood. Gamma-ray bursts, for example, can be as bright as 1017 sun-like stars com-
bined; however, they last only a few seconds. More details on this research topic are given
Vol. V, page 108 later on.
∗∗
A computer database of all solutions of the field equations is being built. Among other
 a summary for the l ayman 269

Ref. 278 things, researchers are checking whether they really are all different from each other.
∗∗
Ref. 280 Solutions of the field equations with non-trivial topology, such as wormholes and
particle-like solutions, constitue a fascinating field of enquiry. However, such solutions
Vol. V, page 116 are made impossible by quantum effects.
∗∗
Other formulations of general relativity, describing space-time with quantities other than
the metric, are continuously being developed, in the hope of clarifying the relationship
between gravity and the quantum world. The so-called Ashtekar variables are such a
Ref. 281 modern description.
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The study of the early universe and its relation of elementary particle properties, with
conjectures such as inflation, a short period of accelerated expansion during the first few
Ref. 279, Ref. 282 seconds after the big bang, is still an important topic of investigation.
∗∗
The unification of quantum physics, particle physics and general relativity is an important
research field and will occupy researchers for many years to come. The aim is to find a
Vol. VI, page 16 complete description of motion. This is the topic of the final part of this adventure.
∗∗
Finally, the teaching of general relativity, which for many decades has been hidden
behind Greek indices, differential forms and other antididactic approaches, will bene-
fit greatly from future improvements that focus more on the physics and less on the
Ref. 283 formalism.

Could general relativity be different?

“
It’s a good thing we have gravity, or else when
birds died they’d just stay right up there.

”
Hunters would be all confused.
Steven Wright Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The constant of gravitation provides a limit for the density and the acceleration of objects,
as well as for the power of engines. We based all our deductions on its invariance. Is it
possible that the constant of gravitation G changes from place to place or that it changes
with time? The question is tricky. At first sight, the answer is a loud: ‘Yes, of course! Just
see what happens when the value of G is changed in formulae.’ However, this answer is
Page 95 wrong, as it was wrong for the speed of light c.
Since the constant of gravitation enters into our definition of gravity and acceleration,
and thus, even if we do not notice it, into the construction of all rulers, all measurement
standards and all measuring set-ups, there is no way to detect whether its value actu-
Challenge 401 ny ally varies. No imaginable experiment could detect a variation. Every measurement of
force is, whether we like it or not, a comparison with the limit force. There is no way, in
 270 11 general rel ativit y in a nu tshell

principle, to check the invariance of a standard. This is even more astonishing because
Page 267 measurements of this type are regularly reported, as in Table 9. But the result of any such
experiment is easy to predict: no change will ever be found.
Could the number of space dimension be different from 3? This issue is quite involved.
For example, three is the smallest number of dimensions for which a vanishing Ricci
tensor is compatible with non-vanishing curvature. On the other hand, more than three
dimensions give deviations from the inverse square ‘law’ of gravitation. So far, there are
no data pointing in this direction.
Could the equations of general relativity be different? During the past century, theo-
reticians have explored many alternative equations. However, almost none of the alter-
natives proposed so far seem to fit experimental data. However, two candidates might
exist.
First, the inclusion of torsion in the field equations, a possible extension of the theory,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 285 is one attempt to include particle spin in general relativity. The inclusion of torsion in
general relativity does not require new fundamental constants; indeed, the absence of tor-
sion was assumed in the Raychaudhuri equation. The use of the extended Raychaudhuri
Ref. 284 equation, which includes torsion, might allow one to deduce the full Einstein–Cartan
theory from the maximum force principle. This issue is a topic of research.
Secondly, one experimental result remains unexplained. The rotation speed of visible
matter far from the centre of galaxies might imply either the existence of dark matter or
some deviation from the inverse square dependence of universal gravity. The latter op-
Ref. 286 tion would imply a modification in the field equations for astronomically large distances.
The dark matter option assumes that we have difficulties observing something, the mod-
ified dynamics option assumes that we missed something in the equations. At present,
most researchers assume the existence of dark matter. But since the nature of dark matter
is not understood, the issue remains open.

The limits of general relativity

Despite its successes, the description of motion presented so far is unsatisfactory; maybe
Challenge 402 e you already have some gut feeling about certain unresolved issues.
First of all, even though the speed of light is the starting point of the whole theory,
we still do not know what light actually is. Understanding what light is will be our next
topic.
Secondly, we have seen that everything that has mass falls along geodesics. But a
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

mountain does not fall. Somehow the matter below prevents it from falling. How? And
where does mass come from anyway? What is matter? General relativity does not pro-
vide any answer; in fact, it does not describe matter at all. Einstein used to say that the
left-hand side of the field equations, describing the curvature of space-time, was granite,
while the right-hand side, describing matter, was sand. Indeed, at this point we still do
not know what matter and mass are. As already remarked, to change the sand into rock
we first need quantum physics and then, in a further step, its unification with relativity.
This is the programme for the rest of our adventure.
We have also seen that matter is necessary to clearly distinguish between space and
time, and in particular, to understand the working of clocks, metre bars and balances. In
particular, one question remains: why are there units of mass, length and time in nature
 a summary for the l ayman 271

at all? Understanding why measurements are possible at all will be another of the topics
of quantum physics.
We also know too little about the vacuum. We need to understand the magnitude of
the cosmological constant and the number of space-time dimensions. Only then can we
answer the simple question: Why is the sky so far away? General relativity does not help
here. Worse, the smallness of the cosmological constant contradicts the simplest version
of quantum theory; this is one of the reasons why we still have quite some height to scale
Vol. VI, page 53 before we reach the top of Motion Mountain.
Finally, we swept another important issue under the rug. General relativity forbids the
existence of point objects, and thus of point particles. But the idea of point particles is
one reason that we introduced space points in the first place. What is the final fate of the
idea of space point? Also this issue remains open at this stage.
In short, to describe motion well, we need a more precise description of light, of matter

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
and of the vacuum. In other words, we need to know more about everything! Otherwise
Vol. V, page 50 we cannot hope to answer questions about mountains, clocks and stars. In particular, we
need to know more about light, matter and vacuum at small scales. We need to under-
stand the microscopic aspects of the world.
At small scales, the curvature of space is negligible. We therefore take a step back-
wards, to situations without gravity, and explore the microscopic details of light, matter
Page 8 and vacuum. This domain is called quantum physics. Figure 1, shown in the preface, gives
an impression of what awaits us. And despite the simplification to flat space-time, the ad-
venture is beautiful and intense.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 Appendix A

UNIT S, MEA SUREMENT S AND

C ON STAN T S

M
easurements are comparisons with standards. Standards are based on units.
any different systems of units have been used throughout the world.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ost standards confer power to the organization in charge of them. Such
power can be misused; this is the case today, for example in the computer industry, and
was so in the distant past. The solution is the same in both cases: organize an independent
and global standard. For measurement units, this happened in the eighteenth century: in
order to avoid misuse by authoritarian institutions, to eliminate problems with differing,
changing and irreproducible standards, and – this is not a joke – to simplify tax collec-
tion and to make it more just, a group of scientists, politicians and economists agreed
on a set of units. It is called the Système International d’Unités, abbreviated SI, and is
defined by an international treaty, the ‘Convention du Mètre’. The units are maintained
by an international organization, the ‘Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures’, and
its daughter organizations, the ‘Commission Internationale des Poids et Mesures’ and
the ‘Bureau International des Poids et Mesures’ (BIPM). All originated in the times just
Ref. 287 before the French revolution.

SI units
All SI units are built from seven base units, whose official definitions, translated from
French into English, are given below, together with the dates of their formulation:
‘The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding
to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133
atom.’ (1967)* Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

‘The metre is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time inter-
val of 1/299 792 458 of a second.’ (1983)*
‘The kilogram is the unit of mass; it is equal to the mass of the international prototype
of the kilogram.’ (1901)*
‘The ampere is that constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel con-
ductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1 metre apart in
vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2 ⋅ 10−7 newton per
metre of length.’ (1948)*
‘The kelvin, unit of thermodynamic temperature, is the fraction 1/273.16 of the ther-
modynamic temperature of the triple point of water.’ (1967)*
‘The mole is the amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary
entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilogram of carbon 12.’ (1971)*
 a units, measurements and constants 273

‘The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits
monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 ⋅ 1012 hertz and has a radiant intensity in that
direction of (1/683) watt per steradian.’ (1979)*
Note that both time and length units are defined as certain properties of a standard ex-
ample of motion, namely light. In other words, also the Conférence Générale des Poids
et Mesures makes the point that the observation of motion is a prerequisite for the defini-
tion and construction of time and space. Motion is the fundament each observation and
measurements. By the way, the use of light in the definitions had been proposed already
in 1827 by Jacques Babinet.**
From these basic units, all other units are defined by multiplication and division. Thus,
all SI units have the following properties:
SI units form a system with state-of-the-art precision: all units are defined with a pre-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
cision that is higher than the precision of commonly used measurements. Moreover, the
precision of the definitions is regularly being improved. The present relative uncertainty
of the definition of the second is around 10−14 , for the metre about 10−10 , for the kilo-
gram about 10−9 , for the ampere 10−7 , for the mole less than 10−6 , for the kelvin 10−6 and
for the candela 10−3 .
SI units form an absolute system: all units are defined in such a way that they can
be reproduced in every suitably equipped laboratory, independently, and with high pre-
cision. This avoids as much as possible any misuse by the standard-setting organization.
(The kilogram, still defined with the help of an artefact, is the last exception to this re-
quirement; extensive research is under way to eliminate this artefact from the definition
– an international race that will take a few more years. There are two approaches: count-
ing particles, or fixing ħ. The former can be achieved in crystals, the latter using any
formula where ħ appears, such as the formula for the de Broglie wavelength or that of
the Josephson effect.)
SI units form a practical system: the base units are quantities of everyday magni-
tude. Frequently used units have standard names and abbreviations. The complete list
includes the seven base units just given, the supplementary units, the derived units and
the admitted units.
The supplementary SI units are two: the unit for (plane) angle, defined as the ratio
of arc length to radius, is the radian (rad). For solid angle, defined as the ratio of the
subtended area to the square of the radius, the unit is the steradian (sr).
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The derived units with special names, in their official English spelling, i.e., without
capital letters and accents, are:

* The respective symbols are s, m, kg, A, K, mol and cd. The international prototype of the kilogram is
Vol. I, page 92 a platinum–iridium cylinder kept at the BIPM in Sèvres, in France. For more details on the levels of the
Ref. 288 caesium atom, consult a book on atomic physics. The Celsius scale of temperature θ is defined as: θ/°C =
T/K − 273.15; note the small difference with the number appearing in the definition of the kelvin. SI also
states: ‘When the mole is used, the elementary entities must be specified and may be atoms, molecules, ions,
electrons, other particles, or specified groups of such particles.’ In the definition of the mole, it is understood
that the carbon 12 atoms are unbound, at rest and in their ground state. In the definition of the candela, the
frequency of the light corresponds to 555.5 nm, i.e., green colour, around the wavelength to which the eye
is most sensitive.
** Jacques Babinet (1794–1874), French physicist who published important work in optics.
 274 a units, measurements and constants

Name A b b r e v i at i o n Name A b b r e v i at i o n

hertz Hz = 1/s newton N = kg m/s2

pascal Pa = N/m2 = kg/m s2 joule J = Nm = kg m2 /s2
watt W = kg m2 /s3 coulomb C = As
volt V = kg m2 /As3 farad F = As/V = A2 s4 /kg m2
ohm Ω = V/A = kg m2 /A2 s3 siemens S = 1/Ω
weber Wb = Vs = kg m2 /As2 tesla T = Wb/m2 = kg/As2 = kg/Cs
henry H = Vs/A = kg m2 /A2 s2 degree Celsius °C (see definition of kelvin)
lumen lm = cd sr lux lx = lm/m2 = cd sr/m2
becquerel Bq = 1/s gray Gy = J/kg = m2 /s2
sievert Sv = J/kg = m2 /s2 katal kat = mol/s

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
We note that in all definitions of units, the kilogram only appears to the powers of 1,
Challenge 403 s 0 and −1. Can you try to formulate the reason?
The admitted non-SI units are minute, hour, day (for time), degree 1∘ = π/180 rad,
minute 1󳰀 = π/10 800 rad, second 1󳰀󳰀 = π/648 000 rad (for angles), litre and tonne. All
other units are to be avoided.
All SI units are made more practical by the introduction of standard names and ab-
breviations for the powers of ten, the so-called prefixes:*

Power Name Power Name Power Name Power Name

101 deca da 10−1 deci d 1018 Exa E 10−18 atto a
102 hecto h 10−2 centi c 1021 Zetta Z 10−21 zepto z
103 kilo k 10−3 milli m 1024 Yotta Y 10−24 yocto y
106 Mega M 10−6 micro μ unofficial: Ref. 289
109 Giga G 10−9 nano n 1027 Xenta X 10−27 xenno x
1012 Tera T 10−12 pico p 1030 Wekta W 10−30 weko w
1015 Peta P 10−15 femto f 1033 Vendekta V 10−33 vendeko v
1036 Udekta U 10−36 udeko u

SI units form a complete system: they cover in a systematic way the full set of ob-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

servables of physics. Moreover, they fix the units of measurement for all other sciences
as well.

* Some of these names are invented (yocto to sound similar to Latin octo ‘eight’, zepto to sound similar
to Latin septem, yotta and zetta to resemble them, exa and peta to sound like the Greek words ἑξάκις and
πεντάκις for ‘six times’ and ‘five times’, the unofficial ones to sound similar to the Greek words for nine,
ten, eleven and twelve); some are from Danish/Norwegian (atto from atten ‘eighteen’, femto from femten
‘fifteen’); some are from Latin (from mille ‘thousand’, from centum ‘hundred’, from decem ‘ten’, from nanus
‘dwarf ’); some are from Italian (from piccolo ‘small’); some are Greek (micro is from μικρός ‘small’, deca/deka
from δέκα ‘ten’, hecto from ἑκατόν ‘hundred’, kilo from χίλιοι ‘thousand’, mega from μέγας ‘large’, giga from
γίγας ‘giant’, tera from τέρας ‘monster’).
Translate: I was caught in such a traffic jam that I needed a microcentury for a picoparsec and that my
Challenge 404 e car’s fuel consumption was two tenths of a square millimetre.
 a units, measurements and constants 275

SI units form a universal system: they can be used in trade, in industry, in commerce,
at home, in education and in research. They could even be used by extraterrestrial civi-
lizations, if they existed.
SI units form a coherent system: the product or quotient of two SI units is also an SI
unit. This means that in principle, the same abbreviation, e.g. ‘SI’, could be used for every
unit.
The SI units are not the only possible set that could fulfil all these requirements, but they
are the only existing system that does so.*

The meaning of measurement

Every measurement is a comparison with a standard. Therefore, any measurement re-
Challenge 405 e quires matter to realize the standard (even for a speed standard), and radiation to achieve

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the comparison. The concept of measurement thus assumes that matter and radiation ex-
ist and can be clearly separated from each other.
Every measurement is a comparison. Measuring thus implies that space and time exist,
and that they differ from each other.
Every measurement produces a measurement result. Therefore, every measurement
implies the storage of the result. The process of measurement thus implies that the sit-
uation before and after the measurement can be distinguished. In other terms, every
measurement is an irreversible process.
Every measurement is a process. Thus every measurement takes a certain amount of
time and a certain amount of space.
All these properties of measurements are simple but important. Beware of anybody
who denies them.

Curiosities and fun challenges about units

The second does not correspond to 1/86 400th of the day any more, though it did in the
year 1900; the Earth now takes about 86 400.002 s for a rotation, so that the International
Earth Rotation Service must regularly introduce a leap second to ensure that the Sun is at
the highest point in the sky at 12 o’clock sharp.** The time so defined is called Universal
Time Coordinate. The speed of rotation of the Earth also changes irregularly from day to
day due to the weather; the average rotation speed even changes from winter to summer
because of the changes in the polar ice caps; and in addition that average decreases over
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

time, because of the friction produced by the tides. The rate of insertion of leap seconds
is therefore higher than once every 500 days, and not constant in time.

* Apart from international units, there are also provincial units. Most provincial units still in use are of
Roman origin. The mile comes from milia passum, which used to be one thousand (double) strides of about
1480 mm each; today a nautical mile, once defined as minute of arc on the Earth’s surface, is exactly 1852 m).
The inch comes from uncia/onzia (a twelfth – now of a foot). The pound (from pondere ‘to weigh’) is used
as a translation of libra – balance – which is the origin of its abbreviation lb. Even the habit of counting
in dozens instead of tens is Roman in origin. These and all other similarly funny units – like the system
in which all units start with ‘f ’, and which uses furlong/fortnight as its unit of velocity – are now officially
defined as multiples of SI units.
** Their website at hpiers.obspm.fr gives more information on the details of these insertions, as does maia.
usno.navy.mil, one of the few useful military websites. See also www.bipm.fr, the site of the BIPM.
 276 a units, measurements and constants

∗∗
Not using SI units can be expensive. In 1999, NASA lost a satellite on Mars because some
software programmers had used provincial units instead of SI units in part of the code.
As a result of using feet instead of meters, the Mars Climate Orbiter crashed into the
planet, instead of orbiting it; the loss was around 100 million euro.*
∗∗
The most precisely measured quantities in nature are the frequencies of certain millisec-
ond pulsars,** the frequency of certain narrow atomic transitions, and the Rydberg con-
stant of atomic hydrogen, which can all be measured as precisely as the second is de-
fined. The caesium transition that defines the second has a finite linewidth that limits
the achievable precision: the limit is about 14 digits.
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The least precisely measured of the fundamental constants of physics are the gravitational
constant G and the strong coupling constant αs . Even less precisely known are the age of
Page 284 the universe and its density (see Table 14).
∗∗
Variations of quantities are often much easier to measure than their values. For example,
in gravitational wave detectors, the sensitivity achieved in 1992 was Δl/l = 3 ⋅ 10−19 for
Ref. 290 lengths of the order of 1 m. In other words, for a block of about a cubic metre of metal
it is possible to measure length changes about 3000 times smaller than a proton radius.
These set-ups are now being superseded by ring interferometers. Ring interferometers
measuring frequency differences of 10−21 have already been built; and they are still being
Ref. 291 improved.
∗∗
The table of SI prefixes covers 72 orders of magnitude. How many additional prefixes will
be needed? Even an extended list will include only a small part of the infinite range of
possibilities. Will the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures have to go on forever,
Challenge 406 s defining an infinite number of SI prefixes? Why?
∗∗ Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The French philosopher Voltaire, after meeting Newton, publicized the now famous story
that the connection between the fall of objects and the motion of the Moon was discov-
ered by Newton when he saw an apple falling from a tree. More than a century later,
just before the French Revolution, a committee of scientists decided to take as the unit
of force precisely the force exerted by gravity on a standard apple, and to name it after
the English scientist. After extensive study, it was found that the mass of the standard
apple was 101.9716 g; its weight was called 1 newton. Since then, visitors to the museum

* This story revived an old but false urban legend that states that only three countries in the world do not
use SI units: Liberia, the USA and Myanmar.
** An overview of this fascinating work is given by J. H. Taylor, Pulsar timing and relativistic gravity,
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London A 341, pp. 117–134, 1992.
 a units, measurements and constants 277

in Sèvres near Paris have been able to admire the standard metre, the standard kilogram
and the standard apple.*

Precision and accuracy of measurements

Measurements are the basis of physics. Every measurement has an error. Errors are due
to lack of precision or to lack of accuracy. Precision means how well a result is reproduced
when the measurement is repeated; accuracy is the degree to which a measurement cor-
responds to the actual value.
Lack of precision is due to accidental or random errors; they are best measured by the
standard deviation, usually abbreviated σ; it is defined through

1 n
σ2 = 󵠈(x − x̄)2 , (292)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
n − 1 i=1 i

where x̄ is the average of the measurements xi . (Can you imagine why n − 1 is used in
Challenge 407 s the formula instead of n?)
For most experiments, the distribution of measurement values tends towards a nor-
mal distribution, also called Gaussian distribution, whenever the number of measure-
ments is increased. The distribution, shown in Figure 243, is described by the expression

(󰑥−󰑥̄)2
N(x) ≈ e− 2󰜎 2 . (293)

The square σ 2 of the standard deviation is also called the variance. For a Gaussian distri-
Challenge 408 e bution of measurement values, 2.35σ is the full width at half maximum.
Lack of accuracy is due to systematic errors; usually these can only be estimated. This
estimate is often added to the random errors to produce a total experimental error, some-
Ref. 293 times also called total uncertainty. The relative error or uncertainty is the ratio between
the error and the measured value.
For example, a professional measurement will give a result such as 0.312(6) m. The
number between the parentheses is the standard deviation σ, in units of the last digits.
As above, a Gaussian distribution for the measurement results is assumed. Therefore, a
Challenge 409 e value of 0.312(6) m implies that the actual value is expected to lie
— within 1σ with 68.3% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.006 m;
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

— within 2σ with 95.4% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.012 m;
— within 3σ with 99.73% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.018 m;
— within 4σ with 99.9937% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.024 m;
— within 5σ with 99.999 943% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.030 m;
— within 6σ with 99.999 999 80% probability, thus within 0.312 ± 0.036 m;
— within 7σ with 99.999 999 999 74% probability, thus within 0.312 ± 0.041 m.

* To be clear, this is a joke; no standard apple exists. It is not a joke however, that owners of several apple
trees in Britain and in the US claim descent, by rerooting, from the original tree under which Newton had
Ref. 292 his insight. DNA tests have even been performed to decide if all these derive from the same tree. The result
was, unsurprisingly, that the tree at MIT, in contrast to the British ones, is a fake.
 278 a units, measurements and constants

N
number of measurements

standard deviation

full width at half maximum

(FWHM)

limit curve for a large number

of measurements: the
Gaussian distribution

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
x x
average value measured values

F I G U R E 116 A precision experiment and its measurement distribution.

Challenge 410 s (Do the latter numbers make sense?)

Note that standard deviations have one digit; you must be a world expert to use two,
and a fool to use more. If no standard deviation is given, a (1) is assumed. As a result,
among professionals, 1 km and 1000 m are not the same length!
What happens to the errors, if two measured values A and B are added or subtracted?
If the all measurements are independent – or uncorrelated – the standard deviation of
the sum and that of difference is given by σ = 󵀆σA2 + σB2 . For both the product or ratio
of two measured and uncorrelated values C and D, the result is ρ = 󵀆 ρC2 + ρ2D , where
the ρ terms are the relative standard deviations.
Assume you measure that an object moves 1.0 m in 3.0 s: what is the measured speed
Challenge 411 s value?

Limits to precision
What are the limits to accuracy and precision? There is no way, even in principle, to Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

measure a length x to a precision higher than about 61 digits, because in nature, the ratio
between the largest and the smallest measurable length is Δx/x > lPl /dhorizon = 10−61 .
Challenge 412 e (Is this ratio valid also for force or for volume?) In the final volume of our text, studies
Vol. VI, page 87 of clocks and metre bars strengthen this theoretical limit.
But it is not difficult to deduce more stringent practical limits. No imaginable machine
can measure quantities with a higher precision than measuring the diameter of the Earth
within the smallest length ever measured, about 10−19 m; that is about 26 digits of preci-
sion. Using a more realistic limit of a 1000 m sized machine implies a limit of 22 digits.
If, as predicted above, time measurements really achieve 17 digits of precision, then they
are nearing the practical limit, because apart from size, there is an additional practical
restriction: cost. Indeed, an additional digit in measurement precision often means an
additional digit in equipment cost.
 a units, measurements and constants 279

Physical constants
In physics, general observations are deduced from more fundamental ones. As a conse-
quence, many measurements can be deduced from more fundamental ones. The most
fundamental measurements are those of the physical constants.
The following tables give the world’s best values of the most important physical con-
stants and particle properties – in SI units and in a few other common units – as pub-
Ref. 294 lished in the standard references. The values are the world averages of the best measure-
ments made up to the present. As usual, experimental errors, including both random
and estimated systematic errors, are expressed by giving the standard deviation in the
last digits. In fact, behind each of the numbers in the following tables there is a long
Ref. 295 story which is worth telling, but for which there is not enough room here.
Ref. 294 In principle, all quantitative properties of matter can be calculated with quantum the-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ory and the values of certain physical constants. For example, colour, density and elastic
properties can be predicted using the equations of the standard model of high-energy
Vol. V, page 193 physics and the values of the following basic constants.

TA B L E 11 Basic physical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e i n S I u n i t s U n c e r t. a

Number of space-time dimensions 3+1 0b

Vacuum speed of lightc c 299 792 458 m/s 0
Vacuum permeabilityc μ0 4π ⋅ 10−7 H/m 0
= 1.256 637 061 435 ... μH/m0
Vacuum permittivityc ε0 = 1/μ0 c 2 8.854 187 817 620 ... pF/m 0
Original Planck constant h 6.626 068 76(52) ⋅ 10−34 Js 7.8 ⋅ 10−8
Reduced Planck constant ħ 1.054 571 596(82) ⋅ 10 Js 7.8 ⋅ 10−8
−34

Positron charge e 0.160 217 646 2(63) aC 3.9 ⋅ 10−8

Boltzmann constant k 1.380 6503(24) ⋅ 10 J/K 1.7 ⋅ 10−6
−23

Gravitational constant G 6.673(10) ⋅ 10−11 Nm2 /kg2 1.5 ⋅ 10−3

Gravitational coupling constantκ = 8πG/c 4 2.076(3) ⋅ 10−43 s2 /kg m 1.5 ⋅ 10−3
2
Fine structure constant, d α = 4πεe ħc 1/137.035 999 76(50) 3.7 ⋅ 10−9
0

e.m. coupling constant = дem (me2 c 2 ) = 0.007 297 352 533(27) 3.7 ⋅ 10−9
Fermi coupling constant, d GF /(ħc)3 1.166 39(1) ⋅ 10−5 GeV−2 8.6 ⋅ 10−6
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

weak coupling constant αw (MZ ) = дw2 /4π 1/30.1(3) 1 ⋅ 10−2

Weak mixing angle sin2 θW (MS) 0.231 24(24) 1.0 ⋅ 10−3
sin2 θW (on shell) 0.2224(19) 8.7 ⋅ 10−3
= 1 − (mW /mZ )2
Strong coupling constant d αs (MZ ) = дs2 /4π 0.118(3) 25 ⋅ 10−3
Electron mass me 9.109 381 88(72) ⋅ 10−31 kg 7.9 ⋅ 10−8
5.485 799 110(12) ⋅ 10−4 u 2.1 ⋅ 10−9
0.510 998 902(21) MeV 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Muon mass mμ 1.883 531 09(16) ⋅ 10−28 kg 8.4 ⋅ 10−8
0.113 428 9168(34) u 3.0 ⋅ 10−8
 280 a units, measurements and constants

TA B L E 11 (Continued) Basic physical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e i n S I u n i t s U n c e r t. a

105, 658 3568(52) MeV 4.9 ⋅ 10−8

Proton mass mp 1, 672 621 58(13) ⋅ 10−27 kg 7.9 ⋅ 10−8
1.007 276 466 88(13) u 1.3 ⋅ 10−10
938, 271 998(38) MeV 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Neutron mass mn 1, 674 927 16(13) ⋅ 10−27 kg 7.9 ⋅ 10−8
1.008 664 915 78(55) u 5.4 ⋅ 10−10
939, 565 330(38) MeV 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Atomic mass unit mu = m(12 C)/12 = 1 u1.660 538 73(13) yg 7.9 ⋅ 10−8

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
a. Uncertainty: standard deviation of measurement errors.
b. Only down to 10−19 m and up to 1026 m.
c. Defining constant.
d. All coupling constants depend on the 4-momentum transfer, as explained in the section on
Vol. V, page 88 renormalization. Fine structure constant is the traditional name for the electromagnetic coupling con-
stant дem in the case of a 4-momentum transfer of Q 2 = me2 c 2 , which is the smallest one possible. At higher
momentum transfers it has larger values, e.g. дem (Q 2 = MW 2 2
c ) ≈ 1/128. In contrast, the strong coupling
constant has lover values at higher momentum transfers; e.g., αs (34 GeV) = 0.14(2).

Why do all these constants have the values they have? For any constant with a dimen-
sion, such as the quantum of action ħ, the numerical value has only historical meaning.
It is 1.054 ⋅ 10−34 Js because of the SI definition of the joule and the second. The question
why the value of a dimensional constant is not larger or smaller therefore always requires
one to understand the origin of some dimensionless number giving the ratio between the
constant and the corresponding natural unit that is defined with c, G, ħ and α. More de-
Vol. IV, page 181 tails and the values of the natural units are given later. Understanding the sizes of atoms,
people, trees and stars, the duration of molecular and atomic processes, or the mass of
nuclei and mountains, implies understanding the ratios between these values and the
corresponding natural units. The key to understanding nature is thus the understanding
of all ratios, and thus of all dimensionless constants. The quest of understanding all ra-
tios, including the fine structure constant α itself, is completed only in the final volume
of our adventure.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The basic constants yield the following useful high-precision observations.

TA B L E 12 Derived physical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e i n S I u n i t s U n c e r t.

Vacuum wave resistance Z0 = 󵀄μ0 /ε0 376.730 313 461 77... Ω 0

Avogadro’s number NA 6.022 141 99(47) ⋅ 1023 7.9 ⋅ 10−8
Loschmidt’s number NL 2.686 7775(25) ⋅ 1023 1.7 ⋅ 10−6
Faraday’s constant F = NA e 96 485.3415(39) C/mol 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Universal gas constant R = NA k 8.314 472(15) J/mol K 1.7 ⋅ 10−6
Molar volume of an ideal gas V = RT /p 22.413 996(39) l/mol 1.7 ⋅ 10−6
at 273.15 K and 101 325 Pa
a units, measurements and constants 281

TA B L E 12 (Continued) Derived physical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e i n S I u n i t s U n c e r t.

Rydberg constant a R∞ = me cα 2 /2h 10 973 731.568 549(83) m−1 7.6 ⋅ 10−12

Conductance quantum G0 = 2e 2 /h 77.480 916 96(28) μS 3.7 ⋅ 10−9
Magnetic flux quantum φ0 = h/2e 2.067 833 636(81) pWb 3.9 ⋅ 10−8
Josephson frequency ratio 2e/h 483.597 898(19) THz/V 3.9 ⋅ 10−8
Von Klitzing constant h/e 2 = μ0 c/2α 25 812.807 572(95) Ω 3.7 ⋅ 10−9
e 2 /h 3.874 045 848(14) ⋅ 10−5 S 3.7 ⋅ 10−9
Bohr magneton μB = eħ/2me 9.274 008 99(37) yJ/T 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Cyclotron frequency fc /B = e/2πme 27.992 4925(11) GHz/T 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
of the electron
1.1 ⋅ 10−8

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Classical electron radius re = e 2 /4πε0 me c 2 2.817 940 285(31) fm
Compton wavelength λC = h/me c 2.426 310 215(18) pm 7.3 ⋅ 10−9
of the electron λc = ħ/me c = re /α 0.386 159 264 2(28) pm 7.3 ⋅ 10−9
Bohr radius a a∞ = re /α 2 52.917 720 83(19) pm 3.7 ⋅ 10−9
Quantum of circulation h/2me 3.636 947 516(27) ⋅ 10−4 m2 /s 7.3 ⋅ 10−9
Specific positron charge e/me 1.758 820 174(71) ⋅ 1011 C/kg 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Electron magnetic moment μe −9.284 763 62(37) ⋅ 10−24 J/T 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
μe /μB −1.001 159 652 1869(41) 4.1 ⋅ 10−12
μe /μN −1.838 281 9660(39) ⋅ 103 2.1 ⋅ 10−9
Electron g-factor дe −2.002 319 304 3737(82) 4.1 ⋅ 10−12
Muon magnetic moment μμ −9.284 763 62(37) ⋅ 10−24 J/T 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
muon g-factor дμ −2.002 331 8320(13) 6.4 ⋅ 10−10
Proton–electron mass ratio mp /me 1 836.152 6675(39) 2.1 ⋅ 10−9
Proton–muon mass ratio mp /mμ 8.880 244 08(27) 3.0 ⋅ 10−8
Specific proton charge e/mp 9, 578 834 08(38) ⋅ 107 C/kg 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Proton Compton wavelength λC,p = h/mp c 1.321 409 847(10) fm 7.6 ⋅ 10−9
Nuclear magneton μN = eħ/2mp 5.050 783 17(20) ⋅ 10−27 J/T 4.0 ⋅ 10−8
Proton magnetic moment μp 1.410 606 633(58) ⋅ 10−26 J/T 4.1 ⋅ 10−8
μp /μB 1.521 032 203(15) ⋅ 10−3 1.0 ⋅ 10−8
μp /μN 2.792 847 337(29) 1.0 ⋅ 10−8
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Proton gyromagnetic ratio γp = 2μ p /ħ 2.675 222 12(11) ⋅ 108 Hz/T 4.1 ⋅ 10−8
Neutron–electron mass ratio mn /me 1 838.683 6550(40) 2.2 ⋅ 10−9
Neutron–proton mass ratio mn /mp 1.001 378 418 87(58) 5.8 ⋅ 10−10
Neutron Compton wavelength λC,n = h/mn c 1.319 590 898(10) fm 7.6 ⋅ 10−9
Neutron magnetic moment μn −0.966 236 40(23) ⋅ 10−26 J/T 2.4 ⋅ 10−7
μn /μB −1.041 875 63(25) ⋅ 10−3 2.4 ⋅ 10−7
μn /μN −1.913 042 72(45) 2.4 ⋅ 10−7
Stefan–Boltzmann constant σ = π2 k 4 /60ħ3 c 2 56.704 00(40) nW/m2 K4 7.0 ⋅ 10−6
Wien’s displacement constant b = λmax T 2.897 768 6(51) mmK 1.7 ⋅ 10−6
Electron volt eV 1.602 176 462(63) ⋅ 10−19 J 3.9 ⋅ 10−8
282 a units, measurements and constants

TA B L E 12 (Continued) Derived physical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e i n S I u n i t s U n c e r t.

Bits to entropy conversion const. 1023 bit = 0.956 994 5(17) J/K 1.7 ⋅ 10−6
TNT energy content 3.7 to 4.0 MJ/kg 4 ⋅ 10−2

a. For infinite mass of the nucleus.

Some useful properties of our local environment are given in the following table.

TA B L E 13 Astronomical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Tropical year 1900 a a 31 556 925.974 7 s
Tropical year 1994 a 31 556 925.2 s
Mean sidereal day d 23h 56󳰀 4.090 53󳰀󳰀
Astronomical unit b AU 149 597 870.691(30) km
Light year al 9.460 528 173 ... Pm
Parsec pc 30.856 775 806 Pm = 3.261 634 al
Earth’s mass M♁ 5.973(1) ⋅ 1024 kg
Geocentric gravitational constant GM 3.986 004 418(8) ⋅ 1014 m3 /s2
Earth’s gravitational length l♁ = 2GM/c 2 8.870 056 078(16) mm
Earth’s equatorial radius c R♁eq 6378.1366(1) km
Earth’s polar radius c R♁p 6356.752(1) km
c
Equator–pole distance 10 001.966 km (average)
Earth’s flattening c e♁ 1/298.25642(1)
Earth’s av. density ρ♁ 5.5 Mg/m3
Earth’s age T♁ 4.50(4) Ga = 142(2) Ps
Earth’s normal gravity д 9.806 65 m/s2
Earth’s standard atmospheric pressure p0 101 325 Pa
Moon’s radius Rv 1738 km in direction of Earth
Moon’s radius Rh 1737.4 km in other two directions
Moon’s mass M 7.35 ⋅ 1022 kg
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Moon’s mean distance d d 384 401 km

d
Moon’s distance at perigee typically 363 Mm, historical minimum
359 861 km
Moon’s distance at apogee d typically 404 Mm, historical maximum
406 720 km
Moon’s angular size e average 0.5181∘ = 31.08󳰀 , minimum 0.49∘ ,
maximum - shortens line 0.55∘
Moon’s average density ρ 3.3 Mg/m3
Moon’s surface gravity д 1.62 m/s2
Moons’s atmospheric pressure p from 10−10 Pa (night) to 10−7 Pa (day)
Jupiter’s mass M 1.90 ⋅ 1027 kg
 a units, measurements and constants 283

TA B L E 13 (Continued) Astronomical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Jupiter’s radius, equatorial R 71.398 Mm

Jupiter’s radius, polar R 67.1(1) Mm
Jupiter’s average distance from Sun D 778 412 020 km
Jupiter’s surface gravity д 24.9 m/s2
Jupiter’s atmospheric pressure p from 20 kPa to 200 kPa
Sun’s mass M⊙ 1.988 43(3) ⋅ 1030 kg
Sun’s gravitational length l⊙ = 2GM⊙ /c 2 2.953 250 08 km
Sun’s luminosity L⊙ 384.6 YW
Solar equatorial radius R⊙ 695.98(7) Mm
0.53∘ average; minimum on fourth of July

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Sun’s angular size
(aphelion) 1888󳰀󳰀 , maximum on fourth of
January (perihelion) 1952󳰀󳰀
Sun’s average density ρ⊙ 1.4 Mg/m3
Sun’s average distance AU 149 597 870.691(30) km
Sun’s age T⊙ 4.6 Ga
Solar velocity 󰑣⊙g 220(20) km/s
around centre of galaxy
Solar velocity 󰑣⊙b 370.6(5) km/s
against cosmic background
Sun’s surface gravity д⊙ 274 m/s2
Sun’s lower photospheric pressure p⊙ 15 kPa
Distance to Milky Way’s centre 8.0(5) kpc = 26.1(1.6) kal
Milky Way’s age 13.6 Ga
Milky Way’s size c. 1021 m or 100 kal
Milky Way’s mass 1012 solar masses, c. 2 ⋅ 1042 kg
Most distant galaxy cluster known SXDF-XCLJ 9.6 ⋅ 109 al
0218-0510

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

a. Defining constant, from vernal equinox to vernal equinox; it was once used to define the second. (Remem-
ber: π seconds is about a nanocentury.) The value for 1990 is about 0.7 s less, corresponding to a slowdown
Challenge 413 s of roughly 0.2 ms/a. (Watch out: why?) There is even an empirical formula for the change of the length of
Ref. 296 the year over time.
b. Average distance Earth–Sun. The truly amazing precision of 30 m results from time averages of signals
sent from Viking orbiters and Mars landers taken over a period of over twenty years.
c. The shape of the Earth is described most precisely with the World Geodetic System. The last edition dates
from 1984. For an extensive presentation of its background and its details, see the www.wgs84.com website.
The International Geodesic Union refined the data in 2000. The radii and the flattening given here are those
for the ‘mean tide system’. They differ from those of the ‘zero tide system’ and other systems by about 0.7 m.
The details constitute a science in itself.
d. Measured centre to centre. To find the precise position of the Moon at a given date, see the www.
fourmilab.ch/earthview/moon_ap_per.html page. For the planets, see the page www.fourmilab.ch/solar/
solar.html and the other pages on the same site.
 284 a units, measurements and constants

e. Angles are defined as follows: 1 degree = 1∘ = π/180 rad, 1 (first) minute = 1󳰀 = 1∘ /60, 1 second (minute)
= 1󳰀󳰀 = 1󳰀 /60. The ancient units ‘third minute’ and ‘fourth minute’, each 1/60th of the preceding, are not in
use any more. (‘Minute’ originally means ‘very small’, as it still does in modern English.)

Some properties of nature at large are listed in the following table. (If you want a chal-
Challenge 414 s lenge, can you determine whether any property of the universe itself is listed?)

TA B L E 14 Cosmological constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Cosmological constant Λ c. 1 ⋅ 10−52 m−2

Age of the universe a t0 4.333(53) ⋅ 1017 s = 13.73(0.17) ⋅ 109 a
(determined from space-time, via expansion, using general relativity)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Age of the universe a t0 over 3.5(4) ⋅ 1017 s = 11.5(1.5) ⋅ 109 a
(determined from matter, via galaxies and stars, using quantum theory)
Hubble parameter a H0 2.3(2) ⋅ 10−18 s−1 = 0.73(4) ⋅ 10−10 a−1
= h0 ⋅ 100 km/s Mpc = h0 ⋅ 1.0227 ⋅ 10−10 a−1
Reduced Hubble parameter a h0 0.71(4)
Deceleration parameter a q0 = −(̈a/a)0 /H02 −0.66(10)
Universe’s horizon distance a d0 = 3ct0 40.0(6) ⋅ 1026 m = 13.0(2) Gpc
Universe’s topology trivial up to 1026 m
Number of space dimensions 3, for distances up to 1026 m
Critical density ρc = 3H0 /8πG
2
h02 ⋅ 1.878 82(24) ⋅ 10−26 kg/m3
of the universe = 0.95(12) ⋅ 10−26 kg/m3
(Total) density parameter a
Ω0 = ρ0 /ρc 1.02(2)
Baryon density parameter a
ΩB0 = ρB0 /ρc 0.044(4)
Cold dark matter density parameter a ΩCDM0 = ρCDM0 /ρc 0.23(4)
Neutrino density parameter a Ω󰜈0 = ρ󰜈0 /ρc 0.001 to 0.05
Dark energy density parameter a ΩX0 = ρX0 /ρc 0.73(4)
Dark energy state parameter 󰑤 = pX /ρX −1.0(2)
Baryon mass mb 1.67 ⋅ 10−27 kg
Baryon number density 0.25(1) /m3
Luminous matter density 3.8(2) ⋅ 10−28 kg/m3
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Stars in the universe ns 1022±1

Baryons in the universe nb 1081±1
Microwave background temperature b T0 2.725(1) K
Photons in the universe nγ 1089
Photon energy density ργ = π2 k 4 /15T04 4.6 ⋅ 10−31 kg/m3
Photon number density 410.89 /cm3 or 400 /cm3 (T0 /2.7 K)3
Density perturbation amplitude 󵀂S 5.6(1.5) ⋅ 10−6
Gravity wave amplitude 󵀂T < 0.71󵀂S
Mass fluctuations on 8 Mpc σ8 0.84(4)
Scalar index n 0.93(3)
Running of scalar index dn/d ln k -0.03(2)
 a units, measurements and constants 285

TA B L E 14 (Continued) Cosmological constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Planck length lPl = 󵀆 ħG/c 3 1.62 ⋅ 10−35 m

Planck time tPl = 󵀆 ħG/c 5 5.39 ⋅ 10−44 s
Planck mass mPl = 󵀄 ħc/G 21.8 μg
Instants in history a t0 /tPl 8.7(2.8) ⋅ 1060
Space-time points N0 = (R0 /lPl )3 ⋅ 10244±1
inside the horizon a (t0 /tPl )
Mass inside horizon M 1054±1 kg

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
a. The index 0 indicates present-day values.
b. The radiation originated when the universe was 380 000 years old and had a temperature of about 3000 K;
Page 211 the fluctuations ΔT0 which led to galaxy formation are today about 16 ± 4 μK = 6(2) ⋅ 10−6 T0 .

Useful numbers

π 3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 375105
e 2.71828 18284 59045 23536 02874 71352 66249 77572 47093 699959
γ 0.57721 56649 01532 86060 65120 90082 40243 10421 59335 939923
Ref. 297
ln 2 0.69314 71805 59945 30941 72321 21458 17656 80755 00134 360255
ln 10 2.30258 50929 94045 68401 79914 54684 36420 76011 01488 628772
󵀂10 3.16227 76601 68379 33199 88935 44432 71853 37195 55139 325216

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

CHALLENGE HINT S AND SOLUTIONS

Challenge 1, page 9: Do not hesitate to be demanding and strict. The next edition of the text will
benefit from it.
Challenge 2, page 14: A cone or a hyperboloid also looks straight from all directions, provided

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the positioning is correct. One thus needs not only to turn the object, but also to displace it.
The best method to check planarity is to use interference between an arriving and a departing
coherent beam of light. If the fringes are straight, the surface is planar. (How do you ensure the
wave front of the light beam is planar?)
Challenge 3, page 15: A fraction of infinity is still infinite.
Challenge 4, page 16: The time at which the Moon Io enters the shadow in the second measure-
ment occurs about 1000 s later than predicted from the first measurement. Since the Earth is
about 3 ⋅ 1011 m further away from Jupiter and Io, we get the usual value for the speed of light.
Challenge 5, page 17: To compensate for the aberration, the telescope has to be inclined along
the direction of motion of the Earth; to compensate for parallax, perpendicularly to the motion.
Challenge 6, page 17: The upper diagrams in Figure 4 suggest to use the tangent in equation (1);
the lower diagrams to use the sine; however, both expressions are wrong, as they do not prevent
velocities larger than c to appear. The exact formula, with the square root, results from a relativis-
tic calculation.
Challenge 7, page 17: The drawing shows it. Observer, Moon and Sun form a triangle. When
the Moon is half full, the angle at the Moon is a right angle. Thus the distance ration can be
determined, though not easily, as the angle at the observer is very close to a right angle as well.
Challenge 8, page 17: There are Cat’s-eyes on the Moon deposited there during the Apollo and
Lunokhod missions. They are used to reflect laser 35 ps light pulses sent there through telescopes.
The timing of the round trip then gives the distance to the Moon. Of course, absolute distance is
not know to high precision, but the variations are. The thickness of the atmosphere is the largest
source of error. See the www.csr.utexas.edu/mlrs and ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov websites.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 9, page 17: Fizeau used a mirror about 8.6 km away. As the picture shows, he only
had to count the teeth of his cog-wheel and measure its rotation speed when the light goes in
one direction through one tooth and comes back to the next.
Challenge 10, page 18: The shutter time must be shorter than T = l/c, in other words, shorter
than 30 ps; it was a gas shutter, not a solid one. It was triggered by a red light pulse (shown in the
photograph) timed by the pulse to be photographed; for certain materials, such as the used gas,
strong light can lead to bleaching, so that they become transparent. For more details about the
shutter and its neat trigger technique, see the paper by the authors. For even faster shutters, see
also the discussion in volume VI, on page 111.
Challenge 11, page 19: Just take a photograph of a lightning while moving the camera horizon-
tally. You will see that a lightning is made of several discharges; the whole shows that lightning
is much slower than light.
 challenge hints and solu tions 287

F I G U R E 117 The original lines published by Fraunhofer (© Fraunhofer Gesellschaft).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
If lightning moved only nearly as fast as light itself, the Doppler effect would change it colour
depending on the angle at which we look at it, compared to its direction of motion. A nearby
lightning would change colour from top to bottom.
Challenge 12, page 20: The fastest lamps were subatomic particles, such as muons, which decay
by emitting a photon, thus a tiny flash of light. However, also some stars emit fasts jets of matter,
which move with speeds comparable to that of light.
Challenge 13, page 20: The speed of neutrinos is the same as that of light to 9 decimal digits,
since neutrinos and light were observed to arrive together, within 12 seconds of each other, after
Ref. 37 a trip of 170 000 light years from a supernova explosion.
Challenge 16, page 25: This is best discussed by showing that other possibilities make no sense.
Challenge 17, page 25: The spatial coordinate of the event at which the light is reflected is c(k 2 −
1)T /2; the time coordinate is (k 2 + 1)T /2. Their ratio must be 󰑣. Solving for k gives the result.
Challenge 19, page 27: The motion of radio waves, infrared, ultraviolet and gamma rays is also
unstoppable. Another past suspect, the neutrino, has been found to have mass and to be thus in
principle stoppable. The motion of gravity is also unstoppable.
Challenge 21, page 29: λR /λS = γ.
Challenge 22, page 30: To change from bright red (650 nm) to green (550 nm), 󰑣 = 0.166c is
necessary.
Challenge 23, page 30: People measure the shift of spectral lines, such as the shift of the so-called
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Lyman-α line of hydrogen, that is emitted (or absorbed) when a free electron is captured (or
Vol. IV, page 157 ejected) by a proton. It is one of the famous Fraunhofer lines.
Challenge 24, page 30: The speeds are given by

(z + 1)2 − 1
󰑣/c = (294)
(z + 1)2 + 1
which implies 󰑣(z = −0.1) = 31 Mm/s = 0.1c towards the observer and 󰑣(z = 5) = 284 Mm/s =
0.95c away from the observer.
A red-shift of 6 implies a speed of 0.96c; such speeds appear because, as we will see in the
section of general relativity, far away objects recede from us. And high red-shifts are observed
only for objects which are extremely far from Earth, and the faster the further they are away. For
a red-shift of 6 that is a distance of several thousand million light years.
 288 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 25, page 31: No Doppler effect is seen for a distant observer at rest with respect to the
large mass. In other cases there obviously is a Doppler effect, but it is not due to the deflection.
Challenge 26, page 32: Sound speed is not invariant of the speed of observers. As a result, the
Doppler effect for sound even confirms – within measurement differences – that time is the same
for observers moving against each other.
Challenge 29, page 33: Inside colour television tubes (they use higher voltages than black and
white ones), electrons are described by 󰑣/c ≈ 󵀄2 ⋅ 30/511 or 󰑣 ≈ 0.3c.
Challenge 30, page 34: If you can imagine this, publish it. Readers will be delighted to hear the
story.
Challenge 32, page 34: The connection between observer invariance and limit property seems to
Vol. VI, page 24 be generally valid in nature, as shown in chapter 2. However, a complete and airtight argument
is not yet at hand. If you have one, publish it!
Challenge 35, page 36: If the speed of light is the same for all observers, no observer can pretend

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
to be more at rest than another (as long as space-time is flat), because there is no observation from
electrodynamics, mechanics or another part of physics that allows such a statement.
Challenge 39, page 39: The human value is achieved in particle accelerators; the value in nature
is found in cosmic rays of the highest energies.
Challenge 41, page 40: Redrawing Figure 10 on page 25 for the other observer makes the point.
Challenge 42, page 40: The set of events behaves like a manifold, because it behaves like a four-
dimensional space: it has infinitely many points around any given starting point, and distances
behave as we are used to, limits behave as we are used to. It differs by one added dimension, and
by the sign in the definition of distance; thus, properly speaking, it is a Riemannian manifold.
Challenge 43, page 41: Infinity is obvious, as is openness. Thus the topology equivalence can be
shown by imagining that the manifold is made of rubber and wrapped around a sphere.
Challenge 44, page 42: The light cone remains unchanged; thus causal connection as well.
Challenge 47, page 43: In such a case, the division of space-time around an inertial observer into
future, past and elsewhere would not hold any more, and the future could influence the past (as
seen from another observer).
Challenge 52, page 45: The ratio predicted by naive reasoning is (1/2)(6.4/2.2) = 0.13.
Challenge 53, page 46: The time dilation factor for 󰑣 = 0.9952c is 10.2, giving a proper time of
0.62 μs; thus the ratio predicted by special relativity is (1/2)(0.62/2.2) = 0.82.
Challenge 55, page 47: Send a light signal from the first clock to the second clock and back. Take
the middle time between the departure and arrival, and then compare it with the time at the
reflection. Repeat this a few times. See also Figure 10.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 57, page 47: Not with present experimental methods.

Challenge 58, page 48: Hint: think about different directions of sight.
Challenge 60, page 48: Hint: be careful with the definition of ‘rigidity’.
Challenge 62, page 49: While the departing glider passes the gap, the light cannot stay on at any
speed, if the glider is shorter than the gap. This is strange at first sight, because the glider does
not light the lamp even at high speeds, even though in the frame of the glider there is contact
at both ends. The reason is that in this case there is not enough time to send the signal to the
battery that contact is made, so that the current cannot start flowing.
Assume that current flows with speed u, which is of the order of c. Then, as Dirk Van de
Moortel showed, the lamp will go off if the glider length lglider and the gap length lgap obey
lglider /lgap < γ(u + 󰑣)/u. See also the cited reference.
challenge hints and solu tions 289

For a glider approaching the gap and the lamp, the situation is different: a glider shorter than
the gap can keep the lamp on all the time, as pointed out by S.R. Madhu Rao.
Why are the debates often heated? Some people will (falsely) pretend that the problem is un-
physical; other will say that Maxwell’s equations are needed. Still others will say that the problem
is absurd, because for larger lengths of the glider, the on/off answer depends on the precise speed
value. However, this actually is the case in this situation.
Challenge 63, page 49: Yes, the rope breaks; in accelerated cars, distance changes, as shown later
on in the text.
Challenge 64, page 49: The submarine will sink. The fast submarine will even be heavier, as his
kinetic energy adds to his weight. The contraction effect would make it lighter, as the captain
says, but by a smaller amount. The total weight – counting upwards as positive – is given by
F = −mд(γ − 1/γ).
Challenge 65, page 49: A relativistic submarine would instantly melt due to friction with the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
water. If not, it would fly of the planet because it moves faster than the escape velocity. And
produce several other disasters.
Challenge 66, page 50: The question confuses observation of Lorentz contraction and its mea-
surement. A relativistic pearl necklace does get shorter, but the shortening can only be measured,
not photographed. The measured sizes of the pearls are flattened ellipsoids relativistic speeds. The
observed necklace consists of overlapping spheres.
Challenge 67, page 50: No: think about it!
Challenge 70, page 53: Yes, ageing in a valley is slowed compared to mountain tops. However,
the proper sensation of time is not changed. The reason for the appearance of grey hair is not
known; if the timing is genetic, the proper time at which it happens is the same in either location.
Challenge 71, page 53: There is no way to put an observer at the specified points. Proper velocity
can only be defined for observers, i.e., for entities which can carry a clock. That is not the case
for images.
Challenge 72, page 54: Just use plain geometry to show this.
Challenge 73, page 55: Most interestingly, the horizon can easily move faster than light, if you
move your head appropriately, as can the end of the rainbow.
Challenge 75, page 59: The expression does not work for a photon hitting a mirror, for example.
Challenge 76, page 59: Relativity makes the arguments of challenge 168 watertight.
Challenge 81, page 63: The lower collision in Figure 39 shows the result directly, from energy
conservation. For the upper collision the result also follows, if one starts from momentum con-
servation γm󰑣 = ΓMV and energy conservation (дamma + 1)m = ΓM.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 91, page 67: Just turn the left side of Figure 43 a bit in anti-clockwise direction.
Challenge 92, page 68: In collisions between relativistic charges, part of the energy is radiated
away as light, so that the particles effectively lose energy.
Challenge 93, page 69: Probably not, as all relations among physical quantities are known now.
However, you might check for yourself; one might never know. It is worth to mention that the
maximum force in nature was discovered (in this text) after remaining hidden for over 80 years.
Challenge 95, page 72: Write down the four-vectors U 󳰀 and U and then extract 󰑣 󳰀 as function of
󰑣 and the relative coordinate speed V . Then rename the variables.
Challenge 96, page 72: No example of motion of a massive body! The motion of light waves has
null phase 4-velocity and null group 4-velocity, as explained on page 78.
Challenge 100, page 75: For ultrarelativistic particles, like for massless particles, one has E = pc.
 290 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 101, page 75: Hint: evaluate P1 and P2 in the rest frame of one particle.
Challenge 103, page 76: Use the definition F = dp/dt and the relation KU = 0 = F󰑣 − dE/dt
valid for rest-mass preserving forces.
Challenge 105, page 76: The story is told on page 98.
Challenge 110, page 78: Yes, one can see such an object: the searchlight effect and the Doppler
effect do not lead to invisibility. However, part of the object, namely the region rotating away
from the observer, may become very dark.
Challenge 114, page 78: No.
Challenge 118, page 79: The relation for the frequency follows from the definition of the phase.
Challenge 137, page 87: The energy contained in the fuel must be comparable to the rest mass
of the motorbike, multiplied by c 2 . Since fuel contains much more mass than energy, that gives
a big problem.
Challenge 139, page 88: Constant acceleration and gravity are similar in their effects, as dis-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
cussed in the section on general relativity.
Challenge 142, page 89: Yes, it is true.
Challenge 143, page 89: It is flat, like a plane.
Challenge 144, page 89: Despite the acceleration towards the centre of the carousel, no horizon
appears.
Challenge 146, page 90: Yes; however, the effect is minimal and depends on the position of the
Sun. In fact, what is white at one height is not white at another.
Challenge 148, page 91: Locally, light always moves with speed c.
Challenge 149, page 91: Away from Earth, д decreases; it is effectively zero over most of the
distance.
Challenge 152, page 92: Light is necessary to determine distance and to synchronize clocks; thus
there is no way to measure the speed of light from one point to another alone. The reverse motion
needs to be included. However, some statements on the one-way speed of light can still be made
(see math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/SR/experiments.html). All experiments on the
one-way speed of light performed so far are consistent with an isotropic value that is equal to
the two-way velocity. However, no experiment is able to rule out a group of theories in which
the one-way speed of light is anisotropic and thus different from the two-way speed. All theories
from this group have the property that the round-trip speed of light is isotropic in any inertial
frame, but the one-way speed is isotropic only in a preferred ‘ether’ frame. In all of these theories,
in all inertial frames, the effects of slow clock transport exactly compensate the effects of the
anisotropic one-way speed of light. All these theories are experimentally indistinguishable from
special relativity. In practice, therefore, the one-way speed of light has been measured and is
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

constant. But a small option remains.

The subtleties of the one-way and two-way speed of light have been a point of discussion
for a long time. It has been often argued that a factor different than two, which would lead to a
distinction between the one-way speed of light and the two-way speed of light, cannot be ruled
out by experiment, as long as the two-way speed of light remains c for all observers.
Ref. 12 Many experiments on the one-way velocity of light are explained and discussed by Zhang.. He
says in his summary on page 171, that the one-way velocity of light is indeed independent of the
light source; however, no experiment really shows that it is equal to the two-way velocity. More-
Ref. 92 over, almost all so-called ‘one-way’ experiments are in fact still hidden ‘two-way’ experiments
(see his page 150).
Ref. 93 In 2004, Hans Ohanian showed that the question can be settled by discussing how a non-
standard one-way speed of light would affect dynamics. He showed that a non-standard one-way
challenge hints and solu tions 291

speed of light would introduce pseudoaccelerations and pseudoforces (similar to the Coriolis
acceleration and force); since these pseudoaccelerations and pseudoforces are not observed, the
one-way speed of light is the same as the two-way speed of light.
In short, the issues of the one-way speed of light do not need to worry us here.
Challenge 153, page 93: As shown in the cited reference, the limit follows from the condition
lγ3 a ⩽ c 2 .
Challenge 155, page 94: Yes.
Challenge 156, page 94: Yes. Take Δ f Δt ⩾ 1 and substitute Δl = c/Δ f and Δa = c/Δt.
Challenge 158, page 95: Though there are many publications pretending to study the issue, there
are also enough physicists who notice the impossibility. Measuring a variation of the speed of
light is not much far from measuring the one way speed of light: it is not possible. However, the
debates on the topic are heated; the issue will take long to be put to rest.
Challenge 159, page 97: The inverse square law of gravity does not comply with the maximum

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
speed principle; it is not clear how it changes when one changes to a moving observer.
Challenge 160, page 102: If you hear about a claim to surpass the force or power limit, let me
know.
Challenge 161, page 102: Take a surface moving with the speed of light, or a surface defined
with a precision smaller than the Planck length.
Challenge 162, page 107: Also shadows do not remain parallel in curved surfaces. forgetting this
leads to strange mistakes: many arguments allegedly ‘showing’ that men have never been on the
moon neglect this fact when they discuss the photographs taken there.
Challenge 163, page 109: If you find one, publish it and then send it to me.
Challenge 165, page 114: This is tricky. Simple application of the relativistic transformation rule
for 4-vectors can result in force values above the limit. But in every such case, a horizon has
appeared that prevents the observation of this higher value.
Challenge 166, page 114: If so, publish it; then send it to me.
Challenge 167, page 116: For example, it is possible to imagine a surface that has such an intri-
cate shape that it will pass all atoms of the universe at almost the speed of light. Such a surface is
not physical, as it is impossible to imagine observers on all its points that move in that way all at
the same time.
Challenge 169, page 117: Many do not believe the limits yet; so any proposed counter-example
or any additional paradox is worth a publication.
Challenge 171, page 121: If so, publish it; then send it to me.
Challenge 174, page 123: If so, publish it; then send it to me.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 176, page 125: They are accelerated upwards.

Challenge 177, page 125: In everyday life, (a) the surface of the Earth can be taken to be flat, (b)
the vertical curvature effects are negligible, and (c) the lateral length effects are negligible.
Challenge 181, page 126: For a powerful bus, the acceleration is 2 m/s2 ; in 100 m of acceleration,
this makes a relative frequency change of 2.2 ⋅ 10−15 .
Challenge 182, page 126: Yes, light absorption and emission are always lossless conversions of
energy into mass.
Challenge 185, page 127: For a beam of light, in both cases the situation is described by an en-
vironment in which masses ‘fall’ against the direction of motion. If the Earth and the train walls
were not visible – for example if they were hidden by mist – there would not be any way to de-
termine by experiment which situation is which. Or again, if an observer would be enclosed in a
292 challenge hints and solu tions

box, he could not distinguish between constant acceleration or constant gravity. (Important: this
impossibility only applies if the observer has negligible size!)
Challenge 189, page 129: Length is time times the speed of light. If time changes with height, so
do lengths.
Challenge 191, page 129: Both fall towards the centre of the Earth. Orbiting particles are also in
free fall; their relative distance changes as well, as explained in the text.
Challenge 194, page 131: Such a graph would need four or even 5 dimensions.
Challenge 196, page 133: The energy due to the rotation can be neglected compared with all
other energies in the problem.
Challenge 206, page 138: Different nucleons, different nuclei, different atoms and different
molecules have different percentages of binding energies relative to the total mass.
Challenge 208, page 139: In free fall, the bottle and the water remain at rest with respect to each

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
other.
Challenge 209, page 139: Let the device fall. The elastic rubber then is strong enough to pull the
ball into the cup. See M. T. Westra, Einsteins verjaardagscadeau, Nederlands tijdschrift voor
natuurkunde 69, p. 109, April 2003. The original device also had a spring connected in series to
the rubber.
Challenge 210, page 140: Apart the chairs and tables already mentioned, important anti-gravity
devices are suspenders, belts and plastic bags.
Challenge 212, page 140: The same amount.
Challenge 213, page 140: Yes, in gravity the higher twin ages more. The age difference changes
with height, and reaches zero for infinite height.
Challenge 214, page 140: The mass flow limit is c 3 /4G.
Challenge 215, page 141: No, the conveyer belt can be built into the train.
Challenge 216, page 141: They use a spring scale, and measure the oscillation time. From it they
deduce their mass. (NASA’s bureaucracy calls it a BMMD, a body mass measuring device.)
Challenge 217, page 141: The apple hits the wall after about half an hour.
Challenge 220, page 142: Approaches with curved light paths, or with varying speed of light do
not describe horizons properly.
Challenge 221, page 142: With ħ as smallest angular momentum one get about 100 Tm.
Challenge 222, page 142: No. The diffraction of the beams does not allow it. Also quantum the-
ory makes this impossible; bound states of massless particles, such as photons, are not stable.
Challenge 224, page 143: The orbital radius is 4.2 Earth radii; that makes c. 38 μs every day.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 225, page 143: To be honest, the experiments are not consistent. They assume that
some other property of nature is constant – such as atomic size – which in fact also depends on
G. More on this issue on page 269.
Challenge 226, page 144: Of course other spatial dimensions could exist which can be detected
only with the help of measurement apparatuses. For example, hidden dimensions could appear
at energies not accessible in everyday life.
Challenge 236, page 151: Since there is no negative mass, gravitoelectric fields cannot be neutral-
ized. In contrast, electric fields can be neutralized around a metallic conductor with a Faraday
cage.
Challenge 249, page 161: One needs to measure the timing of pulses which cross the Earth at
different gravitational wave detectors on Earth.
challenge hints and solu tions 293

Challenge 269, page 171: No, a line cannot have intrinsic curvature. A torus is indeed intrinsi-
cally curved; it cannot be cut open to yield a flat sheet of paper.
Challenge 290, page 180: The trace of the Einstein tensor is the negative of the Ricci scalar; it is
thus the negative of the trace of the Ricci tensor.
Challenge 294, page 182: The concept of energy makes no sense for the universe, as the concept
is only defined for physical systems, and thus not for the universe itself. See also page 234.
Challenge 301, page 188: Indeed, in general relativity gravitational energy cannot be localized
in space, in contrast to what one expects and requires from an interaction.
Challenge 318, page 201: There is a good chance that some weak form of Sun jets exist; but a
detection will not be easy. (The question whether the Milky way has jets was part of this text
since 2006; they have been discovered in 2010.)
Challenge 320, page 206: If you believe that the two amounts differ, you are prisoner of a belief,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
namely the belief that your ideas of classical physics and general relativity allow you to extrapolate
these ideas into domains where they are not valid, such as behind a horizon. At every horizon,
quantum effects are so strong that they invalidate such classical extrapolations.
Challenge 321, page 206: A few millimetres.
Challenge 322, page 206: If we assume a diameter of 150 μm and a density of 1000 kg/m3 for
the flour particles, then there are about 566 million particles in one kg of flour. A typical galaxy
contains 1011 stars; that corresponds to 177 kg of flour.
Challenge 323, page 206: Speed is measured with the Doppler effect, usually by looking at the
Lyman-alpha line. Distance is much more difficult to explain. Measuring distances is a science
on its own, depending on whether one measures distances of stars in the galaxy, to other galaxies,
or to quasars. Any book on astronomy or astrophysics will tell more.
Challenge 326, page 214: The rabbit observes that all other rabbits seem to move away from him.
Challenge 333, page 219: Stand in a forest in winter, and try to see the horizon. If the forest is
very deep, you hit tree trunks in all directions. If the forest is finite in depth, you have chance to
see the horizon.
Challenge 349, page 235: The universe does not allow observation from outside. It thus has no
state properties.
Challenge 354, page 237: Flattening due to rotation requires other masses to provide the back-
ground against which the rotation takes place.
Challenge 385, page 255: This happens in the same way that the static electric field comes out
of a charge. In both cases, the transverse fields do not get out, but the longitudinal fields do.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Quantum theory provides the deeper reason. Real radiation particles, which are responsible for
free, transverse fields, cannot leave a black hole because of the escape velocity. However, virtual
particles can, as their speed is not bound by the speed of light. All static, longitudinal fields are
produced by virtual particles. In addition, there is a second reason. Classical field can come out
of a black hole because for an outside observer everything that constitutes the black hole is con-
tinuously falling, and no constituent has actually crossed the horizon. The field sources thus are
not yet out of reach.
Challenge 389, page 256: The description says it all. A visual impression can be found in the
room on black holes in the ‘Deutsches Museum’ in Munich.
Challenge 393, page 257: So far, it seems that all experimental consequences from the analogy
match observations; it thus seems that we can claim that the night sky is a black hole horizon.
Nevertheless, the question is not settled, and some prominent physicists do not like the analogy.
 294 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 397, page 260: Any device that uses mirrors requires electrodynamics; without elec-
trodynamics, mirrors are impossible.
Challenge 399, page 264: The hollow Earth theory is correct if usual distances are consistently
changed according to rhe = REarth
2
/r. This implies a quantum of action that decreases towards the
centre of the hollow sphere. Then there is no way to prefer one description over the other, except
for reasons of simplicity.
Challenge 403, page 274: Mass is a measure of the amount of energy. The ‘square of mass’ makes
no sense.
Challenge 406, page 276: Probably the quantity with the biggest variation is mass, where a prefix
for 1 eV/c2 would be useful, as would be one for the total mass in the universe, which is about
1090 times larger.
Challenge 407, page 277: The formula with n − 1 is a better fit. Why?
Challenge 410, page 278: No! They are much too precise to make sense. They are only given as

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
an illustration for the behaviour of the Gaussian distribution. Real measurement distributions
are not Gaussian to the precision implied in these numbers.
Challenge 411, page 278: About 0.3 m/s. It is not 0.33 m/s, it is not 0.333 m/s and it is not any
longer strings of threes!
Challenge 414, page 284: No, only properties of parts of the universe are listed. The universe
Vol. VI, page 103 itself has no properties, as shown in the last volume..
Challenge 416, page 321: This could be solved with a trick similar to those used in the irrational-
ity of each of the two terms of the sum, but nobody has found one.
Challenge 417, page 321: There are still many discoveries to be made in modern mathematics,
especially in topology, number theory and algebraic geometry. Mathematics has a good future.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

BI BLIO GR APHY

“
A man will turn over half a library to make one

”
book.
Samuel Johnson*

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
1 Aristotle, On sense and the sensible, section 1, part 1, 350 bce. Cited in Jean-
Paul D umont, Les écoles présocratiques, Folio Essais, Gallimard, p. 157, 1991. Cited on
page 14.
2 Anonyme, Demonstration touchant le mouvement de la lumière trouvé par M. Römer de
l’Academie Royale des Sciences, Journal des Scavans pp. 233–236, 1676. An English summary
is found in O. C. Rømer, A demonstration concerning the motion of light, Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society 136, pp. 893–894, 1677. You can read the two papers at
dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/Chem-History/Roemer-1677/Roemer-1677.html. Cited on
page 16.
3 F. Tuinstra, Rømer and the finite speed of light, Physics Today 57, pp. 16–17, December
2004. Cited on page 16.
4 The history of the measurement of the speed of light can be found in chapter 19 of the text
by Francis A. Jenkins & Harvey E. White, Fundamentals of Optics, McGraw-Hill,
New York, 1957. Cited on page 16.
5 On the way to perform such measurements, see Sydney G. Brewer, Do-it-yourself As-
tronomy, Edinburgh University Press, 1988. Kepler himself never measured the distances of
planets to the Sun, but only ratios of planetary distances. The parallax of the Sun from two
points of the Earth is at most 8.79 󳰀󳰀 ; it was first measured in the eighteenth century. Cited
on page 17.
6 Aristarchus of Samos, On the sizes and the distances of the Sun and the Moon, c. 280
bce, in Michael J. Crowe, Theories of the World From Antiquity to the Copernican Rev-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

olution, Dover, 1990. Cited on page 17.

7 J. Frercks, Creativity and technology in experimentation: Fizeau’s terrestrial determina-
tion of the speed of light, Centaurus 42, pp. 249–287, 2000. See also the beautiful website
on reconstrutions of historical science experiments at www.uni-oldenburg.de/histodid/
forschung/nachbauten. Cited on page 17.
8 The way to make pictures of light pulses with an ordinary photographic camera, without
any electronics, is described by M. A. D uguay & A. T. Mat tick, Ultrahigh speed pho-
tography of picosecond light pulses and echoes, Applied Optics 10, pp. 2162–2170, 1971. The
picture on page 18 is taken from it. Cited on page 18.

* Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), famous English poet and intellectual.

296 biblio graphy

9 You can learn the basics of special relativity with the help of the web; the simplest
and clearest introduction is part of the Karlsruhe physics course, downloadable at www.
physikdidaktik.uni-karlsruhe.de. You can also use the physics.syr.edu/research/relativity/
RELATIVITY.html web page as a starting point; the page mentions many of the English-
language relativity resources available on the web. Links in other languages can be found
with search engines. Cited on page 20.
10 W. de Sit ter, A proof of the constancy of the speed of light, Proceedings of the Sec-
tion of the Sciences – Koninklijke Academie der Wetenschappen 15, pp. 1297–1298,
1913, W. de Sit ter, On the constancy of the speed of light, Proceedings of the Sec-
tion of the Sciences – Koninklijke Academie der Wetenschappen 16, pp. 395–396, 1913,
W. de Sit ter, Ein astronomischer Beweis für die Konstanz der Lichtgeschwindigkeit,
Physikalische Zeitschrift 14, p. 429, 1913, W. de Sit ter, Über die Genauigkeit, innerhalb
welcher die Unabhängigkeit der Lichtgeschwindigkeit von der Bewegung der Quelle behauptet
werden kann, Physikalische Zeitschrift 14, p. 1267, 1913, For a more recent version, see

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
K. Brecher, Is the speed of light independent of the source?, Physics Letters 39, pp. 1051–
1054, Errata 1236, 1977. Cited on page 20.
11 Observations of gamma ray bursts show that the speed of light does not depend on the lamp
speed to within one part in 1020 , as shown by K. Brecher, Bulletin of the American Phys-
ical Society 45, 2000. He assumed that both sides of the burster emit light. The large speed
difference and the pulse sharpness then yield this result. Measuring the light speed from
rapidly moving stars is another way; see the previous reference. Some of these experiments
are not completely watertight, however. There is a competing theory of electrodynamics,
due to Ritz, which maintains that the speed of light is c only when measured with respect
to the source; the light from stars, however, passes through the atmosphere, and its speed
might thus be reduced to c.
The famous experiment with light emitted from rapid pions at CERN is not subject to this
criticism. It is described in T. Alväger, J. M. Bailey, F. J. M. Farley, J. Kjellman
& I. Wallin, Test of the second postulate of relativity in the GeV region, Physics Letters 12,
pp. 260–262, 1964. See also T. Alväger & al., Velocity of high-energy gamma rays, Arkiv
för Fysik 31, pp. 145–157, 1965.
Another precise experiment at extreme speeds is described by G. R. Kalbfleisch,
N. Bagget t, E. C. Fowler & J. Alspector, Experimental comparison of neutrino,
anti-neutrino, and muon velocities, Physical Review Letters 43, pp. 1361–1364, 1979. Cited
on page 20.
12 An overview of experimental results is given in Yuan Z hong Z hang, Special Relativity
and its Experimental Foundations, World Scientific, 1998. Cited on pages 20, 28, 35, 46, 61,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

290, and 299.

13 See, e.g., C. Will, Theory and Experiment in Gravitational Physics, Revised edition, Cam-
bridge University Press, 1993. Cited on pages 20 and 24.
14 B. E. S chaefer, Severe limits on variations of the speed of light with frequency, Physical
Review Letters 82, pp. 4964–4966, 21 June 1999. Cited on page 20.
15 The beginning of the modern theory of relativity is the famous paper by Al-
bert Einstein, Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper, Annalen der Physik 17, pp. 891–
921, 1905. It still well worth reading, and every physicist should have done so. The same
can be said of the famous paper, probably written after he heard of Olinto De Pretto’s idea,
found in Albert Einstein, Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt ab-
hängig?, Annalen der Physik 18, pp. 639–641, 1905. See also the review Albert Einstein,
Über das Relativitätsprinzip und die aus demselben gezogenen Folgerungen, Jahrbuch der
biblio graphy 297

Radioaktivität und Elektronik 4, pp. 411–462, 1907. These papers are now available in
many languages. A later, unpublished review is available in facsimile and with an English
translation as Albert Einstein, Hanoch Gutfreund, ed., Einstein’s 1912 Manuscript on
the Theory of Relativity, George Braziller, 2004. Cited on pages 20, 23, and 69.
16 Jean van Bl adel, Relativity and Engineering, Springer, 1984. Cited on page 21.
17 Albert Einstein, Mein Weltbild, edited by Carl Selig, Ullstein Verlag, 1998. Cited
on page 22.
18 Albrecht Fölsing, Albert Einstein – eine Biographie, Suhrkamp p. 237, 1993. Cited on
pages 23 and 36.
19 Einstein’s beautiful introduction, almost without formulae, is Albert Einstein, Über
die spezielle und allgemeine Relativitätstheorie, Vieweg, 1917 and 1997. For a text with all re-
quired mathematics, see Albert Einstein, The Meaning of Relativity, Methuen, 1921 and
1956. The posthumous edition also contains Einstein’s last printed words on the theory, in

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the appendix. See also the German text Albert Einstein, Grundzüge der Relativitätsthe-
orie, Springer, 1921 expanded 1954, and republished 2002, which also contains the relevant
mathematics. Cited on page 23.
20 Julian S chwinger, Einstein’s Legacy, Scientific American, 1986. Edwin F. Taylor
& John A. Wheeler, Spacetime Physics – Introduction to Special Relativity, second edi-
tion, Freeman, 1992. See also Nick M. J. Wo odhouse, Special Relativity, Springer, 2003.
Cited on pages 23 and 79.
21 Wolf gang R indler, Relativity – Special, General and Cosmological, Oxford University
Press, 2001. A beautiful book by one of the masters of the field. Cited on pages 23 and 77.
22 R. J. Kennedy & E. M. Thorndike, Experimental establishment of the relativity of time,
Physical Review 42, pp. 400–418, 1932. See also H. E. Ives & G. R. Stilwell, An exper-
imental study of the rate of a moving atomic clock, Journal of the Optical Society of Amer-
ica 28, pp. 215–226, 1938, and 31, pp. 369–374, 1941. For a modern, high-precision versions,
see C. Braxmeier, H. Müller, O. Pradl, J. Mlynek, A. Peters & S. S chiller,
New tests of relativity using a cryogenic optical resonator, Physical Review Letters 88,
p. 010401, 2002. The newest result is in P. Antonini, M. Okhapkin, E. G öklü
& S. S chiller, Test of constancy of speed of light with rotating cryogenic optical res-
onators, Physical Review A 71, p. 050101, 2005, or arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0504109. See also
P. Antonini, M. Okhapkin, E. G öklü & S. S chiller, Reply to “Comment on ‘Test
of constancy of speed of light with rotating cryogenic optical resonators’ ”, Physical Review A
72, p. 066102, 2005. Cited on page 24.
23 The slowness of the speed of light inside stars is due to the frequent scattering of photons
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

by the star matter. The most common estimate for the Sun is an escape time of 40 000 to 1
million years, but estimates between 17 000 years and 50 million years can be found in the
literature. Cited on page 24.
24 L. Vestergaard Hau, S. E. Harris, Z. D u t ton & C. H. Behro ozi, Light speed
reduction to 17 meters per second in an ultracold atomic gas, Nature 397, pp. 594–598, 1999.
See also C. L iu, Z. D u t ton, C. H. Behro ozi & L. Vestergaard Hau, Observa-
tion of coherent optical information storage in an atomic medium using halted light pulses,
Nature 409, pp. 490–493, 2001, and the comment E. A. Cornell, Stopping light in its track,
409, pp. 461–462, 2001. However, despite the claim, the light pulses have not been halted.
Cited on page 24.
25 The method of explaining special relativity by drawing a few lines on paper is due to Her-
mann B ondi, Relativity and Common Sense: A New Approach to Einstein, Dover, New
298 biblio graphy

York, 1980. See also Dierck-Ekkehard L iebscher, Relativitätstheorie mit Zirkel und
Lineal, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1991. Cited on page 25.
26 S. R einhardt & al., Test of relativistic time dilation with fast optical clocks at different
velocities, Nature Physics 3, pp. 861–864, 2007. Cited on page 26.
27 Rod S. L akes, Experimental limits on the photon mass and cosmic vector potential, Physi-
cal Review Letters 80, pp. 1826–1829, 1998. The speed of light is independent of frequency
within a factor of 6 ⋅ 10−21 , as was shown from gamma ray studies by B. E. S chaefer,
Severe limits on variations of the speed of light with frequency, Physical Review Letters 82,
pp. 4964–4966, 1999. Cited on page 28.
28 F. Tuinstra, De lotgevallen van het dopplereffect, Nederlands tijdschrift voor natu-
urkunde 75, p. 296, August 2009. Cited on page 28.
29 R. W. McG owan & D. M. Giltner, New measurement of the relativistic Doppler shift in
neon, Physical Review Letters 70, pp. 251–254, 1993. Cited on page 28.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
30 R. L ambourne, The Doppler effect in astronomy, Physics Education 32, pp. 34–40, 1997,
Cited on page 30.
31 The present record for clock synchronization seems to be 1 ps for two clocks distant 3 km
from each other. See A. Valencia, G. S carcelli & Y. Shih, Distant clock synchroniza-
tion using entangled photon pairs, Applied Physics Letters 85, pp. 2655–2657, 2004, or arxiv.
org/abs/quant-ph/0407204. Cited on page 32.
32 J. Frenkel & T. Kontorowa, Über die Theorie der plastischen Verformung, Physikali-
sche Zeitschrift der Sowietunion 13, p. 1, 1938. F. C. Frank, On the equations of motion of
crystal dislocations, Proceedings of the Physical Society A 62, pp. 131–134, 1949. J. Eshelby,
Uniformly moving dislocations, Proceedings of the Physical Society A 62, pp. 307–314, 1949.
See also G. L eibfried & H. Dietze, Zeitschrift für Physik 126, p. 790, 1949. A general
introduction can be found in A. Seeger & P. S chiller, Kinks in dislocation lines and
their effects in internal friction in crystals, Physical Acoustics 3A, W. P. Mason, ed., Aca-
demic Press, 1966. See also the textbooks by Frank R. N. Nabarro, Theory of Crystal
Dislocations, Oxford University Press, 1967, or J. P. Hirth & J. Lothe, Theory of Disloca-
tions, McGraw Hill, 1968. Cited on page 32.
33 This beautiful graph is taken from Z. G. T. Guiragossian, G. B. Rothbart,
M. R. Yearian, R. Gearhart & J. J. Murray, Relative velocity measurements of
electrons and gamma rays at 15 GeV, Physical Review Letters 34, pp. 335–338, 1975. Cited
on page 32.
34 A provocative attempt to explain the lack of women in physics in general is made in Mar-
garet Wertheim, Pythagoras’ Trousers – God, Physics and the Gender Wars, Fourth Es-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tate, 1997. Cited on page 33.

35 To find out more about the best-known crackpots, and their ideas, send an email to
[email protected] with the one-line body ‘subscribe psychoceramics’. Cited on page
33.
36 The accuracy of Galilean mechanics was discussed by Simon Newcomb already in 1882. For
details, see Steven Weinberg, Gravitation and Cosmology, Wiley, 1972. Cited on page
33.
37 The speed of neutrinos is the same as that of light to 9 decimal digits. This is explained
by L eo Stod olsky, The speed of light and the speed of neutrinos, Physics Letters B 201,
p. 353, 1988. An observation of a small mass for the neutrino has been published by the
Japanese Super-Kamiokande collaboration, in Y. Fukuda & al., Evidence for oscillation of
atmospheric neutrinos, Physical Review Letters 81, pp. 1562–1567, 1998. The newer results
biblio graphy 299

published by the Canadian Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, as Q.R. Ahmad & al., Direct
evidence for neutrino flavor transformation from neutral-current interactions in the Sudbury
Neutrino Observatory, Physical Review Letters 89, p. 011301, 2002, also confirm that neutri-
nos have a mass in the 1 eV region. Cited on pages 34 and 287.
38 B. Rothenstein & G. Eckstein, Lorentz transformations directly from the speed of
light, American Journal of Physics 63, p. 1150, 1995. See also the comment by E. Kapuścik,
Comment on “Lorentz transformations directly from the speed of light” by B. Rothenstein and
G. Eckstein, American Journal of Physics 65, p. 1210, 1997. Cited on page 35.
39 See e.g. the 1922 lectures by Lorentz at Caltech, published as H. A. Lorentz, Problems of
Modern Physics, edited by H. Bateman, Ginn and Company, page 99, 1927. Cited on page
35.
40 Max B orn, Die Relativitätstheorie Einsteins, Springer, 2003, a new, commented edition of
the original text of 1920. Cited on page 36.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
41 A. A. Michelson & E. W. Morley, On the relative motion of the Earth and the luminif-
erous ether, American Journal of Science (3rd series) 34, pp. 333–345, 1887. Michelson pub-
lished many other papers on the topic after this one. Cited on page 36.
42 The newest result is Ch. Eisele, A. Yu. Nevsky & S. S chiller, Laboratory test of the
isotropy of light propagation at the 10−17 level, Physics Review Letters 103, p. 090401, 2009.
See also the older experiment at S. S chiller, P. Antonini & M. Okhapkin, A preci-
sion test of the isotropy of the speed of light using rotating cryogenic cavities, arxiv.org/abs/
physics/0510169. See also the institute page at www.exphy.uni-duesseldorf.de/ResearchInst/
WelcomeFP.html. Cited on page 36.
43 H. A. Lorentz, De relative beweging van de aarde en dem aether, Amst. Versl. 1, p. 74,
1892, and also H. A. Lorentz, Electromagnetic phenomena in a system moving with any
velocity smaller than that of light, Amst. Proc. 6, p. 809, 1904, or Amst. Versl. 12, p. 986, 1904.
Cited on page 39.
44 A general refutation of such proposals is discussed by S. R. Mainwaring &
G. E. Stedman, Accelerated clock principles, Physical Review A 47, pp. 3611–3619, 1993.
Experiments on muons at CERN in 1968 showed that accelerations of up to 1020 m/s2 have
no effect, as explained by D. H. Perkins, Introduction to High Energy Physics, Addison-
Wesley, 1972, or by J. Bailey & al., Il Nuovo Cimento 9A, p. 369, 1972. Cited on page
40.
45 W. R indler, General relativity before special relativity: an unconventional overview of rel-
ativity theory, American Journal of Physics 62, pp. 887–893, 1994. Cited on page 41. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

46 Steven K. Blau, Would a topology change allow Ms. Bright to travel backward in time?,
American Journal of Physics 66, pp. 179–185, 1998. Cited on page 43.
47 On the ‘proper’ formulation of relativity, see for example D. Hestenes, Proper particle
mechanics, Journal of Mathematical Physics 15, pp. 1768–1777, 1974. See also his numerous
other papers, his book David Hestenes, Spacetime Algebra, Gordon and Breach, 1966,
and his webpage modelingnts.la.asu.edu. A related approach is W. E. Baylis, Relativity in
introductory physics, preprint at arxiv.org/abs/physics/0406158. Cited on page 44.
48 The simple experiment to take a precise clock on a plane, fly it around the world and
then compare it with an identical one left in place was first performed by J. C. Hafele
& R. E. Keating, Around-the-world atomic clocks: predicted relativistic time gains, Sci-
ence 177, pp. 166–167, and Around-the-world atomic clocks: observed relativistic time gains,
pp. 168–170, 14 July 1972. See also Ref. 12. Cited on pages 44 and 128.
300 biblio graphy

49 A readable introduction to the change of time with observers, and to relativity in gen-
eral, is Roman U. Sexl & Herbert Kurt S chmidt, Raum-Zeit-Relativität, 2. Au-
flage, Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig, 1991. Cited on page 44.
50 Most famous is the result that moving muons stay younger, as shown for example by
D. H. Frisch & J. B. Smith, Measurement of the relativistic time dilation using μ-mesons,
American Journal of Physics 31, pp. 342–355, 1963. For a full pedagogical treatment of
the twin paradox, see E. Sheld on, Relativistic twins or sextuplets?, European Journal of
Physics 24, pp. 91–99, 2003. Cited on page 44.
51 Paul J. Nahin, Time Machines – Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics and Science Fiction,
Springer Verlag and AIP Press, second edition, 1999. Cited on page 45.
52 The first muon experiment was B. Rossi & D. B. Hall, Variation of the rate of decay of
mesotrons with momentum, Physical Review 59, pp. 223–228, 1941. ‘Mesotron’ was the old
name for muon. Cited on page 45.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
53 J. Bailey & al., Final report on the CERN muon storage ring including the anomalous
magnetic moment and the electric dipole moment of the muon, and a direct test of relativistic
time dilation, Nuclear Physics B 150, pp. 1–75, 1979. Cited on page 46.
54 Search for ‘fuel’ and ‘relativistic rocket’ on the internet. Cited on page 47.
55 A. Harvey & E. S chucking, A small puzzle from 1905, Physics Today, pp. 34–36,
March 2005. Cited on page 46.
56 W. R indler, Length contraction paradox, American Journal of Physics 29, pp. 365–366,
1961. For a variation without gravity, see R. Shaw, Length contraction paradox, American
Journal of Physics 30, p. 72, 1962. Cited on page 48.
57 H. van L intel & C. Gruber, The rod and hole paradox re-examined, European Journal
of Physics 26, pp. 19–23, 2005. Cited on page 48.
58 This situation is discussed by G. P. Sastry, Is length contraction paradoxical?, American
Journal of Physics 55, 1987, pp. 943–946. This paper also contains an extensive literature list
covering variants of length contraction paradoxes. Cited on page 48.
59 S. P. B oughn, The case of the identically accelerated twins, American Journal of Physics
57, pp. 791–793, 1989. Cited on pages 49 and 50.
60 J. M. Supplee, Relativistic buoyancy, American Journal of Physics 57 1, pp. 75–77, January
1989. See also G. E. A. Matsas, Relativistic Arquimedes law for fast moving bodies and the
general-relativistic resolution of the ‘submarine paradox’, Physical Review D 68, p. 027701,
2003, or arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0305106. Cited on page 49.
61 The distinction was first published by J. Terrell, Invisibility of Lorentz contraction, Phys-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ical Review 116, pp. 1041–1045, 1959, and R. Penrose, The apparent shape of a relativis-
tically moving sphere, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 55, pp. 137–139,
1959. Cited on page 50.
62 G. R. Rybicki, Speed limit on walking, American Journal of Physics 59, pp. 368–369, 1991.
Cited on page 53.
63 The first examples of such astronomical observations were provided by A.R. Whitney &
al., Quasars revisited: rapid time variations observed via very-long-baseline interferometry,
Science 173, pp. 225–230, 1971, and by M.H. Cohen & al., The small-scale structure of ra-
dio galaxies and quasi-stellar sources at 3.8 centimetres, Astrophysical Journal 170, pp. 207–
217, 1971. See also T. J. Pearson, S. C. Unwin, M. H. Cohen, R. P. L infield,
A. C. S. R eadhead, G. A. Seielstad, R. S. Simon & R. C. Walker, Superlumi-
nal expansion of quasar 3C 273, Nature 290, pp. 365–368, 1981. An overview is given in
biblio graphy 301

J. A. Z ensus & T. J. Pearson, editors, Superluminal radio sources, Cambridge Univer-

sity Press, 1987. Another measurement, using very long baseline interferometry with radio
waves on jets emitted from a binary star (thus not a quasar), was shown on the cover of
Nature: I. F. Mirabel & L. F. Rodríguez, A superluminal source in the galaxy, Nature
371, pp. 46–48, 1994. A more recent example was reported in Science News 152, p. 357, 6
December 1997.
Pedagogical explanations are given by D. C. Gabuzda, The use of quasars in teaching
introductory special relativity, American Journal of Physics 55, pp. 214–215, 1987, and by
Edwin F. Taylor & John A. Wheeler, Spacetime Physics – Introduction to Special
Relativity, second edition, Freeman, 1992, pages 89-92. This excellent book was mentioned
already in the text. Cited on page 55.
64 O. M. Bil aniuk & E. C. Sudarshan, Particles beyond the light barrier, Physics
Today 22, pp. 43–51, 1969, and O. M. P. Bil aniuk, V. K. Deshpande &
E. C. G. Sudarshan, ‘Meta’ relativity, American Journal of Physics 30, pp. 718–723,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
1962. See also E. R ecami, editor, Tachyons, Monopoles and Related Topics, North-Holland,
Amsterdam, 1978. Cited on page 56.
65 J. P. Costella, B. H. J. McKellar, A. A. R awlinson & G. J. Stephenson, The
Thomas rotation, American Journal of Physics 69, pp. 837–847, 2001. Cited on page 56.
66 Planck wrote this in a letter in 1908. Cited on page 57.
67 See for example S. S. Costa & G. E. A. Matsas, Temperature and relativity, preprint
available at arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9505045. Cited on page 57.
68 R. C. Tolman & G. N. L ewis, The principle of relativity and non-Newtonian mechanics,
Philosophical Magazine 18, pp. 510–523, 1909, and R. C. Tolman, Non-Newtonian me-
chanics: the mass of a moving body, Philosophical Magazine 23, pp. 375–380, 1912. Cited on
page 59.
69 S. R ainville, J. K. Thompson, E. G. Myers, J. M. Brown, M. S. Dewey,
E. G. Kessler, R. D. Desl at tes, H. G. B örner, M. Jentschel, P. Mu t ti &
D. E. Pritchard, World year of physics: a direct test of E = mc 2 , Nature 438, pp. 1096–
1097, 2005. Cited on page 65.
70 This information is due to a private communication by Frank DiFilippo; part of the story
is given in F. DiFilippo, V. Natarajan, K. R. B oyce & D. E. Pritchard, Accurate
atomic masses for fundamental metrology, Physical Review Letters 73, pp. 1481–1484, 1994.
These measurements were performed with Penning traps; a review of the possibilities they
offer is given by R. C. Thompson, Precision measurement aspects of ion traps, Measure-
ment Science and Technology 1, pp. 93–105, 1990. The most important experimenters in
the field of single particle levitation were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1989. One of the No-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

bel Prize lectures can be found in W. Paul, Electromagnetic traps for neutral and charged
particles, Reviews of Modern Physics 62, pp. 531–540, 1990. Cited on page 65.
71 J. L. Synge, Relativity: The Special Theory, North-Holland, 1956, pp. 208–213. More about
antiparticles in special relativity can be found in J. P. Costell a, B. H. J. McKell ar &
A. A. R awlinson, Classical antiparticles, American Journal of Physics 65, pp. 835–841,
1997. See also Ref. 89. Cited on page 66.
72 A. Papapetrou, Drehimpuls- und Schwerpunktsatz in der relativistischen Mechanik, Prak-
tika Acad. Athenes 14, p. 540, 1939, and A. Papapetrou, Drehimpuls- und Schwer-
punktsatz in der Diracschen Theorie, Praktika Acad. Athenes 15, p. 404, 1940. See also
M. H. L. Pryce, The mass-centre in the restricted theory of relativity and its connexion with
the quantum theory of elementary particles, Proceedings of the Royal Society in London, A
195, pp. 62–81, 1948. Cited on page 67.
302 biblio graphy

73 Umberto Barto cci, Albert Einstein e Olinto De Pretto: la vera storia della formula più
famosa del mondo, Ultreja, 1998. Cited on page 69.
74 The references preceding Einstein’s E = mc 2 are: S. Tolver Preston, Physics of the
Ether, E. & F.N. Spon, 1875, J. H. Poincaré, La théorie de Lorentz et le principe de
réaction, Archives néerlandaises des sciences exactes et naturelles 5, pp. 252–278, 1900,
O. De Pret to, Ipotesi dell’etere nella vita dell’universo, Reale Istituto Veneto di Scienze,
Lettere ed Arti tomo LXIII, parte 2, pp. 439–500, Febbraio 1904, F. Hasenöhrl, Berichte
der Wiener Akademie 113, p. 1039, 1904, F. Hasenöhrl, Zur Theorie der Strahlung in be-
wegten Körpern, Annalen der Physik 15, pp. 344–370, 1904, F. Hasenöhrl, Zur Theorie
der Strahlung in bewegten Körpern – Berichtigung, Annalen der Physik 16, pp. 589–592, 1905.
Hasenöhrl died in 1915, De Pretto in 1921. All these papers were published before the fam-
ous paper by Albert Einstein, Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt
abhängig?, Annalen der Physik 18, pp. 639–641, 1905. Cited on page 69.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
75 For a clear overview of the various sign conventions in general relativity, see the front cover
of the text by Misner, Thorne and Wheeler, Ref. 84. We use the gravitational sign conven-
tions of the text by Ohanian and Ruffini, Ref. 100. Cited on page 71.
76 A jewel among the textbooks on special relativity is the booklet by Ulrich E. S chröder,
Spezielle Relativitätstheorie, Verlag Harri Deutsch, 1981. Cited on pages 72 and 75.
77 G. Stephenson & C. W. Kilmister, Special Relativity for Physicists, Longmans, Lon-
don, 1965. See also W. N. Mat thews, Relativistic velocity and acceleration transforma-
tions from thought experiments, American Journal of Physics 73, pp. 45–51, 2005, and the
subsequent J. M. L év y, A simple derivation of teh Lorentz transformation and of the ac-
companying velocity and acceleration changes, American Journal of Physics 75, pp. 615–618,
2007. Cited on page 73.
78 A readable article showing a photocopy of a letter by Einstein making this point is
L ev B. Okun, The concept of mass, Physics Today, pp. 31–36, June 1989. The topic is not
without controversy, as the letters by readers following that article show; they are found in
Physics Today, pp. 13–14 and pp. 115–117, May 1990. The topic is still a source of debates.
Cited on page 75.
79 Christian Møller, The Theory of Relativity, Clarendon Press, 1952, 1972. This standard
textbook has been translated in several languages. Cited on page 75.
80 The famous no-interaction theorem states that there is no way to find a Lagrangian that only
depends on particle variables, is Lorentz invariant and contains particle interactions. It was
shown by D. G. Currie, T. F. Jordan & E. C. G. Sudarshan, Relativistic invariance
and Hamiltonian theories of interacting particles, Review of Modern Physics 35, pp. 350–375,
1963. Cited on page 76.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

81 P. Ehrenfest, Gleichförmige Rotation starrer Körper und Relativitätstheorie, Physikalis-

che Zeitschrift 10, pp. 918–928, 1909. Ehrenfest (incorrectly) suggested that this meant
that relativity cannot be correct. A good modern summary of the issue can be found in
M. L. Ruggiero, The relative space: space measurements on a rotating platform, arxiv.org/
abs/gr-qc/0309020. Cited on page 77.
82 R. J. Low, When moving clocks run fast, European Journal of Physics 16, pp. 228–229, 1995.
Cited on pages 83 and 84.
83 E. A. Deslo ge & R. J. Philpot t, Uniformly accelerated reference frames in special rela-
tivity, American Journal of Physics 55, pp. 252–261, 1987. Cited on pages 85 and 86.
84 The impossibility of defining rigid coordinate frames for non-uniformly accelerating ob-
servers is discussed by Charles Misner, Kip Thorne & John A. Wheeler, Gravi-
 biblio graphy 303

tation, Freeman, p. 168, 1973. Cited on pages 85 and 302.

85 R. H. G o od, Uniformly accelerated reference frame and twin paradox, American Journal
of Physics 50, pp. 232–238, 1982. Cited on pages 86, 87, and 90.
86 J. D. Hamilton, The uniformly accelerated reference frame, American Journal of Physics
46, pp. 83–89, 1978. Cited on page 87.
87 The best and cheapest mathematical formula collection remains the one by K. Rot tmann,
Mathematische Formelsammlung, BI Hochschultaschenbücher, 1960. Cited on page 87.
88 C. G. Adler & R. W. Brehme, Relativistic solutions to a falling body in a uniform gravi-
tation field, American Journal of Physics 59, pp. 209–213, 1991. Cited on page 88.
89 See for example the excellent lecture notes by D. J. R aymond, A radically modern ap-
proach to freshman physics, on the www.physics.nmt.edu/~raymond/teaching.html website.
Cited on pages 88 and 301.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
90 Edward A. Deslo ge, The gravitational red-shift in a uniform field, American Journal of
Physics 58, pp. 856–858, 1990. Cited on page 90.
91 L. Mishra, The relativistic acceleration addition theorem, Classical and Quantum Gravity
11, pp. L97–L102, 1994. Cited on page 91.
92 One of the latest of these debatable experiments is T. P. Krisher, L. Maleki,
G. F. Lu tes, L. E. Primas, R. T. Lo gan, J. D. Anderson & C. M. Will, Test of
the isotropy of the one-way speed of light using hydrogen-maser frequency standards, Physi-
cal Review D 42, pp. 731–734, 1990. Cited on pages 92 and 290.
93 H. C. Ohanian, The role of dynamics in the synchronization problem, American Journal
of Physics 72, pp. 141–148, 2004. Cited on pages 92 and 290.
94 Edwin F. Taylor & A. P. French, Limitation on proper length in special relativity,
American Journal of Physics 51, pp. 889–893, 1983. Cited on page 93.
95 Clear statements against a varying speed of light are made by Michael Duff in several of
his publications. See, for example, M. J. D uff, Comment on time-variation of fundamental
constants, arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0208093. An opposite point of view has been proposed by
Moffat and by Magueijo. Cited on page 95.
96 The quote is form a letter of Gibbs to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in which
he thanks the Academy for their prize. The letter was read in a session of the Academy and
thus became part of the proceedings: J. W. Gibbs, Proceedings of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences, 16, p. 420, 1881. Cited on page 98.
97 It seems that the first published statement of the principle was in the year 2000 edition of
this text, in the chapter on gravitation and relativity. The present author discovered the max-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

imum force principle in 1998, when searching for a way to derive the results of the last part
Vol. VI, page 52 of this adventure that would be so simple that it would convince even a secondary-school
student. The reference is Christoph S chiller, Motion Mountain – The Adventure of
Physics, found at www.motionmountain.net. The idea of a maximum force was also pro-
posed by Gary Gibbons in 2002 (see reference below). Nowadays Gary Gibbons is more
cautious than me about whether the maximum force can be seen as an actual physical prin-
ciple (despite the title of his paper). The approach of a maximum force was discussed in var-
ious usenet discussion groups in the early twenty-first century. These discussion showed
that the idea of a maximum force (and a maximum power) were known to some people,
but that before Gibbons and me only few had put it in writing. Also this physics discovery
was thus made much too late. In short, only the idea to raise maximum force or power to
a principle seems to be original; it was published first in the reference following this one
304 biblio graphy

and then in C. S chiller, General relativity and cosmology derived from principle of max-
imum power or force, International Journal of Theoretical Physics 44, pp. 1629–1647, 2005,
preprint at arxiv.org/abs/physics/0607090. Cited on page 98.
98 G. W. Gibbons, The maximum tension principle in general relativity, Foundations of
Physics 32, pp. 1891–1901, 2002, or arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0210109. Gary Gibbons explains
that the maximum force follows from general relativity; he does not make a statement
about the converse. See also R. Beig, G. W. Gibbons & R. M. S choen, Gravitating op-
posites attract, Classical and Quantum Gravity 26, p. 225013, 2009, preprint at arxiv.org/
abs/09071103, and L. Kostro & B. L ange, Is c 4 /G the greatest possible force in nature?,
Physics Essays 12, pp. 182–189, 1999. See also C. Massa, Does the gravitational constant in-
crease?, Astrophysics and Space Science 232, pp. 143–148, 1995. Cited on pages 98 and 135.
99 C. S chiller, Maximum force and minimum distance: physics in limit statements, part
of this text and downloadable at www.motionmountain.net/MotionMountain-Part6.pdf,
preprint at arxiv.org/abs/physics/0309118. Cited on pages 100, 103, 112, and 121.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
100 H. C. Ohanian & R emo Ruffini, Gravitation and Spacetime, W.W. Norton & Co., 1994.
Another textbook that talks about the power limit is Ian R. Kenyon, General Relativity,
Oxford University Press, 1990. The maximum power is also discussed in L. Kostro, The
quantity c 5 /G interpreted as the greatest possible power in nature, Physics Essays 13, pp. 143–
154, 2000. Cited on pages 102, 111, 113, 115, 119, 120, 302, and 312.
101 An overview of the literature on analog model of general relativity can be found on Matt
Visser’s website www.physics.wustl.edu/~visser/Analog/bibliography.html. Cited on page
102.
102 See for example Wolf gang R indler, Relativity – Special, General and Cosmological, Ox-
ford University Press, 2001, p. 70 ff, or R ay d’Inverno, Introducing Einstein’s Relativity,
Clarendon Press, 1992, p. 36 ff. Cited on page 104.
103 See for example A. Ashtekar, S. Fairhust & B. Krishnan, Isolated horizons: Hamil-
tonian evolution and the first law, arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0005083. Cited on page 104.
104 T. Jacobson, Thermodynamics of spacetime: the Einstein equation of state, Physical Review
Letters 75, pp. 1260–1263, 1995 or arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9504004. Cited on page 105.
105 See for example Ekkehart Kröner, Kontinuumstheorie der Versetzungen und
Eigenspannungen, Springer, 1958, volume 5 of the series ‘Ergebnisse der angewandten
Mathematik’. Kröner shows the similarity between the equations, methods and results of
solid-state continuum physics and those of general relativity, including the Ricci formalism.
Cited on pages 108 and 192.
106 Edwin F. Taylor & John A. Wheeler, Spacetime Physics – Introduction to Special Rel-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ativity, second edition, Freeman, 1992. Cited on page 109.

107 This counter-example was suggested by Steve Carlip. Cited on page 111.
108 E. R. Caianiello, Lettere al Nuovo Cimento 41, p. 370, 1984. Cited on page 113.
109 A notable exception is the physics teching group in Karlsruhe, who has always taught
force in the correct way. See F. Herrmann, Mengenartige Größen im Physikunterricht,
Physikalische Blätter 54, pp. 830–832, September 1998. See also the lecture notes on general
introductory physics on the website www.physikdidaktik.uni-karlsruhe.de/skripten. Cited
on page 117.
110 R. Penrose, Naked singularities, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 224,
pp. 125–134, 1973. Cited on page 119.
111 G. Huisken & T. Ilmanen, The Riemannian Penrose inequality, International Mathe-
matics Research Notices 59, pp. 1045–1058, 1997. Cited on page 119.
biblio graphy 305

112 S. A. Hay ward, Inequalities relating area, energy, surface gravity and charge of black holes,
Physical Review Letters 81, pp. 4557–4559, 1998. Cited on page 119.
113 C. Will, Was Einstein Right? – Putting General Relativity to the Test, Oxford University
Press, 1993. See also his paper arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9811036. Cited on page 120.
114 The measurement results by the WMAP satellite are summarized on the website map.
gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm.html; the papers are available at lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/map/
current/map_bibliography.cfm. Cited on page 121.
115 The simplest historical source is Albert Einstein, Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften II pp. 844–846, 1915. It is the first explanation of the general
theory of relativity, in only three pages. The theory is then explained in detail in the famous
article Albert Einstein, Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie, Annalen der
Physik 49, pp. 769–822, 1916. The historic references can be found in German and English
in John Stachel, ed., The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Volumes 1–9, Princeton

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
University Press, 1987–2004.
Below is a selection of English-language textbooks for deeper study, in ascending order
of depth and difficulty:

— An entertaining book without any formulae, but nevertheless accurate and detailed, is
the paperback by Igor Novikov, Black Holes and the Universe, Cambridge University
Press, 1990.
— Almost no formulae, but loads of insight, are found in the enthusiastic text by
John A. Wheeler, A Journey into Gravity and Spacetime, W.H. Freeman, 1990.
— An excellent presentation is Edwin F. Taylor & John A. Wheeler, Exploring
Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity, Addison Wesley Longman, 2000.
— Beauty, simplicity and shortness are the characteristics of Malcolm Ludvigsen,
General Relativity, a Geometric Approach, Cambridge University Press, 1999.
— Good explanation is the strength of Bernard S chu tz, Gravity From the Ground Up,
Cambridge University Press, 2003.
— A good overview of experiments and theory is given in James Foster &
J. D. Nightingale, A Short Course in General Relativity, Springer Verlag, 2nd
edition, 1998.
— A pretty text is Sam L illey, Discovering Relativity for Yourself, Cambridge University
Press, 1981.
— A modern text is by R ay d’Inverno, Introducing Einstein’s Relativity, Clarendon
Press, 1992. It includes an extended description of black holes and gravitational radi-
ation, and regularly refers to present research.
— A beautiful, informative and highly recommended text is H. C. Ohanian &
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

R emo Ruffini, Gravitation and Spacetime, W.W. Norton & Co., 1994.
— A well written and modern book, with emphasis on the theory, by one of the great mas-
ters of the field is Wolf gang R indler, Relativity – Special, General and Cosmologi-
cal, Oxford University Press, 2001.
— A classic is Steven Weinberg, Gravitation and Cosmology, Wiley, 1972.
— The passion of general relativity can be experienced also in John Kl auder, ed., Magic
without Magic: John Archibald Wheeler – A Collection of Essays in Honour of His Sixtieth
Birthday, W.H. Freeman & Co., 1972.
— An extensive text is Kip S. Thorne, Black Holes and Time Warps – Einstein’s Outra-
geous Legacy, W.W. Norton, 1994.
— The most mathematical – and toughest – text is Robert M. Wald, General Relativity,
University of Chicago Press, 1984.
306 biblio graphy

— Much information about general relativity is available on the internet. As a good starting
point for US-American material, see the math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/ website.

There is still a need for a large and modern textbook on general relativity, with colour ma-
terial, that combines experimental and theoretical aspects. For texts in other languages, see
the next reference. Cited on pages 124, 163, 164, 186, and 187.
116 A beautiful German teaching text is the classic G. Falk & W. Ruppel, Mechanik, Rela-
tivität, Gravitation – ein Lehrbuch, Springer Verlag, third edition, 1983.
A practical and elegant booklet is Ulrich E. S chröder, Gravitation – Einführung
in die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie, Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main, 2001.
A modern reference is Torsten Fliessbach, Allgemeine Relativitätstheorie,
Akademischer Spektrum Verlag, 1998.
Excellent is Hubert G oenner, Einführung in die spezielle und allgemeine Relativität-
stheorie, Akademischer Spektrum Verlag, 1996.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In Italian, there is the beautiful, informative, but expensive H. C. Ohanian &
R emo Ruffini, Gravitazione e spazio-tempo, Zanichelli, 1997. It is highly recommended.
A modern update of that book would be without equals. Cited on pages 124, 158, 159, 163,
164, 187, and 310.
117 P. Mohazzabi & J. H. Shea, High altitude free fall, American Journal of Physics 64,
pp. 1242–1246, 1996. As a note, due to a technical failure Kittinger had his hand in (near) vac-
uum during his ascent, without incurring any permanent damage. On the consequences of
human exposure to vacuum, see the www.sff.net/people/geoffrey.landis/vacuum.html web-
site. Cited on page 125.
118 This story is told by W. G. Unruh, Time, gravity, and quantum mechanics, preprint avail-
able at arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9312027. Cited on page 125.
119 H. B ondi, Gravitation, European Journal of Physics 14, pp. 1–6, 1993. Cited on page 126.
120 J. W. Brault, Princeton University Ph.D. thesis, 1962. See also J. L. Snider, Physical Re-
view Letters 28, pp. 853–856, 1972, and for the star Sirius see J.L. Greenstein & al.,
Astrophysical Journal 169, p. 563, 1971. Cited on pages 127 and 267.
121 See the detailed text by Jeffrey Crelinsten, Einstein’s Jury – The Race to Test Relativity,
Princeton University Press, 2006, which covers all researchers involved in the years from
1905 to 1930. Cited on page 128.
122 The famous paper is R. V. Pound & G. A. R ebka, Apparent weight of photons, Phys-
ical Review Letters 4, pp. 337–341, 1960. A higher-precision version was published by
R. V. Pound & J. L. Snider, Physical Review Letters 13, p. 539, 1964, and R. V. Pound
& J. L. Snider, Physical Review B 140, p. 788, 1965. Cited on pages 128 and 267.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

123 R.F.C. Vessot & al., Test of relativistic gravitation with a space-borne hydrogen maser,
Physical Review Letters 45, pp. 2081–2084, 1980. The experiment was performed in 1976;
there are more than a dozen co-authors involved in this work, which involved shooting a
maser into space with a scout missile to a height of c. 10 000 km. Cited on page 128.
124 L. Briatore & S. L eschiu t ta, Evidence for Earth gravitational shift by direct atomic-
time-scale comparison, Il Nuovo Cimento 37B, pp. 219–231, 1977. Cited on page 128.
125 More information about tides can be found in E. P. Cl ancy, The Tides, Doubleday, New
York, 1969. Cited on page 130.
126 The expeditions had gone to two small islands, namely to Sobral, north of Brazil, and to
Principe, in the gulf of Guinea. The results of the expedition appeared in The Times be-
fore they appeared in a scientific journal. Today this would be seen as a gross violation
biblio graphy 307

of scientific ethics. The results were published as F. W. Dyson, A. S. Eddington &

C. Davidson, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (London) 220A, p. 291,
1920, and Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society 62, p. 291, 1920. Cited on page 131.
127 D. Kennefick, Testing relativity from the 1919 eclipse – a question of bias, Physics Today
pp. 37–42, March 2009. This excellent article discusses the measurement errors in great
detail. The urban legend that the star shiftswere so small on the negatives that they implied
large measurement errors is wrong – it might be due to a lack of respect on the part of some
physicists for the abilities of astronomers. The 1979 reanalysis of the measurement confirm
that such small shifts, smaller than the star image diameter, are reliably measurable. In fact,
the 1979 reanalysis of the data produced a smaller error bar than the 1919 analysis. Cited
on page 131.
128 A good source for images of space-time is the text by G. F. R. Ellis & R. Williams, Flat
and Curved Space-times, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1988. Cited on page 131.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
129 J. Droste, Het veld van een enkel centrum in Einstein’s theorie der zwaartekracht, en de
beweging van een stoffelijk punt, Verslag gew. Vergad. Wiss. Amsterdam 25, pp. 163–180,
1916. Cited on page 133.
130 The name black hole was introduced in 1967 at a pulsar conference, as described in his
autobiography by John A. Wheeler, Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam: A Life
in Physics, W.W. Norton, 1998, pp. 296–297: ‘In my talk, I argued that we should consider
the possibility that at the center of a pulsar is a gravitationally completely collapsed object.
I remarked that one couldn’t keep saying “gravitationally completely collapsed object”
over and over. One needed a shorter descriptive phrase. “How about black hole?” asked
someone in the audience. I had been searching for just the right term for months, mulling
it over in bed, in the bathtub, in my car, whenever I had quiet moments. Suddenly, this
name seemed exactly right. When I gave a more formal ... lecture ... a few weeks later on,
on December 29, 1967, I used the term, and then included it into the written version of
the lecture published in the spring of 1968 ... I decided to be casual about the term ”black
hole”, dropping it into the lecture and the written version as if it were an old familiar friend.
Would it catch on? Indeed it did. By now every schoolchild has heard the term.’
The widespread use of the term began with the article by R. Ruffini &
J. A. Wheeler, Introducing the black hole, Physics Today 24, pp. 30–41, January 1971.
In his autobiography, Wheeler also writes that the expression ‘black hole has no hair’
was criticized as ‘obscene’ by Feynman. This is a bizarre comment, given that Feynman
used to write his papers in topless bars. Cited on pages 134, 240, 241, and 247.
131 L. B. Kreuzer, Experimental measurement of the equivalence of active and passive gravita-
tional mass, Physical Review 169, pp. 1007–1012, 1968. With a clever experiment, he showed
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

that the gravitational masses of fluorine and of bromine are equal. Cited on page 134.
132 A good and accessible book on the topic is David Bl air & Geoff McNamara, Ripples
on a cosmic sea, Allen & Unwin, 1997. Cited on page 134.
133 That bodies fall along geodesics, independently of their mass, the so-called weak equiva-
lence principle, has been checked by many experiments, down to the 10−13 level. The most
precise experiments use so-called torsion balances. See, for example, the website of the Eőt-
Wash group at www.npl.washington.edu/eotwash/experiments/experiments.html. Cited on
page 138.
134 So far, the experiments confirm that electrostatic and (strong) nuclear energy fall like mat-
ter to within one part in 108 , and weak (nuclear) energy to within a few per cent. This is
summarized in Ref. 138. Cited on page 138.
308 biblio graphy

135 J. S oldner, Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch auf das Jahr 1804, 1801, p. 161. Cited on
page 138.
136 See for example K. D. Olum, Superluminal travel requires negative energies, Physical Re-
view Letters 81, pp. 3567–3570, 1998, or M. Alcubierre, The warp drive: hyper-fast travel
within general relativity, Classical and Quantum Gravity 11, pp. L73–L77, 1994. See also
Chris Van Den Broeck, A warp drive with more reasonable total energy requirements,
Classical and Quantum Gravity 16, pp. 3973–3979, 1999. Cited on page 141.
137 See the Astronomical Almanac, and its Explanatory Supplement, H.M. Printing Office, Lon-
don and U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1992. For the information about
various time coordinates used in the world, such as barycentric coordinate time, the time
at the barycentre of the solar system, see also the tycho.usno.navy.mil/systime.html web
page. It also contains a good bibliography. Cited on page 142.
138 An overview is given in C. Will, Theory and Experiment in Gravitational Physics, chapter

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
14.3, Cambridge University Press, revised edition, 1993. (Despite being a standard reference,
his view the role of tides and the role of gravitational energy within the principle of equiv-
alence has been criticised by other researchers.) See also C. Will, Was Einstein Right? –
Putting General Relativity to the Test, Oxford University Press, 1993. See also his paper arxiv.
org/abs/gr-qc/9811036. Cited on pages 143, 163, and 307.
139 The calculation omits several smaller effects, such as rotation of the Earth and red-shift.
For the main effect, see Edwin F. Taylor, ‘The boundaries of nature: special and general
relativity and quantum mechanics, a second course in physics’ – Edwin F. Taylor’s acceptance
speech for the 1998 Oersted Medal presented by the American Association of Physics Teachers,
6 January 1998, American Journal of Physics 66, pp. 369–376, 1998. Cited on page 143.
140 A. G. L indh, Did Popper solve Hume’s problem?, Nature 366, pp. 105–106, 11 November
1993, Cited on page 143.
141 P. Kaaret, S. Piraino, P. F. Bloser, E. C. Ford, J. E. Grindlay, A. Santangelo,
A. P. Smale & W. Z hang, Strong Field Gravity and X-Ray Observations of 4U1820-30,
Astrophysical Journal 520, pp. L37–L40, 1999, or at arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9905236. The
beautiful graphics at the research.physics.uiuc.edu/CTA/movies/spm website illustrate this
star system. Cited on page 144.
142 R. J. Nemiroff, Visual distortions near a black hole and a neutron star, American Journal
of Physics 61, pp. 619–632, 1993. Cited on page 144.
143 The equality was first tested with precision by R. von Eöt vös, Annalen der Physik &
Chemie 59, p. 354, 1896, and by R. von Eöt vös, V. Pekár, E. Fekete, Beiträge
zum Gesetz der Proportionalität von Trägheit und Gravität, Annalen der Physik 4, Leipzig
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

68, pp. 11–66, 1922. Eötvös found agreement to 5 parts in 109 . More experiments were per-
formed by P. G. Roll, R. Krotkow & R. H. Dicke, The equivalence of inertial and pas-
sive gravitational mass, Annals of Physics (NY) 26, pp. 442–517, 1964, one of the most inter-
esting and entertaining research articles in experimental physics, and by V. B. Braginsky
& V. I. Panov, Soviet Physics – JETP 34, pp. 463–466, 1971. Modern results, with errors
less than one part in 1012 , are by Y. Su & al., New tests of the universality of free fall, Physical
Review D50, pp. 3614–3636, 1994. Several future experiments have been proposed to test
the equality in space to less than one part in 1016 . Cited on pages 144 and 267.
144 Nigel Calder, Einstein’s Universe, Viking, 1979. Weizmann and Einstein once crossed
the Atlantic on the same ship. Cited on page 147.
145 The Thirring effect was predicted in H. Thirring, Über die Wirkung rotierender ferner
Massen in der Einsteinschen Gravitationstheorie, Physikalische Zeitschrift 19, pp. 33–39,
biblio graphy 309

1918, and in H. Thirring, Berichtigung zu meiner Arbeit: “Über die Wirkung rotierender
Massen in der Einsteinschen Gravitationstheorie”, Physikalische Zeitschrift 22, p. 29, 1921.
The Thirring–Lense effect was predicted in J. L ense & H. Thirring, Über den Einfluß
der Eigenrotation der Zentralkörper auf die Bewegung der Planeten und Monde nach der
Einsteinschen Gravitationstheorie, Physikalische Zeitschrift 19, pp. 156–163, 1918. See also
Ref. 168. Cited on page 148.
146 The work is based on the LAGEOS and LAGEOS II satellites and is told in I. Ciufolini,
The 1995–99 measurements of the Thirring–Lense effect using laser-ranged satellites, Classical
and Quantum Gravity 17, pp. 2369–2380, 2000. See also I. Ciufolini & E. C. Pavlis,
A confirmation of the general relativistic prediction of the Lense–Thirring effect, Nature 431,
pp. 958–960, 2004. See, however, the next reference. Cited on pages 149 and 267.
147 See the interesting, detailed and disturbing discussion by L. Iorio, On some critical issues
of the LAGEOS-based tests of the Lense–Thirring effect, Journal of Modern Physics 2, pp. 210–
218, 2011, preprint available at arxiv.org/abs/1104.4464. Cited on pages 149 and 267.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
148 On the Gravity Probe B satellite experiment, see the web page einstein.stanford.edu/
highlights/status1.html and the papers cited there. Cited on page 149.
149 The detection of the Thirring–Lense effect in binary pulsars is presented in
R. D. Blandford, Lense–Thirring precession of radio pulsars, Journal of Astrophysics
and Astronomy 16, pp. 191–206, 1995. Cited on page 149.
150 G. Holzmüller, Zeitschrift für Mathematik und Physik 15, p. 69, 1870, F. Tisserand,
Comptes Rendus 75, p. 760, 1872, and Comptes Rendus 110, p. 313, 1890. Cited on page
149.
151 B. Mashho on, Gravitoelectromagnetism: a brief review, arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0311030, and
B. Mashho on, Gravitoelectromagnetism, arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0011014. See also its exten-
sive reference list on gravitomagnetism. Cited on page 150.
152 A. Tartaglia & M. L. Ruggiero, Gravito-electromagnetism versus electromagnetism,
European Journal of Physics 25, pp. 203–210, 2004. Cited on page 150.
153 D. Bedford & P. Krumm, On relativistic gravitation, American Journal of Physics 53,
pp. 889–890, 1985, and P. Krumm & D. Bedford, The gravitational Poynting vector and
energy transfer, American Journal of Physics 55, pp. 362–363, 1987. Cited on pages 151
and 158.
154 M. Kramer & al., Tests of general relativity from timing the double pulsar, prerpint at arxiv.
org/abs/astro-ph/0609417. Cited on pages 153 and 267.
155 This is told in John A. Wheeler, A Journey into Gravity and Spacetime, W.H. Freeman,
1990. Cited on page 153.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

156 See, for example, K. T. McD onald, Answer to question #49. Why c for gravita-
tional waves?, American Journal of Physics 65, pp. 591–592, 1997, and section III of
V. B. Braginsky, C. M. Caves & K. S. Thorne, Laboratory experiments to test rela-
tivistic gravity, Physical Review D 15, pp. 2047–2068, 1992. Cited on page 154.
157 A proposal to measure the speed of gravity is by S. M. Kopeikin, Testing the relativistic ef-
fect of the propagation of gravity by Very Long Baseline Interferometry, Astrophysical Journal
556, pp. L1–L5, 2001, and the experimental data is E. B. Formalont & S. M. Kopeikin,
The measurement of the light deflection from Jupiter: experimental results, Astrophysical
Journal 598, pp. 704–711, 2003. See also S. M. Kopeikin, The post-Newtonian treatment
of the VLBI experiment on September 8, 2002, Physics Letters A 312, pp. 147–157, 2003,
or arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0212121. Several arguments against the claim were published, such
as C. M. Will, Propagation speed of gravity and the relativistic time delay, arxiv.org/abs/
310 biblio graphy

astro-ph/0301145, and S. Samuel, On the speed of gravity and the 󰑣/c corrections to the
Shapiro time delay, arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0304006. The discussion went on, as shown in
S. M. Kopeikin & E. B. Formalont, Aberration and the fundamental speed of gravity
in the Jovian deflection experiment, Foundations of Physics 36, pp. 1244–1285, 2006, preprint
at arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0311063. Both sides claim to be right: the experiment claims to de-
duce the speed of gravity from the lack of a tangential component of the light deflection by
the gravity of Jupiter, and the critical side claims that the speed of gravity does not enter in
this measurement. If we compare the situation with analogous systems in transparent flu-
ids or solids, which also show no tangential deflection component, we conclude that neither
the measurement nor the proposal allow us to deduce information on the speed of gravity.
A similar conclusion, but based on other arguments, is found on physics.wustl.edu/cmw/
SpeedofGravity.html. Cited on pages 156 and 161.
158 For an introduction to gravitational waves, see B. F. S chu tz, Gravitational waves on the
back of an envelope, American Journal of Physics 52, pp. 412–419, 1984. Cited on page 156.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
159 The quadrupole formula is explained clearly in the text by Goenner. See Ref. 116. Cited on
page 158.
160 The beautiful summary by Daniel Kleppner, The gem of general relativity, Physics To-
day 46, pp. 9–11, April 1993, appeared half a year before the authors of the cited work, Joseph
Taylor and Russel Hulse, received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of millisecond pulsars.
A more detailed review article is J. H. Taylor, Pulsar timing and relativistic gravity, Philo-
sophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London A 341, pp. 117–134, 1992. The original
paper is J. H. Taylor & J. M. Weisberg, Further experimental tests of relativistic grav-
ity using the binary pulsar PSR 1913+16, Astrophysical Journal 345, pp. 434–450, 1989. See
also J. M. Weisberg, J. H. Taylor & L. A. Fowler, Pulsar PSR 1913+16 sendet Grav-
itationswellen, Spektrum der Wissenschaft, pp. 53–61, December 1981. Cited on page 159.
161 D. R. Lorimer, Binary and millisecond pulsars, in www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2005-7, and
J. M. Weisberg & J. H. Taylor, The relativistic binary pulsar B1913+16: thirty years of
observations and analysis, pp. 25–31, in F. A. R asio & I. H. Stairs, editors, Binary Radio
Pulsars, Proceedings of a meeting held at the Aspen Center for Physics, USA, 12 Janaury -
16 January 2004, volume 328 of ASP Conference Series, Astronomical Society of the Pacific,
2005. Cited on page 159.
162 W. B. B onnor & M. S. Piper, The gravitational wave rocket, Classical and Quantum
Gravity 14, pp. 2895–2904, 1997, or arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9702005. Cited on page 160.
163 L. L erner, A simple calculation of the deflection of light in a Schwarzschild gravitational
field, American Journal of Physics 65, pp. 1194–1196, 1997. Cited on page 161.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

164 A. Einstein, Über den Einfluß der Schwerkraft auf die Ausbreitung des Lichtes, Annalen
der Physik 35, p. 898, 1911. Cited on page 162.
165 I. I. Shapiro, & al., Fourth test of general relativity, Physical Review Letters 13, pp. 789–
792, 1964. Cited on page 163.
166 I. I. Shapiro, & al., Fourth test of general relativity: preliminary results, Physical Review
Letters 20, pp. 1265–1269, 1968. Cited on page 163.
167 J. H. Taylor, Pulsar timing and relativistic gravity, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Lon-
don A 341, pp. 117–134, 1992. Cited on pages 163 and 166.
168 W. de Sit ter, On Einstein’s theory of gravitation and its astronomical consequences,
Monthly Notes of the Royal Astrononmical Society 77, pp. 155–184, p. 418E, 1916. For a dis-
cussion of De Sitter precession and Thirring–Lense precession, see also B. R. Holstein,
biblio graphy 311

Gyroscope precession in general relativity, American Journal of Physics 69, pp. 1248–1256,
2001. Cited on pages 167 and 309.
169 B. Bertot ti, I. Ciufolini & P. L. Bender, New test of general relativity: measurement
of De Sitter geodetic precession rate for lunar perigee, Physical Review Letters 58, pp. 1062–
1065, 1987. Later it was confirmed by I.I. Shapiro & al., Measurement of the De Sitter
precession of the moon: a relativistic three body effect, Physical Review Letters 61, pp. 2643–
2646, 1988. Cited on pages 167 and 267.
170 Wolf gang R indler, Essential Relativity, Springer, revised second edition, 1977. Cited
on page 171.
171 This is told (without the riddle solution) on p. 67, in Wolf gang Pauli, Relativitätstheo-
rie, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2000, the edited reprint of a famous text originally published
in 1921. The reference is H. Vermeil, Notiz über das mittlere Krümmungsmaß einer n-fach
ausgedehnten Riemannschen Mannigfalktigkeit, Göttinger Nachrichten, mathematische–

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
physikalische Klasse p. 334, 1917. Cited on page 172.
172 M. Santander, L. M. Nieto & N. A. Cordero, A curvature based derivation of the
Schwarzschild metric, American Journal of Physics 65, pp. 1200–1209, 1997. Cited on pages
176 and 178.
173 Michael H. S offel, Relativity in Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics and Geodesy, Springer
Verlag, 1989. Cited on page 176.
174 R ichard P. Feynman, Fernand o B. Morinigo, William G. Wagner &
Brian Hatfield, Feynman Lectures on Gravitation, Westview Press, 1995. Cited on
page 177.
175 J. C. Baez & E. F. Bunn, The meaning of Einstein’s equation, American Journal of Physics
73, pp. 644–652, 2005. Cited on page 179.
176 Y. Wang & M. Tegmark, New dark energy constraints from supernovae, microwave back-
ground and galaxy clustering, Physical Review Letters 92, p. 241302, 2004, or arxiv.org/
astro-ph/0403292. Cited on page 183.
177 Arguments for the emptiness of general covariance are given by John D. Norton, Gen-
eral covariance and the foundations of general relativity, Reports on Progress in Physics 56,
pp. 791–858, 1993. The opposite point, including the discussion of ‘absolute elements’, is
made in the book by J. L. Anderson, Principles of Relativity Physics, chapter 4, Academic
Press, 1967. Cited on page 183.
178 For a good introduction to mathematical physics, see the famous three-women text in
two volumes by Yvonne Cho quet-Bruhat, Cecile DeWit t-Morette & Mar-
garet Dillard-Bleick, Analysis, Manifolds, and Physics, North-Holland, 1996 and
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

2001. The first edition of this classic appeared in 1977. Cited on page 185.
179 C. G. Torre & I. M. Anderson, Symmetries of the Einstein equations, Physical Review
Letters 70, pp. 3525–3529, 1993, or arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9302033. Cited on page 186.
180 H. Nicol ai, Gravitational billiards, dualities and hidden symmetries, arxiv.org//abs/gr-qc/
0506031. Cited on page 186.
181 See for example R.A. Knop & al., New constraints on ΩM , ΩΛ , and 󰑤 from an independent
set of eleven high-redshift supernovae observed with HST, Astrophysical Journal 598, pp. 102–
137, 2003. Cited on page 187.
182 The original paper is R. Arnowit t, S. Deser & C. Misner, Coordinate invariance and
energy expressions in general relativity, Physical Review 122, pp. 997–1006, 1961. Cited on
page 187.
312 biblio graphy

183 See for example H. L. Bray, Black holes, geometric flows, and the Penrose inequality in gen-
eral relativity, Notices of the AMS 49, pp. 1372–1381, 2002. Cited on page 187.
184 See for example the paper by K. Dalton, Gravity, geometry and equivalence, preprint to
be found at arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9601004, and L. L andau & E. L if shitz, The Classical
Theory of Fields, Pergamon, 4th edition, 1975, p. 241. Cited on page 188.
185 A recent overview on the experimental tests of the universality of free fall is that by
R. J. Hughes, The equivalence principle, Contemporary Physics 4, pp. 177–191, 1993. Cited
on page 189.
186 The equivalence of the various definitions of the Riemann tensor is explained in most texts
on general relativity; see Ref. 100. Cited on page 191.
187 K. Tangen, Can the Pioneer anomaly have a gravitational origin?, arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/
0602089. Cited on page 192.
188 H. Dit tus & C. L ämmerzahl, Die Pioneer-Anomalie, Physik Journal 5, pp. 25–31, Jan-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
uary 2006. Cited on page 192.
189 Black hole analogues appear in acoustics, fluids and several other fields. This is an ongo-
ing research topic. See, for example, M. Novello, S. Perez Bergliaffa, J. Salim,
V. De Lorenci & R. Klippert, Analog black holes in flowing dielectrics, preprint
at arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0201061, T. G. Philbin, C. Kuklewicz, S. Robertson,
S. Hill, F. Konig & U. L eonhardt, Fiber-optical analog of the event horizon, Sci-
ence 319, pp. 1367–1379, 2008, O. L ahav, A. Itah, A. Blumkin, C. G ord on &
J. Steinhauer, A sonic black hole in a density-inverted Bose–Einstein condensate, arxiv.
org/abs/0906.1337. Cited on page 193.
190 This famous quote is the first sentence of the final chapter, the ‘Beschluß’, of Im-
manuel Kant, Kritik der praktischen Vernunft, 1797. Cited on page 194.
191 About the myths around the stars and the constellations, see the text by G. Fasching,
Sternbilder und ihre Mythen, Springer Verlag, 1993. On the internet there are also the beau-
tiful www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/ and www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/sow.
html websites. Cited on page 194.
192 Aetius, Opinions, III, I, 6. See Jean-Paul D umont, Les écoles présocratiques, Folio Es-
sais, Gallimard, 1991, p. 445. Cited on page 194.
193 A. Mellinger, A color all-sky panorama of the Milky Way, preprint at arxiv.org/abs/0908.
4360. Cited on page 195.
194 P. Jetzer, Gravitational microlensing, Naturwissenschaften 86, pp. 201–211, 1999. Measure-
ments using orbital speeds around the Galaxy gives agree with this value. Cited on pages
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

197 and 202.

195 A beautiful introduction to modern astronomy was Paolo Maffei, I mostri del cielo,
Mondadori Editore, 1976. Cited on page 199.
196 See for example A. N. Cox, ed., Allen’s Astrophysical Quantities, AIP Press and Springer
Verlag, 2000. An overview of optical observations is given by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
at skyserver.sdss.org. More details about the universe can be found in the beautiful text
by W. J. Kaufmann & R. A. Fredman, Universe, fifth edition, W.H. Freeman & Co.,
1999. The most recent discoveries are best followed on the sci.esa.int and hubble.nasa.gov
websites. Cited on page 201.
197 D. R. Lorimer, A. J. Faulkner, A. G. Lyne, R. N. Manchester, M. Kramer,
M. A. McL aughlin, G. Hobbs, A. Possenti, I. H. Stairs, F. Camilo,
M. Burgay, N. D’Amico, A. Corongiu & F. Crawford, The Parkes multibeam
biblio graphy 313

pulsar survey: VI. Discovery and timing of 142 pulsars and a Galactic population analysis,
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society preprint at arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/
0607640. Cited on page 202.
198 D. Figer, An upper limit to the masses of stars, Nature 434, pp. 192–194, 2005. Cited on
page 202.
199 G. Basri, The discovery of brown dwarfs, Scientific American 282, pp. 77–83, April 2001.
Cited on page 202.
200 P. M. Wo ods & C. Thompson, Soft gamma repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars: mag-
netar candidates, arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0406133. Cited on page 203.
201 B. M. Gaensler, N. M. McClure-Griffiths, M. S. Oey, M. Haverkorn,
J. M. Dickey & A. J. Green, A stellar wind bubble coincident with the anomalous X-ray
pulsar 1E 1048.1-5937: are magnetars formed from massive progenitors?, The Astrophysical
Journal (Letters) 620, pp. L95–L98, 2005, or arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0501563. Cited on page

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
203.
202 Opposition to the cosmological principle is rare, as experimental data generally supports
it. Local deviations are discussed by various cosmologists; the issue is still open. See, for
example, D. Wiltshire, Gravitational energy and cosmic acceleration, preprint at arxiv.
org/abs/0712.3982, and D. Wiltshire, Dark energy without dark energy, preprint at arxiv.
org/abs/0712.3984. Cited on page 207.
203 C. Wirtz, Scientia 38, p. 303, 1925, and K. Lundmark, The motions and the distances of
the spiral nebulae, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 85, pp. 865–894, 1925.
See also G. Stromberg, Analysis of radial velocities of globular clusters and non-galactic
nebulae, Astrophysical Journal 61, pp. 353–362, 1925. Cited on page 207.
204 G. Gamow, The origin of the elements and the separation of galaxies, Physical Review 74,
p. 505, 1948. Cited on page 207.
205 A. G. D oroshkevich, & I. D. Novikov, Dokl. Akad. Nauk. SSSR 154, p. 809, 1964. It
appeared translated into English a few months later. The story of the prediction was told by
Penzias in his Nobel lecture. Cited on page 208.
206 Arno A. Penzias & Robert W. Wilson, A measurement of excess antenna tempera-
ture at 4080 Mcs, Astrophysical Journal 142, pp. 419–421, 1965. Cited on page 208.
207 See for example, D. Prialnik, An Introduction to the Theory of Stellar Structure and Evolu-
tion, Cambridge University Press, 2000. Cited on page 209.
208 Star masses are explored in D. Figier, An upper limit to the masses of stars, Nature 434,
pp. 192–194, 2005. Cited on page 210.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

209 Macrobius, Somnium Scipionis, XIV, 19. See Jean-Paul D umont, Les écoles présocra-
tiques, Folio Essais, Gallimard, 1991, p. 61. Cited on page 210.
210 On the remote history of the universe, see the excellent texts by G. B örner, The Early Uni-
verse – Facts & Fiction, Springer Verlag, 3rd edition, 1993, or Barry Parker, Creation –
The Story of the Origin and the Evolution of the Universe, Plenum Press, 1988. For an excel-
lent popular text, see M. Longair, Our Evolving Universe, Cambridge University Press,
1996. Cited on page 210.
211 The first oxygen seems to have appeared in the atmosphere, produced by microorganisms,
2.32 thousand million years ago. See A. Becker & al., Dating the rise of atmospheric oxy-
gen, Nature 427, pp. 117–120, 2003. Cited on page 212.
212 Gabriele Walker, Snowball Earth – The Story of the Great Global Catastrophe That
Spawned Life as We Know It, Crown Publishing, 2003. Cited on page 212.
314 biblio graphy

213 K. Knie, Spuren einer Sternexplosion, Physik in unserer Zeit 36, p. 8, 2005. The first
step of this connection is found in K. Knie, G. Korschinek, T. Faestermann,
E. A. D orfi, G. Rugel & A. Wallner, 60 Fe anomaly in a deep-sea manganese crust
and implications for a nearby supernova source, Physics Review Letters 93, p. 171103, 2004,
the second step in N. D. Marsh & H. Svensmark, Low cloud properties influenced
by cosmic rays, Physics Review Letters 85, pp. 5004–5007, 2000, and the third step in
P. B. de Meno cal, Plio-Pleistocene African climate, Science 270, pp. 53–59, 1995. Cited
on page 213.
214 A. Friedman, Über die Krümmung des Raumes, Zeitschrift für Physik 10, pp. 377–386,
1922, and A. Friedmann, Über die Möglichkeit einer Welt mit konstanter negativer Krüm-
mung des Raumes, Zeitschrift für Physik 21, pp. 326–332, 1924. (In the Latin transliteration,
the author aquired a second ‘n’ in his second paper.) Cited on page 214.
215 H. Knu tsen, Darkness at night, European Journal of Physics 18, pp. 295–302, 1997. Cited

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
on pages 219 and 220.
216 See for example P.D. Peşić, Brightness at night, American Journal of Physics 66, pp. 1013–
1015, 1998. Cited on pages 220 and 221.
217 Paul Wesson, Olbers’ paradox and the spectral intensity of extra-galactic background light,
Astrophysical Journal 367, p. 399, 1991. Cited on page 220.
218 Steven Weinberg, Gravitation and Cosmology, John Wiley, 1972. An excellent book
written with a strong personal touch and stressing most of all the relation with experimen-
tal data. It does not develop a strong feeling for space-time curvature, and does not address
the basic problems of space and time in general relativity. Excellent for learning how to ac-
tually calculate things, but less for the aims of our mountain ascent. Cited on pages 220
and 259.
219 Supernova searches are being performed by many research groups at the largest optical
and X-ray telescopes. A famous example is the Supernova Cosmology project described at
supernova.lbl.gov. Cited on page 222.
220 The experiments are discussed in detail in the excellent review by D. Giulini &
N. Straumann, Das Rätsel der kosmischen Vakuumenergiedichte und die beschleu-
nigte Expansion des Universums, Physikalische Blätter 556, pp. 41–48, 2000. See also
N. Straumann, The mystery of the cosmic vacuum energy density and the accelerated
expansion of the universe, European Journal of Physics 20, pp. 419–427, 1999. Cited on
pages 222 and 268.
221 A. Harvey & E. S chucking, Einstein’s mistake and the cosmological contant, American
Journal of Physics 68, pp. 723–727, 2000. Cited on page 223.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

222 The author of the bible explains rain in this way, as can be deduced from its very first page,
Genesis 1: 6-7. Cited on page 223.
223 Up to his death, Fred Hoyle defended his belief that the universe is static; see
G. Burbid ge, F. Hoyle & J. V. Narlikar, A different approach to cosmology, Physics
Today 52, pp. 38–44, 1999. This team has also written a book with the same title, published
in 2000 by Cambridge University Press. Cited on page 224.
224 Stephen W. Hawking & G. F. R. Ellis, The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time, Cam-
bridge University Press, Cambridge, 1973. Among other things, this reference text discusses
the singularities of space-time, and their necessity in the history of the universe. Cited on
pages 224, 261, and 317.
225 Augustine, Confessions, 398, writes: ‘My answer to those who ask ‘What was god doing
before he made Heaven and Earth?’ is not ‘He was preparing Hell for people who pry into
 biblio graphy 315

mysteries’. This frivolous retort has been made before now, so we are told, in order to evade
the point of the question. But it is one thing to make fun of the questioner and another to
find the answer. So I shall refrain from giving this reply. [...] But if before Heaven and Earth
there was no time, why is it demanded what you [god] did then? For there was no “then”
when there was no time.’ (Book XI, chapter 12 and 13). Cited on page 226.
226 Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time – From the Big Bang to Black Holes, 1988.
Reading this bestseller is almost a must for any physicist, as it is a frequent topic at dinner
parties. Cited on page 226.
227 Star details are explained in many texts on stellar structure and evolution. See for example
Rud olf Kippenhahn & Alfred Weigert, Stellar Structure and Evolution, Springer,
1990. Cited on page 228.
228 J. Pelt, R. Kayser, S. R ef sdal & T. S chramm, The light curve and the time delay of
QSO 0957+561, Astronomy and Astrophysics 305, p. 97, 1996. Cited on page 230.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
229 F. Zwicky, Nebulae as gravitational lenses, Physical Review Letters 51, p. 290, and
F. Zwicky, On the probability to detect nebulae which act as gravitational lenses, p. 679,
1937. The negative view by Einstein is found in A. Einstein, Lens-like action of a star by
the deviatioin of light in the gravitational field, Science 84, pp. 506–507, 1936. A review on
gravitational lensing can even be found online, in the paper by J. Wambsganss, Gravita-
tional lensing in astronomy, Living Reviews in Relativity 1-12, pp. 1–80, 1998, to be found
on the www.livingreviews.org/Articles/Volume1/1998-12wamb website.
There is also the book by P. S chneider, J. Ehlers & E. E. Falco, Gravitational
Lenses, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1992. Cited on page 230.
230 M. L achièze-R ey & J. -P. Luminet, Cosmic topology, Physics Reports 254, pp. 135–
214, 1995. See also B. F. Roukema, The topology of the universe, arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/
0010185 preprint. Cited on page 232.
231 Thanks to Steve Carlip for clarifying this point. Cited on page 232.
232 G. F. R. Ellis & T. Rothman, Lost horizons, American Journal of Physics 61, pp. 883–
893, 1993. Cited on page 233.
233 A. Gu th, Die Geburt des Kosmos aus dem Nichts – Die Theorie des inflationären Univer-
sums, Droemer Knaur, 1999. Cited on page 233.
234 Entropy values for the universe have been discussed by Ilya Prigo gine, Is Future
Given?, World Scientific, 2003. This was his last book. For a different approach, see
G. A. Mena Marugán & S. Carneiro, Holography and the large number hypothesis,
arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0111034. This paper also repeats the often heard statement that the uni-
verse has an entropy that is much smaller than the theoretical maximum. The maximum is
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 415 ny often estimated to be 10120 k, whereas the actual value is ‘estimated’ to be 10100 k. However,
other authors give 1084 k. In 1974, Roger Penrose also made statements about the entropy
of the universe. Cited on page 234.
235 C. L. Bennet, M. S. Turner & M. White, The cosmic rosetta stone, Physics Today 50,
pp. 32–38, November 1997. The cosmic background radiation differs from black hole radia-
tion by less than 0.005 %. Cited on page 235.
236 The lack of expansion in the solar system is explained in detail in E. F. Bunn &
D. W. Ho gg, The kinematic origin of the cosmological redshift, American Journal of
Physics 77, pp. 688–694, 2009. Cited on page 236.
237 A pretty article explaining how one can make experiments to find out how the hu-
man body senses rotation even when blindfolded and earphoned is described by M. -
L. Mit telstaedt & H. Mit telstaedt, The effect of centrifugal force on the percep-
316 biblio graphy

tion of rotation about a vertical axis, Naturwissenschaften 84, pp. 366–369, 1997. Cited on
page 236.
238 No dependence of inertial mass on the distribution of surrounding mass has ever been
found in experiments. See, for example, R. H. Dicke, Experimental tests of Mach’s prin-
ciple, 7, pp. 359–360, 1961. Cited on page 236.
239 The present status is given in the conference proceedings by Julian Barbour &
Herbert Pfister, eds., Mach’s Principle: From Newton’s Bucket to Quantum Gravity,
Birkhäuser, 1995. Various formulations of Mach’s principle – in fact, 21 different ones – are
compared on page 530.
In a related development, in 1953, Dennis Sciama published a paper in which he ar-
gues that inertia of a particle is due to the gravitational attraction of all other matter
in the universe. The paper is widely quoted, but makes no new statements on the issue.
See D. W. S ciama, On the origin of inertia, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
Society 113, pp. 34–42, 1953. Cited on pages 236 and 237.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
240 Information on the rotation of the universe is given in A. Ko gu t, G. Hinshaw &
A. J. Banday, Limits to global rotation and shear from the COBE DMR four-year sky maps,
Physical Review D 55, pp. 1901–1905, 1997. Earlier information is found in J. D. Barrow,
R. Juszkiewicz & D. H. S onoda, Universal rotation: how large can it be?, Monthly No-
tices of the Royal Astronomical Society 213, pp. 917–943, 1985. See also J. D. Barrow,
R. Juszkiewicz & D. H. S onoda, Structure of the cosmic microwave background, Na-
ture 309, pp. 397–402, 1983, or E. F. Bunn, P. G. Fereira & J. Silk, How anisotropic is
the universe?, Physical Review Letters 77, pp. 2883–2886, 1996. Cited on page 238.
241 The issue has been discussed within linearized gravity by R ichard Tolman, in his text-
book Relativity, Thermodynamics, and Cosmology, Clarendon Press, 1934, on pp. 272–290.
The exact problem has been solved by A. Peres, Null electromagnetic fields in gen-
eral relativity theory, Physical Review 118, pp. 1105–1110, 1960, and by W. B. B onnor,
The gravitational field of light, Commun. Math. Phys. 13, pp. 163–174, 1969. See also
N. V. Mitskievic & K. K. Kumaradt ya, The gravitational field of a spinning pencil
of light, Journal of Mathematical Physics 30, pp. 1095–1099, 1989, and P. C. Aichelburg
& R. U. Sexl, On the gravitational field of a spinning particle, General Relativity and Grav-
itation 2, pp. 303–312, 1971. Cited on page 238.
242 See the delightful popular account by Igor Novikov, Black Holes and the Universe,
Cambridge University Press, 1990. The consequences of light decay were studied by
M. Bronstein, Die Ausdehnung des Weltalls, Physikalische Zeitschrift der Sowjetunion
3, pp. 73–82, 1933. Cited on pages 238 and 244.
243 C. L. Carilli, K. M. Menten, J. T. Sto cke, E. Perlman, R. Vermeulen,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F. Briggs, A. G. de Bruyn, J. Conway & C. P. Mo ore, Astronomical constraints

on the cosmic evolution of the fine structure constant and possible quantum dimensions,
Physical Review Letters 85, pp. 5511–5514, 25 December 2000. Cited on page 238.
244 The observations of black holes at the centre of galaxies and elsewhere are summarised by
R. Blandford & N. Gehrels, Revisiting the black hole, Physics Today 52, pp. 40–46,
June 1999. Cited on pages 240 and 251.
245 An excellent and entertaining book on black holes, without any formulae, but nevertheless
accurate and detailed, is the paperback by Igor Novikov, Black Holes and the Universe,
Cambridge University Press, 1990. See also Edwin F. Taylor & John A. Wheeler,
Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity, Addison Wesley Longman 2000.
For a historical introduction, see the paper by R. Ruffini, The physics of gravitationally
collapsed objects, pp. 59–118, in Neutron Stars, Black Holes and Binary X-Ray Sources, Pro-
biblio graphy 317

ceedings of the Annual Meeting, San Francisco, Calif., February 28, 1974, Reidel Publishing,
1975. Cited on page 240.
246 J. Michell, On the means of discovering the distance, magnitude, etc of the fixed stars,
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London 74, p. 35, 1784, reprinted in
S. Det weiler, Black Holes – Selected Reprints, American Association of Physics Teach-
ers, 1982. Cited on page 240.
247 The beautiful paper is R. Oppenheimer & H. Snyder, On continued gravitational con-
traction, Physical Review 56, pp. 455–459, 1939. Cited on page 243.
248 R. P. Kerr, Gravitational field of a spinning mass as an example of algebraically special met-
rics, Physical Review Letters 11, pp. 237–238, 1963. Cited on page 247.
249 E. T. Newman, E. Couch, R. Chinnapared, A. Exton, A. Prakash &
R. Torrence, Metric of a rotating, charged mass, Journal of Mathematical Physics 6,
pp. 918–919, 1965. Cited on page 247.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
250 For a summary, see P. O. Mazur, Black hole uniqueness theorems, pp. 130–157, in
M. A. H. MacCallum, editor, General Relativity and Gravitation, Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, 1987, or the update at arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0101012. See also D. C. Robinson,
Four decades of black hole uniqueness theorems, available at www.mth.kcl.ac.uk/staff/
dc_robinson/blackholes.pdf Cited on page 247.
251 H. P. Künzle & A. K. M. Maso od-ul-Alam, Spherically symmetric static SU(2)
Einstein-Yang-Mills fields, Journal of Mathematical Physics 31, pp. 928–935, 1990. Cited on
page 247.
252 An example of research that shows the tendency of gravitational radiation to produce spher-
ical shapes when black holes collide is L. R ezzoll a, R. P. Maced o & J. L. Jaramillo,
Understanding the “anti kick” in the merger of binary black holes, Physical Review Letters 104,
p. 221101, 2010. Cited on pages 248 and 268.
253 R. Penrose & R. M. Floyd, Extraction of rotational energy from a black hole, Nature
229, pp. 177–179, 1971. Cited on page 249.
254 The mass–energy relation for a rotating black hole is due to D. Christod oulou, Re-
versible and irreversible transformations in black hole physics, Physical Review Letters
25, pp. 1596–1597, 1970. For a general, charged and rotating black hole it is due to
D. Christod oulou & R. Ruffini, Reversible transformations of a charged black hole,
Physical Review D 4, pp. 3552–3555, 1971. Cited on page 250.
255 J. D. Bekenstein, Black holes and entropy, Physical Review D7, pp. 2333–2346, 1973.
Cited on page 250.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

256 On the topic of black holes in the early universe, there are only speculative research papers,
as found, for example, on arxiv.org. The issue is not settled yet. Cited on page 251.
257 For information about black holes formation via star collapse, see the Wikipedia article at
en.wikipedia.org/wikie/Stellar_black_hole. Cited on page 251.
258 Frederick L amb, APS meeting 1998 press conference: Binary star 4U1820-30, 20 000
light years from Earth, Physics News Update, April 27, 1998. Cited on page 252.
259 The first direct evidence for matter falling into a black hole was published in early 2001.
Cited on page 252.
260 For a readable summary of the Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems, see J. Natàrio,
Relativity and singularities – a short introduction for mathematicians, preprint at arxiv.org/
abs/math.DG/0603190. Details can be found in Ref. 224. Cited on page 252.
318 biblio graphy

261 For an overview of cosmic censorship, see T. P. Singh, Gravitational collapse, black
holes and naked singularities, arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9805066, or R. M. Wald, Gravitational
collapse and cosmic censorship, arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9710068. The original idea is due to
R. Penrose, Gravitational collapse: the role of general relativity, Rivista del Nuovo Ci-
mento 1, pp. 252–276, 1969. Cited on page 253.
262 The paradox is discussed in M. A. Abramowicz, Black holes and the centrifugal
force paradox, Scientific American 266, pp. 74–81, March 1993, and in the comment by
D. N. Page, Relative alternatives, Scientific American 266, p. 5, August 1993. See also
M. A. Abramowicz & E. Szuszkiewicz, The wall of death, American Journal of
Physics 61, pp. 982–991, 1993, and M. A. Abramowicz & J. P. L asota, On traveling
round without feeling it and uncurving curves, American Journal of Physics 54, pp. 936–939,
1986. Cited on page 255.
263 J. Ehlers, Introduction – Survey of Problems, pp. 1–10, in J. Ehlers, editor, Sistemi gravi-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
tazionali isolati in relatività generale, Rendiconti della scuola internazionale di fisica “Enrico
Fermi”, LXVIIo corso, Società Italiana di Fisica/North Holland, 1979. Cited on page 256.
264 G. J. Stoney, On the physical units of nature, Philosophical Magazine 11, pp. 381–391, 1881.
Cited on page 260.
265 The geometrodynamic clock is discussed in D. E. Brahm & R. P. Gruber, Limitations
of the geometrodynamic clock, General Relativity and Gravitation 24, pp. 297–303, 1992. The
clock itself was introduced by R. F. Marzke, in his Ph.D. thesis The theory of measurement
in general relativity, 1959, with John Wheeler as thesis adviser. Cited on page 260.
266 R. Gero ch, Einstein algebras, Commun. Math. Phys. 26, pp. 271–275, 1972. Cited on page
261.
267 A. Macd onald, Einstein’s hole argument, American Journal of Physics 69, pp. 223–225,
2001. Cited on page 262.
268 Roman U. Sexl, Die Hohlwelttheorie, Der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Unter-
richt 368, pp. 453–460, 1983. Roman U. Sexl, Universal conventionalism and space-time.,
General Relativity and Gravitation 1, pp. 159–180, 1970. See also Roman U. Sexl, Die
Hohlwelttheorie, in Arthur S charmann & Herbert S chramm, editors, Physik, The-
orie, Experiment, Geschichte, Didaktik – Festschrift für Wilfried Kuhn zum 60. Geburtstag am
6. Mai 1983, Aulis Verlag Deubner, 1984, pp. 241–258. Cited on page 263.
269 T. Damour, Experimental tests of relativistic gravity, arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9904057. It is the
latest in a series of his papers on the topic; the first was T. Damour, Was Einstein 100 %
right?, arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9412064. Cited on pages 266 and 267.
270 H. Dit tus, F. Everit t, C. L ämmerzahl & G. S chäfer, Die Gravitation im Test,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Physikalische Blätter 55, pp. 39–46, 1999. Cited on pages 266 and 267.
271 See S. Bässler & al., Improved test of the equivalence principle for gravitational selfenergy,
Physical Review Letters 83, pp. 3585–3588, 1999. See also C. M. Will, Gravitational radi-
ation and the validity of general relativity, Physics Today 52, p. 38, October 1999. Cited on
page 267.
272 The inverse square dependence has been checked down to 60 μm, as reported by
E. Adelberger, B. Heckel & C. D. Hoyle, Testing the gravitational inverse-square
law, Physics World 18, pp. 41–45, 2005. Cited on page 267.
273 For theories competing with general relativity, see for example C. M. Will, The confronta-
tion between general relativity and experiment, Living Reviews of Relativity 2001, www.iews.
org/lrr-2001-4. For example, the absence of the Nordtvedt effect, a hypothetical 28-day os-
cillation in the Earth–Moon distance, which was looked for by laser ranging experiments
biblio graphy 319

without any result, ‘killed’ several competing theories. This effect, predicted by Kenneth
Nordtvedt, would only appear if the gravitational energy in the Earth–Moon system would
fall in a different way than the Earth and the Moon themselves. For a summary of the mea-
surements, see J. Müller, M. S chneider, M. S offel & H. Ruder, Testing Einstein’s
theory of gravity by analyzing lunar laser ranging data, Astrophysical Journal Letters 382,
pp. L101–L103, 1991. Cited on page 267.
274 Almost everything of importance in general relativity is published in the free and excel-
lent internet-based research journal Living Reviews in Relativity, to be found at the www.
livingreviews.org website. The other important journal in the field is Classical and Quan-
tum Gravity. In astrophysics, the central publication is Astronomy & Astrophysics. Cited on
page 268.
275 The study of chaos in Einstein’s field equations is just beginning. See, e.g., L. B ombelli,
F. Lombard o & M. Castagnino, Chaos in Robertson-Walker cosmology, arxiv.org/abs/
gr-qc/9707051. Cited on page 268.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
276 The ESA satellite called ‘Planck’ will measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave
background. Cited on page 268.
277 A good introduction to the topic of gamma-ray bursts is S. Klose, J. Greiner &
D. Hartmann, Kosmische Gammastrahlenausbrüche – Beobachtungen und Modelle, Teil
I und II, Sterne und Weltraum March and April 2001. Cited on page 268.
278 The field solution database is built around the work of A. Karlhede, which allows one to
distinguish between solutions with a limited amount of mathematical computation. Cited
on page 269.
279 For a review on inflation and early universe, see D. Baumann, TASI lectures on inflation,
preprint at arxiv.org/abs/0907.5424. Cited on page 269.
280 Beautiful simulated images of wormholes are available, for example on the wonderful web-
site www.tempolimit-lichtgeschwindigkeit.de. However, quantum effects forbid their exis-
tence, so that no such image is included here. A basic approach is the one by T. Diemer
& M. Hadley, Charge and the topology of spacetime, Classical and Quantum Gravity 16,
pp. 3567–3577, 1999, or arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9905069 and M. Hadley, Spin half in classi-
cal general relativity, Classical and Quantum Gravity 17, pp. 4187–4194, 2000, or arxiv.org/
abs/gr-qc/0004029. Cited on page 269.
281 An important formulation of relativity is A. Ashtekar, New variables for classical and
quantum gravity, Physical Review Letters 57, pp. 2244–2247, 1986. Cited on page 269.
282 A well written text on the connections between the big bang and particle physics is by
I. L. Rozental, Big Bang – Big Bounce, How Particles and Fields Drive Cosmic Evolution,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Springer, 1988. For another connection, see M. Nagano & A. A. Watson, Observations
and implications of the ultrahigh energy cosmic rays, Reviews of Modern Physics 72, pp. 689–
732, 2000. Cited on page 269.
283 Teaching will benefit in particular from new formulations, from concentration on princi-
ples and their consequences, as has happened in special relativity, from simpler descrip-
tions at the weak field level, and from future research in the theory of general relativity. The
newer textbooks cited above are all steps in these directions. Cited on page 269.
284 G. E. Prince & M. Jerie, Generalising Raychaudhuri’s equation, in Differential Geome-
try and Its Applications, Proc. Conf., Opava (Czech Republic), August 27-31, 2001, Silesian
University, Opava, 2001, pp. 235–242. Cited on page 270.
285 Torsion is presented in R. T. Hammond, New fields in general relativity, Contemporary
Physics 36, pp. 103–114, 1995. Cited on page 270.
320 biblio graphy

286 A well-known approach is that by Bekenstein; he proposes a modification of general relativ-

ity that modifies univesal, 1/r 2 gravity at galactic distances. This is done in order to explain
the hundreds of measured galactic rotation curves that seem to require such a modification.
(This approach is called modified Newtonian dynamics or MOND.) An introduction is given
by Jacob D. Bekenstein, The modified Newtonian dynamics – MOND – and its implica-
tions for new physics, Contemporary Physics 47, pp. 387–403, 2006, preprint at arxiv.org/
abs/astro-ph/0701848v2. Cited on page 270.
287 Le Système International d’Unités, Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, Pavillon de
Breteuil, Parc de Saint Cloud, 92310 Sèvres, France. All new developments concerning SI
units are published in the journal Metrologia, edited by the same body. Showing the slow
pace of an old institution, the BIPM launched a website only in 1998; it is now reachable at
www.bipm.fr. See also the www.utc.fr/~tthomass/Themes/Unites/index.html website; this
includes the biographies of people who gave their names to various units. The site of its
British equivalent, www.npl.co.uk/npl/reference, is much better; it provides many details

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
as well as the English-language version of the SI unit definitions. Cited on page 272.
288 The bible in the field of time measurement is the two-volume work by J. Vanier &
C. Aud oin, The Quantum Physics of Atomic Frequency Standards, Adam Hilge, 1989. A
popular account is Tony Jones, Splitting the Second, Institute of Physics Publishing, 2000.
The site opdaf1.obspm.fr/www/lexique.html gives a glossary of terms used in the field.
For precision length measurements, the tools of choice are special lasers, such as mode-
locked lasers and frequency combs. There is a huge literature on these topics. Equally large
is the literature on precision electric current measurements; there is a race going on for the
best way to do this: counting charges or measuring magnetic forces. The issue is still open.
On mass and atomic mass measurements, see page 65. On high-precision temperature mea-
surements, see Volume I, on page 466. Cited on page 273.
289 The unofficial prefixes were first proposed in the 1990s by Jeff K. Aronson of the University
of Oxford, and might come into general usage in the future. Cited on page 274.
290 See the review by L. Ju, D. G. Blair & C. Z hao, The detection of gravitational waves,
Reports on Progress in Physics 63, pp. 1317–1427, 2000. Cited on page 276.
291 See the clear and extensive paper by G. E. Stedman, Ring laser tests of fundamental physics
and geophysics, Reports on Progress in Physics 60, pp. 615–688, 1997. Cited on page 276.
292 J. Short, Newton’s apples fall from grace, New Scientist 2098, p. 5, 6 September 1997. More
details can be found in R. G. Keesing, The history of Newton’s apple tree, Contemporary
Physics 39, pp. 377–391, 1998. Cited on page 277.
293 The various concepts are even the topic of a separate international standard, ISO 5725, with
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the title Accuracy and precision of measurement methods and results. A good introduction is
John R. Taylor, An Introduction to Error Analysis: the Study of Uncertainties in Physical
Measurements, 2nd edition, University Science Books, Sausalito, 1997. Cited on page 277.
294 P. J. Mohr & B. N. Taylor, CODATA recommended values of the fundamental physical
constants: 1998, Reviews of Modern Physics 59, p. 351, 2000. This is the set of constants re-
sulting from an international adjustment and recommended for international use by the
Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), a body in the International
Council of Scientific Unions, which brings together the International Union of Pure and
Applied Physics (IUPAP), the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
and other organizations. The website of IUPAC is www.iupac.org. Cited on page 279.
295 Some of the stories can be found in the text by N. W. Wise, The Values of Precision,
Princeton University Press, 1994. The field of high-precision measurements, from which
 biblio graphy 321

the results on these pages stem, is a world on its own. A beautiful introduction to it
is J. D. Fairbanks, B. S. Deaver, C. W. Everit t & P. F. Michaelson, eds., Near
Zero: Frontiers of Physics, Freeman, 1988. Cited on page 279.
296 The details are given in the well-known astronomical reference, P. Kenneth Seidelmann,
Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac, 1992. Cited on page 283.
297 For information about the number π, and about some other mathematical constants, the
website oldweb.cecm.sfu.ca/pi/pi.html provides the most extensive information and refer-
ences. It also has a link to the many other sites on the topic, including the overview at
mathworld.wolfram.com/Pi.html. Simple formulae for π are
∞
n 2n
π+3= 󵠈 (295)
n=1 󶀡 n 󶀱
2n

or the beautiful formula discovered in 1996 by Bailey, Borwein and Plouffe

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∞
1 4 2 1 1
π=󵠈 󶀤
n 8n + 1
− − − 󶀴 . (296)
n=0 16 8n + 4 8n + 5 8n +6

The mentioned site also explains the newly discovered methods for calculating specific bi-
nary digits of π without having to calculate all the preceding ones. The known digits of π
pass all tests of randomness, as the mathworld.wolfram.com/PiDigits.html website explains.
However, this property, called normality, has never been proven; it is the biggest open ques-
tion about π. It is possible that the theory of chaotic dynamics will lead to a solution of this
puzzle in the coming years.
Another method to calculate π and other constants was discovered and published by
D. V. Chudnovsky & G. V. Chudnovsky, The computation of classical constants, Pro-
ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 86, pp. 8178–8182, 1989. The Chud-
nowsky brothers have built a supercomputer in Gregory’s apartment for about 70 000 euros,
and for many years held the record for calculating the largest number of digits of π. They
have battled for decades with Kanada Yasumasa, who held the record in 2000, calculated on
an industrial supercomputer. However, the record number of (consecutive) digits in 2010
was calculated in 123 days on a simple desktop PC by Fabrice Bellard, using a Chudnovsky
formula. Bellard calculated over 2.7 million million digits, as told on bellard.org. New for-
mulae to calculate π are still occasionally discovered.
For the calculation of Euler’s constant γ see also D. W. DeTemple, A quicker conver-
gence to Euler’s constant, The Mathematical Intelligencer, pp. 468–470, May 1993.
Note that little is known about the basic properties of some numbers; for example, it is
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 416 r still not known whether π + e is a rational number or not! (It is believed that it is not.) Do
Challenge 417 s you want to become a mathematician? Cited on page 285.
C R E DI T S

Many people who have kept their gift of curiosity alive have helped to make this project come
true. Most of all, Saverio Pascazio has been – present or not – a constant reference for this project.
Fernand Mayné, Anna Koolen, Ata Masafumi, Roberto Crespi, Serge Pahaut, Luca Bombelli, Her-
man Elswijk, Marcel Krijn, Marc de Jong, Martin van der Mark, Kim Jalink, my parents Peter

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
and Isabella Schiller, Mike van Wijk, Renate Georgi, Paul Tegelaar, Barbara and Edgar Augel, M.
Jamil, Ron Murdock, Carol Pritchard, Richard Hoffman, Stephan Schiller and, most of all, my
wife Britta have all provided valuable advice and encouragement.
Many people have helped with the project and the collection of material. In particular, I
thank Steve Carlip, Corrado Massa, Tom Helmond, Gary Gibbons, Heinrich Neumaier and Pe-
ter Brown for interesting discussions on maximum force. Most useful was the help of Mikael Jo-
hansson, Bruno Barberi Gnecco, Lothar Beyer, the numerous improvements by Bert Sierra, the
detailed suggestions by Claudio Farinati, the many improvements by Eric Sheldon, the detailed
suggestions by Andrew Young, the continuous help and advice of Jonatan Kelu, the corrections
of Elmar Bartel, and in particular the extensive, passionate and conscientious help of Adrian
Kubala.
Important material was provided by Bert Peeters, Anna Wierzbicka, William Beaty, Jim Carr,
John Merrit, John Baez, Frank DiFilippo, Jonathan Scott, Jon Thaler, Luca Bombelli, Douglas
Singleton, George McQuarry, Tilman Hausherr, Brian Oberquell, Peer Zalm, Martin van der
Mark, Vladimir Surdin, Julia Simon, Antonio Fermani, Don Page, Stephen Haley, Peter Mayr,
Allan Hayes, Norbert Dragon, Igor Ivanov, Doug Renselle, Wim de Muynck, Steve Carlip, Tom
Bruce, Ryan Budney, Gary Ruben, Chris Hillman, Olivier Glassey, Jochen Greiner, squark, Mar-
tin Hardcastle, Mark Biggar, Pavel Kuzin, Douglas Brebner, Luciano Lombardi, Franco Bagnoli,
Lukas Fabian Moser, Dejan Corovic, Paul Vannoni, John Haber, Saverio Pascazio, Klaus Finken-
zeller, Leo Volin, Jeff Aronson, Roggie Boone, Lawrence Tuppen, Quentin David Jones, Arnaldo
Uguzzoni, Frans van Nieuwpoort, Alan Mahoney, Britta Schiller, Petr Danecek, Ingo Thies, Vi-
taliy Solomatin, Carl Offner, Nuno Proença, Elena Colazingari, Paula Henderson, Daniel Darre,
Wolfgang Rankl, John Heumann, Joseph Kiss, Martha Weiss, Antonio González, Antonio Mar-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tos, André Slabber, Ferdinand Bautista, Zoltán Gácsi, Pat Furrie, Michael Reppisch, Enrico Pasi,
Thomas Köppe, Martin Rivas, Herman Beeksma, Tom Helmond, John Brandes, Vlad Tarko, Na-
dia Murillo, Ciprian Dobra, Romano Perini, Harald van Lintel, Andrea Conti, François Belfort,
Dirk Van de Moortel, Heinrich Neumaier, Jarosław Królikowski, John Dahlman, Fathi Namouni,
Paul Townsend, Sergei Emelin, Freeman Dyson, S.R. Madhu Rao, David Parks, Jürgen Janek,
Daniel Huber, Alfons Buchmann, William Purves, Pietro Redondi, Sergei Kopeikin, Damoon
Saghian, plus a number of people who wanted to remain unnamed.
The software tools were refined with extensive help on fonts and typesetting by Michael Zedler
and Achim Blumensath and with the repeated and valuable support of Donald Arseneau; help
came also from Ulrike Fischer, Piet van Oostrum, Gerben Wierda, Klaus Böhncke, Craig Upright,
Herbert Voss, Andrew Trevorrow, Danie Els, Heiko Oberdiek, Sebastian Rahtz, Don Story, Vin-
cent Darley, Johan Linde, Joseph Hertzlinger, Rick Zaccone, John Warkentin, Ulrich Diez, Uwe
credits 323

Siart, Will Robertson, Joseph Wright, Enrico Gregorio, Rolf Niepraschk and Alexander Grahn.
I also thank the lawmakers and the taxpayers in Germany, who, in contrast to most other
countries in the world, allow residents to use the local university libraries.
The typesetting and book design is due to the professional consulting of Ulrich Dirr. The ty-
pography was improved with the help of Johannes Küster. The design of the book and its website
owe also much to the suggestions and support of my wife Britta.
Since May 2007, the electronic edition and distribution of the Motion Mountain text is
generously supported by the Klaus Tschira Foundation.

Film credits
The beautiful animation of a dice flying at relativistic speed, on page 52, is copyright and courtesy
by Ute Kraus. It can be found on her splendid website www.tempolimit-lichtgeschwindigkeit.de,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
which provides many other films of relativistic motions and the related publications. The beauti-
ful animation of an observer accelerating in a desert, on page 83, is copyright Anthony Searle and
Australian National University, and courtesy of Craig Savage. It is from the wonderful website at
www.anu.edu.au/Physics/Savage/TEE. Also the equally beautiful animation of an observer accel-
erating between houses, on page 85, is copyright Anthony Searle and Australian National Univer-
sity, and courtesy of Craig Savage. It is from the equally wonderful website at www.anu.edu.au/
Physics/Searle. The spectacular animation on page 241 is courtesy and copyright of the European
Southern Observatory ESO and found on its website www.eso.org/public/news/eso0846/.

Image credits
The photograph of a peak in the Himalaya on the front cover is courtesy and copyright by Dave
Thompson and used to be on his website www.daveontrek.co.uk. The photograph of the night sky
on page 13 is copyright and courtesy of Anthony Ayiomamitis; it is found on his splendid web-
site www.perseus.gr. The photograph of the reconstruction of Fizeau’s experiment on page 18 is
copyright by AG Didaktik und Geschichte der Physik, Universität Oldenburg, and courtesy of
Jan Frercks, Peter von Heering and Daniel Osewold. The photograph of a light pulse on page 18
is courtesy and copyright of Tom Mattick. The image of the historical Michelson experiment is
courtesy and copyright of the Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, the images of the modern
high-precision experiment on page 37 are copyright and courtesy of Stephan Schiller. The rela-
tivistic images of the travel through the simplified Stonehenge on page 51 are copyright of Nicolai
Mokros and courtesy of Norbert Dragon. The relativistic views on page 50 and 52 are courtesy
and copyright of Daniel Weiskopf. The stalactite photograph on page 98 is courtesy and copy-
right of Richard Cindric and found on the website www.kcgrotto.org. The figures of galaxies on
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

pages 197, 195, 198, 198, 196, 200, 199, 221, 231 and 231 are courtesy of NASA. The photo of the
night sky on page 195 is copyright and courtesy of Axel Mellinger; more details on the story of
this incredible image is found on his website at home.arcor.de/axel.mellinger. The photograph
of the molecular cloud on page 199 is courtesy and copyright of the European Southern Obser-
vatory ESO; it was also featured on the antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030202.html website. The
maps of the universe on page 205 and the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram on page 210 are courtesy
and copyright of Richard Powell, and taken from his websites www.anzwers.org/free/universe
and www.atlasoftheuniverse.com. The Hubble diagram on page 208 is courtesy of Saul Perlmut-
ter and the Supernova Cosmology Project. The picture of the universe on page 196 is courtesy
of Thomas Jarret, IPAC and Caltech, and is found on the spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/jarret/lss/
index.html website. The simulated view of a black hole on page 242 is copyright and courtesy of
Ute Kraus and can be found on her splendid website www.tempolimit-lichtgeschwindigkeit.de.
324 credits

The photograph on page 220 is couresy and copyright of Wally Pacholka and found on the won-
derful website www.twanlight.org that collects pictures of the world at night. The photograph
on the back cover, of a basilisk running over water, is courtesy and copyright by the Belgian
group TERRA vzw and found on their website www.terra.vzw.org. All drawings are copyright by
Christoph Schiller. If you suspect that your copyright is not correctly given or obtained, this has
not done on purpose; please contact me in this case.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 NAME I NDEX

A A B Bilaniuk, O.M. 301

Abramowicz, M.A. 318 Babinet, Jacques Birkhoff 185

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Abramowicz
Adelberger, E. 318 life 273 Bladel, Jean van 297
Adenauer, Konrad 118 Bachem, Albert 128 Blair, David 307, 320
Adler, C.G. 303 Baez, John 311, 322 Blandford, R. 316
Aetius 194, 312 Baggett, N. 296 Blandford, R.D. 309
Ahmad, Q.R. 299 Bagnoli, Franco 322 Blau, Steven 43, 299
Aichelburg, P.C. 316 Bailey, J. 299, 300 Bloser, P.F. 308
Alanus de Insulis 240 Bailey, J.M. 296 Blumensath, Achim 322
Alcubierre, M. 308 Banday, A.J. 316 Blumkin, A. 312
Allen, Woody 204 Barberi Gnecco, Bruno 322 Bohr, Niels 22
Alspector, J. 296 Barbour, Julian 316 Bombelli, Luca 319, 322
Alväger, T. 296 Barrow, J.D. 316 Bondi, Hermann 297, 306
Anderson, I.M. 186, 311 Bartel, Elmar 322 Bonnor, W.B. 161, 310, 316
Anderson, J.D. 303 Bartocci, Umberto 69, 302 Boone, Roggie 322
Anderson, J.L. 311 Basri, G. 313 Born, Max 299
Antonini, P. 297, 299 Bateman, H. 299 Boughn, S.P. 300
Arago, François 36 Baumann, D. 319 Boyce, K.R. 301
Aristarchus of Samos 295 Bautista, Ferdinand 322 Brace, Dewitt 36
life 17 Baylis, W.E. 299 Bradley, James 16, 17
Aristotle 295 Beaty, William 322 Braginsky, V.B. 308, 309
Arnowitt, Richard 187, 311 Becker, A. 313 Brahm, D.E. 318
Aronson, Jeff K. 320, 322 Bedford, D. 309 Brandes, John 322
Arseneau, Donald 322 Beeksma, Herman 322 Brault, J.W. 306
Ashtekar, A. 304, 319 Behroozi, C.H. 297 Braxmeier, C. 297
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Astrophysikalisches Institut Beig, R. 304 Bray, H.L. 312

Potsdam 37, 323 Bekenstein, Jacob 250, 317, 320 Brebner, Douglas 322
Ata Masafumi 322 Belfort, François 322 Brecher, K. 296
Audoin, C. 320 Bellard, Fabrice 321 Brehme, R.W. 303
Augel, Barbara 322 Bender, P.L. 311 Brewer, Sydney G. 295
Augel, Edgar 322 Bennet, C.L. 315 Briatore, L. 128, 306
Augustine 314 Bergliaffa, S. Perez 312 Briggs, F. 316
Australian National Bertotti, B. 311 Broeck, Chris Van Den 308
University 83, 85, 323 Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm 219 Bronstein, Matvey 238, 316
Ayiomamitis, Anthony 15, 323 Besso, Michele 69 Brown, J.M. 301
Beyer, Lothar 322 Brown, Peter 322
Biggar, Mark 322 Bruce, Tom 322
 326 name index

Bruyn, A.G. de 316 Cox, A.N. 312 Dumont, Jean-Paul 295, 312,
Buchmann, Alfons 322 Crawford, F. 312 313
Budney, Ryan 322 Crelinsten, Jeffrey 306 Dutton, Z. 297
Bunn, E.F. 311, 315, 316 Crespi, Roberto 322 Dyson, F.W. 307
Burbidge, G. 314 Crowe, Michael J. 295 Dyson, Freeman 322
Burgay, M. 312 Currie, D.G. 302
Bäßler, S. 318 E
Böhncke, Klaus 322 D Eckstein, G. 299
Börner, G. 313 D’Amico, N. 312 Eddington, A.S. 307
Börner, H.G. 301 Dahlman, John 322 Ehlers, J. 315, 318
Dalton, K. 312 Ehlers, Jürgen 256
B C
Caianiello, E.R. 304
Damour, Thibault 267, 318
Danecek, Petr 322
Ehrenfest, P. 302
Eichenwald, Alexander 36
Calder, Nigel 308 Darley, Vincent 322 Einstein, Albert 21, 23, 24, 41,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Bruyn Caltech 196, 323 Darre, Daniel 322 57, 65, 69, 124, 127, 130, 131,
Camilo, F. 312 Davidson, C. 307 139, 147, 182, 185, 213, 261,
Carilli, C.L. 316 de Sitter, Willem 262, 267, 268, 270, 296, 297,
Carlip, Steve 304, 315, 322 life 167 302, 305, 310, 315
Carneiro, S. 315 Deaver, B.S. 321 life 22
Carr, Jim 322 Democritus of Abdera 89 Einstein, Eduard 130
Carter, Brandon 247 Deser, Stanley 187, 311 Eisele, Ch. 299
Cassini, Giovanni 16 Deshpande, V.K. 301 Ellis, George 261, 307, 314, 315
Castagnino, M. 319 Deslattes, R.D. 301 Els, Danie 322
Caves, C.M. 309 Desloge, E.A. 302 Elswijk, Herman B. 322
CERN 62 Desloge, Edward A. 303 Emelin, Sergei 322
Cheseaux, Jean Philippe Loÿs DeTemple, D.W. 321 Empedocles 14
de 219 Detweiler, S. 317 Eötvös, Roland von 144, 308
Chinnapared, R. 317 Dewey, M.S. 301 Eshelby, J. 298
Choquet-Bruhat, Yvonne 311 DeWitt-Morette, Cecile 311 ESO 323
Christodoulou, D. 317 Dicke, R.H. 308, 316 Euler, Leonhard 172
Chudnovsky, D.V. 321 Dickey, J.M. 313 European Southern
Chudnovsky, G.V. 321 Diehl, Helmut 263 Observatory 323
Cindric, Richard 98, 323 Diemer, T. 319 Everitt, C.W. 321
Ciufolini, Ignazio 149, 309, 311 Dietze, H. 298 Everitt, F. 318
Clancy, E.P. 306 Diez, Ulrich 322 Ewing, Anne 241
Clausius, Rudolph 234 DiFilippo, Frank 301, 322 Exton, A. 317
Cohen, M.H. 300 Dillard-Bleick, Margaret 311
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Colazingari, Elena 322 Dirr, Ulrich 323 F

Columbus 237 Dittus, H. 312, 318 Faestermann, T. 314
Conti, Andrea 322 Dobra, Ciprian 322 Fairbanks, J.D. 321
Conway, J. 316 Doppler, Christian Fairhust, S. 304
Copernicus, Nicolaus 17 life 28 Falco, E.E. 315
Cordero, N.A. 311 Dorfi, E.A. 314 Falk, G. 306
Cornell, E.A. 297 Doroshkevich, A.G. 208, 313 Farinati, Claudio 322
Corongiu, A. 312 Dragon, Norbert 49, 51, 322, Farley, F.J.M. 296
Corovic, Dejan 322 323 Fasching, G. 312
Costa, S.S. 301 Droste, J. 133, 307 Faulkner, A.J. 312
Costella, J.P. 301 Duff, M.J. 303 Fekete, E. 308
Couch, E. 317 Duguay, M.A. 295 Fereira, P.G. 316
 name index 327

Fermani, Antonio 322 Glassey, Olivier 322 Heraclitus of Ephesus 210

Feynman, Richard P. 311 Goenner, Hubert 158, 306 Herrmann, F. 304
Figer, D. 313 González, Antonio 322 Herschel, John 220
Figier, D. 313 Good, R.H. 303 Hertz, Heinrich 99
Finkenzeller, Klaus 322 Gordon, C. 312 Hertzlinger, Joseph 322
Fischer, Ulrike 322 Gould, Andrew 163 Hesiod 206
Fitzgerald, George F. 40 Grahn, Alexander 323 Hestenes, David 299
Fizeau, Hippolyte 17, 36 Grebe, Leonhard 128 Heumann, John 322
Fließbach, Torsten 306 Green, A.J. 313 Hilbert, David 179, 185
Floyd, R.M. 317 Greenstein, J.L. 306 Hill, S. 312
Ford, E.C. 308 Gregorio, Enrico 323 Hillman, Chris 322
F Formalont, E.B. 309, 310
Foster, James 305
Greiner, Jochen 319, 322
Grindlay, J.E. 308
Hinshaw, G. 316
Hipparchus 17
Fowler, E.C. 296 Gruber, Christian 48, 300 Hirth, J.P. 298

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Fermani Fowler, L.A. 310 Gruber, R.P. 318 Hobbs, G. 312
Frank, F.C. 298 Guiragossian, Z.G.T. 298 Hoek, Martin 36
Fredman, R.A. 312 Gutfreund, Hanoch 297 Hogg, D.W. 315
French, A.P. 303 Guth, Alan 233, 315 Holstein, B.R. 310
Frenkel, J. 298 Gácsi, Zoltán 322 Holzmüller, G. 149, 309
Frercks, Jan 17, 295, 323 Göklü, E. 297 Horace, in full Quintus
Fresnel, Augustin 36 Horatius Flaccus 124
Friedmann, Aleksander 314 H Houtermans, Friedrich 209
life 214 Haber, John 322 Hoyle, C.D. 318
Frisch, D.H. 300 Hadley, M. 319 Hoyle, Fred 224, 314
Fukuda, Y. 298 Hafele, J.C. 128, 299 Hubble, Edwin
Fulle, Marco 137 Haley, Stephen 322 life 207
Furrie, Pat 322 Hall, D.B. 300 Huber, Daniel 322
Fölsing, Albrecht 297 Halley, Edmund 16 Hughes, R.J. 312
Hamilton, J.D. 303 Huisken, G. 304
G Hammond, R.T. 319 Hulse, Russel 310
Gabuzda, D.C. 301 Hardcastle, Martin 322 Huygens, Christiaan 16
Gaensler, B.M. 313 Harris, S.E. 297 Hörmann AG 30
Galilei, Galileo 15 Hartmann, D. 319
Gamow, George 313 Harvey, A. 300, 314 I
life 207 Hasenöhrl, Friedrich 69, 302 Ilmanen, T. 304
Gauß, Carl-Friedrich Hatfield, Brian 311 INFN 160
life 173 Hausherr, Tilman 322 Inverno, Ray d’ 304, 305
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Gavin, Maurice 29 Haverkorn, M. 313 Iorio, L. 309

Gearhart, R. 298 Hawking, Stephen 120, 226, IPAC 196, 323
Gehrels, N. 316 250, 252, 261, 315 Israel, Werner 247
Georgi, Renate 322 Hawking, Stephen W. 314 Itah, A. 312
Geroch, Robert 261, 318 Hayes, Allan 322 Ivanov, Igor 322
Gesellschaft, Fraunhofer 287 Hayward, S.A. 305 Ives, H.E. 297
Gibbons, Gary 135, 303, 304, Heckel, B. 318
322 Heering, Peter von 323 J
Gibbs, J. Willard 98, 303 Helmond, Tom 322 Jacobson, T. 304
Gide, André 178 Henderson, Paula 322 Jalink, Kim 322
Giltner, D.M. 298 Hentig, Hartmut von 7 Jamil, M. 322
Giulini, D. 314 Heracles 197 Janek, Jürgen 322
 328 name index

Jaramillo, J.L. 317 Knop, R.A. 311 Levi-Civita, Tullio 179

Jarret, Thomas 196, 323 Knutsen, H. 314 Lewis, G.N. 301
Jenkins, Francis A. 295 Kogut, A. 316 Liebscher, Dierck-Ekkehard
Jentschel, M. 301 Konig, F. 312 298
Jerie, M. 319 Kontorowa, T. 298 Lifshitz, E. 312
Jetzer, P. 312 Koolen, Anna 322 Lille, Alain de 240
Johansson, Mikael 322 Kopeikin, Sergei 309, 310, 322 Lilley, Sam 305
Johnson, Samuel Korschinek, G. 314 Linde, Johan 322
life 295 Kostro, L. 304 Lindh, A.G. 308
Jones, Quentin David 322 Kramer, M. 309, 312 Linfield, R.P. 300
Jones, Tony 320 Kraus, Ute 49, 52, 242, 323 Lintel, Harald van 48, 300, 322
J Jong, Marc de 322
Jordan, T.F. 302
Kreuzer, L.B. 134, 307
Krijn, Marcel 322
Liu, C. 297
Lodge, Oliver 36
Ju, L. 320 Krikalyov, Sergei 45 Logan, R.T. 303

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Jaramillo Juszkiewicz, R. 316 Krisher, T.P. 303 Lombardi, Luciano 322
Krishnan, B. 304 Lombardo, F. 319
K Krotkow, R. 308 Longair, M. 313
Köppe, Thomas 322 Krumm, P. 309 Lorenci, V. De 312
Kaaret, P. 308 Królikowski, Jarosław 322 Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon 39,
Kalbfleisch, G.R. 296 Kröner, Ekkehart 192, 304 299
Kalckar, Jørgen 153 Kubala, Adrian 322 life 35
Kanada Yasumasa 321 Kuklewicz, C. 312 Lorimer, D.R. 310, 312
Kant, Immanuel 194, 207, 312 Kumaradtya, K.K. 316 Lothe, J. 298
life 194 Kuzin, Pavel 322 Low, R.J. 302
Kapuścik, E. 299 Künzle, H.P. 317 Ludvigsen, Malcolm 305
Karlhede, A. 319 Küster, Johannes 323 Luke, Lucky 32
Kaufmann, W.J. 312 Luminet, J.-P. 315
Kayser, R. 315 L Lundmark, Knut 207, 313
Keating, Richard E. 128, 299 Lachièze-Rey, M. 315 Lutes, G.F. 303
Keesing, R.G. 320 Lahav, O. 312 Lyne, A.G. 312
Kelu, Jonatan 322 Lakes, Rod S. 298 Lämmerzahl, C. 312, 318
Kennedy, R.J. 297 Lamb, Frederick 144, 317 Lévy, J.M. 302
Kennefick, D. 307 Lambert, Johann
Kenyon, Ian R. 304 life 174 M
Kepler, Johannes 219 Lambourne, R. 298 MacCallum, M.A.H. 317
Kerr, Roy 247, 317 Landau, L. 312 Macdonald, A. 318
Kessler, E.G. 301 Lange, B. 304 Macedo, R.P. 317
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Kilmister, C.W. 302 Langevin, Paul 69 Mach, Ernst 236

Kippenhahn, Rudolf 315 Laplace, Pierre 240 Macrobius 313
Kiss, Joseph 322 Lasota, J.P. 318 Madhu, Rao S.M. 289, 322
Kittinger 306 Laue, Max von 78 Maeterlink, Maurice
Kittinger, Joseph 124, 129 Leibfried, G. 298 life 236
Kjellman, J. 296 Lemaître, Georges A. Maffei, Paolo 312
Klauder, John 305 life 214 Mahoney, Alan 322
Klaus Tschira Foundation 323 Lense, Josef 148, 309 Mainwaring, S.R. 299
Kleppner, Daniel 310 Leonhardt, U. 312 Maleki, L. 303
Klippert, R. 312 Lerner, L. 310 Manchester, R.N. 312
Klose, S. 319 Leschiutta, S. 128, 306 Mark, Martin van der 322
Knie, K. 314 Leucippus of Elea 89 Marsh, N.D. 314
 name index 329

Martos, Antonio 322 Murdock, Ron 322 Olbers, Wilhelm

Marzke, R.F. 318 Murillo, Nadia 322 life 219
Mashhoon, B. 309 Murray, J.J. 298 Olum, K.D. 308
Mason, W.P. 298 Musil, Rober 218 Oostrum, Piet van 322
Masood-ul-Alam, A.K.M. 317 Mutti, P. 301 Oppenheimer, Robert 317
Massa, Corrado 304, 322 Muynck, Wim de 322 life 243
Matsas, G.E.A. 300, 301 Myers, E.G. 301 Osewold, Daniel 323
Matthews, W.N. 302 Møller, Christian 302 Osserman, Bob 232
Mattick, Tom 18, 295, 323 Müller, H. 297 Ovidius, in full Publius
Maxwell, James Clerk 39 Müller, J. 319 Ovidius Naro 20
Mayné, Fernand 322
M Mayr, Peter 322
Mazur, P.O. 247, 317
N
Nabarro, Frank R.N. 298
P
Pacholka, Wally 220, 324
McClure-Griffiths, N.M. 313 Nagano, M. 319 Page, Don 318, 322

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Martos McDonald, K.T. 309 Nahin, Paul J. 300 Pahaut, Serge 322
McGowan, R.W. 298 Namouni, Fathi 322 Panov, V.I. 308
McKellar, B.H.J. 301 Narlikar, J.V. 314 Papapetrou, A. 301
McLaughlin, M.A. 312 NASA 168 Parker, Barry 313
McNamara, Geoff 307 Natarajan, V. 301 Parks, David 322
McQuarry, George 322 Natàrio, J. 317 Pascazio, Saverio 322
Medison 30 Nemiroff, R.J. 308 Pasi, Enrico 322
Mellinger, Axel 195, 312, 323 Neumaier, Heinrich 322 Paul, W. 301
Mena Marugán, G.A. 315 Nevsky, A.Yu. 299 Pauli, Wolfgang 57, 311
Menocal, P.B. de 314 Newcomb, Simon 298 Pavlis, E.C. 309
Menten, K.M. 316 Newman, E.T. 317 Pbroks13 31
Merrit, John 322 Newton 276 Pearson, T.J. 300, 301
Michaelson, P.F. 321 Nicolai, H. 311 Peeters, Bert 322
Michell, John 240, 317 Niepraschk, Rolf 323 Pekár, V. 308
Michelson, Albert Abraham Nieto, L.M. 311 Pelt, Jaan 230, 315
36, 101, 299 Nietzsche, Friedrich 109 Penrose, Roger 120, 249, 252,
life 36 Nieuwpoort, Frans van 322 300, 304, 315, 317, 318
Minkowski, Hermann 40 Nightingale, J.D. 305 Penzias, Arno 208, 313
life 41 Nordström, Gunnar 247 Peres, A. 316
Mirabel, I.F. 301 Nordtvedt, Kenneth 319 Perini, Romano 322
Mishra, L. 91, 303 Norton, John D. 311 Perkins, D.H. 299
Misner, Charles 187, 302, 311 Novello, M. 312 Perlman, E. 316
Mitskievic, N.V. 316 Novikov, Igor 208, 305, 313, Perlmutter, Saul 208, 218, 323
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Mittelstaedt, H. 315 316 Perot, Alfred 128

Mittelstaedt, M.-L. 315 Peşić, P.D. 314
Mlynek, J. 297 O Peters, A. 297
Mohazzabi, P. 306 Oberdiek, Heiko 322 Pfister, Herbert 316
Mohr, P.J. 320 Oberquell, Brian 322 Philbin, T.G. 312
Mokros, Nicolai 49, 51, 323 Observatoire de la Côte Philpott, R.J. 302
Moore, C.P. 316 d’Azur 168 Piper, M.S. 161, 310
Moore, Henry 172 Oey, M.S. 313 Piraino, S. 308
Moortel, Dirk Van de 288, 322 Offner, Carl 322 Planck, Max 22, 57, 74, 79, 100
Morinigo, Fernando B. 311 Ohanian, Hans 290, 303–306 Plato 224
Morley, Edward 36, 299 Okhapkin, M. 297, 299 Poincaré, Henri 38, 39, 69, 124,
Moser, Lukas Fabian 322 Okun, Lev B. 302 142, 302
 330 name index

life 23 Robertson, S. 312 Schramm, T. 315

Possenti, A. 312 Robertson, Will 323 Schröder, Ulrich E. 302, 306
Pound, R.V. 128, 306 Robinson, D.C. 247, 317 Schucking, E. 300, 314
Powell, Richard 205, 210, 323 Rodríguez, L.F. 301 Schutz, Bernard 305, 310
Pradl, O. 297 Roll, P.G. 308 Schwarzschild, Karl 128, 178
Prakash, A. 317 Rømer, Ole C. 295 life 133
Preston, S. Tolver 302 life 16 Schweiker, H. 204
Preston, Tolver 69 Rossi, B. 300 Schwinger, Julian 297
Pretto, O. De 302 Rothbart, G.B. 298 Schäfer, G. 318
Pretto, Olinto De 69, 296 Rothenstein, B. 299 Sciama, Dennis 237, 316
Prialnik, D. 313 Rothman, T. 315 Scott, Jonathan 322
P Prigogine, Ilya 315
Primas, L.E. 303
Rottmann, K. 303
Roukema, B.F. 315
Searle, Anthony 49, 83, 85, 323
Seeger, A. 298
Prince, G.E. 319 Rozental, I.L. 319 Seidelmann, P. Kenneth 321

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Possenti Pritchard, Carol 322 Ruben, Gary 322 Seielstad, G.A. 300
Pritchard, D.E. 301 Ruder, Hanns 49, 319 Selig, Carl 297
Pritchard, David 65 Ruffini, Remo 247, 304–307, Seneca, Lucius Annaeus 258
Proença, Nuno 322 316, 317 Sexl, Roman 263, 300, 316, 318
Pryce, M.H.L. 301 Rugel, G. 314 Shapiro, I.I. 311
Purves, William 322 Ruggiero, M.L. 302, 309 Shapiro, Irwin 163, 310
Pythagoras of Samos 298 Ruppel, W. 306 Shaw, R. 300
Russell, Bertrand 79 Shea, J.H. 306
R Rybicki, G.R. 300 Sheldon, Eric 300, 322
Rahtz, Sebastian 322 Röntgen, Wilhelm 36 Shih, Y. 298
Rainville, S. 301 Short, J. 320
Rankl, Wolfgang 322 S Siart, Uwe 322
Rasio, F.A. 310 Saghian, Damoon 322 Sierra, Bert 322
Rawlinson, A.A. 301 Sagnac, Georges 36 Silk, J. 316
Raymond, D.J. 303 Salim, J. 312 Simon, Julia 322
Readhead, A.C.S. 300 Samuel, S. 310 Simon, R.S. 300
Rebka, G.A. 128, 306 Santander, M. 311 Singh, T.P. 318
Recami, E. 301 Santangelo, A. 308 Singleton, Douglas 322
Rector, T.A. 204 Sastry, G.P. 300 Sitter, W. de 310
Redondi, Pietro 322 Savage, Craig 49, 323 Sitter, Willem de 217, 296
Refsdal, S. 315 Scarcelli, G. 298 Sitter, Willem de 20, 36
Reinhardt, S. 298 Schaefer, B.E. 296, 298 Slabber, André 322
Reissner, Hans 247 Scharmann, Arthur 318 Smale, A.P. 308
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Renselle, Doug 322 Schiller, Britta 322, 323 Smith, J.B. 300
Reppisch, Michael 322 Schiller, Christoph 303, 304, Snider, J.L. 306
Rezzolla, L. 317 324 Snyder, Hartland 243, 317
Ricci-Cubastro, Gregorio Schiller, Isabella 322 Soffel, Michael H. 311, 319
life 179 Schiller, Peter 298, 322 Soldner, Johann 138, 161, 162,
Riemann, Bernhard Schiller, Stephan 36, 37, 297, 308
life 190 299, 322, 323 Solomatin, Vitaliy 322
Rindler, Wolfgang 297, 299, Schmidt, Herbert Kurt 300 Sonoda, D.H. 316
300, 304, 305, 311 Schneider, M. 319 Stachel, John 305
Ritz 296 Schneider, P. 315 Stairs, I.H. 310, 312
Rivas, Martin 322 Schoen, R.M. 304 Stark, Johannes
Robertson, H.P. 214 Schramm, Herbert 318 life 28
 name index 331

Stedman, G.E. 299, 320 Torrence, R. 317 Weiskopf, Daniel 49, 50, 52,
Steinhauer, J. 312 Townsend, Paul 322 323
Stephenson, G. 302 Trevorrow, Andrew 322 Weiss, Martha 322
Stephenson, G.J. 301 Trout, Kilgore 233 Weizmann, Chaim 147
Stilwell, G.R. 297 Tschira, Klaus 323 Wertheim, Margaret 298
Stocke, J.T. 316 Tuinstra, F. 295, 298 Wesson, Paul 220, 314
Stodolsky, Leo 298 Tuppen, Lawrence 322 Westra, M.T. 292
Stoney, G.J. 318 Turner, M.S. 315 Wheeler, John 241, 247, 260,
Story, Don 322 297, 301, 302, 304, 305, 307,
Straumann, N. 314 U 309, 316, 318
Stromberg, Gustaf 207, 313 Uguzzoni, Arnaldo 322 life 241
S Strutt Rayleigh, John 36
Su, Y. 308
Ulfbeck, Ole 153
Unruh, William 125, 306
White, Harvey E. 295
White, M. 315
Sudarshan, George 301, 302 Unwin, S.C. 300 Whitney, A.R. 300

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Stedman Supplee, J.M. 300 Upright, Craig 322 Wierda, Gerben 322
Surdin, Vladimir 322 Wierzbicka, Anna 322
Svensmark, H. 314 V Wijk, Mike van 322
Synge, J.L. 301 Valencia, A. 298 Wikimedia 30
Szuszkiewicz, E. 318 Vanier, J. 320 Will, C.M. 296, 303, 305, 308,
Vannoni, Paul 322 309, 318
T Vergilius, Publius 145 Williams, R. 307
Tangen, K. 312 Vermeil, H. 172, 311 Wilson, Harold 36
Tarko, Vlad 322 Vermeulen, R. 316 Wilson, Robert 208, 313
Tartaglia, A. 309 Vessot, R.F.C. 128, 306 Wiltshire, D. 313
Taylor, B.N. 320 Vestergaard Hau, L. 297 Wirtz, Carl 207, 313
Taylor, Edwin F. 297, 301, Voigt, Woldemar Wise, N.W. 320
303–305, 308, 316 life 39 Woodhouse, Nick M.J. 297
Taylor, John R. 320 Volin, Leo 322 Woods, P.M. 313
Taylor, Joseph 159, 276, 310 Voltaire 276 Wright, Joseph 323
Tegelaar, Paul 322 Voss, Herbert 322 Wright, Steven 269
Tegmark, M. 311
Terrell, J. 300 W Y
Thaler, Jon 322 Wagner, William G. 311 Yearian, M.R. 298
Thies, Ingo 322 Wald, Robert M. 305, 318 Young, Andrew 322
Thirring, Hans 148, 308, 309 Walker, A.G. 214
Thomas, Llewellyn 57 Walker, Gabriele 313 Z
Thompson, C. 313 Walker, R.C. 300 Zaccone, Rick 322
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Thompson, Dave 323 Wallin, I. 296 Zalm, Peer 322

Thompson, J.K. 301 Wallner, A. 314 Zedler, Michael 322
Thompson, R.C. 301 Wambsganss, J. 315 Zeeman, Pieter 36
Thorndike, E.M. 297 Wang, Y. 311 Zensus, J.A. 301
Thorne, Kip 302, 305, 309 Warkentin, John 322 Zeus 197
Tisserand, F. 309 Watson, A.A. 319 Zhang Yuan Zhong 296
Tisserand, Félix 149 Weigert, Alfred 315 Zhang, W. 144, 308
Tolman, Richard 301, 316 Weinberg, Steven 298, 305, 314 Zhao, C. 320
Torre, C.G. 186, 311 Weisberg, J.M. 310 Zwicky, Fritz 230, 315
 Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
name index
332

Zwicky
Z
SUBJECT I NDEX

Symbols Aldebaran 229 B

3-vector 70 Alluvium 213 β-rays 14

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
4-acceleration 72 Alnilam 229 B1938+666 231
4-angular momentum 78 Alnitak 229 background 41
4-coordinates 40, 69 alpha decay 207 background radiation 207,
4-jerk 73 Altair 229 213, 224
4-momentum 74 ampere bags, plastic 292
4-vector 70, 72 definition 272 barycentric coordinate time
4-velocity 71 Andromeda nebula 194, 207 308
angular momentum as a barycentric dynamical time
A tensor 78 142
α-rays 14 annihilation 223 baryon number density 284
a (year) 213 antigravity device, patent for base units 272
aberration 17, 49 140 becquerel 274
acausal effects 43 antimatter 64, 67, 189, 223 Beetle 172
accelerating frames 85 aphelion 283 beginning of the universe 207
acceleration 299 apogee 282 beginning of time 207
acceleration composition Apollo 167, 286 Bellatrix 229
theorem 91 apple trees 277 Betelgeuse 229
acceleration, proper 73 apple, standard 277 big bang 208, 219, 224, 225
acceleration, uniform 86 apples 145 big bang was not a singularity
accretion 251 Archaeozoicum 212 120
accretion discs 201 archean 212 billiards 61
accuracy 277 arms, human 236 binary pulsars 143, 166
limits to 278 artefact 273 BIPM 272, 273
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

action 79 Ashtekar variables 269 bird appearance 212

action, quantum of, ħ atmospheric pressure 282 bits to entropy conversion 282
physics and 8 atom formation 211 black hole 107, 161, 227, 240,
active galactic nuclei 240 atomic 276 241, 243, 307
ADM mass 187 atomic mass unit 280 see also Schwarzschild
aether and general relativity atomism is wrong 90 radius
108, 132 atto 274 horizon 240
age 217 average curvature 179 black hole collisions 252
age of universe 69 Avogadro’s number 280 black hole halo 256
agoraphobics 216 azoicum 211 black hole radiation 315
air 227 black hole, analogous to
cannot fill universe 223 universe? 256
 334 subject index

black hole, entropy of 250 Canopus 229 composition theorem for

black hole, extremal 248 capture of light 246 accelerations 91
black hole, Kerr 247 capture, gravitational 246 Compton wavelength 281
black hole, primordial 251 Carboniferous 212 conductance quantum 281
black hole, rotating 247 caress 76 Conférence Générale des
black hole, Schwarzschild 247 cat’s eye Poids et Mesures 272, 276
black hole, stellar 251 see also retroreflectors conformal group 82
black holes 98, 134, 305 Cat’s-eye, lunar 168 conformal invariance 82
black holes do not exist 254 cathode rays 14 conformal transformations 81
black holes, intermediate 251 causal connection 42 Conférence Générale des
black holes, micro 251 causality and maximum Poids et Mesures 273
B black holes, primordial 251
black holes, stellar 251
speed 43
cause and effect 42
conic sections 165
constant
black holes, supermassive 251 cenozoic 213 cosmological see

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
black black paint 220 censorship, cosmic 119 cosmological constant
black vortex 248 centi 274 constellations 194
black-body radiation 227 centre of mass 67 container 41
blue shift 28 centrifugal effect 255 contraction 179, 192
body, rigid 77, 94 Čerenkov radiation 24, 167 Convention du Mètre 272
body, solid 94 CERN 296, 299 conveyor belt 126
Bohr magneton 281 chair as time machine 45 corkscrew 157
Bohr radius 281 challenge classification 9 cosmic background radiation
Boltzmann constant 57, 279 channel rays 14 219, 224, 315
Boltzmann constant k charge cosmic censorship 119, 253,
physics and 8 elementary e, physics and 318
bomb 63 8 cosmic radiation 45
boost see Lorentz boost, 40, positron or electron, value cosmic rays 68
103 of 279 cosmological constant 180,
boosts and the force limit 111 chemical mass defect 64, 65 183, 187, 222, 268, 284
boosts, concatenation of 56 chocolate 220 cosmological principle 207
boxes 93 Christoffel symbols of the cosmonauts 38, 125, 138, 141
bradyons 67 second kind 189 coulomb 274
Brans–Dicke ‘theory’ 193 CL0024+1654 231 coupling, principle of
brick tower, infinitely high 111 classical electron radius 281 minimal 183
brown dwarf 230 claustrophobics 216 courage 24
brown dwarfs 202, 229 clock paradox 44 covariance, principle of
brute force approach 109 clock synchronization of 25, general 183
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

bucket experiment, Newton’s 32 crackpots 33, 298

236 clocks 128, 259 creation 226
Bureau International des cloud 245 Cretaceous 212
Poids et Mesures 272 clouds in the universe 197 critical mass density 215
bus, best seat in 53 CODATA 320 curvature 131, 134, 172
buses 126 collapsars 243 see also space-time
collapse 251 Gaussian 172
C collision 66 intrinsic 172
Caenozoicum 213 coloured constellation 228 curvature, average 173
Cambrian 212 comets 201 curvature, extrinsic 170
candela Commission Internationale curvature, Gaussian 171
definition 273 des Poids et Mesures 272 curvature, intrinsic 170
 subject index 335

curvature, near mass 178 Doppler effect, transversal 28 dark see cosmological
curvature, sectional 176 Doppler red-shift 228 constant
cyclotron frequency 281 Draconis, Gamma 17 no free 64
Cygnus X-1 251 duality no undiscovered 64
space-time 264 energy density, negative 185
D dust 182 energy is bounded 75
dark energy see cosmological energy of the universe 234
constant, 64, 203, 268 E energy, concentrated 63
dark matter 64, 203, 229, 252, Earth energy, kinetic 63
265, 268, 270 age 282 energy, potential 75
dark matter problem 222 average density 282 energy, relativistic kinetic 75
C dark, speed of the 53
darkness 55
equatorial radius 282
flattening 282
energy, relativistic potential
75
darkness of night sky 221 gravitational length 282 energy–momentum 4-vector

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
curvature day, sidereal 282 mass 282 74
day, time unit 274 normal gravity 282 energy–momentum tensor
de Broglie wavelength 273 Earth formation 211 106, 181
death 17 Earth’s radius 282 engines, maximum power of
deca 274 Earth’s rotation 275 101
decay of photons 238 Earth, hollow 263 Enlightenment 194
deceleration parameter 216 Earth, length contraction 47 entropy 234
deci 274 Earth, ring around 198 entropy of black hole 250
degree Celsius 274 eccentricity 165 Eocene 213
degree, angle unit 274 eccentrics 263 equivalence principle 183, 267
density perturbations 211 ecliptic 17 ergosphere 248, 249
density, proper 181 Ehrenfest’s paradox 77 error
dependence on 1/r2 267 Einstein Einstein’s 46
detection of gravitational error 46 relative 277
waves 159 Einstein algebra 261 systematic 277
Devonian 212 Einstein tensor 180 total 277
diet 64 Einstein’s field equations errors
diffeomorphism invariance see field equations in measurements 277
186, 258, 261, 263 Einstein–Cartan theory 270 escape velocity 240
diffraction 188 elasticity 134 ether, also called luminiferous
dilations 81 electricity, start of 213 ether 299
Diluvium 213 electrodynamics 260 event horizon 89
dimension, fourth 41 electromagnetism 76 events 40
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

dimensionless 280 electron 14 evolution 68

dinosaurs 212 g-factor 281 evolution, marginal 215
dislocations 32 electron magnetic moment Exa 274
dispersion relation 157 281 excess radius 173
distance, rod 85 electron mass 279 excrements 64
distribution, Gaussian 277 electron size 94 explosion 225
distribution, normal 277 electron volt extrasolar planets 230
DNA 277 value 281 extrinsic curvature 170
donate elementary particles, size of
for this free pdf 9 94 F
door sensors 30 ellipse 165 fall 144
Doppler effect 28, 49, 90 energy 63 fall, permanent 243
 336 subject index

farad 274 galaxy formation 211 gravitational constant 279

Faraday’s constant 280 Galilean satellites 16 gravitational constant G
faster than light 141 gamma ray bursters 240 see also force limit,
faster than light motion gamma ray bursts 20, 296 maximum, see also power,
observed in an accelerated gamma-ray bursts 201, 232, upper limit
frame 91 319 physics and 8
faster than light motion, in gas constant, universal 280 gravitational constant is
collisions 67 Gaussian curvature 172 constant 120
femto 274 Gaussian distribution 277 gravitational coupling
fence 40 Gedanken experiment 109 constant 279
Fermi coupling constant 279 general covariance 186 gravitational Doppler effect
F Ferrari 47
fine structure constant 279,
general relativity 23, 124
see also field equations
127
gravitational energy 182, 188
280 general relativity in one gravitational field 150

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
farad first law of black hole paragraph 176 gravitational lensing 230, 252
mechanics 104 general relativity in ten points gravitational radiation 305
first law of horizon mechanics 265 gravitational red-shift 127, 229
104 general relativity, accuracy of gravitational wave detectors
flatness, asymptotic 187 266 169
flow of time 262 general relativity, first half 134 gravitational waves 153
food-excrement mass general relativity, second half gravitational waves, detection
difference 64 139 of 159
force 100, 188 general relativity, statements gravitational waves, speed of
maximum see force limit, of 135 155, 161
maximum genius 22, 136 gravitodynamics 154
Planck see force limit, geocaching 143 gravitomagnetic field 151
maximum Geocentric gravitational gravitomagnetism 267
force limit 99 constant 282 gravity 76, 118, 125
force, maximum 97 geodesic 100 gravity see gravitation
force, maximum, conditions geodesic deviation 191 Gravity Probe B 149
108 geodesic effect 167, 267 gravity wave emission delay
force, minimum in nature 123 geodesic, lightlike 136 267
force, perfect 265 geodesic, timelike 136 gravity waves 153
Foucault pendulum 148 geometrodynamic clock 260 gravity waves, spin of 155
fourth dimension 40, 41 Giga 274 gray 274
frame dragging 149, 152, 163 globular clusters 202 grey hair 53
frame of reference 85 gods 182, 234 group 4-velocity 78
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

frame-dragging 148 Gondwana 212 group, conformal 82

Fraunhofer lines 127, 287 GPS, global positioning GUT epoch 211
free fall, permanent 243 system 143 gyromagnetic ratio 255
full width at half maximum grass 40
277 grass, appearance of 213 H
fungi 212 gravitation hadrons 211
future light cone 42 see also general relativity, hair, gray 53
quantum gravity hand 67
G gravitation as braking hand in vacuum 306
γ-rays 14 mechanism 101 harmonic wave 78
galaxies and black holes 240 gravitational and inertial HARP 62
galaxy 196, 237 mass identity 183 hecto 274
 subject index 337

helium 14, 211, 224 indeterminacy relation, K

henry 274 relativistic 94 k-calculus 25
hertz 274 inertial 37 kaleidoscope 232
Hertzsprung–Russell diagram inertial frame 84 kelvin
209 inertial frame of reference 37 definition 272
hole argument 261 infinite number of SI prefixes Kepler’s relation 158
hole paradox 261 276 kilo 274
hollow Earth hypothesis 263 inflation 211, 233, 269 kilogram
Hollywood films 81 inflaton field 233 definition 272
Holocene 213 infrared rays 14 kilogram, prototype 267
Homo sapiens appears 213 initial conditions 211, 226 kisses 76
H Homo sapiens sapiens 213
horizon 207, 242, 244, 289
interaction, is gravity an 188
interferometers 276
Klitzing, von – constant 281

see also black hole intermediate black holes 252 L

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
helium of a black hole 240 International Commission on LAGEOS 309
horizon and acceleration 110 Stratigraphy 213 LAGEOS satellites 149
horizon force 103 International Earth Rotation Lagrangian 139
horizon, moving faster than Service 275 Large Electron Positron ring
light 54 International Geodesic Union 32
horizons 97 283 larger 63
horizons as limit systems 265 intrinsic 170 laser distance measurement
horizons as mixtures of space invariance of Moon 295
and particles 89 conformal 82 Laurasia 212
horizons, importance of 89 invariance of the speed of law of cosmic laziness 79
horsepower, maximum value light 25 learning
of 101 invariants of curvature tensor without markers 8
hour 274 192 learning, best method for 8
Hubble constant 207 inversion 81 length contraction 27, 40, 48,
Hubble parameter 284 inversion symmetry 82 49, 300
hurry 80 Io 16 LEP 32
hydrogen fusion 211 irreducible mass 250 life appearance 212
hyperbola 165 irreducible radius 250 light 27
hyperbolas 244 isotropic 173 light acceleration 27
hyperbolic cosine 87 IUPAC 320 light cone 70
hyperbolic secant 88 IUPAP 320 light deflection 267
hyperbolic sine 87 light pulses, circling each
hyperbolic tangent 88 J other 142
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

hypernova 201 jets 201 light speed, finite 220

hypersurfaces 83 jewel textbook 302 light year 282
Josephson effect 273 light, faster than 141
I Josephson frequency ratio 281 light, longitudinal
Icarus 166, 267 joule 274 polarization 28
ice age 213 Jupiter 188 light, massive 27
imaginary mass 67 Jupiter’s atmospheric pressure light, moving 189
impact 66 283 light, the unstoppable 27
impact parameter 162 Jupiter’s mass 282 light, weighing of 65
impact parameters 246 Jupiter’s surface gravity 283 lightlike 42, 70
in all directions 237 Jurassic 212 lightlike geodesics 190
incandescence 227 lightning 19
 338 subject index

lightning, colour of 287 neutron–electron 281 definition 272

limit concept 254 neutron–proton 281 metre bars 259
limit size of physical system proton–electron 281 metric 71, 80
119 mass, centre of 67 metric connection 189
limits mass, equality of inertial and micro 274
to precision see precision, gravitational 144 microscopic motion 267
278 mass, gravitational 132 microwave background
Linux 18 mass, imaginary 67 temperature 284
liquid 181 mass, inertial 132 mile 275
litre 274 mass, spherical 178 milk 18, 197
Lorentz boosts 82 mass, total, in general Milky Way 194
L Lorentz symmetry
see Lorentz invariance
relativity 187
mass–energy equivalence 64
Milky Way’s age 283
Milky Way’s mass 283
Lorentz transformations of mass-defect, nuclear 65 Milky Way’s size 283

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
lightning space and time 39 material systems 95 milli 274
Loschmidt’s number 280 matter domination 211 minimum force in nature 123
lottery 43 matter, metastable 243 Minkowski space-time 41
loudspeaker 21 mattress 132, 153, 154, 156, 157 Mintaka 229
lumen 274 maximal ageing 81 minute 274, 284
lunar retroreflector 168 maximum force Miocene 213
Lunokhod 167, 286 see force limit, maximum modified Newtonian
lux 274 maximum force, hidden 117 dynamics 320
Lyman-α 287 maximum force, late molar volume 280
discovery 117 mole
M maximum speed definition 272
M31 194 see speed of light c molecule 142
M51 198 measurement momenergy 74
Mach’s principle 183, 236 comparison 275 momentum 74
Magellanic clouds 195 definition 275 momentum, relativistic 61
magnetar 203 irreversibility 275 MOND 320
magnetic flux quantum 281 meaning 275 Moon 267
magneton, nuclear 281 precision see precision angular size 282
magnitude of a 4-vector 70 process 275 density 282
mammals 213 measurement error distance 282
mammals, appearance of 212 definition 277 mass 282
man, wise old 79 measurements 272 radius 282
manifold 40 measuring space and time Moon formation 212
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

manifolds 260 Moon’s mean distance 282

see also space, space-time mechanics, not possible in Moon’s surface gravity 282
marker, bad for learning 8 relativity 76 Moon, laser distance
Mars 166, 276 mechanics, relativistic 59 measurement 295
maser 128 Mega 274 Moons’s atmospheric pressure
mass 60 megaparsec 207 282
mass as concentrated energy Megrez 229 motion 125
63 memory 43 relativistic 95
mass change, maximum 101 mesozoic 212 motion and measurement
mass defect, measurement of Messier object listing 194 units 273
chemical 65 meteorites 201 motion does not exist 41
mass ratio metre motion is fundamental 273
 subject index 339

Motion Mountain 265 Permian 212

aims of book series 7 permittivity, vacuum 279
supporting the project 9 O person 64
motion, hyperbolic 87 objects, real 67 perturbation calculations 259
motion, superluminal 53 objects, virtual 67 Peta 274
motor 21 observer, comoving 73 phase 4-velocity 79
motorbike 87, 93 observers, accelerated 83 phase of wave 78
mountain 67 odometer 71 photon
multiverse 236 ohm 274 number density 284
muon Olbers 220 photon decay 238
g-factor 281 Olbers’ paradox 219 photon sphere 246
M muon magnetic moment 281
muon mass 279
Oligocene 213
one-way speed of light 92
physics
map of 8
muons 299, 300 orbits 189 pico 274

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Motion music record 53 order, partial 42 Pioneer anomaly 192
Mössbauer effect 128 Ordovician 212 Planck area, corrected 123
Orion 66, 228 Planck constant
N oscilloscope 54 value of 279
naked singularities 253 Oxford 265 Planck force 100
nano 274 oxygen, appearance in Planck force c4 /4G
NASA 276 atmosphere 313 see force limit, maximum
natural unit 280 Planck length 260
necklace of pearls 50 P see also Planck scales,
negative 171 π 77 Planck energy
Neogene 213 π = 3.141592... 321 Planck speed c see speed of
neutrino 34, 211, 287, 298 paint, black 220 light c
neutron Paleocene 213 Planck value
Compton wavelength 281 Paleogene 213 see natural units, see
magnetic moment 281 paleozoic 212 Planck units
neutron mass 280 Pangaea 212 Planck’s natural length unit
New Galactic Catalogue 198 parabola 165, 244 260
newton 274 parallax 17 plane gravity wave 156
NGC 205 198 parity invariance 95 planet formation 211
night sky, darkness of 221 parsec 207, 282 plants appear 212
no 258 particle, ultrarelativistic 75 plasma 199
no-interaction theorem 302 pascal 274 Pleiades star cluster 212
Nordtvedt effect 120, 319 past light cone 42 Pleistocene 213
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

normality 321 pearl necklace paradox 50 Pliocene 213

North Pole 130, 225 Penning traps 65 point particles, size of 254
nova 201, 209 Penrose inequality 119 polders 36
nuclear magneton 281 Penrose–Hawking singularity pool, game of 61
nuclei 211 theorems 252, 317 positive 171
nucleosynthesis 211 periastron 165 positron charge
null 42 periastron shift 165 value of 279
null geodesics 190 perigee 282 positron charge, specific 281
null vector 78 perihelion 165, 283 post-Newtonian formalism
null vectors 70, 72 perihelion shift 267 142
number, imaginary 67 permanent free fall 243 potential energy in relativity
nutshell, general relativity in a permeability, vacuum 279 75
 340 subject index

power 75 proton mass 280 relativistic velocity 71

power paradox 116 proton–muon mass ratio 281 relativity
power, maximum 97 prototype kilogram 267 general see general
power, maximum in nature PSR 1913+16 152, 158 relativity
256 PSR J0737-3039 152 special see special relativity
power, maximum, conditions pulsar 197 relativity, alternatives to 269
108 frame dragging and 149 relativity, breakdown of
power–force 4-vector 76 pulsars 158, 267 special 96
Poynting vector 158 relativity, limits of 270
PPN, parametrized Q relativity, special 14, 19
post-Newtonian Q0957+561 230 rest 124, 125
P formalism 142
precession 167
quadrupole 157
quadrupole radiation 157
rest energy 65
rest mass 75
precision 33, 277 quantum of action 79 retroreflectors

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
power limits to 278 quantum of circulation 281 see also cat’s eye
prefixes 274, 320 quantum physics 260, 271 reversible 250
prefixes, SI 274 quarks 211 Ricci scalar 177, 179, 180
present 42 quasar 55 Ricci tensor 106, 179
primates, appearance of 213 quasar jets 68 Riemann curvature tensor 190
Principe, island of 306 quasars 209, 240, 251 Riemann tensor 190
principle Quaternary 213 Riemann-Christoffel
of least action 95 curvature tensor 190
of maximum force see R Riemannian manifold 190
force limit, maximum radar 30 Riemannian space-times 41
principle of equivalence 125 radian 273 Rigel 229
principle of general radiation 14, 95 rigid bodies do not exist in
covariance 183 rainbow 289 nature 94
principle of general relativity random errors 277 rigid coordinate system 85
183 rapidity 35 rigidity 48
principle of least action 79 ray days 14 ring interferometers 276
principle of maximal ageing rays 14 Robertson–Walker solutions
81 reaction, chemical 64 214
principle of minimal coupling recombination 211 rocket 249
183 rectilinear 86 rod distance 85
principle of relativity 38 red-shift 28, 238 rope attempt 110
principle, correspondence 183 red-shift mechanisms 239 rosetta 245
principle, equivalence 183 red-shift number 30 rosetta paths 246
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Procyon 229 red-shift tests 267 rotation of the Earth 275

proper distance 71 reflection 188 Rydberg constant 281
proper force 76 refraction 188
proper length 47 refraction, vacuum index of S
proper time 41, 70, 71 162 sailing and the speed of light
proper velocity 44 Regulus 229 17
proterozoic 212 Reissner–Nordström black Saiph 229
proton holes 247 satellite 188
Compton wavelength 281 relativistic contraction 39 satellite experiments 268
gyromagnetic ratio 281 relativistic correction 39 Saturn 98
magnetic moment 281 relativistic kinematics 37 scale factor 81, 214, 221
specific charge 281 relativistic mass 75 scale symmetry 186
 subject index 341

Schwarzschild black hole space of life 258 stardust 213

see black hole space, absolute 36 Stark effect 28
Schwarzschild black holes 245 space-time see also curvature, stars 211
Schwarzschild metric 133, 244 40, 139 stars, double 20
Schwarzschild radius 133, 241 space-time distance 70 start of physics 213
see also black hole space-time interval 40, 70 state of universe 235
Schwarzschild solution 178 spacelike 42, 71 static limit 248
science fiction 64 spacelike convention 71 Stefan–Boltzmann constant
scissors 53 special conformal 281
search engines 296 transformations 81 stellar black hole 251
searchlight effect 49 special relativity 14, 19, 23, 95 steradian 273
S second 274, 284
definition 272
in four sentences 95
special relativity, breakdown
stone 81
stones 67, 136, 137, 243
semimajor axis 166 of 96 stopping time, minimum 110

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Schwarzschild shadow 14 speed straightness 14
shadows 55 of light c strain 133
shadows and radiation 14 physics and 8 stretch factor 39
shadows not parallel 291 perfect 95 strong coupling constant 279
shadows, speed of 19, 32, 53 speed of dark 53 strong field effects 266
shape 48 speed of darkness 54 submarine, relativistic 49
shape of universe 232 speed of gravitational waves Sun 194, 211, 229
shear stress, theoretical 108 155, 161 Sun’s age 283
ships and the speed of light 17 speed of light Sun’s lower photospheric
SI prefixes 276 invariance of 82 pressure 283
SI units 272, 279 speed of light, conjectures Sun’s luminosity 283
definition 272 with variable 95 Sun’s mass 283
SI units, supplementary 273 speed of light, finite 220 Sun’s motion around galaxy
siemens 274 speed of light, invariance of 25 197
sievert 274 speed of light, one-way 92, Sun’s surface gravity 283
Silurian 212 290 superluminal motion 53
singularities 119, 185, 314 speed of light, two-way 92 superluminal speed 233
singularities, dressed 253 speed of shadows 54 supermassive black holes 251
singularities, naked 253 speed of sound, values 93 supernova 201
Sirius 229, 306 speed, perfect 14, 265 supernovae 209
size limit 119 spin and classical wave support
size of electron 94 properties 157 this free pdf 9
sky, darkness of night 221 spin of a wave 155 surface gravity of black hole
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Sloan Digital Sky Survey 312 spin of gravity waves 155 242
slow motion 69 spin–orbit coupling 167 surface, physical 116
snooker 61 spin–spin coupling 167 suspenders 292
snowboarder, relativistic 48 sponsor synchronization of clocks 25,
Sobral, island of 306 this free pdf 9 32
solid bodies 94 squark 322 Système International
solid body, acceleration and stalactite 98 d’Unités (SI) 272
length limit 93 stalagmites 17
sound waves 28 standard apple 276, 277 T
south-pointing carriage 191 standard deviation 277 tachyon 55, 67
space and time, differences star classes 228, 229 tachyon mass 67
between 258 star speed measurement 30 tachyons 67
 342 subject index

Tarantula nebula 195 topology of the universe 232 universe, believed 206
tax collection 272 torque 152 universe, energy of 234
tea 64 torsion 187, 270 universe, full 206
teaching of general relativity torsion balances 307 universe, observable 206
269 train 126 universe, slow motion in 69
teleportation 59 train, relativistic circular 78 universe, state of 235
telescopes 196 trains 126 UNIX 18
television tube 33 transformation, conformal 50 Unruh effect see
temperature 57 transformation, scaling 81 Fulling–Davies–Unruh
temperature, relativistic 58 translation 81 effect
temperature, relativistic travel into the past 43 Unruh radiation see
T transformation 57
tensor of curvature 173
tree 67, 90, 127, 276
trees appear 212
Fulling–Davies–Unruh
effect
tensor trace 176 Triassic 212 unstoppable motion, i.e., light

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Tarantula tensors 179 tropical year 282 27
Tera 274 tunnel 55 UTC 142
terrestrial dynamical time 142 twin paradox 44
Tertiary 213 two-way speed of light 92 V
tesla 274 vacuum see also space, 82, 261
Thames 17 U vacuum cleaner 20
theorem, no-interaction 302 udeko 274 vacuum curvature 180
theory of relativity 23 Udekta 274 vacuum permeability 279
thermodynamic equilibrium ultrarelativistic particle 75 vacuum permittivity 279
243 ultraviolet rays 14 vacuum wave resistance 280
thermodynamics umbrellas 17 vacuum, hand in 306
second principle of 43 uncertainty vanishing 171
Thirring effect 148 relative 277 variance 277
Thirring–Lense effect 148, 167, total 277 Čerenkov radiation 24
246 understand 259 Vavilov–Čerenkov radiation
Thomas precession 57, 167 undisturbed motion 14 167
tidal effects 130, 175, 191, 245 unit velocity composition formula
tides 169, 306 astronomical 282 35
time 43 units 272 velocity measurements 82
proper 79 non-SI 275 velocity of light, one-way 92,
time delay 267 provincial 275, 276 290
time dilation 26, 27, 39, 46 units, SI velocity of light, two-way 92
muon experiment 45 definition 272 velocity, angular 78
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

time dilation factor 26 universal gravity 152 velocity, faster than light 76
time independence of G 267 universal gravity, deviation velocity, perfect 265
time machine 45 from 223 velocity, proper 44, 289
Time magazine 131 universal time coordinate 142, velocity, relative 76
time travel to the future 45 275 velocity, relative - undefined
time, absolute 36 universe 238 177
timelike 42, 71 air-filled 223 vendeko 274
timelike convention 71 transparency of 223–224 Vendekta 274
timelike curves, closed 261 water-filled 223 Venus 166
TNT energy content 282 universe – a black hole? 256 virtual particles 293
tonne, or ton 274 universe’s shape 232 Volkswagen 172
toothbrush 253 universe’s topology 232 volt 274
 subject index 343

vortex, black 248 weight 144 X

Voyager satellites 17 weko 274 X-rays 14
Wekta 274 xenno 274
W white dwarfs 202, 229 Xenta 274
walking, Olympic 53 Wien’s displacement constant
water 281 Y
cannot fill universe 223 wind 17 yocto 274
watt 274 window frame 53 Yotta 274
wave 4-vector 78 wise old man 79 youth
waves in relativity 78 WMAP 121 effect 45, 46
weak energy condition 141 women 33, 247 youth, gaining 138
V weak equivalence principle
307
World Geodetic System 283
world-line 41, 42
Yucatan impact 213

weak mixing angle 279 wristwatch time 41, 133 Z

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
vortex weber 274 written texts 213 zepto 274
weighing light 65 wrong 23 Zetta 274

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

MOTION MOUNTAIN
The Adventure of Physics – Vol. II
Relativity

Why do change and motion exist?

How does a rainbow form?
What is the most fantastic voyage possible?
Is ‘empty space’ really empty?
How can one levitate things?
At what distance between two points does it become
impossible to find room for a third one in between?
What does ‘quantum’ mean?
Which problems in physics are unsolved?

Answering these and other questions on motion,

this series gives an entertaining and mind-twisting
introduction into modern physics – one that is
surprising and challenging on every page.
Starting from everyday life, the adventure provides
an overview of the recent results in mechanics,
thermodynamics, electrodynamics, relativity,
quantum theory, quantum gravity and unification.
It is written for undergraduate students and for
anybody interested in physics.

Christoph Schiller, PhD Université Libre de Bruxelles,

is a physicist with more than 25 years of experience
in the presentation of physical topics.

Pdf file available free of charge at

www.motionmountain.net
Christoph Schiller

MOTION MOUNTAIN
the adventure of physics – vol.iii
light, charges and brains

www.motionmountain.net
 Christoph Schiller

Motion Mountain

The Adventure of Physics

Volume III

Light, Charges and Brains

Edition 25.04, available as free pdf at

www.motionmountain.net
Editio vicesima quinta.

Proprietas scriptoris © Chrestophori Schiller

primo anno Olympiadis trigesimae.

Omnia proprietatis iura reservantur et vindicantur.

Imitatio prohibita sine auctoris permissione.
Non licet pecuniam expetere pro aliqua, quae
partem horum verborum continet; liber
pro omnibus semper gratuitus erat et manet.

Twenty-fifth edition.

Copyright © 2012 by Christoph Schiller,

the first year of the 30th Olympiad.

This pdf file is licensed under the Creative Commons

Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Germany
Licence, whose full text can be found on the website
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/de,
with the additional restriction that reproduction, distribution and use,
in whole or in part, in any product or service, be it
commercial or not, is not allowed without the written consent of
the copyright owner. The pdf file was and remains free for everybody
to read, store and print for personal use, and to distribute
electronically, but only in unmodified form and at no charge.
To Britta, Esther and Justus Aaron

τῷ ἐμοὶ δαὶμονι
Die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären.
PR EFAC E

“ ”
Primum movere, deinde docere.*
Antiquity

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Curiosity
about how people, animals, things, images and space move leads to many adventures.
This volume presents the adventures one encounters when exploring everything electric.
The story ranges from the weighing of electric current to the use of magnetic fields to
heal bone fractures and up to the understanding of the human brain.
In the structure of physics, shown in Figure 1, motion due to electricity is the most
fascinating aspect of the starting point at the bottom. Indeed, almost everything around
us is due to electric processes. The present introduction to electricity, magnetism, light
and the brain is the third of a six-volume overview of physics that arose from a threefold
aim that I have pursued since 1990: to present motion in a way that is simple, up to date
and captivating.
In order to be simple, the text focuses on concepts, while keeping mathematics to the
necessary minimum. Understanding the concepts of physics is given precedence over
using formulae in calculations. The whole text is within the reach of an undergraduate.
In order to be up to date, the text is enriched by the many gems – both theoretical and
empirical – that are scattered throughout the scientific literature.
In order to be captivating, the text tries to startle the reader as much as possible. Read-
ing a book on general physics should be like going to a magic show. We watch, we are
astonished, we do not believe our eyes, we think, and finally we understand the trick.
When we look at nature, we often have the same experience. Indeed, every page presents
at least one surprise or provocation for the reader to think about. Numerous interesting
challenges are proposed.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The motto of the text, die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären, a famous statement by
Hartmut von Hentig on pedagogy, translates as: ‘To fortify people, to clarify things.’ Clar-
ifying things requires courage, as changing habits of thought produces fear, often hidden
by anger. But by overcoming our fears we grow in strength. And we experience intense
and beautiful emotions. All great adventures in life allow this, and exploring motion is
one of them. Enjoy it!

Munich, 22 March 2012.

* ‘First move, then teach.’ In modern languages, the mentioned type of moving (the heart) is called motivat-
ing; both terms go back to the same Latin root.
8 preface

PHYSICS: Final, unified description of Why does motion

Describing motion motion occur? What are
with the least action principle. Adventures: understanding space, time and
motion, intense joy with quantum particles?
thinking, catching a
glimpse of bliss,
calculating
masses and
couplings.

Quantum
General relativity theory with gravity Quantum field theory
Adventures: the Adventures: bouncing Adventures: building
night sky, measu- neutrons, under- accelerators, under-
ring curved space, standing tree standing quarks, stars,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
exploring black growth. bombs and the basis of
holes and the life, matter, radiation.
universe, space How do small
and time. things move?
What are things?
How do
Classical gravity everyday, Special relativity Quantum theory
Adventures: fast and large Adventures: light, Adventures: death,
climbing, skiing, things move? magnetism, length reproduction, biology,
space travel, contraction, time chemistry, evolution,
the wonders of dilation and enjoying colours and
astronomy and E0 = mc2. art, all high-tech
geology. business, medicine.
G c h, e, k

Galilean physics, heat and electricity

Adventures: sport, music, sailing, cooking,
describing beauty and understanding its origin,
using electricity and computers,
understanding the brain and people.

F I G U R E 1 A complete map of physics: the connections are defined by the speed of light c, the
gravitational constant G, the Planck constant h, the Boltzmann constant k and the elementary charge e. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Advice for learners

In my experience as a teacher, there was one learning method that never failed to trans-
form unsuccessful pupils into successful ones: if you read a book for study, summarize
every section you read, in your own words, aloud. If you are unable to do so, read the sec-
tion again. Repeat this until you can clearly summarize what you read in your own words,
aloud. You can do this alone in a room, or with friends, or while walking. If you do this
with everything you read, you will reduce your learning and reading time significantly.
The most inefficient learning method is to use a marker or to underline text: it wastes
time, provides false comfort and makes the text unreadable. Nobody marking text is an
efficient learner. Instead, by repeating every section in your own words, aloud, you will
 preface 9

save time and money, enjoy learning from good texts much more and hate bad texts
much less. Masters of the method can use it even while listening to a lecture, in a low
voice, thus avoiding to ever take notes.

Using this book

Text in green, as found in many marginal notes, marks a link that can be clicked in a pdf
reader. Such green links are either bibliographic references, footnotes, cross references
to other pages, challenge solutions, or pointers to websites.
Solutions and hints for challenges are given in the appendix. Challenges are classified
as research level (r), difficult (d), standard student level (s) and easy (e). Challenges of
type r, d or s for which no solution has yet been included in the book are marked (ny).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Feedback and support

This text is and will remain free to download from the internet. I would be delighted to
receive an email from you at [email protected], especially on the following issues:
Challenge 1 s — What was unclear and should be improved?
— What story, topic, riddle, picture or movie did you miss?
— What should be corrected?
In order to simplify annotations, the pdf file allows adding yellow sticker notes in Adobe
Reader.
Alternatively, you can provide feedback on www.motionmountain.net/wiki. Help on
the specific points listed on the www.motionmountain.net/help.html web page would be
particularly welcome. All feedback will be used to improve the next edition. On behalf
of all readers, thank you in advance for your input. For a particularly useful contribution
you will be mentioned – if you want – in the acknowledgements, receive a reward, or
both.
Your donation to the charitable, tax-exempt non-profit organisation that produces,
translates and publishes this book series is welcome! For details, see the web page www.
motionmountain.net/donation.html. If you want, your name will be included in the
sponsor list. Thank you in advance for your help, on behalf of all readers across the world.
A paper edition of this book, printed on demand and delivered by mail to any ad-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

dress, can be ordered at www.lulu.com/spotlight/motionmountain. But above all, enjoy

the reading!
 Contents
14 1 L iquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed
Fields: amber, lodestone and mobile phones 15 • How can one make lightning? 16
• Electric charge 20 • Electric field strength 23 • Pumping charge 26 • What
is electricity? 27 • Can we detect the inertia of electricity? 27 • Feeling electric
fields 30 • Magnets and other magnetic materials 31 • Can humans feel magnetic
fields? 36 • Magnetism and electricity 37 • How can one make a motor? 37
• Which currents flow inside magnets? 39 • Magnetic fields 40 • Electromag-
netism 43 • The invariants and the Lagrangian of electromagnetic fields 44 • The
uses of electromagnetic effects 46 • How motors prove relativity to be right 46 •
Curiosities and fun challenges about things electric and magnetic 48 • Hopping
electrons and the biggest disappointment of the television industry 65 • How do

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
nerves work? 66 • A summary: three basic facts about electricity 67
69 2 The description of electromagnetic field evolu tion
The first field equation of electrodynamics 69 • The second field equation of elec-
trodynamics 70 • The validity and the essence of Maxwell’s field equations 72 •
Colliding charged particles 72 • The gauge field – the electromagnetic vector poten-
tial 73 • Energy and momenta of the electromagnetic field 78 • The Lagrangian
of electromagnetism 78 • The energy–momentum tensor and its symmetries of
motion 80 • What is a mirror? 81 • What is the difference between electric and
magnetic fields? 82 • Could electrodynamics be different? 83 • The brain: the
toughest challenge for electrodynamics 84 • Challenges and fun curiosities about
electrodynamics 86 • Summary 86
88 3 What is light?
What are electromagnetic waves? 89 • Light as an electromagnetic wave 92 •
Polarization and electromagnetic waves 94 • Light and other electromagnetic
waves 98 • The slowness of progress in physics 101 • Another look at electromag-
netic radiation 102 • How does the world look when riding on a light beam? 104
• Can one touch light? 105 • War, light and lies 109 • What is colour? 109 • Fun
with rainbows 112 • What is the speed of light? – Again 114 • Signals and predic-
tions 117 • Aether good-bye 117 • Challenges and fun curiosities about light 118
• Summary on light 120
122 4 Images and the eye – optics
Ways to produce images 122
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

124 Light sources

Why can we see each other? Black bodies and the temperature of light 124 • Limits
to the concentration of light 127 • Measuring light intensity 128 • Other light and
radiation sources 130 • Radiation as weapon 130
132 Images – transporting light
Making images with mirrors 132 • Does light always travel in a straight line? –
Refraction 132 • Bending light with tubes – fibre optics 139 • 200 years too late
– negative refraction indices 139 • Metamaterials 140 • Light around corners –
diffraction 141 • Beating the diffraction limit 143 • Other ways to bend light 144 •
How does one make holograms and other three-dimensional images? 146 • Images
through scanning 149 • Tomography 152
153 The eye and the brain: observing images
contents 11

Do we see what exists? 153 • How can one make pictures of the inside of the
eye? 156 • How to prove you’re holy 158 • Challenges and fun curiosities about
images and the eye 158 • Summary on optics 167
168 5 Electromagnetic effects
Is lightning a discharge? – Electricity in the atmosphere 168 • Does ball lightning
exist? 172 • Does gravity make charges radiate? 173 • Planetary magnetic fields 174
• Levitation 175 • Matter, levitation and electromagnetic effects 179 • Challenges
and fun curiosities about electromagnetic effects 187
192 6 Summary and limits of classical electrodynamics
Strong fields and gravitation 193 • Charges are discrete 193 • How fast do charges
move? 194 • Challenges and curiosities about charge discreteness 195
198 7 The story of the brain
Evolution 199 • Children, laws and physics 199 • Polymer electronics 202 •

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Why a brain? 202 • What is information? 207 • What is memory? 208 • The
capacity of the brain 211 • Curiosities about the brain 213
217 8 Thought and l anguage
What is language? 217 • What is a concept? 221 • What are sets? What are
relations? 223 • Infinity 225 • Functions and structures 227 • Numbers 228 •
Why use mathematics? 233 • Is mathematics a language? 233 • Curiosities and
fun challenges about mathematics 234
238 9 Concepts, lies and pat terns of nature
Are physical concepts discovered or created? 239 • How do we find physical
patterns and rules? 241 • What is a lie? 242 • What is a good lie? 243 • Is
this statement true? – A bit about nonsense 247 • Curiosities and fun challenges
about lies and nonsense 248
252 Observations
Have enough observations been recorded? 252 • Are all physical observables
known? 253 • Do observations take time? 255 • Is induction a problem in
physics? 256
257 The quest for precision and its implications
What are interactions? – No emergence 258 • What is existence? 259 • Do
things exist? 260 • Does the void exist? 261 • Is nature infinite? 262 • Is
the universe a set? 263 • Does the universe exist? 265 • What is creation? 265
• Is nature designed? 267 • What is a description? 268 • Reason, purpose
and explanation 269 • Unification and demarcation 270 • Pigs, apes and the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

anthropic principle 271 • Does one need cause and effect in explanations? 273
• Is consciousness required? 274 • Curiosity 274 • Courage 276
279 10 Classical physics in a nu tshell
What can move? 279 • Properties of classical motion 280 • The future of planet
Earth 281 • The essence of classical physics – the infinitely small and the lack of
surprises 283 • Why have we not yet reached the top of the mountain? 284
286 a Units, measurements and constants
SI units 286 • The meaning of measurement 289 • Precision and accuracy of mea-
surements 289 • Limits to precision 291 • Physical constants 291 • Useful num-
bers 298
299 Challenge hints and solu tions
 Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
contents

Acknowledgements 340 • Film credits 341 • Image credits 341

Biblio graphy
Credits
316
340
12
Light, Charges and Brains

In our quest to learn how things move,

the experience of hiking and other motion
leads us to discover that images are produced by charges,
that charges move, accumulate and interact,
and that there is a smallest charge in nature.
We understand what love has to do with magnets and amber,
why the brain is such an interesting device,
and what distinguishes a good from a bad lie.
 Chapter 1

L IQUI D E L ECTRIC IT Y, INVISI BLE

FIELDS AND MA XIMUM SPEED

W
hat is light? The study of relativity left us completely in the dark, even though
e had embarked in it precisely to find an answer to that question. True,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
e have learned how the motion of light compares with that of objects. We
also learned that light is a moving entity that cannot be stopped, that light provides the
speed limit for any type of energy, and that light is our measurement standard for speed.
However, we haven’t learned anything about the nature of light itself.
A second question is open: what is contact? We still do not know. The only thing we
learned in our exploration of relativity was that truly mechanical interactions do not exist.
Vol. II, page 76 Indeed, all interactions are due to exchange of particles. But which ones?
The answer to the questions about the nature of light and contact emerges only from
the study of those types of motion that are not related to gravitation. It turns out that the
key to the answers is the understanding of the ways magicians levitate objects.
Vol. I, page 199 If we make a list of motors found in this world, we notice that gravitation hardly de-
scribes any type of motor. Neither the motion of sea waves, fire and earthquakes, nor
that of a gentle breeze is caused by gravity. The same applies to the motion of muscles.*
Challenge 2 e Have you ever listened to your own heart beat with a stethoscope? (Or use, as many med-
ical doctors do now, an MP3 player to record your heart beat.) Without having done so,
you cannot claim to have experienced the mystery of motion. Your heart has about 3000
million beats in your lifetime. Then it stops.
It was one of the most astonishing discoveries of science that heart beats, sea waves
and most other cases of everyday motion, as well as the nature of light itself, are con-
nected to observations made thousands of years ago using two strange stones. These
stones show that all those examples of motion that are called mechanical in everyday
life are, without exception, of electrical origin.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In particular, the solidity, the softness and the impenetrability of matter are due to
Ref. 1 internal electricity; also the emission of light is an electrical process. As these aspects
are part of everyday life, we will leave aside all complications due to gravity and curved
space-time. The most productive way to study electrical motion is to start, as in the case
of gravity, with those types of motion which are generated without any contact between
the bodies involved.

* The photograph of a circular rainbow on page 13 was taken in 2006 from the Telstra Tower in Canberra
(© Oat Vaiyaboon).
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 15

F I G U R E 2 Objects surrounded by fields: amber (c. 1 cm), lodestone (c. 1 cm) and mobile phone
(c. 10 cm) (© Philips).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
water
pipe

comb
rubbed
on wool

F I G U R E 3 How to amaze kids, especially in dry weather (photo © Robert Fritzius).

Fields: amber, lodestone and mobile phones

The story of electricity starts with trees. Trees have a special relation to electricity. When
a tree is cut, a viscous resin appears. With time it solidifies and, after millions of years, it
forms amber. When amber is rubbed with a cat fur, it acquires the ability to attract small
objects, such as saw dust or pieces of paper. This was already known to Thales of Miletus,
one of the original seven sages, in the sixth century bce. The same observation can be
made with many other polymer combinations, for example with combs and hair, with Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

soles of the shoe on carpets, and with a television tube and dust. Children are always sur-
prised by the effect, shown in Figure 3, that a comb rubbed on wool has on running tap
water. The same effect can be produced with an air-filled rubber balloon rubbed on wool.
Another interesting effect can be observed when a rubbed comb is put near a burning
Challenge 3 ny candle. (Can you imagine what happens?)
Another part of the story of electricity involves lodestone, an iron mineral found in cer-
tain caves around the world, e.g. in a region (still) called Magnesia in the Greek province
of Thessalia, and in some regions in central Asia. When two stones of this mineral are put
near each other, they attract or repel each other, depending on their relative orientation.
In addition, lodestone attracts objects made of cobalt, nickel or iron.
Today we also find various small objects in nature with more sophisticated properties,
such as the one shown on the right of Figure 2. Some of these objects allow you to talk
 16 1 electricit y and fields

with far away friends, others unlock car doors, still others enable you to switch on a
television.
All these observations show that in nature there are situations where bodies exert in-
fluence on others at a distance. The space surrounding a body exerting such an influence
is said to contain a field. A (physical) field is thus an entity that manifests itself by accel-
erating other bodies in a given region of space. A field is space that changes momenta. If
you prefer, a field is space that exerts forces. Or again, a field is space with some extra
structure. Despite this extra structure, fields, like space, are invisible.
The field surrounding the mineral found in Magnesia is called a magnetic field and
Ref. 2 the stones are called magnets. The field around amber – called ἤλεκτρον in Greek, from a
root meaning ‘brilliant, shining’ – is called an electric field. The name is due to a proposal
by the famous English physician and part-time physicist William Gilbert (1544–1603).
Objects surrounded by a permanent electric field are called electrets. Electrets are much

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
less common than magnets; among others, they are used in certain loudspeaker systems.
The field around a mobile phone is called a radio field or, as we will see later, an elec-
tromagnetic field. In contrast to the previous fields, it oscillates over time. We will find
out later that many other objects are surrounded by such fields, though these are often
very weak. Objects that emit oscillating fields, such as mobile phones, are called radio
transmitters or electromagnetic emitters.
Experiments show that fields have no mass. Without any material support, fields influ-
ence bodies over a distance. Fields are invisible. To make them imaginable, we just need
to colour them. Some ways to colour electric fields are shown in Figure 4. These figures
are the best way to imagine electric fields: they reproduce faithfully how the inventor of
the field concept, Michael Faraday, imagined them.
For a long time, electric, magnetic and radio fields were rarely noticed in everyday
life. Indeed, in the past, most countries had laws that did not allow producing such fields
or building mobile phones or garage openers. Still today, laws severely restrict the prop-
erties of machines that use and produce such fields. The laws require that for any device
that moves, produces sound, or creates moving pictures, fields need to remain inside the
device. For this reason a magician moving an object on a table via a hidden magnet still
surprises and entertains his audience. To feel the fascination of fields more strongly, a
deeper look into a few experimental results is worthwhile.

How can one make lightning? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Everybody has seen a lightning flash or has observed the effect it can have on striking a
tree. Obviously lightning is a moving phenomenon. Photographs such as that of Figure 5
show that the tip of a lightning flash advance with an average speed of around 600 km/s.
But what is moving? To find out, we have to find a way of making lightning for ourselves.
In 1995, the car company General Motors accidentally rediscovered an old and simple
method of achieving this.
Opel engineers had inadvertently built a spark generating mechanism into their cars;
when filling the petrol tank, sparks were generated, which sometimes lead to the explo-
Ref. 3 sion of the fuel at the petrol station. They had to recall 2 million vehicles of its Opel
brand.
What had the engineers done wrong? They had unwittingly copied the conditions for
liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 17

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 4 Visualizing what is invisible: a simple way to visualize electric fields as space with a structure,
using computer graphics and using seeds in oil. Top: the field around a point or spherical charge;
second row: two or three charges of different signs; third row: two charges of the same sign; bottom: a
charge in an external field E, and the field between two plates. The charge will feel a force F directed
along the so-called electric field lines; the density of the lines gives the intensity of the field and thus the
strength of the force (© MIT, Eli Sidman, MIT).
 18 1 electricit y and fields

F I G U R E 5 Lightning: a picture taken

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
with a moving camera, showing its
multiple strokes (© Steven Horsburgh).

a electrical device which anyone can build at home and which was originally invented
by William Thomson:* the Kelvin generator. Repeating his experiment today, we would
take two water taps, four empty bean or coffee cans, of which two have been opened at
Ref. 4 both sides, some nylon rope and some metal wire. Putting this all together as shown in
Figure 6, and letting the water flow, we find a strange effect: large sparks periodically
jump between the two copper wires at the point where they are nearest to each other,
giving out loud bangs. Can you guess what condition for the flow has to be realized for
Challenge 4 s this to work? And what did Opel do to repair the cars they recalled?
If we stop the water flowing just before the next spark is due, we find that both buckets
are able to attract sawdust and pieces of paper. The generator thus does the same that
rubbing amber does, just with more bang for the buck(et). Both buckets are surrounded
by electric fields. The fields increase with time, until the spark jumps. Just after the spark,
the buckets are (almost) without electric field. Obviously, the flow of water somehow
collects something on each bucket; today we call this electric charge. Charge can flow
in metals and, when the fields are high enough, through air. We also find that the two
buckets are always surrounded by two different types of electric fields: bodies that are
attracted by one bucket are repelled by the other.
All experiments confirm that there are two types of charges. The US politician and
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

part-time physicist Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) called the electricity created on a

* William Thomson (1824–1907), important Irish Unionist physicist and professor at Glasgow University.
He worked on the determination of the age of the Earth, showing that it was much older than 6000 years,
as several sects believed, but also (falsely) maintained that the Earth was much younger than geologists and
Darwin (correctly) hat deduced. He strongly influenced the development of the theory of magnetism and
electricity, the description of the aether, and thermodynamics. He propagated the use of the term ‘energy’
as it is used today, instead of the confusing older terms. He was one of the last scientists to propagate me-
chanical analogies for the explanation of phenomena, and thus strongly opposed Maxwell’s description of
electromagnetism. It was mainly for this reason that he did not receive a Nobel Prize. He was also one of
the minds behind the laying of the first transatlantic telegraphic cable. Victorian and religious to his bones,
when he was knighted, he chose the name of a small brook near his home as his new name; thus he became
Baron Kelvin of Largs. Therefore the unit of temperature obtained its name from a small Scottish river.
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 19

water pipe
nylon ropes or tank nylon ropes

metal cylinders

bang!
metal wires

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
metal cans

F I G U R E 6 A simple Kelvin generator; the one on the right lights a fluorescent light bulb using dripping
water (photograph © Harald Chmela).

on the roof
pendulum
with metal
ball

in the hall

F I G U R E 7 Franklin’s personal lightning rod, a copy of Gordon’s

electric chime, one of the many experiments that shows visually
in the ground
that charge can flow.

glass rod rubbed with a dry cloth positive, and that on a piece of amber negative. (Previ-
ously, the two types of charges were called ‘vitreous’ and ‘resinous’.) Bodies with charges
of the same sign repel each other, bodies with opposite charges attract each other; charges
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

of opposite sign flowing together cancel each other out.*

All flows take time. How fast is electricity? A simple way to measure the speed of
electricity is to produce a small spark at one end of a long wire, and to observe how long
it takes until the spark appears at the other end of the wire. In practice, the two sparks
are almost simultaneous; the speed one measures is much higher than everything else
we observe in our environment. How can we measure the time nevertheless? And why
Challenge 5 s did different researchers get very different speed values in this experiment?

* In fact, there are many other ways to produces sparks or even arcs, i.e., sustained sparks; there is even
a complete subculture of people who do this as a hobby at home. Those who have a larger budget do it
professionally, in particle accelerators. See the www.kronjaeger.com/hv website.
 20 1 electricit y and fields

F I G U R E 8 A simple set-up to
confirm electric charge
conservation: if rubbed fur is
moved from the first pot to the
second, the charge taken away
from the first pot is transferred to
the second, as shown by the two
electrometers (© Wolfgang

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Rueckner).

Sparks, electric arcs and lightning are similar. Of course, one has to check whether nat-
ural lightning is actually electrical in origin. In 1752, experiments performed in France,
following a suggestion by Benjamin Franklin, published in London in 1751, showed that
one can indeed draw electricity from a thunderstorm via a long rod.* Thunderstorm
clouds are surrounded by electric fields. These French experiments made Franklin fam-
ous worldwide; they were also the start of the use of lightning rods all over the world.
Ref. 5 Later, Franklin had a lightning rod built through his own house, but of a somewhat un-
usual type, as shown in Figure 7. This device, invented by Andrew Gordon, is called an
electric chime. Can you guess what it did in his hall during bad weather, all parts being
Challenge 6 s made of metal, and why? (Do not repeat this experiment; any device attached to a light-
ning rod can kill.)
In summary, electric fields start at bodies, provided they are charged. Charging can
be achieved by rubbing and other processes. There are two types of charge, negative and
positive. Charge can flow: it is then called an electric current. The worst conductors of
current are polymers; they are called insulators or dielectrics. A charge put on an insulator
remains at the place where it was put. In contrast, metals are good conductors; a charge
placed on a conductor spreads all over its surface. The best conductors are silver and
copper. This is the reason that at present, after two hundred years of use of electricity, the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

highest concentration of copper in the world is below the surface of Manhattan.

Electric charge
If all experiments with charge can be explained by calling the two charges positive and
negative, the implication is that some bodies have more, and some less charge than an
uncharged, neutral body. Electricity thus only flows when two differently charged bodies
are brought into contact. Now, if charge can flow and accumulate, we must be able to
somehow measure its amount. Obviously, the amount of electric charge on a body, usu-

* The details of how lightning is generated and how it propagates are still a topic of research. An introduction
is given on page 168.
liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 21

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 9 Various electrometers: a self-made electrometer based on a jam pot, an ancient (opened)
high precision Dolezalek electrometer, the Ampullae of Lorenzini of a shark, and a modern digital
electrometer (© Harald Chmela, Klaus Jost at www.jostimages.com, Advantest).

ally abbreviated q, must be defined via the influence the body, say a piece of sawdust, feels
when subjected to a field. Charge is thus defined by comparing it to a standard reference
charge. For a charged body of mass m accelerated in a field, its charge q is determined by
the relation
q dp/dt
= , (1)
qref dpref /dt
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

i.e., by comparing its momentum change with the momentum change of the reference
frame. Charge thus determines the motion of bodies in electric fields in the same way
that mass determines the motion of bodies in gravitational fields. Charge is therefore the
second intrinsic property of bodies that we discover in our walk.
In practice, electric charge is measured with electrometers. A few such devices are
shown in Figure 9. The main experimental properties of electric charge that are discov-
ered when experimenting with electrometers are listed in Table 1. In all details, charge
behaves like a flowing substance; charge behaves like a fluid.
Nowadays the unit of charge, the coulomb, is defined through a standard flow through
metal wires, as explained in Appendix A. This is possible because all experiments show
 22 1 electricit y and fields

TA B L E 1 Properties of classical electric charge: a scalar density.

Electric Physical M at h e m at i c a l Definition

charges propert y name
Can be distinguished distinguishability element of set Page 223
Can be ordered sequence order Vol. IV, page 196
Can be compared measurability metricity Vol. V, page 280
Can change gradually continuity completeness Vol. V, page 288
Can be added accumulability additivity Vol. I, page 77
Can be separated separability positive or negative
Do not change conservation invariance q = const

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
TA B L E 2 Values of electrical charge observed in nature.

O b s e r va t i o n Charge

Smallest measured non-vanishing charge 1.6 ⋅ 10−19 C

Charge per bit in computer memory down to 10−15 C
Charge in small capacitor 10−7 C
Charge flow in average lightning stroke 1 C to 100 C
Charge stored in a fully charged car battery 0.2 MC
Charge of planet Earth −1 MC
Charge separated by modern power station in one year 3 ⋅ 1011 C
Total charge of positive (or negative) sign observed in universe 1060±1 C
Total charge observed in universe 0C

that charge is conserved, that it flows, and thus that it can accumulate. In other words, if
the electric charge of a physical system changes, the reason always is that charge is flowing
into or out of the system. This can be checked easily with two metal pots connected
Ref. 6 to two electrometers, as shown in Figure 8. Charge thus behaves like a fluid substance.
Therefore we are forced to use for its description a scalar quantity q, which can take Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

positive, vanishing, or negative values.

Describing charge as a scalar quantity reproduces the behaviour electrical charge in
all everyday situations. However, as in the case of all previously encountered classical
concepts, some of the experimental results for electrical charge in everyday situations
will turn out to be only approximate. More precise experiments will require a revision of
the idea of continuous change of charge value. However, the main observation remains:
no counter-example to charge conservation has as yet been observed.
Objects without electric charge are called neutral. A charged object that is brought
near a neutral body polarizes it. Electrical polarization is the separation of the positive
and negative charges in a body. For this reason, all neutral objects, such as hair, are at-
tracted to a charged body, such as a rubbed comb. Generally, both insulators and con-
ductors can be polarized; polarization occurs for single molecule up to whole stars.
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 23

Electric field strength

Charges produce attraction and repulsion on other charges. Equivalently, charges change
momenta; charges exert forces on other charges. This happens over large distances. Ex-
periments that explore energy and momentum conservation show that the best descrip-
tion of these interactions is as told so far: a charge produces a field, the field then acts on
a second charge.
Experiments show that the electric field forms lines in space. As a consequence, the
electric field behaves like a small arrow fixed at each point x in space. Electric fields are
described by a direction and a magnitude. The local direction of the field is given by the
local direction of the field line – the tangent of the field line. The local magnitude of the
field is given by the local density of the field lines. The direction and the magnitude do
not depend on the observer. In short, the electric field E(x) is a vector field. Experiments

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
show that it is best defined by the relation

dp(x)
qE(x) = (2)
dt
taken at every point in space x. The definition of the electric field is thus based on how
it moves charges. In general, the electric field is a vector

E(x) = (Ex , E y , Ez ) (3)

Challenge 7 e and is measured in multiples of the unit N/C or V/m.

The definition of the electric field assumes that the test charge q is so small that it does
not disturb the field E. We sweep this issue under the carpet for the time being. This is
a drastic move: we ignore quantum theory and all quantum effects in this way; we come
Page 194 back to it below.
The definition of the electric field also assumes that space-time is flat, and it ignores
all issues due to space-time curvature.
By the way, does the definition of electric field just given assume a charge speed that
Challenge 8 s is much less than that of light?
To describe the motion due to electricity completely, we need a relation explaining
how charges produce electric fields. This relation was established with precision (but not
for the first time) during the French Revolution by Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, on
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

his private estate.* He found that around any small-sized or any spherical charge Q at
rest there is an electric field. At a position r, the electric field E is given by

1 Q r 1
E(r) = where = 9.0 GV m/C . (4)
4πε0 r 2 r 4πε0

Later we will extend the relation for a charge in motion. The bizarre proportionality con-
stant, built around the so-called permittivity of free space ε0 , is due to the historical way

* Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (b. 1736 Angoulême, d. 1806 Paris), French engineer and physicist. His
careful experiments on electric charges provided a firm basis for the study of electricity.
 24 1 electricit y and fields

TA B L E 3 Some observed electric fields.

O b s e r va t i o n Electric field

Field 1 m away from an electron in vacuum Challenge 9 s

Field values sensed by sharks down to 0.1 μV/m
Cosmic noise 10 μV/m
Field of a 100 W FM radio transmitter at 100 km distance 0.5 mV/m
Field inside conductors, such as copper wire 0.1 V/m
Field just beneath a high power line 0.1 to 1 V/m
Field of a GSM antenna at 90 m 0.5 V/m
Field inside a typical home 1 to 10 V/m
Field of a 100 W bulb at 1 m distance 50 V/m

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ground field in Earth’s atmosphere 100 to 300 V/m
Field inside thunder clouds up to over 100 kV/m
Maximum electric field in air before sparks appear 1 to 3 MV/m
Electric fields in biological membranes 10 MV/m
Electric fields inside capacitors up to 1 GV/m
Electric fields in petawatt laser pulses 10 TV/m
Electric fields in U91+ ions, at nucleus 1 EV/m
Maximum practical electric field in vacuum, limited by electron 1.3 EV/m
pair production
Maximum possible electric field in nature (corrected Planck elec- 1.9 ⋅ 1062 V/m
tric field c 4 /4Ge)

the unit of charge was defined first.* The essential point of the formula is the decrease of
the field with the square of the distance; can you imagine the origin of this dependence?
Challenge 10 s A simple way to picture Coulomb’s formula is illustrated in Figure 10.
The two previous equations allow us to write the interaction between two charged
bodies as
dp1 1 q1 q2 r dp
= 2
=− 2 , (5)
dt 4πε0 r r dt

where dp is the momentum change, and r is the vector connecting the two centres
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

of mass. This famous expression for electrostatic attraction and repulsion, also due to
Coulomb, is valid only for charged bodies that are either of small size or spherical, and
most of all, only for bodies that are at rest with respect to each other and to the observer.
This description defines the field of electrostatics.
Electric fields accelerate charges. As a result, in everyday life, electric fields have two
main properties: they contain energy and they can polarize bodies. The energy content

* Other definitions of this and other proportionality constants to be encountered later are possible,
leading to unit systems different from the SI system used here. The SI system is presented in detail in
Appendix A. Among the older competitors, the Gaussian unit system often used in theoretical calculations,
the Heaviside–Lorentz unit system, the electrostatic unit system and the electromagnetic unit system are
Ref. 7 the most important ones.
liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 25

3R

2R

R
4A 9A
A

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 10 A visualization of Coulomb’s formula and Gauss’ law.

TA B L E 4 Properties of the classical electric field: a (polar) vector at every point in space.

Electric Physical M at h e m at i c a l Definition

fields can propert y name

Attract bodies accelerate coupling equation (4)

charges
Repel bodies accelerate coupling equation (4)
charges
Be distinguished distinguishability element of set Page 223
Change gradually continuum real vector space Vol. I, page 77, Vol. V,
page 288
Point somewhere direction vector space, Vol. I, page 77
dimensionality
Be compared measurability metricity Vol. V, page 280
Be added additivity vector space Vol. I, page 77
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Have defined angles direction Euclidean vector space Vol. I, page 77

Exceed any limit infinity unboundedness Page 224
Change direction under polarity parity-odd vector
reflection
Keep direction under time time-even vector
reversal

is due to the electrostatic interaction between charges. The strength of this interaction is
considerable. For example, it is the basis for the force of our muscles. Muscular force is
a macroscopic effect of Coulomb’s relation (5). Another example is the material strength
of steel or diamond. As we will discover, all atoms are held together by electrostatic at-
 26 1 electricit y and fields

traction. To convince yourself of the strength of electrostatic attraction, answer the fol-
lowing: What is the force between two boxes with a gram of protons each, located on the
Challenge 11 s two poles of the Earth? Try to guess the result before you calculate the astonishing value.
Coulomb’s relation for the field around a charge can be rephrased in a way that helps
to generalize it to non-spherical bodies. Take a closed surface, i.e., a surface than encloses
a certain volume. Then the integral of the electric field over this surface, the electric flux,
is the enclosed charge Q divided by ε0 :

Q
󵐔 E dA = . (6)
closed surface ε0

Challenge 12 s This mathematical relation, called Gauss’s ‘law’,* from the result of Coulomb. (Note that
in the simplified form given here, it is valid only for static situations.) Since inside con-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ductors the electrical field is zero, Gauss’s ‘law’ implies, for example, that if a charge q is
surrounded by an uncharged metal sphere, the outer surface of the metal sphere shows
Challenge 13 e the same charge q.
Do uncharged bodies attract one other? In first approximation they do not. But when
Vol. V, page 81 the question is investigated more precisely, we will find that they can attract one other.
Challenge 14 s Can you find the conditions for this to happen? In fact, the conditions are quite impor-
tant, as our own bodies, which are made of neutral molecules, are held together in this
way.

Pumping charge
Owing to the high strength of electromagnetic interactions, separating charges is not an
easy task. This is the reason that electrical effects have only been commonly used for
about a hundred years. Humanity had to wait for practical and efficient devices to be
invented for separating charges and putting them into motion: to use electric effects, we
need charge pumps. Some types are shown in Figure 11.
Of course, every charge pump requires energy. Batteries in mobile phones and the ion
channels in living cells use chemical energy to do the trick. Thermoelectric elements, as
used in some watches, use the temperature difference between the wrist and the air to
separate charges; solar cells use light, and dynamos or Kelvin generators use kinetic en-
Challenge 15 s ergy. Can you explain whether batteries or any other of these devices sources of charges? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* Carl-Friedrich Gauß (b. 1777 Braunschweig, d. 1855 Göttingen), German mathematician. He was together
with the Leonhard Euler, the most important mathematician of all times. A famous enfant prodige, when
he was 19 years old, he constructed the regular heptadecagon with compass and ruler (see www.mathworld.
wolfram.com/Heptadecagon.html). He was so proud of this result that he put a drawing of the figure on his
tomb. Gauss produced many results in number theory, topology, statistics, algebra, complex numbers and
differential geometry which are part of modern mathematics and bear his name. Among his many accom-
plishments, he produced a theory of curvature and developed non-Euclidean geometry. He also worked on
electromagnetism and astronomy.
Gauss was a difficult character, worked always for himself, and did not found a school. He published
little, as his motto was: pauca sed matura. As a consequence, when another mathematician published a new
result, he regularly produced a notebook in which he had noted the very same result already years before.
His notebooks are now available online at www.sub.uni-goettingen.de.
liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 27

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 11 Various types of charge pumps: a bicycle dynamo, an alternator in a power station, a
Wimshurst machine, an electric eel, a voltaic cell, a leaf and a solar cell (© Wikimedia, Q-Cells).

What is electricity?
The answer to this question is: Electricity is the name for a field of inquiry, but not the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

name for any specific observation or effect. Electricity is not a specific term; sometimes it
is used to refer to electric current and its effects, sometimes to observations about of elec-
tric charge, sometimes to the effects of electric fields. In fact the vocabulary issue hides
a deeper question that remains unanswered at the end of the twentieth century: what
is the nature of electric charge? In order to solve this issue, we start with the following
question.

Can we detect the inertia of electricity?

If electric charge really is something flowing through metals, we should be able to ob-
serve the effects shown in Figure 12: electric charge should fall, should have inertia and
should be separable from matter. Indeed, each of these effects has been observed. For
 28 1 electricit y and fields

If electric charge in metals moves

like a fluid, it should:

fall under gravity

be subject to centrifugation

a resist acceleration

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
lead to recoil just after
a switching on a currrent

spray when pumped

strongly
q

prevent free charges

from falling through
a thin hollow tube F I G U R E 12 Consequences of the flow
of electricity.

example, when a long metal rod is kept vertically, we can measure an electrical potential
difference, a voltage, between the top and the bottom. In other words, we can measure
the weight of electricity in this way. Similarly, we can measure the potential difference
Ref. 8 between the ends of an accelerated rod. Alternatively, we can measure the potential dif-
ference between the centre and the rim of a rotating metal disc. The last experiment was,
in fact, the way in which the ratio q/m for currents in metals was first measured with Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

precision. The result is

q/m ≈ −1.8 ⋅ 1011 C/kg (7)

for all metals, with small variations in the second digit. The minus sign is due to the
definition of charge. In short, electrical charge in metals has mass, though a very small
one.
If electric charge has mass, whenever we switch on an electrical current, we get a recoil.
Ref. 9 This simple effect can easily be measured and confirms the mass to charge ratio just given.
Also, the emission of current into air or into vacuum is observed; in fact, every television
tube uses this principle to generate the beam producing the picture. It works best for
Ref. 10 metal objects with sharp, pointed tips. The rays created this way – we could say that they
are ‘free’ electricity – are called cathode rays. Within a few per cent, they show the same
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 29

mass to charge ratio as expression (7). This correspondence thus shows that charges move
almost as freely in metals as in air; this is the reason that metals are such good conductors.
If electric charge falls inside vertical metal rods, we can make the astonishing deduc-
tion that cathode rays – as we will see later, they consist of free electrons* – should not
be able to fall through a vertical metal tube. This is due to exact compensation of the
acceleration by the electrical field generated by the displaced electricity in the tube and
Challenge 16 e the acceleration of gravity. Thus electrons should not be able to fall through a long thin
cylinder. This would not be the case if electricity in metals did not behave like a fluid. The
Ref. 11 experiment has indeed been performed, and a reduction of the acceleration of free fall
for electrons of 90 % has been observed. Can you imagine why the ideal value of 100 %
Challenge 17 s is not achieved?
If electric current behaves like a liquid, we should be able to measure its speed. The
first to do so, in 1834, was Charles Wheatstone. In a famous experiment, he used a wire

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
of a quarter of a mile length, to produce three sparks: one at the start, one at the middle,
and one at the end. He then mounted a rapidly moving mirror on a mechanical watch.
By noting how much the three spark images were shifted against each other on a screen,
he determined the speed to be 0.45 Gm/s, though with a large error. Latter, more precise
measurements showed that the speed is always below 0.3 Gm/s, and that it depends on
the metal and the type of insulation of the wire. The high value of the speed convinced
many people to use electricity for transmitting messages. In fact, these experiments mea-
sure the signal speed of electromagnetic waves carried by metal wires. For the actual
Page 194 speed of electric charges, see below. A modern version of the signal speed experiment,
for computer fans, uses the ‘ping’ command from the UNIX operating system. The ‘ping’
Ref. 12 command measures the time for a computer signal to reach another computer and re-
turn back. If the cable length between two computers is known, the signal speed can be
Challenge 18 e deduced. Just try.
As a note, the speed of electricity is too slow for many people. Modern computers that
are connected to stock exchanges are located as near as possible to the stock exchange,
because the time advantage the short communication distance provides is essential for
Ref. 13 getting a good financial performance in certain trading markets.
Experiments with charges ejected from metals show that they have a charge to mass
ratio of
q/m = −1.758 820 150(44) ⋅ 1011 C/kg (8)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The particles with this property are called electrons. Other types of charges, with different
charge-to-mass ratio, also exist in nature. Examples are the ions found in batteries and
leaves, the muons found in cosmic rays, and the mesons produced in particle accelerators.
We will meet these particles later in our adventure.
In summary, experiments show that all charges have mass. And like all massive bodies,
charges move slower than light. Charge is a property of matter; images and light have no

* The name ‘electron’ is due to George Stoney. Electrons are the smallest and lightest charges moving in
metals; they are, usually – but not always – the ‘atoms’ of electricity – for example in metals. Their charge
is small, 0.16 aC, so that flows of charge typical of everyday life consist of large numbers of electrons; as a
result, electrical charge behaves like a continuous fluid. The particle itself was discovered and presented in
1897 by the Prussian physicist Johann Emil Wiechert (1861–1928) and, independently, three months later,
by the British physicist Joseph John Thomson (1856–1940).
30 1 electricit y and fields

TA B L E 5 Some observed electric current values.

O b s e r va t i o n Current

Smallest current ever measured (for one 3 aA

moving electron)
Human nerve signals 20 μA
Lethal current for humans as low as 20 mA, typically
100 mA
Current drawn by a train engine 600 A
Current in a lightning bolt 10 to 100 kA
Highest current produced by humans 20 MA
Current inside the Earth, at the origin of its c. 100 MA
magnetic field

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Maximum possible current in nature (cor- 1.5 YA
rected Planck electric current e 󵀆 c 5 /4ħG )

TA B L E 6 Some sensors for electrical current.

Measurement Sensor Range

Conventional 20 euro multimeter voltage drop over resistor up to c. 3 A

Feeling threshold human nerve felt from 0.1 mA upwards
Reversible muscle contraction human nerve up to 10 mA over long
without danger times, or up to 200 mA for
at most 10 ms
Rhythm change human heart heart stops when about
20 mA flow through it
Strong muscle contraction with human nerve up to 100 mA over long
some damage times, or up to 1 A for at
most 200 ms
Smoke emission, strong burns human flesh from 1 A
Fire trees from 1 kA
Electric eel Electrophorus electricus bult-in up to 1 A and 500 V
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

charge.

Feeling electric fields

Why is electricity dangerous to humans? The main reason is that the human body is con-
trolled by ‘electric wires’ itself. As a result, electricity applied to human bodies from the
outside interferes with the internal signals. This has been known since 1789. In that year
the Italian medical doctor Luigi Galvani (1737–1798) discovered that electrical current
makes the muscles of a dead animal contract. The famous first experiment used frog
legs: when electricity was applied to them, they twitched violently. Subsequent investiga-
tions confirmed that all nerves make use of electrical signals. Using electricity, one can
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 31

make fresh corpses move, for example. Nerves are the ‘control wires’ of animals. We will
Page 66 explore nerves in more detail below.
Being electrically controlled, all mammals can sense strong electric fields. Humans
can sense fields as low as 10 kV/m, when hair stands on end. In contrast, several animals
can sense much weaker electric (and magnetic) fields. Sharks, for example, can detect
fields down to 1 μV/m using special sensors, the Ampullae of Lorenzini, which are found
around their mouth. Sharks use them to detect the field created by prey moving in wa-
ter; this allows them to catch their prey even in the dark. Several freshwater fish, the
salamander and the platypus, the famous duck-billed mammal, can also sense electric
Ref. 14 fields. Like sharks, they use this ability to detect prey in water which is too muddy to
see through. Certain fish, the so-called weakly-electric fish, even generate a weak field
in order to achieve better prey detection.* In fact, several electric fish use time-varying
electric dipole fields to communicate! They tell each other their species, their sex, their

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 14 identity, and communicate about courtship, aggression, appeasement and dangers. The
frequencies they use are in the range between a few and 200 Hz, and the fields are dipole
fields created between the anterior and posterior sections of their bodies.
No land animal has special sensors for electric fields, because any electric field in air
is strongly damped when it encounters a water-filled animal body.** Indeed, the usual
atmosphere has a low, vertical electric field of around 100 V/m; inside the human body
this field is damped to the μV/m range, which is much less than an animal’s internal
electric fields. In other words, humans do not have sensors for low electric fields because
they are land animals. (Do humans have the ability to sense electric fields in water? No-
Challenge 19 r body seems to know.) However, there a few exceptions. You might know that some older
people can sense approaching thunderstorms in their joints. This is due the coincidence
Page 99 between the electromagnetic field frequency emitted by thunderclouds – around 100 kHz
– and the resonant frequency of nerve cell membranes.
The water content of the human body also means that the electric fields in air that are
found in nature are rarely dangerous to humans. But whenever humans consciously sense
electric fields, such as when high voltage makes their hair stand on end, the situation is
potentially dangerous.
The high impedance of air also means that, in the case of time-varying electromag-
netic fields, humans are much more prone to be affected by the magnetic component
than by the electric component.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Magnets and other magnetic materials

The study of magnetism progressed across the world independently of the study of elec-
tricity. Towards the end of the twelfth century, the compass came into use in Europe. At
that time, there were heated debates on whether it pointed to the north or the south.
Then, in 1269, the French military engineer Pierre de Maricourt (1219–1292) published
Ref. 16 his study of magnetic materials. He found that every magnet has two points of highest
magnetization, and he called them poles. He found that even after a magnet is cut, the

* It took until the year 2000 for technology to make use of the same effect. Nowadays, airbag sensors in cars
often use electric fields to sense whether the person sitting in the seat is a child or an adult, thus changing
the way that the airbag behaves in an accident.
** Though a few land animas that swim a lot under water have electric field sensors.
32 1 electricit y and fields

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 13 Various types of magnets and effective magnets: the needle in a compass, some horseshoe
magnets, two galaxies, the magnetic organ of a dove, the Earth, a lifting magnet, and the Sun.
(© Wikimedia, Shambhavi, Anthony Ayiomamitis, NASA).
liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 33

TA B L E 7 Searches for magnetic monopoles, i.e., for magnetic charges, in over 140 experiments.

Search Magnetic charge

Smallest magnetic charge suggested by quantum theory д = he = eZ

2α
0
= 4.1 pWb
Search in minerals, from mountains to the deep ocean none, only dipoles Ref. 15
Search in meteorites and moon minerals none, only dipoles Ref. 15
Search in cosmic rays none, only dipoles Ref. 15
Search with particle accelerators none, only dipoles Ref. 15

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 14 Visualizing magnetic fields – with computer graphics and with iron filings.

resulting pieces always retain two poles: when the stone is left free to rotate, one points to
the north and the other to the south. All magnets are dipoles. The two poles are called the
north pole and the south pole. Like poles repel, and unlike poles attract. As a consequence,
the magnetic north pole of the Earth is the one near the south pole, and vice versa.
Magnets are surrounded by magnetic fields; in other terms, they are surrounded by
magnetic field lines. Magnetic fields, like electric fields, can be visualized with field lines.
Figure 14 shows some ways to do this. We directly note the main difference between Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

magnetic and electric field lines: magnetic field lines have no beginning and no ends,
they are closed. The direction of the field lines gives the direction of the magentic field,
and the density of the lines gives the magnitude of the field.
Many systems in nature are magnets, as shown in Figure 13. The existence of two
magnetic poles is valid for all magnets in nature: molecules, atoms and elementary par-
ticles are either dipoles or non-magnetic. There are no magnetic monopoles. Despite the
promise of eternal fame, no magnetic monopole has ever been found, as summarized in
Table 7.
Magnets have a second important property, shown in Figure 15: magnets transform
non-magnetic materials into magnetic ones. There is thus a magnetic polarization, similar
to the electric polarization. The amount of polarization depends on the material; some
values are given in Table 9. Certain materials, the so-called diamagnetic materials, are
34 1 electricit y and fields

TA B L E 8 Some observed magnetic fields.

O b s e r va t i o n Magnetic field

Lowest measured magnetic field (e.g., fields of the Schumann 1 fT

resonances)
Magnetic field produced by brain currents 0.1 pT to 3 pT
Magnetic field produced by single muscle action 1 pT
Intergalactic magnetic fields 1 pT to 10 pT
Magnetic field in the human chest, due to heart currents 100 pT
Magnetic field of our galaxy 0.5 nT
Magnetic field due to solar wind 0.2 to 80 nT
Magnetic field directly below high voltage power line 0.1 to 1 μT
Magnetic field of Earth 20 to 70 μT

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Magnetic field inside home with electricity 0.1 to 100 μT
Magnetic field near mobile phone 100 μT
Magnetic field that influences visual image quality in the dark 100 μT
Magnetic field near iron magnet 100 mT
Solar spots 1T
Magnetic fields near high technology permanent magnet max 1.3 T
Magnetic fields that produces sense of coldness in humans 5 T or more
Magnetic fields in particle accelerator 10 T
Maximum static magnetic field produced with superconducting coils 22 T
Highest static magnetic fields produced in laboratory, using hybrid 45 T
magnets
Highest pulsed magnetic fields produced without coil destruction 76 T
Pulsed magnetic fields produced, lasting about 1 μs, using imploding 1000 T
coils
Field of white dwarf 104 T
Fields in petawatt laser pulses 30 kT
Field of neutron star from 106 T to 1011 T
Quantum critical magnetic field 4.4 GT
Highest field ever measured, on magnetar and soft gamma repeater 0.8 to 1 ⋅ 1011 T
SGR-1806-20
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Estimated magnetic field near atomic nucleus 1 TT

Maximum possible magnetic field in nature (corrected Planck 6.3 ⋅ 1053 T
magnetic field c 3 /4Ge)

repelled by magnets, though usually by weak forces. Others, the so-called paramagnetic
materials, are attracted to magnets. Some important materials, the ferromagnetic mate-
rials, such as steel, retain the induced magnetic polarization: they become permanently
magnetized. This happens when the atoms in the material get aligned by an external
magnet. Ferromagnetic materials are used to produce permanent magnets – thus artifi-
cial lodestone.
liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 35

magnet magnet F I G U R E 15 The two basic

types of magnetic material
behaviour (tested in an
diamagnetic paramagnetic inhomogeneous field):
material material diamagnetism and
paramagnetism.

TA B L E 9 The magnetic properties of materials.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
M at e r i a l R e l at i v e m a g -
netic permeabil-
i t y μr

Diamagnetic materials μr < 1, repelled by magnets

Type I superconductors 0
Highly oriented pyrolitic graphite 0.999 55
Bismuth 0.999 83
Graphite 0.999 84
Gold 0.999 966
Copper 0.999 9936
Water 0.999 9912
Usual animals and plants like water
Paramagnetic materials μr > 1, attracted by magnets
Air, oxygen 1.000 0019
Biomagnetic particles in living 1.000 006
organisms
Aluminium 1.000 022
Platinum 1.000 26
Ferromagnetic materials μr ≫ 1, able to form magnets
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

SmCo c. 1.04
NdFeB c. 1.15
Cobalt 80 to 200
Nickel 100
Iron 300 to 10 000
Permalloy c. 8 000
Ferrites up to 15 000
μ-metal up to 140 000
Amorphous metals up to 500 000
 36 1 electricit y and fields

TA B L E 10 The dielectric properties of materials.

M at e r i a l R e l at i v e e l e c t r i c
p e r m i t t i v i t y εr

Dielectric materials
Vacuum 1
Air 1.0006
Teflon 2.1
Graphite 10 to 15
Silicon dioxide 3.9
Silicon 11.7
Methanol 30
Water 80.1

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Titanium dioxide 86-173
Paraelectric materials
Strontium titanate (a perovskite) 310
Barium strontium titanate (a 500
perovskite)
Ferroelectric materials εr ≫ 1, able to form electrets
Lithium niobate (below 1430 K) ...
Barium titanate 1 250 to 10 000
Ferroelectric polymers up to 100 000
Calcium copper titanate over 250 000

Note: the values of the electric permittivity depend on the frequency of the applied field and
on the temperature. The values given here are only for static electric fields at room temperature.
Page 63 Values for higher frequencies or other temperatures show strong variations.

Can humans feel magnetic fields?

“
Any fool can ask more questions than seven

”
sages can answer.
Antiquity
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

It is known that honey bees, sharks, pigeons, the sandhill crane salmon, trout, sea tur-
Ref. 17 tles, dolphins and certain bacteria can feel magnetic fields. One speaks of the ability for
magnetoreception. All these life forms use this ability for navigation. The most common
detection method is the use of small magnetic particles inside a cell; the cell then senses
how these small built-in magnets move in a magnetic field. The magnets are tiny, typi-
cally around 50 nm in size. These small magnets are used to navigate along the magnetic
field of the Earth. For higher animals, the variations of the magnetic field of the Earth,
20 to 70 μT, produce a landscape that is similar to the visible landscape for humans. They
can remember it and use it for navigation.
In fact, migrating birds like the sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) seem to have two
ways to sense nagnetic fields. The small mangetite crystals in the skin above the beak
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 37

F I G U R E 16 The magnetotactic bacterium

Magnetobacterium bavaricum with its magnetosomes
(© Marianne Hanzlik).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
provide a magnetic map that us used for local navigation. In addition, migrating birds
have an inlination compass that tell them the angle between the magnetic field lines and
the vertical. This system is based on magnetically sensitive protein molecules, so-called
cryptochromes. The mechanism is located in the eye and is based on blue light. This sec-
Ref. 18 ond magnetic sense is used by birds to decide the general direction in which to fly.
Can humans feel magnetic fields? Magnetic material seems to be present in the human
brain, but whether humans can feel magnetic fields is still an open issue. Maybe you can
Challenge 20 r devise a way to check this?

Magnetism and electricity

Are magnetism and electricity related? In the early 19th century, François Arago* discov-
ered that they were. He explored a ship that had survived a bad thunderstorm. At that
time, ships where made of wood. The ship had been struck by lightning; as a result, the
ship needed a new compass. Thus lightning has the ability to demagnetize compasses.
Arago knew that lightning is an electrical phenomenon. He concluded that magnetism
and electricity must be related. More precisely, magnetism must be related to the motion
of electricity.
If magnetism is related to motion of electricity, it must be possible to use magnetism
and electricity to move matter.

How can one make a motor?

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

“
Communism is the power of the local councils

”
plus electricification of the whole country.
Lenin.**

* François Arago (1786–1853) French physicist.

** Lenin (b. 1870 Simbirsk, d. 1924 Gorki), founder of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, in 1920 stated
this as the centre of his development plan for the country. In Russian, the local councils of that time were
called soviets.
38 1 electricit y and fields

Oersted's motor Modern motor

current-
carrying
metal
wire N S battery
compass
wire needle
N S or coil
magnet current-carrying
metal wire or coil

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 17 An old and a modern version of electric motor, and a galvonometer with limited rotation
range used for steering laser beams. Sizes are approximately 20 cm, 50 cm and 15 cm (© Wikimedia,
Honda, Wikimedia).

The reason for Lenin’s famous statement were two discoveries. One was made in 1820 by
Hans Christian Oersted* and the other in 1831 by Michael Faraday.** The consequences
of these experiments changed the world completely in less than one century.
On the 21st of July of 1821, Hans Christian Oersted published a leaflet, in Latin, which
took Europe by storm. Oersted had found (during a lecture demonstration to his stu-
dents) that when a current is sent through a wire, a nearby magnet is put into motion. In
other words, he found that the flow of electricity can move bodies.
Due to Oersted’s leaflet, everybody in Europe with a bit of dexterity started to exper-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

iment with electricity. Further experiments show that two wires in which charges flow
attract or repel each other, depending on whether the currents are parallel or antiparal-
lel. These and other experiments show that wires in which electricity flows behave like
* Hans Christian Oersted (1777–1851) Danish physicist.
** Michael Faraday (b. 1791 Newington Butts, d. 1867 London), English physicist, was born to a simple
family, without schooling, and of deep and naive religious ideas. As a boy he became assistant to the most
famous chemist of his time, Humphry Davy (1778–1829). He had no mathematical training, but late in
his life he became member of the Royal Society. A modest man, he refused all other honours in his life.
He worked on chemical topics, the atomic structure of matter and, most of all, he developed the idea of
(magnetic) fields and field lines. He used fields to describe all his numerous experimental discoveries about
electromagnetism, such as the Faraday effect. Fields were later described mathematically by Maxwell, who
at that time was the only person in Britain to take over Faraday’s field concept.
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 39

magnets.* In other words, Oersted had found the definite proof that electricity could be
turned into magnetism.
Shortly afterwards, Ampère** found that coils increase these effects dramatically. Coils
behave like small magnets. In particular, coils, like magnets, always have two poles, usu-
ally called the north and the south pole. Opposite poles attract, like poles repel each other.
As is well known, the Earth is itself a large magnet, with its magnetic north pole near the
geographic south pole, and vice versa. However, the magnetic field of the Earth is not due
to a solid permanent magnet inside it. The Earth’s solid core is too hot to be a permanent
magnet; instead, the magnetic field is due to circulating currents in the outer, liquid core.
(The power to keep the geodynamo running is estimated to be between 200 and 500 GW
and is due to the heat in the centre of the Earth.)
All the relations between electricity and magnetism can be used to make electric mo-
tors. First, electric current is used to generate a magnetic field; then the field is used to

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
move a magnet attached to the motor axis. The details on how to do this effectively de-
pend on the size of the motor one is building, and form a science on its own: electric
engineering. Figure 17 shows some examples of electric motors.

Which currents flow inside magnets?

Magnetic monopoles do not exist. Therefore, all magnetic fields in nature are due to mov-
ing electric charges. But that is strange: If all magnetic fields are due to the motion of
charges, this must be also the case inside lodestone, or inside a usual permanent magnet.
Can this be shown?
In 1915, two men in the Netherlands found a simple way to prove that in any perma-
nent magnet, charges are moving. They suspended a metal rod from the ceiling by a thin
thread and then put a coil around the rod, as shown in Figure 18. They predicted that
the tiny currents inside the rod would become aligned by the magnetic field of the coil.
As a result, they expected that a current passing through the coil would make the rod
turn around its axis. Indeed, when they sent a strong current through the coil, the rod
Ref. 19 rotated. (As a result of the current, the rod was magnetized.) Today, this effect is called
the Einstein–de Haas effect after the two men who imagined, measured and explained
it.*** The effect thus shows that even in the case of a permanent magnet, the magnetic
field is due to the internal motion of charges. The magnitude of the effect also shows that
* In fact, if one imagines tiny currents moving in circles inside magnets, one gets a unique description for
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

all magnetic fields observed in nature.

** André-Marie Ampère (b. 1775 Lyon, d. 1836 Marseille), French physicist and mathematician. Autodidact,
he read the famous Encyclopédie as a child; in a life full of personal tragedies, he wandered from maths to
chemistry and physics, worked as a school teacher, and published nothing of importance until 1820. Then
the discovery of Oersted reached all over Europe: electrical current can deviate magnetic needles. Ampère
worked for years on the problem, and in 1826 published the summary of his findings, which lead Maxwell
to call him the ‘Newton of electricity’. Ampère named and developed many areas of electrodynamics. In
1832, he and his technician also built the first dynamo, or rotative current generator. Of course, the unit of
electrical current is named after him.
Ampère had two cats, which he liked dearly, a large one and a small one. When he was doing his experi-
ments in his laboratory, they wanted to come in, and when they were in, they soon wanted to go out. One
day he was fed up. He made two holes in his door, a large one and a small one.
*** Wander Johannes de Haas (1878–1960), Dutch physicist. De Haas is best known for two additional
magneto-electric effects named after him, the Shubnikov–de Haas effect (the strong increase of the magnetic
 40 1 electricit y and fields

ceiling

thin wire

metal rod

electric current

F I G U R E 18 Current makes a metal rod rotate.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the moving particles are electrons. Twelve years later it became clear that the angular mo-
mentum responsible for the effect is a mixture of orbital and spin angular momentum;
in fact, the electron spin plays a central role in the effect.
Permanent magnets are made from ferromagnetic materials. Permanent magnetiza-
tion is due to the alignment of microscopic rotational motions. Due to this connection,
an even more surprising effect can be predicted: Rotating a piece of non-magnetized fer-
romagnetic material should magnetize it, because the tiny rotating currents would then
Ref. 20 be aligned along the axis of rotation. This effect has indeed been observed; it is called
the Barnett effect after its discoverer. Like the Einstein–de Haas effect, the magnitude of
the Barnett effect can also be used to determine the gyromagnetic ratio of the electron.
Vol. IV, page 92 Thus, also the Barnett effect proves that the spins of electrons (usually) play a larger role
in magnetism than their orbital angular momentum.

Magnetic fields
All experiments show that the magnetic field has a given direction in space, and a magni-
tude common to all (resting) observers, whatever their orientation. We are thus tempted
to describe the magnetic field by a vector. However, this would be wrong, since a mag-
netic field does not behave like an arrow when placed before a mirror. Imagine that a
system produces a magnetic field directed to the right. You can take any system, a coil,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

a machine, etc. Now build or imagine a second system that is the exact mirror version
of the first: a mirror coil, a mirror machine, etc. The magnetic system produced by the
mirror system does not point to the left, as maybe you expected: it still points to the right.
Challenge 21 e (Check by yourself.) In simple words, magnetic fields do not fully behave like arrows.
In other words, it is not completely correct to describe a magnetic field by a vector
B = (Bx , B y , Bz ), as vectors behave like arrows. The magnetic field is a pseudovector;
angular momentum and torque are also examples of such quantities. The precise way is

resistance of bismuth at low temperatures and high magnetic fields) and the de Haas–van Alphen effect (the
diamagnetic susceptibility of bismuth at low temperatures is a periodic function of the magnetic field).
liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 41

TA B L E 11 Properties of the classical magnetic field: an axial vector.

Magnetic Physical M at h e m at i c a l Definition

fields can propert y name

Attract currents deflect charges coupling equation (10)

Repel currents deflect charges coupling equation (10)
Be distinguished distinguishability element of set Page 223
Change gradually continuum real vector space Vol. I, page 77, Vol. V,
page 288
Point somewhere direction vector space, Vol. I, page 77
dimensionality
Be compared measurability metricity Vol. V, page 280
Be added additivity vector space Vol. I, page 77

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Have defined angles direction Euclidean vector space Vol. I, page 77
Exceed any limit infinity unboundedness Page 224
Keep direction under reflection axiality parity-even vector,
pseudovector
Change direction under time axiality time-odd vector
reversal

to describe the magnetic field by the quantity* Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

0 −Bz B y
B = 󶀩 Bz 0 −Bx 󶀹 , (9)
−B y Bx 0

called an antisymmetric tensor.

The magnetic field is defined by the acceleration it imparts on moving charges. This
acceleration is observed to follow
e
a= 󰑣×B (10)
m
a relation which is often called Lorentz acceleration, after the important Dutch physicist
 42 1 electricit y and fields

TA B L E 12 Some sensors for static and quasistatic magnetic fields.

Measurement Sensor Range

Voltage Hall probe up to many T

Induced electromotive force doves from a few nT
(voltage)
Bone growth stimulation piezoelectricity and from 50 mT
magnetostriction of bones
Induced electromotive force human nerves from a few T
(voltage)
Sensations in thorax and human nerves strong switched gradients
shoulders
Sharks induced voltage when a few nT

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
waving left to right
Plants unclear small effects on growth

Hendrik A. Lorentz* who first stated it clearly.**

The Lorentz acceleration is the effect at the root of any electric motor. An electric
motor is a device that uses a magnetic field as efficiently as possible to accelerate charges
flowing in a wire. Through the motion of the charges, the wire is then also moved. In an
electric motor, electricity is thus transformed into magnetism and then into motion. The

* The quantity B was not called the ‘magnetic field’ until recently. We follow here the modern, logical def-
inition, which supersedes the traditional one, where B was called the ‘magnetic flux density’ or ‘magnetic
induction’ and another quantity, H, was called – incorrectly, but for over a century – the magnetic field. This
quantity H will not appear in this walk, but it is important for the description of magnetism in materials.
* Hendrik A. Lorentz, (b. 1853 Arnhem, d. 1928 Haarlem). For more details on his biography, see the volume
Vol. II, page 35 on relativity.
Vol. I, page 104 ** The expression 󰑣 × B is the vector product of the two vectors. The most practical way to calculate the
vector product 󰑣 × B component by component is given by the determinant
󵄨󵄨 e 󰑣x Bx 󵄨󵄨󵄨󵄨 󵄨󵄨 + − + 󵄨󵄨󵄨󵄨
󵄨󵄨 x 󵄨󵄨
󵄨 󵄨 󵄨 󰑣z 󵄨󵄨󵄨󵄨 .
󰑣 × B = 󵄨󵄨󵄨 e y 󰑣y B y 󵄨󵄨󵄨 or, more sloppily 󰑣 × B = 󵄨󵄨󵄨 󰑣x 󰑣y (11)
󵄨󵄨 󵄨 󵄨󵄨 󵄨
󵄨󵄨 ez
󵄨 󰑣z Bz 󵄨󵄨󵄨󵄨 󵄨󵄨󵄨 Bx By Bz 󵄨󵄨󵄨󵄨

This is easy to remember and easy to perform, both with letters and with numerical values. (Here, ex is the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

unit basis vector in the x direction.) Written out, it is equivalent to the relation

󰑣 × B = (󰑣 y Bz − B y 󰑣z , Bx 󰑣z − 󰑣x Bz , 󰑣x B y − Bx 󰑣 y ) (12)

which is harder to remember.

The Lorentz relation is also called the Laplace acceleration. It defines the magnitude and the direction
of the magnetic field B. The unit of the magnetic field is called tesla and is abbreviated T. One has 1 T =
1 N s/C m = 1 V s/m2 = 1 V s2 /A m.
The definition of the magnetic field again assumes, like that of the electric field, that the test charge q is
so small that it does not disturb the field B to be measured. Again, we ignore this issue, which means that
Page 194 we ignore all quantum effects, until later in our adventure.
The definition of the magnetic field also assumes that space-time is flat, and it ignores all issues due to
space-time curvature.
Challenge 22 s Does the definition of magnetic field given here assume a charge speed much lower than that of light?
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 43

first efficient electric motors were built already in the 1830s.

Like for the electric field, we need to know how the strength of a magnetic field is deter-
mined by a moving charge. Experiments such as Oersted’s show that the magnetic field
is due to moving charges, and that a point-like charge moving with velocity 󰑣 produces
a field B given by

μ0 󰑣 × r μ0
B(r) = q 3 where = 10−7 N/A2 . (13)
4π r 4π
This is called Ampère’s ‘law’. Again, the strange factor μ0 /4π is due to the historical way
in which the electrical units were defined. The constant μ0 is called the permeability of
the vacuum and is defined by the fraction of newtons per ampere squared given in the
formula. It is easy to see that the magnetic field has an intensity given by 󰑣E/c 2 , where E

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 23 e is the electric field measured by an observer moving with the charge. This is one of the
many hints that magnetism is a relativistic effect.
We note that equation (13) is valid only for small velocities and accelerations. Can you
Challenge 24 s find the general relation?

Electromagnetism
In 1831, Michael Faraday discovered an additional piece of the puzzle, one that even the
great Ampère had overlooked. He found that a moving magnet could cause a current
flow in an electrical circuit. Magnetism can thus be turned into electricity. This impor-
tant discovery allowed the production of electrical current flow by generators, so-called
dynamos, using water power, wind power or steam power. In fact, the first dynamo was
built in 1832 by Ampère and his technician. Dynamos jump-started the use of electricity
throughout the world. Behind every electrical wall plug there is a dynamo somewhere.
Oersted found that electric current can produce magnetic fields. Faraday found that
magnetic fields could produce electric currents and electric fields. Electric and magnetic
fields are two aspects of the same phenomenon: electromagnetism. It took another thirty
years to unravel the full description.
Additional experiments show that magnetic fields also lead to electric fields when one
changes to a moving viewpoint. You might check this on any of the examples of Figures 17
to 43. Magnetism is relativistic electricity. Electric and magnetic fields are partly trans-
formed into each other when switching from one inertial reference frame to the other.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Magnetic and electrical fields thus behave like space and time, which are also mixed up
when changing from one inertial frame to the other. The theory of special relativity thus
tells us that there must be a single concept, an electromagnetic field, describing them both.
Investigating the details, one finds that the electromagnetic field F surrounding charged
bodies has to be described by an antisymmetric 4-tensor

0 −Ex /c −E y /c −Ez /c 0 Ex /c E y /c Ez /c
Ex /c 0 −Bz By −Ex /c 0 −Bz By
F μ󰜈 =󶀫 󶀻 or Fμ󰜈 = 󶀫 󶀻 .
E y /c Bz 0 −Bx −E y /c Bz 0 −Bx
Ez /c −B y Bx 0 −Ez /c −B y Bx 0
(14)
 44 1 electricit y and fields

Obviously, the electromagnetic field F, and thus every component of these matrices, de-
pends on space and time. The matrices show that electricity and magnetism are two faces
of the same effect.* In addition, since electric fields appear only in the topmost row and
leftmost column, the expressions show that in everyday life, for small speeds, electricity
Challenge 25 s and magnetism can be separated. (Why?)
Using relativistic notation, the electromagnetic field is thus defined through the 4-
acceleration b that it produces on a charge q of mass m and 4-velocity u:

mb = qF u
or, in 3-vector notation
dE/dt = qE󰑣 and dp/dt = q(E + 󰑣 × B) . (15)

The expressions show how the power dE/dt and the three-force dp/dt depend on the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
electric and magnetic fields.** The 4-vector expression and the 3-vector expression de-
scribe the same content; the simplicity of the first one is the reason for the involved ma-
trices (14) describing the electromagnetic field F.
We stress that the extended Lorentz relation (15) is the definition of the electromagnetic
field F, since the field is defined as that ‘stuff ’ which accelerates charges. In particular, all
devices that put charges into motion, such as batteries and dynamos, as well as all devices
that are put into motion by flowing charges, such as electric motors and muscles, are
described by this relation. That is why this relation is usually studied, in the 3-vector form,
already in secondary school. The Lorentz relation describes all cases in which the motion
of objects can be seen by the naked eye or felt by our senses, such as the movement of
an electrical motor in a high speed train, in a lift and in a dental drill, the motion of the
picture generating electron beam in a television tube, or the travelling of an electrical
Ref. 21, Ref. 22 signal in a cable and in the nerves of the body.
In summary, we found that the interaction between charges can be described in two
statements: First, charges produce electric and magnetic fields; second, charges are af-
fected by electric and magnetic fields.

The invariants and the L agrangian of electromagnetic fields

The electromagnetic field tensor F is an antisymmetric 4-tensor. (Can you write down the
Challenge 26 e relation between F μ󰜈 , Fμ󰜈 and F μ 󰜈 ?) Like any antisymmetric tensor, the electromagnetic
field has two invariants, i.e., two deduced properties that are the same for every observer.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* Actually, the expression for the field contains everywhere the expression 1/󵀂 μo ε0 instead of the speed of
light c. We will explain the reason for this substitution shortly.
** In component notation, using the convention to sum over Greek indices that appear twice, the definition
of the Lorentz force is
du μ
mb μ = m = qF μ 󰜈 u󰜈 or
dτ
γc 0 Ex /c E y /c Ez /c γc
d γ󰑣x Ex /c 0 Bz −B y γ󰑣x
m 󶀫 󶀻 = q󶀫 󶀻󶀫 󶀻 . (16)
dτ γ󰑣 y E y /c −Bz 0 Bx γ󰑣 y
γ󰑣z Ez /c By −Bx 0 γ󰑣z
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 45

The first invariant is the expression

1
B 2 − E 2 /c 2 = tr F 2 (17)
2
and the second invariant is the product

4EB = −c tr F ∗ F . (18)

Can you confirm the two invariants, using the definition of trace as the sum of the diag-
Challenge 27 s onal elements?
The first invariant expression, B 2 − E 2 /c 2 = 12 tr F 2 , turns out to be (proportional
to) the Lagrangian density of the electromagnetic field. In particular, this first invariant

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
is a scalar. This first invariant implies that if E is larger, smaller or equal to cB for one
observer, it also is for all other observers. Like for all intensive quantities that evolve, the
Lagrangian is proportional to the square of the intensive quantity. The minus sign in the
expression is the same minus sign that appears also in c 2 t 2 −x 2 : it results from the mixing
of electric and magnetic fields that is due to boosts.
The Lagrangian density can be used to define the classical action of the electromag-
netic field:
ε 1 2
S = 󵐐 0 E2 − B dtdV . (19)
2 2μ0

As usual, the action measures the change occurring in a system; it thus defines the
amount of change that occurs when field lines move. As usual, the action can be used
to describe the motion of the electromagnetic field by using the principle of least action.
The principle of least action then implies the evolution equations of the electromagnetic
field, which are called Maxwell’s field equations of electrodynamics. This approach is the
simplest way to deduce them. We will discuss the field equations in detail shortly.
The second invariant of the electromagnetic field tensor, 4EB = −c tr F ∗ F, is a pseu-
doscalar; it describes whether the angle between the electric and the magnetic field is
acute or obtuse for all observers.*

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* There is in fact a third Lorentz invariant, much less known. It is specific to the electromagnetic field and
is a combination of the field and its vector potential:

1
κ3 = A A μ Fρ󰜈 F 󰜈ρ − 2A ρ F ρ󰜈 F󰜈μ A μ
2 μ
φ φ 2
= (AE)2 + (AB)2 − |A × E|2 − |A × B|2 + 4 (AE × B) − 󶀤 󶀴 (E 2 + B 2 ) . (20)
c c

Ref. 23 This expression is Lorentz (but not gauge) invariant; knowing it can help clarify unclear issues, such as the
lack of existence of waves in which the electric and magnetic fields are parallel. Indeed, for plane monochro-
matic waves all three invariants vanish in the Lorentz gauge. Also the quantities ∂ μ J μ , J μ A μ and ∂ μ A μ are
Challenge 28 s Lorentz invariants. (Why?) The last one, the frame independence of the divergence of the four-potential,
reflects the invariance of gauge choice. The gauge in which the expression is set to zero is called the Lorentz
gauge.
 46 1 electricit y and fields

v
d charged rods

v
F I G U R E 19 The relativistic aspect of magnetism.

The uses of electromagnetic effects

The application of electromagnetic effects to daily life has changed the world. For ex-
ample, the installation of electric lighting in city streets has almost eliminated the pre-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
viously so common night assaults. These and all other electrical devices exploit the fact
that charges can flow in metals and, in particular, that electromagnetic energy can be
transformed
— into mechanical energy – as done in loudspeakers, motors and muscles;
— into light – as in lamps, lasers and giant squids;
— into heat – as in electric ovens, blankets, tea pots and in the prey of electric eels;
— into chemical effects – as in hydrolysis, battery charging, electroplating and the brain;
— into coldness – as in refrigerators and Peltier elements, but in no known living system;
— into light signals – as in glass fibres, in glow worms and various deep ocean animals;
— into radio wave signals – as in radio and television, but in no known living system;
— into stored information – as in magnetic records, computers and human memory.
Due to all these options, electrical light, lasers, batteries, electric motors, radio, telephone,
X-rays, television and computers have changed human life completely in less than one
century.
We note that many of these uses of electricity also occur in biological systems. Elec-
trically controlled LED-like light sources exist in giant squids, batteries are built into
electric eels, electrostatic motors are the basis of every muscle, and brains have lot in
Challenge 29 s common with embedded computer systems. No biological system makes use of X-rays,
Challenge 30 s though. (Why?) Could there be biological systems that communicate via radio waves? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

How motors prove relativity to be right

“
The only mathematical operation I performed

”
in my life was to turn the handle of a calculator.
Michael Faraday

All electric motors are based on the result that electric currents interact with magnetic
fields. The simplest example is the attraction of two wires carrying parallel currents. This
observation alone, made in 1820 by Ampère, is sufficient to make motion larger than a
Ref. 24 certain maximal speed impossible.
The argument is beautifully simple. We change the original experiment and imagine
two long, electrically charged rods of mass m, moving in the same direction with ve-
locity 󰑣 and separation d. An observer moving with the rods would see an electrostatic
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 47

Challenge 31 e repulsion between the rods given by

1 2λ2
mae = − (21)
4πε0 d

where λ is the charge per length of the rods. A second, resting observer sees two effects:
the electrostatic repulsion and the attraction discovered by Ampère. The second observer
Challenge 32 e therefore observes
1 2λ2 μ0 λ2 󰑣 2
maem = − + . (22)
4πε0 d 2π d

This expression must be consistent with the observation of the first observer. This is the
case only if both observers find repulsions. It is easy to check that the second observer

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
sees a repulsion, as does the first one, only if

1
󰑣2 < = c2 . (23)
ε0 μ0

This maximum speed c, with a value of 0.3 GM/s, is thus valid for any object carrying
charges. But all everyday objects contain charges: there is thus a maximum speed for
matter.
Are you able to extend the argument for a maximum speed to neutral particles as well?
Challenge 33 d We will find out more on this limit velocity, which we know already, in a minute.
Another argument for magnetism as a relativistic effect is the following. In a wire with
electrical current, the charge is zero for an observer at rest with respect to the wire: the
wire is neutral for that observer. The reason is that the charges enter and exit the wire at
the same time for that observer. Now imagine an observer who flies along the wire. The
entrance and exit events do not occur simultaneously any more; the wire is charged for a
moving observer. (The charge depends on the direction of the observer’s motion.) Now
imagine that the moving observer is electrically charged. He will be attracted or repelled
by the wire, because for him, the wire is charged. The moving observer will say that the
attraction is due to the electric field of the wire. The observer at rest will also note the
attraction or repulsion of the moving observer, but since for him, the wire is neutral, he
will deduce that moving charges experience a force – possibly with a slightly different
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

value, but this is a technicality – due to the electric current in the wire; the observer at
rest will thus say that a wire with a current is surrounded by a magnetic field which only
produces an effect on charges that move. In short, we can say that magnetic fields are
relativistic consequences of the electric fields.
In summary, electric effects are due to more or less static electric charges and to their
electric fields; magnetism, magnetic effects and magnetic fields are due to moving elec-
tric charges.* In particular, magnetism is not due to magnetic charges. Such magnetic
monopoles do not exist. The strength of magnetism, used in any running electric motor,

Page 194 * ‘Electrons move in metal with a speed of about 1 μm/s; thus if I walk with the same speed along a cable
carrying a constant current, I should not be able to sense any magnetic field.’ What is wrong with this
Challenge 34 d argument?
48 1 electricit y and fields

TA B L E 13 Voltage values observed in nature.

O b s e r va t i o n Vo l t a g e

Smallest measured voltage c. 10 f V

Human nerves 70 mV
Volta cell 1V
Voltaic cell (‘battery’) 1.5 V
Mains in households 230 V or 110 V
Electric eel 100 to 600 V
Tramway supply 500 V
Sparks when rubbing a polymer pullover 1 kV
Electric fence 0.7 to 10 kV

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Train supply 15 kV
Ignition plug in cars 15 kV
Colour television tube 30 kV
X-ray tube 30 to 200 kV
Electron microscopes 0.5 kV to 3 MV
Stun gun 65 to 600 kV
Lightning stroke 10 to 100 MV
Record accelerator voltage 1 TV
Maximum possible voltage in nature (corrected Planck voltage 󵀆 ħc 5 /4G /e ) 6.1 ⋅ 1027 V

proves relativity right: there is a maximum speed in nature for all masses and charges.
Both electric and magnetic fields carry energy and momentum. They are two faces of
the same coin.
Curiosities and fun challenges about things electric and
magnetic

“ ”
Alii vero et facta mirati et intellecta assecuti.*
Augustine of Hippo

Before we study the motion of an electromagnetic field in detail, let’s have some fun with
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

electricity.
∗∗
Nowadays, having fun with sparks is straightforward. Tesla coils, named after Nikola
Tesla** are the simplest devices that allow long sparks to be produced at home. Atten-
tion: this is dangerous; that is the reason that such devices cannot be bought (almost)
* ‘Others however marvelled about the facts and understood their meaning’ Augustine, sermon 98, 3. Au-
gustine of Hippo (b. 354 Tagaste, d. 430 Hippo Regius) is an influential moral theologian. Despite this, he
did not take care of his extramarital son, nor of his son’s mother, because his own mother had forbidden
him to do so.
** Никола Тесла (1856 Smiljan–1943 New York City), Serbian engineer and inventor. He invented and pro-
moted the polyphase alternating current system, the alternating current electric motor, wireless communica-
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 49

capacitive head
(c.10-20 pF to earth)

c.1000 turns large sparks

10-100nF

230 V c.10 kV c.10 turns

50 Hz 50 Hz spark gap
for switching resonance frequencies
100 - 500 kHz
ground

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 20 The schematics, the realization and the operation of a Tesla coil, including spark and corona
discharges (photographs © Robert Billon).

anywhere. The basic diagram and an example is shown in Figure 20. Tesla coils look like
large metal mushrooms (to avoid unwanted discharges) and plans for their construction
can be found on numerous websites or from numerous enthusiast’s clubs, such as www.
stefan-kluge.de.
∗∗
In 1722, George Graham discovered, by watching a compass needle, that the magnetic
Challenge 35 s field of the Earth shows daily variations. Can you imagine why these variations occur?
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

If even knocking on a wooden door is an electric effect, we should be able to detect fields
Challenge 36 d when doing so. Can you devise an experiment to check this?
∗∗
Birds come to no harm when they sit on unprotected electricity lines. Nevertheless, one
almost never observes any birds on tall, high voltage lines of 100 kV or more, which
Challenge 37 s transport power across longer distances. Why?

tion, fluorescent lighting and many other applications of electricity. He is also one of the inventors of radio.
The SI unit of the magnetic field is named after him. A flamboyant character, his ideas were sometimes
unrealistic; for example he imagined that Tesla coils could be used for wireless power transmission.
 50 1 electricit y and fields

∗∗
How can you distinguish a magnet from an non-magnetized metal bar of the same size
Challenge 38 s and material, using no external means?
∗∗
In the basement of a house there are three switches that control three light bulbs in the
first floor. You are in the basement and are allowed to go to the first floor only once. How
Challenge 39 s do you find out which switch controls which bulb?
∗∗
How do you wire up a light bulb to the mains and three switches so that the light can
be switched on at any of the switches and off at any other switch? And for four switches?
Challenge 40 s Nobody will take a physicist seriously who is able to write Maxwell’s equations but cannot

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
solve this little problem.
∗∗
The first appliances built to generate electric currents were large rubbing machines. Then,
in 1799 the Italian scientist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827) invented a new device to gener-
ate electricity and called it a pile; today its basic element is called a (voltaic) cell, a primary
cell* or, less correctly, a battery. (Correctly speaking, a battery is a collection of cells, as
the one found in a car.) Voltaic cells are based on chemical processes; they provide much
more current and are smaller and easier to handle than electrostatic machines. The in-
vention of the battery changed the investigation of electricity so profoundly that Volta
became world famous. At last, a simple and reliable source of electricity was available
for use in experiments; unlike rubbing machines, piles are compact, work in all weather
conditions and make no noise.
An apple or a potato or a lemon with a piece of copper and one of zinc inserted is one
of the simplest possible voltaic cells. It provides a voltage of about 1 V and can be used
to run digital clocks or to produce clicks in headphones. Volta was also the discoverer of
the charge ‘law’ q = CU for capacitors (C being the capacity, and U the voltage) and the
inventor of the high sensitivity capacitor electroscope. A modest man, nevertheless, the
unit of electrical potential, or ‘tension’, as Volta used to call it, was deduced from his name.
A ‘battery’ is a large number of voltaic cells; the term was taken from an earlier, almost
purely military use.** A battery in a mobile phone is just an elaborated replacement for Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

a number of apples or potatoes.

∗∗
Voltaic cells exist in all cells. For halobacteria, the internal cells are even essential to sur-
vival. Living in saltwater, internal cells help them to avoid death due to osmosis.
∗∗
What happened in Figure 21? Why are most of such pictures taken in good weather and

* A secondary cell is a rechargeable cell.

** A pile made of sets of a zinc plate, a sheet of blotting paper soaked with salt water and a copper coin is
Challenge 41 e easily constructed at home and tested with a calculator or a digital watch.
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 51

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 21 A
common playground
effect (© Evan Keller).

F I G U R E 22 A Gauss rifle, made with a few steel balls and four magnets attached to a ruler with scotch
tape (© Simon Quellen Field).

Challenge 42 d with blond children? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
A PC or a telephone can communicate without wires, by using radio waves. Why are
these and other electrical appliances not able to obtain their power via radio waves, thus
Challenge 43 s eliminating power cables?
∗∗
Magnets can be used to accelerate steel balls. The most famous example is the Gauss rifle
shown in Figure 22. If the leftmost ball is gently rolled towards the first magnet, the third
ball is strongly kicked away. Then the process repeats: the speed increases even more for
the fifth, the seventh and the ninth ball. The experiment never fails to surprise whoever
Challenge 44 e sees it for the first time. Where does the momentum of the final ball come from?
 52 1 electricit y and fields

∗∗
Objects that are not right–left symmetric are called chiral, from the Greek word for ‘hand’.
Can you make a mirror that does not switch chirality (i.e., does not ‘switch left and
Challenge 45 s right’)? In two different ways?
∗∗
A Scotch tape roll is a dangerous device. Pulling the roll quickly leads to light emission
(through triboluminescence) and to small sparks. It is suspected that several explosions
in mines were triggered when such a spark ignited a combustible gas mixture.
∗∗
Take an envelope, wet it and seal it. After letting it dry for a day or more, open it in the
dark. At the place where the two sides of paper are being separated from each other, the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 46 s envelope glows with a blue colour. Why? Is it possible to speed up the test using a hair
dryer?
∗∗
A charge in an electric field feels a force. In other words, electric field produce a poten-
tial energy for charges. Since energy is conserved, electric potential energy can be trans-
formed into kinetic energy or in thermal energy. What do these possibilities allow doing?
Challenge 47 e What do they prevent from doing?
∗∗
Electromagnetism is full of surprises and offers many effects that can be reproduced
at home. The internet is full of descriptions of how to construct Tesla coils to produce
sparks, coil guns or rail guns to shoot objects, electrostatic machines to make your hair
stand on end and much more. If you like experiments, just search for these terms. Some
people earn their living by showing high voltage effects on stage, such as long discharges
from their fingers or hair. A well-known example is Robert Krampf, also called ‘Mr. Elec-
tricity’, at thehappyscientist.com. Do not emulate these performers; it is rarely told that
several of them have suffered dangerous accidents while doing so.
∗∗
The moving discharges seen in so many displays, called plasma globes, are produced in a Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

glass bowl filled with helium, neon or another inert gas at low pressure, typically 0.1 to
10 kPa, an applied voltage of 5 to 10 kV and usually a frequency of 30 to 40 kHz. At these
conditions, the ion temperature of the discharges is room temperature, so that there is no
Ref. 168 danger; the electron temperature, which cannot be felt, is around 20 000 K. Approaching
the hand to the sphere changes the electric potential and this also the shape of the dis-
charges. If you approach a fluorescent tube to such a set-up, it will start glowing; and by
moving your finger on the tube, you can ‘magically’ change the glow region. The internet
is full of information on plasma globes.
∗∗
A high voltage can lead to current flow through air, because air becomes conductive in
high electric fields. In such discharges, air molecules are put in motion. As a result, one
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 53

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 23 A dangerous hobby,
here demosntrated by Robert
Krampf (© Wikimedia).

can make objects that are attached to a pulsed high tension source lift up in the air, if one
optimizes this air motion so that it points downwards everywhere. The high tension is
thus effectively used to accelerate ionized air in one direction and, as a result, an object
will move in the opposite direction, using the same principle as a rocket. An example is
shown in Figure 25, using the power supply of a PC monitor. (Watch out: danger!) Nu-
merous websites explain how to build these so-called lifters at home; in Figure 25, the
bottle and the candle are used as high voltage insulator to keep one of the two thin high
voltage wires (not visible in the photograph) high enough in the air, in order to avoid dis-
charges to the environment or to interfere with the lifter’s motion. Unfortunately, the ma-
jority of websites – not all – give incorrect or confused explanations of the phenomenon.
These websites thus provide a good challenge for one to learn to distinguish fact from
Challenge 48 e speculation.
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The electric effects produced by friction and by liquid flow are usually small. However, in
the 1990s, a number oil tankers disappeared suddenly. The sailors had washed out the oil
tanks by hosing sea water onto the tank walls. The spraying led to charging of the tank;
a discharge then led to the oil fumes in the tank igniting. This led to an explosion and
subsequently the tankers sank. Similar accidents also happen regularly when chemicals
are moved from one tank to another.
∗∗
Rubbing a plastic spoon with a piece of wool charges it. Such a charged spoon can be used
to extract pepper from a salt–pepper mixture by holding the spoon over the mixture.
Challenge 49 s Why?
 54 1 electricit y and fields

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 24 A low pressure glass sphere, or plasma globe, with a diameter of 30 cm and a built-in high
voltage generator, showing its characteristic electric discharges. In a usual plasma globe, the discharges
move around – slowly and irregularly. (© Philip Evans).

∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

When charges move, they produce a magnetic field. In particular, when ions inside the
Earth move due to heat convection, they produce the Earth’s magnetic field. When the
ions high up in the atmosphere are moved by solar wind, a geomagnetic storm appears;
its field strength can be as high as that of the Earth itself. In 2003, an additional mech-
anism was discovered. When the tides move the water of the oceans, the ions in the
salt water produce a tiny magnetic field; it can be measured by highly sensitive magne-
tometers in satellites orbiting the Earth. After two years of measurements from a small
satellite it was possible to make a beautiful film of the oceanic flows. Figure 26 gives an
Ref. 25 impression.
∗∗
liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 55

F I G U R E 25 Lifting a
light object – covered
with aluminium foil –
using high a tension
discharge
(© Jean-Louis Naudin

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
at www.jlnlabs.org).

F I G U R E 26 The magnetic field due to the

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tides (© Stefan Maus).

The magnetic field of the Earth is clearly influenced by the Sun. Figure 27 shows the
details of how the stream of charged particles from the Sun, the solar wind, influences
the field lines and a several processes occurring in the higher atmosphere. The details of
these fascinating processes are still a subject of research.
∗∗
The names electrode, electrolyte, ion, anode and cathode were suggested by William
Whewell (1794–1866) on demand of Michael Faraday; Faraday had no formal education
 56 1 electricit y and fields

EXOSPHERE
600 km

IONOSPHERE
THERMOSPHERE
300 km F

E
85 km

MESOSPHERE
45 km

STRATOSPHERE
12 km
TROPOSPHERE
4 5 6
300 600 900 1200 1500 10 10 10
Temperature (K) Electron density
-3

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
(cm )

F I G U R E 27 Top: the interaction of the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetic field. Centre: the magnetic
environment of the Earth. Bottom: the names of the layers around the Earth and a photograph of the
cold plasma, or magnetosphere, surrounding the Earth, taken in the extreme ultraviolet, and showing
both the ring at the basis of each aurora and a tail pointing towards the Sun (© NASA).

and asked his friend Whewell to form two Greek words for him. For anode and cathode, Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Whewell took words that literally mean ‘upward street’ and ‘downward street’. Faraday
then popularized these terms, like the other words mentioned above.
∗∗
The shortest light pulse produced so far had a duration of 100 as. To how many wave-
Challenge 50 s lengths of green light would that correspond?
∗∗
How long can batteries last? At Oxford University, in Clarendon Hall, visitors can watch
a battery-operated electric bell that is ringing since 1840. The two batteries, two Zamboni
piles, produce a high voltage and low current, sufficient to keep the bell ringing. Several
other similar devices, using Zamboni piles, have worked in Italy with the same batteries
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 57

suspending
battery wire

mercury

F I G U R E 28 A unipolar motor. F I G U R E 29 The simplest

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
motor (© Stefan Kluge).

for over 100 years.

∗∗
Why do we often see shadows of houses and shadows of trees, but never shadows of the
Challenge 51 s electrical cables hanging over streets?
∗∗
How would you measure the speed of the tip of a lightning bolt? What range of values
Challenge 52 s do you expect?
∗∗
Ref. 26 One of the simplest possible electric motors was discovered by Faraday in 1831. A magnet
suspended in mercury will start to turn around its axis if a current flows through it. (See
Figure 28.) In addition, when the magnet is forced to turn, the device (often also called
Barlow’s wheel) also works as a current generator; people have even tried to generate
Challenge 53 s domestic current with such a system! Can you explain how it works?
The modern version of this motor makes use of a battery, a wire, a conductive Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

samarium–cobalt magnet and a screw. The result is shown in Figure 29.

∗∗
Ref. 27 The magnetic field of the Earth has a dipole strength of 7.8 ⋅ 1022 A m2 . It shields us, to-
gether with the atmosphere, from lethal solar winds and cosmic radiation particles, by
deflecting them to the poles. Today, a lack of magnetic field would lead to high radia-
tion on sunny days; but in the past, its lack would have prevented the evolution of the
human species. We owe our existence to the magnetic field of the Earth. At present, the
magnetic field decreases by about 5% per century. It seems that it might disappear tem-
porarily in 1500 years; it is unclear whether this will lead to an increase of the cosmic
radiation hitting the Earth’s surface, or if the solar wind itself will take over the shilding
effect.
 58 1 electricit y and fields

electrical hydraulic
component component
current, mass flow,
voltage pressure

wire tube

resistor porous filter

flexible &
capacitor elastic
closure

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
battery pump

one-way
diode valve

activated
transistor valve

inductor challenge

F I G U R E 30 The correspondence of electronics and water flow.

∗∗
Comparing electricity with water is a good way of understanding electronics. Figure 30
shows a few examples that even a teenager can use. Can you fill in the correspondence
Challenge 54 s for the coil, and thus for a transformer? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The picture also includes the transistor. This device, as the hydraulic component
shows, can be used to control a large current by using a small current. Therefore, transis-
tors can be used as switches and as amplifiers. This is the reason that all electronic circuits,
from radios to mobile phones and computers – make heavy use of transistors. A modern
mobile phone or computer typically contains several million transistors, mostly assem-
bled inside so-called integrated circuits. The design of these devices is a science on its
own.
∗∗
There is even a way to push the previous analogy in another direction: it is possible to
produce a mathematically consistent analogy between electric circuits and continuous
fields. The required circuits are infinite grids or meshes in all directions of space, and
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 59

are called mimetic discretizations. If you like to think in electric terms, you might enjoy
pursuing this. Just search for the term in a search engine.
∗∗
The ionosphere around the Earth has a resonant frequency of 7 Hz; for this reason any
apparatus measuring low frequencies always gets a strong signal at this value. Can you
Challenge 55 s give an explanation of the frequency?
∗∗
The Kirlian effect, which allows one to make such intriguingly beautiful photographs, is
not a property of objects, but a result of the applied time-varying electric field.
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
At home, electricity is mostly used as alternating current. In other words, no electrons
actually flow through cables; as the drift speed of electrons in copper wires is of the order
Page 194 of 1 μm/s, electrons just move back and forward by 20 nm. Nothing flows in or out of the
cables! Why do the electricity companies require a real flow of money in return, instead
Challenge 56 e of being satisfied with a back and forth motion of money?
∗∗
Do electrons and protons have the same charge? Experiments show that the values are
Challenge 57 ny equal to within at least twenty digits. How would you check this?
∗∗
Challenge 58 ny Charge is also velocity-independent. How would you check this?
∗∗
Magnets can be used, even by school children, to climb steel walls. Have a look at the
www.physicslessons.com/TPNN.htm website.
∗∗
Can magnets be used to make a floating bed? In 2006, a Dutch architect presented to
the public a small model of a beautiful floating bed, shown on the left of Figure 31, kept
floating in the air by permanent magnets. To prevent that the model bed falls over, it is Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

fastened to the ground by four ropes. On his website, the architect also offers a real-size
version of the same bed, for a price of over one million US dollars. However, the images
of the scaled up bed – the only two images that exist – are not photographs, but computer
Challenge 59 s graphics, as this dream bed is impossible. Why?
∗∗
Extremely high magnetic fields have strange effects. At fields of 1010 T, vacuum becomes
Page 95 effectively birefringent, photons can split and coalesce, and atoms get squeezed. Hydro-
gen atoms, for example, are estimated to get two hundred times narrower in one direc-
tion. Fortunately, these conditions exist only in specific neutron stars, called magnetars.
∗∗
 60 1 electricit y and fields

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 31 The floating bed problem: while the left model, with a length of around 40 cm and a
floating height of a few centimetres, exists and has been admired by many, the scaled-up, real-size
version on the right is impossible (© Janjaap Ruissenaars at www.UniverseArchitecture.com). The two
images on the right are not photographs: they show a dream, not reality. Why?

Ohm’s ‘law’, the observation that for almost all materials the current I is proportional to
the voltage U, is
U
U ∼ I or = R = const. (24)
I
and is due to a school teacher. Georg Simon Ohm (b. 1789 Erlangen, d. 1854 Munich), was
a Bavarian school teacher and physicist. He explored the validity of the proportionality
in great depth and for many materials; in those days, such measurements were difficult to
perform. Ohm discovered that the proportionality applies to most materials and to many
current levels, as long as the temperature, the material density and the charge densities
remain constant. The proportionality is thus not valid for situations with sparks or in
semiconductors. But it is valid for most solid conductors, in particular for metals. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ohm’s efforts were recognized only late in his life, and he eventually was promoted to
professor at the Technical University in Munich. Later the unit of electrical resistance R –
this is the official name for the proportionality factor between voltage, which is measured
in volt, and current, which measured in ampere – was named after him. One ohm is
defined and written as 1 V/A=1 Ω.
Today, Ohm’s relation is easy to measure. Recently, even the electrical resistance of
Ref. 28 single atoms has been measured: in the case of xenon it turned out to be about 105 Ω. It
was also found that lead atoms are ten times more conductive than gold atoms. Can you
Challenge 60 ny imagine why?
∗∗
Since many decades, Ohm’s ‘law’ is taught in secondary school until every pupil in a class
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 61

πdU34 πdU41
e 12 + e I23 ρ = 1
I ρ ρ = πdU34 /(I12 ln 2)

1 2
2
1
F I G U R E 32 Can you
3 deduce Van der Pauw’s
4 formula for the specific
resistance ρ of
homogeneous layers
material thickness d
4 3 of any shape (left) or

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
its special case for a
symmetrical shape
(right)?

has lost his interest in the matter. For example, the electric power P transformed into heat
in a resistor is given
U2
P = U I = I 2R = . (25)
R

Vol. I, page 316 We mentioned this relation already earlier on; have a look. Now you know everything
that needs to be known on the topic. Above all, the expression for electric power in a
resistor describes electric heating, for example the heating in a modern kitchen stove or
in a coffee machine.
∗∗
Ohm’s ‘law’, so simple it seems, has many fascinating mathematical aspects. For exam-
ple, in 1958, the Dutch physicist J.L. van der Pauw proved an astonishing formula and
method that allows measuring the specific resistance ρ of material layers of any shape.
One only needs to attach four gold wires to the layer anywhere on its border. The spe-
cific resistance is then given by the expression shown in Figure 32. Can you imagine how Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 61 ny the formula is deduced? (This is not an easy problem.) The formula reduced the work-
load in laboratories across the world by a significant amount; before the formula had
been discovered, in every experiment, researchers also had to produce separate samples
that allowed measuring the specific resistance of the material they were investigating.
∗∗
A good way to make money is to produce electricity and sell it. In 1964, a completely new
method was invented by Fletcher Osterle. The method was presented to a larger public in
Ref. 29 a beautiful experiment in 2003. Larry Kostiuk and his group took a plate of glass, added
a conducting layers on each side, and then etched a few hundred thousand tiny channels
through the plate: 450 000 microchannels, each around 15 μm in diameter, in the 2 cm
diameter plate. When water is made to flow through the channels, a current is generated.
 62 1 electricit y and fields

insulators
high voltage line
C1

wires
C2
neon lamp

F I G U R E 33 F I G U R E 34 A neon lamp hanging from a high

Capacitors in series. voltage line.

The contacts at the two conducting plates can be used like battery contacts and generated

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
1.5 μA of electric current.
This simple device uses the effect that glass, like most insulators, is covered with a
charged layer when it is immersed in a liquid. Can you imagine why a current is gener-
Challenge 62 s ated? Unfortunately, the efficiency of electricity generation is only about 1%, making the
method much less interesting than a simple blade wheel powering a dynamo.
∗∗
For beautiful animations about magnetic and electric fields, see the website web.mit.edu/
8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations.
∗∗
Gallium arsenide semiconductors can be patterned with so-called quantum dots and
point contacts. These structures allow one to count single electrons. This is now routinely
done in several laboratories around the world.
∗∗
Ref. 30 The charges on two capacitors in series are not generally equal, as naive theory states.
For perfect, leak-free capacitors the voltage ratio is given by the inverse capacity ratio
V1 /V2 = C2 /C1 , due to the equality of the electric charges stored. This is easily deduced
from Figure 33. However, in practice this is only correct for times between a few and a
Challenge 63 s few dozen minutes. Why? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

On certain high voltage cables leading across the landscape, small neon lamps shine
when the current flows, as shown in Figure 34. (You can see them from the train when
Challenge 64 ny riding from Paris to the Roissy airport.) How is this possible?
∗∗
Electric polarizability is the property of matter responsible for the deviation of water flow-
Page 15 ing from a tap caused by a charged comb. It is defined as the strength of electric dipole
induced by an applied electric field. The definition simply translates the observation that
many objects acquire a charge when an electric field is applied. Incidentally, how pre-
cisely combs get charged when rubbed, a phenomenon called electrification, is still one
of the mysteries of modern science.
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 63

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 35 An electrical problem that is not easy (© Randall Munroe).

∗∗
A pure magnetic field cannot be transformed into a pure electric field by change of ob-
servation frame. The best that can be achieved is a state similar to an equal mixture of
Challenge 65 ny magnetic and electric fields. Can you provide an argument elucidating this relation?
∗∗
Calculating resistance of infinite grids is one of the most captivating problems in elec-
Challenge 66 ny tricity, as shown in Figure 35. Can you find the solution?
∗∗
To every limit value in nature there is a corresponding indeterminacy relation. This is
also valid also for electricity and the lower charge limit. Indeed, there is an indeterminacy
relation for capacitors, of the form

ΔC ΔU ⩾ e (26)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

where e is the positron charge, C capacity and U potential difference. There is also an
indeterminacy relation between electric current I and time t

ΔI Δt ⩾ e . (27)

Ref. 31 Both these relations may be found in the literature.

∗∗
Electric properties of materials, in contrast to their magnetic properties, vary strongly
with the frequency of the applied electric field. Figure 36 shows how the permittivity
changes with frequency, and which microscopic processes are at the basis of the property
at a specific frequency.
 64 1 electricit y and fields

F I G U R E 36 The change of the relative

permittivity (real and imaginary) with
frequency for a typical material, and the
general processes responsible for the different

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
domains (© Wikimedia/Kenneth Mauritz).

F I G U R E 37 Maxwell’s unsuccessful
model of the vacuum.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
If an axis rotates, one can attach a magnet to its end. With such a rotating magnet an
Challenge 67 e extremely cheap tachymeter can be realized. How?
∗∗
In Maxwell’s 1890 book on electrodynamics, he includes Figure 37 as a model of mag-
netic and electric fields of the vacuum. What is the biggest problem of this model of the
Challenge 68 s vacuum?
∗∗
For how long can silicon-based integrated circuits be made smaller and smaller? The
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 65

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 38 A television tube: the original way – now obsolete – to produce images using electric
signals. Television tubes emit an electron beam, deflect it, and generate light by electroluminescence
on a coloured screen covered with patterned phosphors.

Glass

electric field hopping

electrons

Glass

F I G U R E 39 Free electrons can hop along a glass wall.

Ref. 32 opinions on this matter differ. Optimistic predictions, often called Moore’s ‘law’, alter-
nate with predictions that from 2011 onwards, the size reduction will be moderate due
to the high cost of the required equipment. For example, the next generation of wafer
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

steppers, the most expensive machines in the production of silicon chips, must work in
the extreme ultraviolet – usually 13 nm – in order to achieve small transistor sizes. At
this wavelength air is an absorber, and lenses have to be replaced by mirrors. It is unclear
whether this will be technically and economically feasible. Future will tell.

Hopping electrons and the biggest disappointment of the

television industry
It is well known that when an electric field in a vacuum points along a glass surface,
electrons can hop along the glass surface. The general effect is shown in Figure 39; usually,
the effect is unwelcome. Among others, the hopping effect is responsible for sparks in
vacuum systems that contain high voltage.
 66 1 electricit y and fields

When this effect was studied in detail, it turned out that reasonably low electric fields
are sufficient to create sizeable electric hopping currents. The effect also works around
bends and corners. Furthermore, electric switches that change the hopping direction can
be constructed. In short, the hopping effect can be used to make extremely cheap flat
television displays of high image quality. The idea is to put an array of electron sources –
essentially sharp metal tips – at the start of glass channels and to transport the emitted
electrons along the channels, making use of suitable switches, until they hit phosphores-
Ref. 33 cent colour pixels. These are the same pixels that were used in the then common – bulky
and heavy – television tubes. Since the hopping effect also works around bends and cor-
ners, and since it only needs glass and a bit of metal, the whole system can be made ex-
tremely flat, lightweight and cheap. Already in the early 1990s, the laboratory samples of
the electron hopping displays were spectacularly good: the small displays were brighter,
sharper and cheaper than liquid crystal displays, and the large ones brighter, sharper and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
cheaper than plasma displays. Affordable flat television was on the horizon.
Then came the disappointment. The lifetime of the displays was only of the order
of one hundred hours. Despite the most intense material research possible, achieving a
higher lifetime turned out to be impossible. All tricks that were tried did not help. De-
spite all their fantastic properties, despite huge investments in the technology, despite
the best material researchers working on the issue, electron hopping displays could not
be brought to market. Not a single display was ever sold.

How do nerves work?

Nerves are wonders. Without nerves, we would not experience pleasure, we would not
experience pain, we would not see, we would not hear. Without nerves, we would not
live. But how do nerves transport signals?
Page 30 In 1789, as mentioned above, Luigi Galvani discovered that nerves transport electric
signals, by doing experiments with frog legs. Are nerves wires? One and a half centuries
after Galvani it became clear that nerves do not conduct electricity using electrons, as
metal wires do, but by using ions. Nerve signals propagate using the motion of sodium
Na+ and potassium K+ ions through the cell membrane of the nerve. The resulting signal
speed is between 0.5 m/s and 120 m/s, depending on the type of nerve. (Nerve axons
coated with myelin, a protein that acts as an electric insulator, are faster than uncoated
axons.) The signal speed is sufficient for the survival of most species – it helps the body
to run away in case of danger.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Nerves differ from wires in another aspect: they cannot transmit constant voltage sig-
nals, but only signal pulses. The first, approximate model for this behaviour was presented
Ref. 34 in 1952 by Hodgkin and Huxley. Using observations about the behaviour of potassium
and sodium ions, they deduced an elaborate evolution equation that describes the volt-
age V in nerves, and thus the way the signals propagate. The equation reproduces the
characteristic voltage spikes measured in nerves, shown in Figure 40.
The precise mechanism with which ions cross the membranes, using so-called channel
proteins, was elucidated only twenty years later. Despite this huge body of work, and even
though Hodgkin and Huxley received the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their work, their
model cannot be correct. The model does not explain the reversibility of the propagation
process, the obserbed thickness change of the nerve during propagation or the excitation
 liquid electricit y, invisible fields and maximum speed 67

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 40 The electrical signals calculated (above) and measured (below) in a nerve, following
Hodgkin and Huxley.

of nerves by simple deformation or temperature changes; most of all, the model does not
explain the working of anesthetics. The working of nerves remained unknown.
Only around the year 2000 did Thomas Heimburg and his team discover the way
Ref. 35 signals propagate in nerves. They showed that a nerve pulse is an electromechanical soli-
tonic wave of the cylindrical membrane. In the cylindrical membrane, the protein struc-
ture changes from liquid to solid and back to liquid. A short, slightly thicker ring of solid
proteins propagates along the cylinder: that is the nerve pulse. The model is shown in
Figure 41. (The term ‘solid’ has a precise technical meaning in two-dimensional systems
and describes a specific ordered state of the molecules.) This model explains all the prop-
erties of nerve pulses that were unexplained before. In particular, it explains that anaes- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

thetics work because they dissolve in the membrane and thus block the formation and
the propagation of the rings. All quantitative predictions of the model match observa-
tions. In short, nerve signals are electromechanical pulses; they are a mixture of current
and sound waves.

A summary: three basic facts about electricity

The experiments we have described so far show three basic results:
⊳ Electric charges exert forces on other charges.
⊳ Electric charges are conserved.
⊳ Charges, like all matter, move slower than light.
From these three statements – the definition of charge, the conservation of charge, and
 68 1 electricit y and fields

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 41 Top: A biomembrane, with solid-ordered lipids (red), liquid lipids (green) and various
dissolved proteins (yellow, blue, white). Bottom: a nerve pulse propagating as a two-dimensional phase
transformation liquid/solid/liquid along a cylindrical nerve membrane (© Thomas Heimburg/Wiley-VCH).

the invariance of the speed of light – we can deduce every aspect of classical electro-
dynamics. (If we want, we can add the non-existence of magnetic charge as an explicit,
Ref. 36 additional assumption.) In particular, the Lagrangian of electrodynamics and Maxwell’s
field equations can be deduced from these three statements; they describe the way that
charges produce any electric, magnetic or electromagnetic field. Also the Lorentz force
can be deduced; it describes how the motion of massive charges and the motion of the
electromagnetic field is related.
The proof of the connection between charge conservation and the field equations can
Ref. 36 be given mathematically; we do not present it here, because the algebra is somewhat
involved. The essential connection is: all of electrodynamics follows from the properties
Ref. 37 of charges that we have discovered so far.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 2

THE DESCRIPTION OF
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD
EVOLUTION

E
lectric and magnetic fields change: simply said, they move. How
xactly does this happen? In the 1860s, James Clerk Maxwell* collected all

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
xperimental knowledge he could find, and deduced the precise description
of electromagnetic field motion. Twenty years later, Heaviside and Hertz extracted the
main points of Maxwell ideas, calling their summary Maxwell’s theory of the electromag-
Vol. IV, page 203 netic field.
The motion of the electromagnetic field is described by a set of evolution equations. In
the relativistic description, the set consists of two equations, in the non-relativistic case of
four equations. All observations of classical electrodynamics follow from these equations.
In fact, if quantum effects are properly taken into account, all electromagnetic effects of
nature are described.

The first field equation of electrodynamics

The first relativistic field equation of electrodynamics is the precise statement that elec-
tromagnetic fields originate at charges, and nowhere else. It can variously be written**

dF = j μ0 or
ρ 1 ∂E
∇⋅E = and ∇×B − = μ0 j . (28)
ε0 c 2 ∂t

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* James Clerk Maxwell (b. 1831 Edinburgh, d. 1879 Cambridge), Scottish physicist. He founded electromag-
netism by theoretically unifying electricity and magnetism, as described in this chapter. His work on thermo-
dynamics forms the second pillar of his activity. In addition, he studied the theory of colours and developed
the colour triangle; he was one of the first people to make a colour photograph. He is regarded by many as
the greatest physicist ever. Both ‘Clerk’ and ‘Maxwell’ were his family names.
** There is a certain freedom in writing the equations, because different authors absorb different combina-
tions of the constants c and μ0 into the definitions of the quantities F, A and j. This is the most common
version. The equations can be generalized to cases where the charges are not surrounded by vacuum, but
located inside matter. We will not explore these situations in our walk because, as we will see during our
mountain ascent, the seemingly special case of vacuum in fact describes all of nature.
 70 2 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion

electric field E
wire with current I
current I

speed v N S
object with
charge ρ

magnetic field B

Charges are sinks or sources Currents have magnetic vortex Changing electric fields
of electric field lines. field lines wrapped around them. produce magnetic fields.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 42 The first of Maxwell’s field equations of electrodynamics illustrated in three drawings.

Each of these two equivalent ways* to write the first Maxwell equation makes a simple
statement: electrical charges carry the electromagnetic field; they carry it along with them.
The first equation thus describes the attraction of dust by electrically charged objects and
the working of electromagnets.
This first equation is equivalent to the three basic observations illustrated in Figure 42:
Coulomb’s relation, Ampère’s relation, and the way changing electrical fields induce mag-
netic effects. More precisely, if we know where charges are and how they move, we can
determine the electromagnetic field F they generate. Static charges, described by a den-
sity ρ, produce electrostatic fields, and moving charges, described by a 3-current density
j, produce a mix of electric and magnetic fields. Stationary currents produce magneto-
static fields.
The first equation also contains the right hand rule for magnetic fields around wires,
Challenge 69 e through the vector product. As mentioned, the equation also states, most clearly in its
last form, that changing electric fields induce magnetic fields. The effect is essential in
the primary side of transformers. The small factor 1/c 2 implies that the effect is small;
therefore coils with many windings or strong electric currents are needed to produce or
detect the effect.

The second field equation of electrodynamics

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The second of Maxwell’s equations, illustrated in Figure 43, expresses the observation that
in nature there are no magnetic charges, i.e., that magnetic fields have no sources. As a
result, the equation also gives a precise description of how changing magnetic fields cre-

* In component form, the first equation can be written

d μ F μ󰜈 = j 󰜈 μ0 = (ρc, j)μ0 = (ρ0 γc, ρ0 γ󰑣)μ0 or

0 −Ex /c −E y /c −Ez /c
Ex /c 0 −Bz By
(∂t /c, ∂x , ∂ y , ∂z ) 󶀫 󶀻 = μ0 (ρc, j) . (29)
E y /c Bz 0 −Bx
Ez /c −B y Bx 0
 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion 71

No
magnetic charges I1(t) I2(t)
exist.

Changing magnetic fields

lead to electric fields.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 43 The second field equation of electrodynamics.

ate electric fields, and vice versa. The second of Maxwell’s equations for electrodynamics
can variously be written

1 ρσ μ󰜈
d ∗ F = 0 with ∗
F ρσ =
ε Fμ󰜈 or
2
∂B
∇⋅B = 0 and ∇×E = − . (30)
∂t
First of all, the second field equation* thus expresses the lack of sources for the dual field
tensor ∗ F. In other words, in nature there are no magnetic charges, i.e., no magnetic
monopoles: there are no sources for magnetic fields. The equation thus states that cutting
a magnet with a north and a south pole in any way always produces pieces with two poles,
never a piece with a single pole.
Since there are no magnetic charges, magnetic field lines are always closed; not only
the magnetic field lines induced by charges, no, all magnetic field lines are vortex lines.
For example, field lines continue inside magnets. This is often expressed mathematically
by stating that the magnetic flux through a closed surface S – such as a sphere or a cube
– always vanishes: ∫S B dA = 0. In other words, all field lines that enter a closed volume
also leave it. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* In component form, the second equation can be written

d μ ∗ F μ󰜈 = 0 or
0 −Bx −B y −Bz
Bx 0 Ez /c −E y /c
(∂t /c, ∂x , ∂ y , ∂z ) 󶀫 󶀻 = (0, 0, 0, 0) or
By −Ez /c 0 Ex /c
Bz E y /c −Ex /c 0

ε σ μ󰜈ρ ∂ μ F󰜈ρ = 0 or

∂ μ F󰜈ρ + ∂󰜈 Fρμ + ∂ ρ Fμ󰜈 = 0 . (31)

We note that the dual tensor ∗ F follows form the field tensor F by substituting E/c by B and B by −E/c.
Page 82 This is the so-called duality transformation. More on this duality below.
 72 2 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion

Furthermore, the second Maxwell equation expresses that changes in magnetic fields
produce electric fields: this effect is used in the secondary side of transformers and in
dynamos. The cross product in the expression implies that an electric field generated in
this way – also called an electromotive field – has no start and end points. The electromo-
tive field lines thus run in circles: in most practical cases they run along electric circuits.
In short, an electric field can (also) have vortices, but only when there is a changing mag-
Challenge 70 ny netic field. The minus sign is essential to ensure energy conservation (why?) and has a
special name: it is called Lenz’s rule.
In practice, the second Maxwell equation is always needed together with the first. Can
Challenge 71 ny you see why?

The validity and the essence of Maxwell’s field equations

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Together with Lorentz’ evolution equation

mb = qF u or
dE/dt = qE󰑣 and dp/dt = q(E + 󰑣 × B) . (32)

which describes how charges move given the motion of the fields, Maxwell’s evolution
equations (28) and (30) describe all electromagnetic phenomena occurring on everyday
scales, from mobile phones, car batteries, to personal computers, lasers, lightning, holo-
grams and rainbows. This description of electromagnetic fields is complete for everyday
life. Only quantum effects and the effects of curved space-time are not included.
Maxwell’s equations seem very complex. But we should never forget that they con-
tain only four basic ideas. First: electric charges follow Coulomb’s rule. Second: electric
charges moves slower than light. Third: electric charges are conserved. Fourth: magnetic
charges do not exist. If we want to be simplistic, Maxwell’s equations are just the relativis-
tic formulation of Coulomb’s rule. In fact, as we have seen before, Maxwell’s equations
Ref. 36 follow from charge conservation alone.
We will not study many applications of the field equations. True, the range of applica-
tions is vast: modern medicine, transport, telecommunication, computers, and most jobs
and many pleasures depend on electricity. But we leave these topics aside and continue
directly towards our aim to understand the connection between electromagnetic fields,
everyday motion and the motion of light. In fact, the electromagnetic field has an impor-
tant property that we mentioned right at the start: the field itself can move. In particular,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the field can carry energy, linear momentum and angular momentum.

Colliding charged particles

Electromagnetic fields move. A simple experiment clarifies the meaning of motion for
fields: When two charged particles collide, their total momentum is not conserved. Let
us check this.
Imagine two particles of identical mass and identical charge just after a collision, when
they are moving away from one another. The situation is illustrated in Figure 44. Imagine
also that the two masses are large, so that the acceleration due to their electrical repulsion
is small. For an observer at the centre of gravity of the two, each particle feels an acce-
 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion 73

m, q m, q

v v

0 distance r
F I G U R E 44 Charged particles after a collision.

leration from the electric field of the other. This electric field E is given by the so-called
Challenge 72 ny Heaviside formula

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
q (1 − 󰑣 2 /c 2 )
E= . (33)
4πe0 r 2

In other words, the total system has a vanishing total momentum for this observer.
Take a second observer, moving with respect to the first with velocity 󰑣, so that the
first charge will be at rest. Expression (33) leads to two different values for the electric
Ref. 38 fields, one at the position of each particle. In other words, the system of the two particles
is not in inertial motion, as we would expect; the total momentum is not conserved for
Challenge 73 s this observer. The missing momentum is small, but where did it go?
This at first surprising effect has even been put in the form of a theorem by Van Dam
Ref. 39 and Wigner. They showed that, for a system of particles interacting at a distance, the total
particle energy–momentum cannot remain constant in all inertial frames.
The total momentum of the system is conserved only because the electromagnetic
field itself also carries some momentum. In short, momentum is conserved in the exper-
iment, but some of it is carried by the field. The precise amount depends on the observer.
Two colliding charged particles thus show us that electromagnetic fields have momen-
tum. If electromagnetic fields have momentum, they are able to strike objects and to be
struck by them. As we will show below, light is also an electromagnetic field. Thus we
should be able to move objects by shining light on to them. We should even be able to
suspend particles in mid air by shining light on to them from below. Both predictions
Page 105 are correct, and some experiments will be presented shortly.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

We conclude that any sort of field leading to particle interactions must carry both
energy and momentum, as the argument applies to all such cases. In particular, it applies
to nuclear interactions. Indeed, in the quantum part of our mountain ascent we will even
find an additional result: all fields are themselves composed of particles. The energy and
momentum of fields then become an obvious state of affairs. In short, it makes sense to
say that electromagnetic fields move, because they carry energy and momentum.

The gauge field – the electromagnetic vector potential

The study of moving fields is called field theory and electrodynamics is the prime example.
(The other classical example is fluid dynamics; moving electromagnetic fields and mov-
ing fluids are very similar mathematically.) Field theory is a beautiful topic; field lines,
 74 2 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion

current current magnet

vector N
potential
vector
potential
S

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 45 Vector potentials for selected situations.

equipotential lines and vortex lines are some of the concepts introduced in this domain.
They fascinate many.* However, in this mountain ascent we keep the discussion focused
on motion.
We have seen that fields force us to extend our concept of motion. Motion is not only
the change in state of objects and of space-time, but also the change in state of fields. We
therefore need, also for fields, a complete and precise description of their state.
The observations using amber and magnets have shown us that electromagnetic fields
possess energy and momentum. Fields can impart energy and momentum to particles.
The experiments with motors have shown us that objects can add energy and momentum
to fields. We therefore need to define a state function which allows us to define energy
and momentum for electric and magnetic fields. And since electric and magnetic fields
transport energy, their motion must follow the speed limit in nature.
Hertz and Heaviside defined the state function of fields in two standard steps. The first
step is the definition of the (magnetic) vector potential, which describes the momentum
Ref. 40 per charge that the field provides:
p
A= . (34)
q Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

When a charged particle moves through a magnetic potential A(x), its momentum
changes by qΔA; it changes by the difference between the potential values at the start
and end points, multiplied by its charge. Owing to this definition, the vector potential
has the property that
B = ∇ × A = curl A (35)

i.e., that the magnetic field is the curl of the magnetic potential. In most other languages

Challenge 74 s * What is the relation, for static fields, between field lines and (equi-) potential surfaces? Can a field line
cross a potential surface twice? For more details on topics such as these, see the free textbook by B o Thidé,
Electromagnetic Field Theory, on his www.plasma.uu.se/CED/Book website. And of course, in English, have
Ref. 1, Ref. 21 a look at the texts by Schwinger and by Jackson.
 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion 75

Field lines
imagined as
water flow

paddle-wheel

F I G U R E 46 Visualizing the curl of a vector field. Imagine the field to be flowing air and check whether
the small paddle-wheel rotates; if it does, the local curl is non-zero. The direction of the curl is the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
direction of the paddle-wheel axis that yields the highest rotation velocity.

the curl is called the rotation and abbreviated rot. To visualize what the curl or rotation is,
imagine that the field vectors are the velocity vectors of flowing air. Now put a tiny paddle-
wheel at a point, as shown in Figure 46. If it turns, the curl is non-zero. The rotation speed
of the paddle-wheel is maximal for some direction of the axis; this maximal speed defines
both the magnitude and the direction of the curl at the point. (The right-hand rule is
implied.) For example, the curl for the velocities of a rotating solid body is everywhere
Challenge 75 ny 2ω, or twice the angular velocity.
Ref. 41 The vector potential for a long straight current-carrying wire is parallel to the wire; it
Challenge 76 ny has the magnitude
μ I r
A(r) = − 0 ln , (36)
4π r0

which depends on the radial distance r from the wire and an integration constant r0 . This
expression for the vector potential, pictured in Figure 45, shows how the moving current
produces a linear momentum in the (electro-) magnetic field around it. In the case of a
solenoid, the vector potential ‘circulates’ around the solenoid. The magnitude obeys

Φ1
A(r) = − , (37)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

4π r
where Φ is the magnetic flux inside the solenoid. We see that, in general, the vector poten-
tial is dragged along by moving charges. The dragging effect decreases for larger distances.
This fits well with the image of the vector potential as the momentum of the electromag-
netic field.
This behaviour of the vector potential around charges is reminiscent of the way honey
is dragged along by a spoon moving in it. In both cases, the dragging effect decreases with
distance. However, the vector potential, unlike the honey, does not produce any friction
that slows down charge motion. The vector potential thus behaves like a frictionless liq-
uid.
Inside the solenoid, the magnetic field is constant and uniform. For such a field B we
 76 2 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion

Challenge 77 e find the vector potential

1
A(r) = − B × r . (38)
2
In this case, the magnetic potential thus increases with increasing distance from the ori-
gin.* In the centre of the solenoid, the potential vanishes. The analogy of the dragged
honey gives exactly the same behaviour.
However, there is a catch. The magnetic potential is not defined uniquely. If A(x) is a
vector potential, then the different vector potential

A󳰀 (x) = A(x) + ∇ Λ , (39)

where Λ(t, x) is some scalar function, is also a vector potential for the same situation.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
(The magnetic field B stays the same, though.) Worse, can you confirm that the corre-
Challenge 78 ny sponding (absolute) momentum values also change? This unavoidable ambiguity, called
gauge invariance or gauge symmetry, is a central property of the electromagnetic field.
We will explore it in more detail below.
Not only the momentum, but also the energy of the electromagnetic field is defined
ambiguously. Indeed, the second step in the specification of a state for the electromag-
Ref. 40 netic field is the definition of the electric potential as the energy U per charge:

U
φ= (40)
q

In other words, the potential φ(x) at a point x is the energy needed to move a unit charge
to the point x starting from a point where the potential vanishes. The potential energy
is thus given by qφ. From this definition, the electric field E is simply the change of the
potential with position corrected by the time dependence of momentum, i.e.,

∂
E = −∇φ − A, (41)
∂t
Obviously, there is a freedom in the choice of the definition of the potential. If φ(x) is a
possible potential, then
∂
φ󳰀 (x) = φ(x) − Λ (42)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∂t
is also a potential function for the same situation. This freedom is the generalization of
the freedom to define energy up to a constant. Nevertheless, the electric field E remains
the same for all potentials.
Ref. 40 To be convinced that the potentials really are the energy and momentum of the elec-

* This is only possible as long as the field is constant; since all fields drop again at large distances – because
the energy of a field is always finite – also the vector potential drops at large distances.
 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion 77

Challenge 79 ny tromagnetic field, we note that for a moving charge we have

d 1 2 ∂
󶀤 m󰑣 + qφ󶀴 = q (φ − 󰑣A)
dt 2 ∂t
d
󶀡m󰑣 + qA󶀱 = −∇q (φ − 󰑣A) , (43)
dt
which show that the changes of generalized energy and momentum of a particle (on the
left-hand side) are due to the change of the energy and momentum of the electromag-
netic field (on the right-hand side).*
In relativistic 4-vector notation, the energy and the momentum of the field appear
together in one quantity. The state function of the electromagnetic field becomes

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
A μ = (φ/c, A) (44)

and is called the 4-potential. It is easy to see that the description of the field is complete,
since we have

F = d A or F μ󰜈 = ∂ μ A󰜈 − ∂󰜈 A μ (and Fμ󰜈 = ∂ μ A 󰜈 − ∂󰜈 A μ ) , (45)

which means that the electromagnetic field F is completely specified by the 4-potential
A.** But as just said, the 4-potential itself is not uniquely defined. Indeed, any other
equivalent 4-potential A󳰀 is related to A by the gauge transformation

A󳰀 μ = A μ + ∂ μ Λ (46)

where Λ = Λ(t, x) is any arbitrarily chosen scalar field. The new field A󳰀 leads to the same
electromagnetic field, and to the same accelerations and evolutions. The 4-potential A is
thus an overdescription of the physical situation as several different gauge choices corre-
spond to the same physical situation.*** Therefore we have to check that all measurement
results are independent of gauge transformations, i.e., that all observables are gauge in-
variant quantities. Such gauge invariant quantities are, as we just saw, the fields F and ∗ F,
and in general all classical quantities. We add that many theoretical physicists use the
term ‘electromagnetic field’ loosely for both the quantities F μ󰜈 and A μ .
There is a simple image, due to Maxwell, to help overcoming the conceptual difficul-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ties of the vector potential. It turns out that the closed line integral over A μ is gauge
Challenge 81 e invariant, because

󵐔 A μ dx μ = 󵐔 (A μ + ∂ μ Λ)dx μ = 󵐔 A󳰀μ dx μ . (47)

* This connection also shows why the expression P μ − qA μ appears so regularly in formulae; indeed, it plays
a central role in the quantum theory of a particle in the electromagnetic field.
** The connection between A μ and A μ , the same as for every other 4-vector, was mentioned earlier on; can
Challenge 80 e you restate it?
*** Choosing a function Λ is often called choosing a gauge; the 4-potential A is also called the gauge field.
These strange terms have historic reasons and are now common to all of physics.
 78 2 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion

In other words, if we picture the vector potential as a quantity allowing us to associate

a number to a tiny ring at each point in space, we get a good, gauge invariant picture of
the vector potential.*
Now that we have defined a state function that describes the energy and momentum
of the electromagnetic field, let us look at what happens in more detail when electromag-
netic fields move.

Energy and momenta of the electromagnetic field

All moving entities have energy, momentum and angular momentum. This also applies
to the electromagnetic field. Indeed, the description so far allows us to write the total
energy Energy of the electromagnetic field as

1 ε

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Energy = 󵐐 0 (E 2 + c 2 B 2 ) dV . (48)
4π 2

Energy is thus quadratic in the fields.

For the total linear momentum p we obtain

1
p= 󵐐 ε0 E × B dV . (49)
4π

The expression inside the integral, is the momentum density. The related vector S = E ×
B/μ0 , is called the Poynting vector** and describes the energy flux; it is a vector field and
has the units W/m2 . The Poynting vector is the momentum density divided by c 2 ; indeed,
special relativity implies that the momentum and the energy flow for electromagnetic
fields are related by a factor c 2 . The Poynting vector thus describes the energy flowing
per area per time, in other words, the power per area. As shown below, the Poynting
Page 80 vector is a part of the energy–momentum tensor.
Can you produce a graph of the Poynting vector field for a cable carrying direct cur-
Challenge 82 s rent? For a transformer?
Ref. 43 For the total angular momentum we have

ε0 ε
L= 󵐐 E × A dV = 0 󵐐 r × (E × B) dV , (50)
4π 4π
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

where A is the magnetic vector potential.

In summary, the electromagnetic field has energy and momenta. Nevertheless, for
Challenge 83 e most everyday situations, the values are negligibly small, as you may want to check.

The L agrangian of electromagnetism

The motion of a charged particle and the related motion of the electromagnetic field can
also be described using a Lagrangian, instead of using the three equations given above.

Ref. 42 * In the part of the text on quantum theory we will see that the exponent of this expression, namely
exp(iq ∮ A μ dx μ )/ħ, usually called the phase factor, can indeed be directly observed in experiments.
** John Henry Poynting (1852–1914) introduced the concept in 1884.
 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion 79

It is not hard to see that the action SCED for a particle in classical electrodynamics can be
Challenge 84 ny symbolically defined by*

SCED = −mc 2 󵐐 dτ − 1
4μ0
󵐐 F ∧∗F − 󵐐 j ∧ A , (51)

which in index notation becomes

∞ dxnμ (s) dxn󰜈 (s)

SCED = −mc 󵐐 󵀌η μ󰜈 ds − 󵐐 󶀣 4μ1 Fμ󰜈 F μ󰜈 + j μ A μ 󶀳 d4 x , (52)
−∞ ds ds M 0

or, in 3-vector notation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ε0 2 1 2
SCED = −mc 2 󵐐 dτ + 󵐐 (q󰑣A − qφ) dtdV + 󵐐 󶀥 E − B 󶀵 dtdV . (53)
2 2μ0

The new part is the measure of the change – or action – due to the electromagnetic field.
The pure field change is given by the term F ∧∗F, and the change due to interaction with
matter is given by the term j ∧ A.
The least action principle, as usual, states that the change in a system is always as small
as possible. The action SCED leads to the evolution equations by requiring that the action
be stationary under variations δ and δ 󳰀 of the positions and of the fields which vanish at
infinity. In other terms, the principle of least action requires that

δS = 0 when xμ = xμ + δμ and A μ = A μ + δ μ󳰀 ,
provided δx μ (θ) → 0 for |θ| → ∞
and δA μ (x󰜈 ) → 0 for |x󰜈 | → ∞ . (54)

Vol. I, page 218 In the same way as in the case of mechanics, using the variational method for the two
Challenge 85 ny variables A and x, we recover the evolution equations for particle position and fields

q μ 󰜈
bμ = F u , ∂ μ F μ󰜈 = j 󰜈 μ0 , and ε μ󰜈ρσ ∂󰜈 Fρσ = 0 , (55)
m 󰜈 Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

which we know already: they are the Lorentz relation and the two field equations. Obvi-
ously, they are equivalent to the variational principle based on SCED . Both descriptions
have to be completed by specifying initial conditions for the particles and the fields, as
well as boundary conditions for the latter. We need the first and zeroth derivatives of the
position of the particles, and the zeroth derivative for the electromagnetic field.
With the Lagrangian (51) all of classical electrodynamics can be described and under-
stood. For the rest of our exploration of electrodynamics, we look at some specific topics
from this vast field.

* The product described by the symbol ∧, ‘wedge’ or ‘hat’, and the duality operator ∗ have a precise mathe-
Ref. 44 matical meaning. The background, the concept of (mathematical) form, carries us too far from our walk.
 80 2 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion

The energy–momentum tensor and its symmetries of motion

We know from classical mechanics that we get the definition of energy and momentum
by using Noether’s theorem. In particular, both the definition and the conservation of
energy and momentum arise from the Lorentz symmetry of the Lagrangian. For example,
we found that relativistic particles have an energy–momentum vector. At the point at
which the particle is located, it describes its energy and momentum.
Since the electromagnetic field is not a localized entity, like a point particle, but an
extended entity, a full description is more involved. In order to describe the energy–
momentum of the electromagnetic field completely, we need to know the flow of energy
and momentum at every point in space, separately for each direction. This makes a de-
scription with a tensor necessary, the so-called energy–momentum tensor T of the elec-
Vol. II, page 181 tromagnetic field.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The electric field times a charge is the force on that charge, or equivalently, its mo-
mentum increase per time. The generalization for the full electromagnetic field F, and
for the full power–force (or 4-force) vector K is

F μ󰜈 j μ = K 󰜈 = ∂ μ T μ󰜈 . (56)

This short equation, which can also be derived from the Lagrangian, contains a lot of
information. In particular, it expresses that every change in energy of the field is the sum
of the energy radiated away (via the energy flow described by the Poynting vector S)
and of change in the kinetic energy of the charges. The equation also makes a similar
statement on the momentum of the electromagnetic field.
The detailed parts of the energy–momentum tensor T are found to be

energy energy flow or

μ󰜈 density momentum density
T =󶀫 󶀻
energy flow or momentum
momentum density flow density
(ε0 E 2 + B 2 /μ0 )/2 ε0 cE × B
u S/c = cp
=󶀥 󶀵=󶀪 ε0 c⋅ −ε0 Ei E j − Bi B j /μ0 󶀺 (57)
cp T
E×B 1/2δi j (ε0 E 2 + B 2 /μ0 )
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

where S = E × B/μ0 is the Poynting vector that describes the energy flow density of the
electromagnetic field. The energy–momentum tensor T obeys a continuity relation: it
describes a conserved quantity.
We can sum up by stating that in nature, energy and momentum are conserved, if
we take into account the momentum and energy of the electromagnetic field. And the
energy–momentum tensor shows again that electrodynamics is a gauge invariant descrip-
tion: the energy and momentum values do not depend on gauge choices.
The energy–momentum tensor, like the Lagrangian, shows that electrodynamics is
Challenge 86 e invariant under motion inversion. If all charges change direction of motion – a situation
often confusingly called ‘time inversion’ – they move backwards along the same paths
they took when moving forward. Every example of motion due to electric or magnetic
 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion 81

F I G U R E 47 Which one is the original landscape? (NOAA).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
causes can also take place backwards.
On the other hand, everyday life shows many electric and magnetic effects which are
not time invariant, such as the breaking of bodies or the burning of electric light bulbs.
Challenge 87 s Can you explain how this fits together?
We also note that charges and mass destroy a symmetry of the vacuum that we men-
Vol. II, page 81 tioned in special relativity: only the vacuum is invariant under conformal transforma-
tions. In particular, only the vacuum is invariant under the spatial inversion r → 1/r.
Any other physical system does not obey conformal symmetry.
To sum up, electrodynamic motion, like all other examples of motion that we have
encountered so far, is deterministic, slower than c, reversible and conserved. This is no
big surprise. Nevertheless, two other symmetries of electromagnetism deserve special
mention.

What is a mirror?
We will study the strange properties of mirrors several times during our walk. We start
with the simplest one first. Everybody can observe, by painting each of their hands in a
different colour, that a mirror does not exchange right and left, as little as it exchanges
up and down; however, a mirror does exchange right and left handedness. In fact, it does
so by exchanging front and back.
Electrodynamics give a second answer: a mirror is a device that switches magnetic
Challenge 88 s north and south poles. Can you confirm this with a diagram?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

But is it always possible to distinguish left from right? This seems easy: this text is
quite different from a derorrim version, as are many other objects in our surroundings.
But take a simple landscape. Are you able to say which of the two pictures of Figure 47
is the original?
Astonishingly, it is actually impossible to distinguish an original picture of nature
from its mirror image if it does not contain any human traces. In other words, everyday
nature is somehow left–right symmetric. This observation is so common that all can-
Vol. V, page 190 didate exceptions, from the jaw movement of ruminating cows to the helical growth of
plants, such as hops, or the spiral direction of snail shells, have been extensively studied.*

* The most famous is the position of the heart. The mechanisms leading to this disposition are still being
investigated. Recent research suggests that the oriented motion of the cilia on embryos, probably in the
 82 2 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion

Challenge 89 s Can you name a few more?

The left–right symmetry of nature appears because everyday nature is described by
gravitation and, as we will see, by electromagnetism. Both interactions share an impor-
tant property: substituting all coordinates in their equations by the negative of their val-
ues leaves the equations unchanged. This means that for any solution of these equations,
i.e., for any naturally occurring system, a mirror image is a possibility that can also occur
naturally. Everyday nature thus cannot distinguish between right and left. Indeed, there
are right and left handers, people with their heart on the left and others with their heart
on the right side, etc.
To explore further this strange aspect of nature, try the following experiment: imagine
you are exchanging radio messages with a Martian; are you able to explain to him what
right and left are, so that when you meet, you are sure you are talking about the same
Challenge 90 s thing?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Actually, the mirror symmetry of everyday nature – also called its parity invariance –
Ref. 46 is so pervasive that most animals cannot distinguish left from right in a deeper sense.
Most animals react to mirror stimuli with mirror responses. It is hard to teach them dif-
ferent ways to react, and it is possible almost only for mammals. The many experiments
performed in this area gave the result that animals have symmetrical nervous systems,
and possibly only humans show lateralization, i.e., a preferred hand and different uses
for the left and the right parts of the brain.
To sum up this digression, classical electrodynamics is left–right symmetric, or parity
Challenge 91 s invariant. Can you show this using its Lagrangian?
Why do metals provide good mirrors? Metals are strong absorbers of light. Any strong
absorber has a metallic shine. This is true for metals, if they are thick enough, but also
for dye or ink crystals. Any material that strongly absorbs a light wavelength also reflects
it efficiently. The cause of the strong absorption of a metal is the electrons inside it; they
can move almost freely and thus absorb most visible light frequencies.
Here is a puzzle: a concave mirror shows an inverted image; so does a plane mirror
if it is partly folded along the horizontal. What happens if this mirror is rotated around
Challenge 92 s the line of sight?

What is the difference between electric and magnetic fields?

Obviously, the standard answer is that electric fields have sources, and magnetic fields
do not; as a result, magnetic fields are small relativistic effects of importance only when
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

charge velocities are high or when electrical fields cancel out.

For situations involving matter, this clear distinction is correct. Up to the present day,
no particle with a magnetic charge, called a magnetic monopole, has ever been found,
Vol. V, page 199 even though its existence is possible in several speculative models of particle physics. If
Ref. 45 region called the node, determines the right–left asymmetry. The deep origin of this asymmetry is not yet
elucidated, however.
Most human bodies have more muscles on the right side for right-handers, such as Albert Einstein and
Pablo Picasso, and correspondingly on the left side for left-handers, such as Charlie Chaplin and Peter
Ustinov. This asymmetry reflects an asymmetry of the human brain, called lateralization, which is essential
to human nature.
Another asymmetry of the human body is the hair whirl on the back of the head; the majority of humans
have only one, and in 80 % of the cases it is left turning. But many people have more than one.
 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion 83

found, the action (51) would have to be modified by the addition of a fourth term, namely
the magnetic current density. However, no such particle has yet been detected, despite
intensive search efforts.
In empty space, when matter is not around, it is possible to take a completely different
view. In empty space the electric and the magnetic fields can be seen as two faces of the
same quantity, since a transformation such as

E → cB
B → −E/c (58)

called (electromagnetic) duality transformation, transforms each vacuum Maxwell equa-

tion into the other. The minus sign is necessary for this. (In fact, there are even more such
Challenge 93 s transformations; can you spot them?) Alternatively, the duality transformation trans-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
forms F into ∗ F. In other words, in empty space we cannot distinguish electric from
magnetic fields. In particular, it is impossible to say, given a field line in vacuum, whether
it is a magnetic or an electric field line.
Matter would be symmetric under duality only if magnetic charges, also called mag-
netic monopoles, could exist. In that case the transformation (58) could be extended to

cρe → ρm , ρm → −cρe . (59)

For a long time, it was thought that duality can be used in the search for the final, unified
Ref. 47 theory of physics. However, this hope has evaporated. The reason for this failure can be
traced back to a small but ugly fact: the electromagnetic duality transformation changes
the sign of the Lagrangian, and thus of the action. Therefore, electromagnetic duality is
not a real symmetry of nature, and thus does not help to reach a deeper understanding
of electromagnetism.
Duality, by the way, is a symmetry that works only in Minkowski space-time, i.e., in
space-times of 3 + 1 dimensions. Mathematically, duality is closely related to the exis-
tence of quaternions, to the possibility of interpreting Lorentz boosts as rotations in 3 + 1
dimensions, and last, but not least, to the possibility of defining other smooth mathemat-
ical structures than the standard one on the space R4 . These mathematical connections
are mysterious for the time being; they somehow point to the special role that four space-
time dimensions play in nature. More details will become apparent in the last volume of
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

our mountain ascent.

Could electrodynamics be different?

Ref. 36 We saw that electrodynamics is based on three ideas: the conservation of charge, the
speed limit for charges and Coulomb’s relation. Could any of these be wrong or need
modification?
Experiments imply that the only candidate for modification is Coulomb’s relation.
Any interaction, such as Coulomb’s relation (4), which acts, for one given observer, be-
tween two particles independently of 3-velocity, must depend on 3-velocity for other in-
ertial observers.* Such an interaction must also depend on the 4-velocity, to ensure the
* This can be deduced from special relativity, from the reasoning of page 46 or from the formula in the
 84 2 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion

requirement from special relativity that the 4-acceleration must be 4-orthogonal to the
4-velocity. The simplest case is an interaction in which the acceleration is proportional
to the 4-velocity. Together with the request that the interaction leaves the rest mass con-
Ref. 48 stant, we then recover electrodynamics. In fact, the requirements of gauge symmetry and
of relativistic invariance also make it impossible to modify electrodynamics. In short, it
does not seem possible to have a behaviour different from 1/r 2 for a classical interaction.
Maybe a tiny deviation from Coulomb’s relation is possible? An inverse square de-
pendence implies a vanishing mass of light and light particles, the photons. Is the mass
Ref. 49 really zero? The issue has been extensively studied. A massive photon would lead to a
wavelength dependence of the speed of light in vacuum, to deviations from the inverse
square ‘law’, to deviations from Ampère’s ‘law’, to the existence of longitudinal electro-
magnetic waves and more. No evidence for these effects has ever been found. A summary
of these studies shows that the photon mass is below 10−53 kg, or maybe 10−63 kg. Some

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
arguments are not universally accepted, thus the limit varies somewhat from researcher
to researcher.
A small non-vanishing mass for the photon would change electrodynamics some-
what. The inclusion of a tiny mass poses no special problems, and the corresponding
Ref. 49 Lagrangian, the so-called Proca Lagrangian, has already been studied, just in case.
Strictly speaking, the photon mass cannot be said to vanish. In particular, a photon
with a Compton wavelength of the radius of the visible universe cannot be distinguished
from one with zero mass through any experiment. This gives a limit mass of 10−69 kg for
the photon. Photons with such a small mass value would not invalidate electrodynamics
as we know it. We note that the experimental limits are still much larger.
Interestingly, a non-zero mass of the photon would imply the lack of magnetic
monopoles, as the symmetry between electric and magnetic fields would be broken. It is
therefore important on the one hand to try to improve the experimental mass limit for
photons, and on the other hand to explore whether the limit due to the universe’s size
has any implications for this issue. The question is still open.
In summary, it seems extremely difficult to find modifications of electrodynamics that
do not disagree with experiment. Electrodynamics is fixed once for all.

The brain: the toughest challenge for electrodynamics

Researchers working on classical electrodynamics still face a fascinating experimental
and theoretical issue: understanding the process of thought. Researchers face two chal-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

lenges in this domain. First, they must find ways to model the thought process. Second,
the technology to measure the currents in the brain must be extended. In both domains,
recent progress has been spectacular.
Important research has been carried out on many levels of thought modelling. For
example, research using computer tomography, PET scans and MRI imaging has shown
that the distinction between the conscious and the unconscious can be measured: it has a
biological basis. Conscious and unconscious thoughts happen in different brain regions.
Psychological processes, such as repression of unpleasant thoughts, can actually be ob-
served in brain scans. Modellers of brain mechanisms are learning that various concepts

footnote of page 75 in volume II.

 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion 85

F I G U R E 48 Typing a letter and playing video tennis using thought alone (© Fraunhofer FIRST).

of psychology are descriptions for actual physical processes. This research approach is
still in its infancy, but very promising.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
About the specific aspects of the working of the brain, such as learning, storage, recog-
nition of shapes, location of sound sources or map formation, modern neurobiology and
animal experimentation have allowed deducing models that make quantitative predic-
Page 214 tions. More on this will be told below.
On the experimental side, research into magnetoencephalography devices is making
rapid progress. The magnetic fields produced by brain currents are as low as 10 fT, which
require sensors at liquid helium temperature and a good shielding of background noise.
Improving the sensitivity and the spatial resolution of these systems is a central task. Also
computer models and algorithms are making rapid progress.
The whole programme would be complete as soon as, in a distant future, a sensitive
measuring apparatus could detect what is going on inside the brain and then could de-
duce or ‘read’ the thoughts of a person from these measurements. Thought reading might
be the most complex of all challenges that science is facing. Clearly, such a feat will re-
quire involved and expensive machinery, so that there is no danger for a misuse of the
technique. (There are also good reasons to believe that actual thought reading will never
be possible in this way, due to the lack of localization of cognitive thought inside the
brain and due to the variations in cognitive processing from one person to another.) But
the understanding and modelling of the brain will be a useful technology in numerous
aspects of daily life, especially for the disabled.
On the path towards thought reading, the small progress that has been achieved so far
is already fascinating. Wearing a cap full of electric contacts (thus without any surgery Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

on the brain) and looking at a computer screen, it is now possible to type letters using
the power of thought alone. Such a system is shown in Figure 48. The user controls the
computer simply by imagining that he turns the arrow on the screen with his right hand.
The brain currents created by the imagination process are read out and translated into
Ref. 50 computer commands by an electronic device. The system, based on neural network al-
gorithms, works after only 20 minutes of training with a particular person. In this way,
the system allows people who are fully paralysed to communicate with others again. The
system is so fast that it allows playing ‘mental video tennis’ on a computer screen.
Typing with thought alone is possible because the brain region responsible for the
hand is near the skull, so that signals for hand rotation can be read out with sufficient
spatial resolution by the electrodes on the cap. Researchers know that resolution limita-
tions do not allow reading out the commands for single fingers in this way. For such high
 86 2 the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion

resolution tasks, electrodes still need to be implanted inside the relevant brain region.
However, at present the functional lifetime for such electrodes is only a few months, so
that the dream of controlling machines or even artificial limbs in this way is still distant.

Challenges and fun curiosities about electrodynamics

Not only animals, also plants can feel electric and magnetic fields. At least for magnetic
fields, the sensors seem to use very similar mechanisms to those used by animals and
bacteria.
∗∗
If you calculate the Poynting vector for a charged magnet – or simpler, a point charge
near a magnet – you get a surprising result: the electromagnetic energy flows in circles

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
around the magnet. How is this possible? Where does this angular momentum come
Challenge 94 s from?
Worse, any atom is an example of such a system – actually of two such systems. Why
Ref. 51 is this effect not taken into account in calculations in quantum theory?
∗∗
Perfectly spherical electromagnetic waves are impossible in nature. Can you show this
Challenge 95 s using Maxwell’s equation of electromagnetism, or even without them?
∗∗
Mirrors exist in many forms. An important mirror for radio waves is the ionosphere; es-
pecially during the night, when certain absorbing layers disappear, the ionosphere allows
to receive radio stations from far away. When the weather is favourable, it is possible to
receive radio stations sending from the antipodes. Another radio mirror is the Moon;
with modern receivers it is possible to receive radio signals and, since a few years, even
television signals reflected by the Moon.
∗∗
In the past, textbooks often said that the Poynting vector, the electromagnetic energy
flow, was not uniquely defined. Even Richard Feynman talks about this issue in his Lec-
tures on Physics, in section 27-4. Can you show that there is no such ambiguity in the
Challenge 96 s Poynting vector, and that those textbooks are all wrong?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Any wall plug is a dipole driven by an alternating electric field. Why does a wall plug,
Challenge 97 s delivering 230 V or 100 V at 50 Hz or 60 Hz, not radiate electromagnetic fields?
∗∗
Challenge 98 s Are there electromagnetic motors in biological systems?

Summary
In summary, the electromagnetic field carries energy, linear momentum and angular mo-
mentum. It is thus appropriate to say that the electromagnetic field moves. The motion
the description of electromagnetic field evolu tion 87

of the electromagnetic field can be visualized as the motion of its electric and its mag-
netic field lines. The motion of the electromagnetic field is described by a least action
principle.
We are directly lead to ask: what then is the nature of light?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 3

WHAT IS LIGHT?

T
he nature of light has fascinated explorers of nature since at least the time of
Ref. 52 he ancient Greeks. The answer appeared in 1848, when Gustav Kirchhoff noted

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
hat the experimental values on both sides of the equation

1
c= . (60)
󵀂 0 μ0
ε

agreed within measurement errors. This suggested the answer to the question two thou-
sand years earlier: light is an electromagnetic wave. Ten years later, in 1858, Bernhard
Riemann* proved mathematically that any electromagnetic wave must propagate with
a speed c given by the above equation. Note that the right-hand side contains electric
and magnetic quantities, and the left-hand side is an optical quantity. The expression of
Kirchhoff and Riemann thus unifies electromagnetism and optics. The modern value for
the speed of electromagnetic waves, usually called c from Latin celeritas, is

c = 299 792 458 m/s . (61)

The value for c is an integer number, because the meter is nowadays defined in such a
Page 286 way as to exactly achieve this number.
In 1865, Maxwell summarized all data on electricity and magnetism collected in the
2500 years in his equations. Almost nobody read his papers, because he wrote them us-
ing quaternions. The equations were then simplified independently by Heinrich Hertz
and Oliver Heaviside. They deduced the original result of Riemann: in the case of empty
space, the equations of the electromagnetic potentials can be written as
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∂2 φ ∂2 A x ∂ A y ∂2 A z
2
◻ A = 0 or, equivalently ε0 μ0 + + + =0. (62)
∂t 2 ∂x 2 ∂y 2 ∂z 2

Challenge 99 e This evolution equation is a wave equation, because it admits solutions of the type

A(t, x) = A 0 sin(ωt − kx + δ) = A 0 sin(2π f t − 2πx/λ + δ) , (63)

* Bernhard Riemann (b. 1826 Breselenz, d. 1866 Selasca), important German mathematician. A genial math-
ematician, he also studied curved space, providing several of the mathematical and conceptual foundations
of general relativity, but then died at an early age.
 what is light? 89

F I G U R E 49 White
light travelling
through a glass prism
(photograph by Susan
Schwartzenberg,
© Exploratorium www.
exploratorium.edu).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
which are commonly called harmonic plane electromagnetic waves. We recall that a wave
Vol. I, page 253 in physics is any propagating imbalance, and that a harmonic wave is a wave described
by a sine curve.
Such a harmonic plane electromagnetic wave satisfies equation (62) for any value of
amplitude A 0 , of phase δ, and of angular frequency ω, provided the angular frequency
and the wave vector k satisfy the relation

1 1 󵀄 2
ω(k) = k or ω(k) = k . (64)
󵀂 0 μ0
ε 󵀂 0 μ0
ε

The relation ω(k) between the angular frequency and the wave vector, the so-called dis-
persion relation, is the main property of any type of wave, be it a sound wave, a water
wave, an electromagnetic wave, or any other kind.
The specific dispersion relation (64) is linear and implies a phase velocity, the velocity
with which wave crests and troughs move, given by ω/k = 1/󵀂ε0 μ0 = c, thus reproduc-
ing the result by Kirchhoff and Riemann.
In empty space, experiments confirm that the phase velocity c is independent of the
frequency of the wave. The phase velocity thus characterizes electromagnetic waves, and
distinguishes them from all other types of waves in nature.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

What are electromagnetic waves?

To get a clearer idea of electromagnetic waves, we explore their properties. The wave
equation (62) for the electromagnetic field is linear in the field; this means that the sum
of two allowed situations is itself an allowed situation. Mathematically speaking, any su-
perposition of two solutions is also a solution. We therefore know that electromagnetic
waves must show interference, as all linear waves do.
Linearity implies that two waves can cross each other without disturbing each other,
and that electromagnetic waves can travel undisturbed across static electromagnetic
fields.
Linearity also means that every electromagnetic wave can be described as a super-
 90 3 what is light?

space

Electric field

wavelength λ

F I G U R E 50 The general
structure of a plane,
Magnetic Field monochromatic and
linearly polarized
electromagnetic wave at
a specific instant of time.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 51 A plane, monochromatic and linearly polarized electromagnetic wave, showing the
evolution of the electric field, the magnetic field, and again the electric field, in a further visualization
(Mpg films © Thomas Weiland).

F I G U R E 52 Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894).

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

position of harmonic, or pure sine waves, each of which is described by expression

(63). The simplest possible electromagnetic wave, the harmonic plane wave with linear
Page 94 polarization, is illustrated in Figure 50. Note that for this simplest type of waves, the
electric and the magnetic field are in phase. (Can you prove this experimentally and by
calculation?) The surfaces formed by all points of maximal field intensity are parallel
planes, spaced by (half the) wavelength; these planes move along the direction of the
propagation with the phase velocity.
After Riemann and Maxwell predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves, in the
years between 1885 and 1889, Heinrich Hertz* discovered and studied them. He fabri-

* Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (b. 1857 Hamburg, d. 1894 Bonn), important Hamburger theoretical and experi-
mental physicist. The unit of frequency is named after him. Despite his early death, Hertz was a central
what is light? 91

spark
transmitter

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
battery receiver 1 receiver 2

F I G U R E 53 A reconstruction of one of the first transmitters and receivers of electromagnetic waves by

Heinrich Hertz (© Fondazione Guglielmo Marconi).

cated a very simple transmitter and receiver for 2 GHz waves, shown in Figure 53. Such
waves are still used today: cordless telephones and the last generation of mobile phones
work at this frequency – though the transmitters and the receivers look somewhat dif-
ferently nowadays. Such waves are now also called radio waves, since physicists tend to
call all moving force fields radiation, recycling somewhat incorrectly a Greek term that
originally meant ‘light emission.’
Today Hertz’s experiment can be repeated in a much simpler way. As shown in
Figure 54, a budget of a few euro is sufficient to remotely switch on a light emitting diode
with a gas lighter. (After each activation, the coherer has to be gently tapped, in order to
get ready for the next activation.) Attaching longer wires as antennas and ground allows
this set-up to achieve transmission distances up to 30 m.
Hertz also measured the speed of the waves he produced. In fact, you can also mea-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

sure the speed at home, with a chocolate bar and a (older) kitchen microwave oven. A
microwave oven emits radio waves at 2.5 GHz – not far from Hertz’s value. Inside the
oven, these waves form standing waves. Just put the chocolate bar (or a piece of cheese)
in the oven and switch the power off as soon as melting begins. You will notice that the
bar melts at regularly spaced spots. These spots are half a wavelength apart. From the
measured wavelength value and the frequency, the speed of light and radio waves simply
follows as the product of the two.
If you are not convinced, you can measure the speed directly, by telephoning a friend
on another continent, if you can make sure of using a satellite line (choose a low cost

figure in the development of electromagnetism, in the explanation of Maxwell’s theory and in the unfold-
ing of radio communication technology. More about him on page 202 in volume I.
 92 3 what is light?

spark transmitter

receiver

F I G U R E 54 The simplest radio transmitter possible, a gas lighter and a wire, together with the simplest
radio receiver possible, built from a battery pack, a light emitting diode, and a simple coherer made

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
from a ball pen housing, two screws and some metal powder (© Guido Pegna).

provider). There is about half a second additional delay between the end of a sentence
and the answer of the friend, compared with normal conversation. In this half second,
the signal goes up to the geostationary satellite, down again and returns the same way.
This half second gives a speed of c ≈ 4 ⋅ 36 000 km/0.5 s ≈ 3 ⋅ 105 km/s, which is close to
the precise value. Radio amateurs who reflect their signals from the Moon can perform
the same experiment and achieve higher precision.
In summary, electromagnetic waves exist and move with the speed of light.

Light as an electromagnetic wave

But the electromagnetic wave equation is much more interesting. The wave equation
confirmed earlier predictions that light itself is an electromagnetic wave, albeit with a
much higher frequency and much shorter wavelength. Let us see how we can check this.
It is easy to confirm the wave properties of light; indeed they were known already long
before Maxwell. In fact, the first to suggest that light is a (kind of) wave was, around the
year 1678, the important physicist Christiaan Huygens.* You can confirm that light is a
wave with your own fingers. Simply place your hand one or two centimetres in front of
your eye, look towards the sky through the gap between the middle and the index finger
and let the two fingers almost touch. You will see a number of dark lines crossing the gap. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

These lines are the interference pattern formed by the light behind the slit created by the
fingers. Interference is the name given to the amplitude patterns that appear when several
waves superpose.** The interference patterns depend on the spacing between the fingers.
This experiment therefore allows you to estimate the wavelength of light, and thus, if you
Challenge 101 s know its speed, its frequency. Can you do this?

* Christiaan Huygens (b. 1629 ’s Gravenhage, d. 1695 Hofwyck) was one of the main physicists and mathe-
maticians of his time. Huygens clarified the concepts of mechanics; he also was one of the first to show that
light is a wave. He wrote influential books on probability theory, clock mechanisms, optics and astronomy.
Among other achievements, Huygens showed that the Orion Nebula consists of stars, discovered Titan, the
moon of Saturn, and showed that the rings of Saturn consist of rock. (This is in contrast to Saturn itself,
whose density is lower than that of water.)
Challenge 100 s ** Where does the energy go in an interference pattern?
 what is light? 93

F I G U R E 55 The primary and secondary rainbow, and the supernumerary bows below the primary bow
(© Antonio Martos and Wolfgang Hinz).

Historically, another effect was central in convincing everybody that light was a wave:

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
supernumerary rainbows, the additional bows below the main or primary rainbow. If
we look carefully at a rainbow, below the main red–yellow–green–blue–violet bow, we
Ref. 53 observe weaker, additional green, blue and violet bows. Depending on the intensity of
the rainbow, several of these supernumerary rainbows can be observed. They are due to
interference of light triggered by the water droplets, as Thomas Young showed around
1803.* Indeed, the repetition distance of the supernumerary bows depends on the radius
of the average water droplets that form them. (Details about the normal rainbows are
Page 109 given below.) Supernumerary rainbows were central in convincing people that light is a
wave. It seems that in those times scientists either did not trust their own fingers, or did
not have any.
There are many other ways in which the wave character of light can be made apparent.
Maybe the most beautiful is an experiment carried out by a team of Dutch physicists in
Ref. 54 1990. They simply measured the light transmitted through a slit in a metal plate. It turns
out that the transmitted intensity depends on the width of the slit. Their surprising result
is shown in Figure 56. Can you explain the origin of the unexpected intensity steps in
Challenge 102 ny the curve?
Numerous other experiments on the creation, detection and measurement of electro-
magnetic waves were performed between the seventeenth and the twentieth century. For
example, in 1800, William Herschel discovered infrared light using a prism and a ther-
Challenge 103 s mometer. (Can you guess how?) In 1801, Johann Wilhelm Ritter (1776–1810) a more than
colourful figure of natural Romanticism, discovered ultraviolet light using silver chloride,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

AgCl, and again a prism.

* Thomas Young (1773 Milverton–1829), read the bible at two, spoke Latin at four; a doctor of medicine, he
became a professor of physics. He introduced the concept of interference into optics, explaining Newtonian
rings and supernumerary rainbows; he was the first person to determine light’s wavelength, a concept that
he also introduced, and its dependence on colour. He was the first to deduce the three-colour vision expla-
nation of the eye and, after reading of the discovery of polarization, explained light as a transverse wave.
In short, Young discovered most of what people learn at secondary school about light. He was a universal
talent: he also worked on the deciphering of hieroglyphs, studied languages and introduced the term ‘Indo-
European’, explored ship building and many engineering problems. Young collaborated with Fraunhofer
and Fresnel. In Britain his ideas on light were not accepted, since Newton’s followers crushed all opposing
views. Towards the end of his life, his results were finally made known to the physics community by Fresnel
and Helmholtz.
 94 3 what is light?

transmitted light power

(preliminary figure)

F I G U R E 56 The light power transmitted through a

slit width
slit as function of its width.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 57 Two Gaussian beams interfering at an angle (© Rüdiger Paschotta).

The result of all these experiments is that electromagnetic waves, including light, can
be primarily distinguished by their wavelength or frequency. The main categories are
Page 98 listed in Table 14. For visible light, the wavelength lies between 0.4 μm (violet) and 0.8 μm
(red). The wavelength of light determines its colour.
At the end of the twentieth century the final confirmation of the wave character of
light became possible. Using quite sophisticated experiments. researchers measured the
Ref. 55 oscillation frequency of light directly. The value, between 375 and 750 THz, is as predicted.
The value is so high that its detection was impossible for a long time. But with these
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

modern experiments the dispersion relation (64) of light has finally been confirmed in
Ref. 56 all its details to extremely high precision.

Polarization and electromagnetic waves

We are left with one additional question about light. If light oscillates, in which direc-
tion does this occur? The answer is hidden in the parameter A 0 in expression (63), but
shown in Figure 50 and Figure 51. The fields in electromagnetic waves oscillate in direc-
tions perpendicular to their motion. Therefore, even for identical frequency and phase,
waves can still differ: they can have different polarization directions. For example, the
polarization of radio transmitters determines whether radio antennas of receivers have
to be kept horizontal or vertical. Also for light, polarization is easily achieved, e.g. by
 what is light? 95

primary secondary
infrared infrared
rainbow rainbow

secondary
visible
rainbow

primary
visible
rainbow

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 58 The same rainbow
in the visible and in the infrared,
showing how infrared comes
before red (© Stefan Zeiger).

shining it through a stretched plastic film. When the polarization of light was discov-
ered in 1808 by the French physicist Louis Malus (1775–1812), it definitively established
the wave nature of light. Malus discovered it when he looked at the strange double im-
ages produced by calcite, a transparent crystal found in many minerals. Calcite (CaCO3 )
splits light beams into two – it is birefringent – and polarizes them differently. That is the
reason that calcite is part of every crystal collection.
If you ever get hold of a piece of transparent calcite, do look through it at something
written on paper. Figure 59 shows two examples. (Can you show that trirefringence, if
Challenge 104 d defined as the appearance of three images, cannot exist?)
By the way, the human eye is almost unable to detect polarization, in contrast to the
eyes of many insects, spiders and certain birds. Honey bees use polarization to deduce
the position of the Sun, even when it is hidden behind clouds, and use the effect for Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 57 navigation. Some beetles of the genus Scarabeus even use the polarization of moonlight
for navigation, and many insects use polarization of sunlight to distinguish water sur-
Challenge 105 s faces from mirages. (Can you find out how?) But in 1844, the Austrian mineralogist Wil-
Ref. 58 helm Haidinger discovered that the human eye has the same ability: there is a way to
observe the polarization of light with the unaided human eye. The best way to observe
the effect is by looking at a distance of about an arms’s length on a white LCD screen
and slowly tilt your head. You will note an extremely faint yellow or yellow-blue pattern,
about two finger’s wide, that is superimposed on the white background. This pattern is
called polarization brush or Haidinger’s brush. A rough illustration is given in Figure 60.
The weak effect disappears after a few seconds if the head stops rotating along the line of
sight. Haidinger’s brush is due to the birefringence of the cornea and the lens of the hu-
Ref. 59 man eye, together with the morphology of the macula lutea. The cornea acts as a radially
96 3 what is light?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 59 Birefringence in crystals: calcite lying on crossed lines (top left, crystal size around 4 cm),
rutile lying on an ink spot, photographed along the optical axis (middle) and at an angle to it (top right,
crystal size around 1 cm), and an octagonal sodium vanadate crystal doped with manganese, showing
three different behaviours (bottom, crystal diameter 1.9 cm) (© Roger Weller/Cochise College, Brad
Amos, Martin Pietralla).

Haidinger’s brush
(color intensity human eye
exagerated)

polarized light
E

B
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

macula

cornea
and lens,
2° to 4° with their
radial structure

F I G U R E 60 Haidinger’s brush and its origin in the human eye.

oriented, colour-dependent polarizer, whereas the yellow spot acts as a radially oriented
analyser. In short, the human eye is indeed able to see the directions in which the electric
 what is light? 97

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 61 Left: the electric field of a Gaussian, linearly polarized electromagnetic wave (a beam); right:
a Gaussian, circularly polarized beam (Quicktime film © José Antonio Díaz Navas).

and magnetic field of light are oscillating.

Haidinger’s brush, being yellow, is also visible in the blue sky, provided that the air
is clear. (Indeed, it is easily drowned out by multiple scattering, and therefore provides
a test of atmospheric transparency.) In the sky, Haidinger’s brush is barely the size of a Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

thumbnail at arm’s length. (The angular size is the angular size of the macula.) The yellow
arm of the cross points to the Sun, if you look about 90° away from it, high in the sky.
To see it really clearly, hold a polaroid (or polaroid sunglasses) up to look through, and
rotate it about the line of sight.
Note that all possible polarizations of light form a continuous set. However, a gen-
eral plane wave can be seen as the superposition of two orthogonal, linearly polarized
waves with different amplitudes and different phases. Most books show pictures of plane,
linearized electrodynamic waves. Essentially, electric fields look like water waves gener-
alized to three dimensions, the same for magnetic fields, and the two are perpendicular
Challenge 106 ny to each other. Can you confirm this?
Interestingly, a generally polarized plane wave can also be seen as the superposition
of right and left circularly polarized waves. An illustration of a circularly polarized wave
 98 3 what is light?

is given in Figure 61.

Light and other electromagnetic waves

The experiments so far show that electromagnetic waves exist and move with the same
speed as light. To confirm that light waves are indeed electromagnetic is more difficult.
The most convincing proof would be to repeat Hertz’s experiments for light. In Hertz’s
experiment, shown in Figure 53, the receiver is a simple open metal circle; when the
wave – more precisely, its magnetic field – arrives, a spark is generated and the wave is
thus detected. In an almost incredible feat of miniaturization, in 2009, the research group
Ref. 60 of Kobus Kuipers managed to make metal rings much smaller than a micrometre, and
repeat the experiment for light. They could clearly discern the maxima and minima of
waves, as well as their polarization. They thus showed that light is an electromagnetic

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
wave in exactly the same way as Hertz did for radio waves.
Of course, people in the 19th century had less technology at their disposal and were
not easily convinced. They had to look for other ways to show that light is electromag-
netic in nature. Now, since the evolution equations of the electrodynamic field are linear,
Challenge 107 e additional electric or magnetic fields alone do not influence the motion of light. On the
other hand, we know that electromagnetic waves are emitted only by accelerated charges,
and that all light is emitted from matter. It thus follows that matter is full of electromag-
netic fields and accelerated electric charges. This in turn implies that the influence of
matter on light can be understood from its internal electromagnetic fields and, in particu-
lar, that subjecting matter to an external electromagnetic field should change the light it
emits, the way matter interacts with light, or generally, the material properties as a whole.
Searching for effects of electricity and magnetism on matter has been a main effort of
physicists for over a hundred years. For example, electric fields influence the light trans-
mission of oil, an effect discovered by John Kerr in 1875.* Also the discovery that certain
gases change colour when subject to a field yielded several Nobel Prizes for physics. With
time, many more influences on light-related properties by matter subjected to fields were
found. An extensive list is given in the table on page 179. It turns out that apart from a
few exceptions the effects can all be described by the electromagnetic Lagrangian (51),
Page 79 or equivalently, by Maxwell’s equations (55). In summary, classical electrodynamics in-
deed unifies the description of electricity, magnetism and optics; all phenomena in these
fields, from the rainbow to radio and from lightning to electric motors, are found to be
different aspects of the evolution of the electromagnetic field.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

After two centuries of research, it became clear that light is only a very small section
of the full spectrum of electromagnetic waves, which contains the waves from the smallest
possible to the largest possible wavelengths. The full spectrum is given in the following
table.
TA B L E 14 The electromagnetic spectrum.

Fre- Wa v e - Name Main Appearance Use

quency length properties
3⋅ 10−18 Hz 1026 m Lower frequency limit see the section on cosmology

* John Kerr (1824–1907), Scottish physicist, friend and collaborator of William Thomson.
what is light? 99

Fre- Wa v e - Name Main Appearance Use

quency length properties

< 10 Hz > 30 Mm Quasistatic fields intergalactic, power transmission,

galactic, stellar and accelerating and
planetary fields, deflecting cosmic
brain, electrical fish radiation
Radio waves electronic devices
10 Hz– 30 Mm– ELW go round the nerve cells, power transmission,
50 kHz 6 km globe, penetrate electromechanical communication
into water, devices through metal walls,
penetrate metal communication with
submarines www.vlf.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
it
50 – 6 km– LW follow Earth’s emitted by radio
500 kHz 0.6 km curvature, felt by thunderstorms communications,
nerves (‘bad telegraphy, inductive
weather nerves’) heating
500 – 600 m– MW reflected by night radio
1500 kHz 200 m sky
1.5 – 200 m–10 m SW circle world if emitted by stars radio transmissions,
30 MHz reflected by the radio amateurs,
ionosphere, spying
destroy hot air
balloons
15 – 20 m–2 m VHF allow battery emitted by Jupiter remote controls,
150 MHz operated closed networks, tv,
transmitters radio amateurs, radio
navigation, military,
police, taxi
150 – 2 m–0.2 m UHF idem, line of radio, walkie-talkies,
1500 MHz sight propagation tv, mobile phones,
internet via cable,
satellite
communication,
bicycle speedometers
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Microwaves
1.5 – 20 cm–2 cm SHF idem, absorbed night sky, emitted radio astronomy,
15 GHz by water by hydrogen atoms used for cooking
(2.45 GHz),
telecommunications,
radar
15 – 20 mm– EHF idem, absorbed
150 GHz 2 mm by water
Infrared allows night emitted by every satellite photography
vision warm object of Earth, astronomy
100 3 what is light?

Fre- Wa v e - Name Main Appearance Use

quency length properties
0.3 – 1000 –3 μm IRC or sunlight, living seeing through
100 THz far beings clothes, envelopes
infrared and teeth
100 – 3 μm– IRB or sunlight used for optical fibre
210 THz 1.4 μm medium communications for
infrared telephone and cable
television
210 – 1400– IRA or penetrates for sunlight, radiation healing of wounds,
384 THz 780 nm near several cm into from hot bodies rheumatism, sport
infrared human skin physiotherapy,
hidden illumination

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
375 – 800– Light not (much) heat (‘hot light’), definition of
750 THz 400 nm absorbed by air, lasers & chemical straightness,
detected by the reactions enhancing
eye (up to over e.g. phosphor photosynthesis in
900 nm at oxidation, firefliesagriculture,
sufficient power) (‘cold light’) photodynamic
therapy,
hyperbilirubinaemia
treatment
384 – 780–620 nm Red penetrate flesh blood alarm signal, used for
484 THz breast imaging Ref. 61
700 nm Laboratory primary red filtered tungsten colour reference for
lamp printing, painting,
illumination and
displays
484 – 620–587 nm Orange various fruit attracts birds and
511 THz insects
511 – 587–571 nm Yellow majority of flowers idem; best
525 THz background for
reading black text
525 – 571–488 nm Green maximum eye algae and plants highest luminous
614 THz sensitivity efficiency response
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

(‘felt brightness’) per

light energy for the
human eye
546.1 nm Laboratory primary green mercury lamp colour reference
614 – 488–433 nm Blue sky, gems, water
692 THz
435.8 nm Laboratory primary blue mercury lamp colour reference
692 – 433–380 nm Indigo, flowers, gems
789 THz violet
Ultraviolet
what is light? 101

Fre- Wa v e - Name Main Appearance Use

quency length properties
789 – 380–315 nm UVA penetrate 1 mm emitted by Sun, seen by certain birds,
952 THz into skin, darken stars and flames integrated circuit
it, produce fabrication
vitamin D,
suppress immune
system, cause
skin cancer,
destroy eye lens
0.95 – 315–280 nm UVB idem, destroy idem idem
1.07 PHz DNA, cause skin
cancer

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
1.07 – 280–100 nm UVC form oxygen emitted by Sun, disinfection, water
3.0 PHz radicals from air, stars and welding purification, waste
kill bacteria, arcs disposal, integrated
penetrate 10 μm circuit fabrication
into skin
3 –24 PHz 100–13 nm EUV sky maps, silicon
lithography
X-rays penetrate emitted by stars, imaging human
materials plasmas and black tissue
holes
24 – 13–1.3 nm Soft idem synchrotron idem
240 PHz X-rays radiation
> 240 PHz < 1.2 nm Hard idem emitted when fast crystallography,
or > 1 keV X-rays electrons hit matter structure
determination
> 12 EHz < 24 pm γ-rays idem radioactivity, chemical analysis,
or cosmic rays disinfection,
> 50 keV astronomy
2 ⋅ 1043 Hz ≈ 10−35 m Planck limit see last volume of this series
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The slowness of progress in physics

Gustav Kirchhoff ’s and Bernhard Riemann’s expression from the 1850s for the speed of
light and all other electromagnetic waves

1
c= (65)
󵀆ε0 μ0

is so strange that we should be intrigued whenever we see it. Something essential is miss-
ing. The expression states that the speed c is independent of the proper motion of the
observer measuring the electromagnetic field and independent of the speed of the emit-
 102 3 what is light?

ting source. In other words, the speed of light is predicted to be independent of the lamp
speed and independent of the observer speed. This is indeed confirmed by all experi-
ments.
In addition, no observer can outrun light. In other words, light does not behave like
a stream of bullets: the speed of bullet depends on the speed of the gun and of the target.
A target can always outrun a bullet, if it moves rapidly enough. The speed of light is a
limit speed.
Experiments confirm that also the speed of radio waves, of X-rays or of γ-rays is inde-
pendent of the transmitter and the receiver and has the same value as the speed of light.
All this is contained in expression (65).
In short, the speed c is invariant and is the limit energy speed in nature. Incredibly, no-
body explored the consequences of this invariance until Lorentz and a few others started
doing so in the 1890s. The theory of relativity remained undiscovered for two genera-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
tions! As in so many other cases, the progress of physics was much slower than necessary.
The invariance of the speed of light is the essential point that distinguishes special rel-
ativity from Galilean physics. Since every electromagnetic device – such as every electric
motor – makes use of expression (65), every electromagnetic device is a working proof
of special relativity.

Another look at electromagnetic radiation

Electromagnetic waves of lower frequency are commonly used to transmit mobile phone
signals, and television, radio and satellite programs. Like light, radio waves are due to
moving electrons. In everyday life, light is (usually) generated by electrons accelerated
inside atoms or molecules. Radio waves, which have lower frequency and thus larger
wavelength, are more easily generated by electrons that are accelerated in metals roughly
of the size of the wavelength; such pieces of metal are called antennas.
Radio waves emitted by a hand-held device can carry signals round the Earth. In other
words, radio waves have a large range. How is this possible? It turns out that the field
strength of radio waves decreases as 1/r, where r is the distance from the source. The
field strength thus decreases much more slowly than for static fields, which decrease as
Ref. 62 1/r 2 . Why is this the case?
The slow 1/r dependence of radio waves can be understood qualitatively from the
drawing shown in Figure 62. It shows the electric field around a charged particle that
undergoes the simplest possible accelerated motion: a bounce on a wall. In fact, the last,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

lower diagram is sufficient to show that the transverse field, given by the kink in the
Challenge 108 d electric field lines, decreases as 1/r. Can you deduce the dependence?
If we perform the construction of the field lines for a charge that undergoes repeated
bounces, we get field lines with regularly spaced kinks that move away from the source.
For a charge undergoing harmonic motion, we get the field lines shown in Figure 63.
The figure thus shows the mechanism of the simplest antenna (or light source) one can
imagine.
The magnitude of the transverse electric field can also be used to deduce the relation
between the acceleration a of a charge q and the radiated electromagnetic power P. First,
the transverse electric field (calculated in the last challenge) has to be squared, to give
the local electric energy density. Then it has to be doubled, to include magnetic energy.
what is light? 103

circle radius is ct, where t is the time

since the bounce took place

actual charge
position

wall

charge position
had it not
bounced

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
electrical field lines

F I G U R E 62
Constructing, in three
steps, the electrical
complete field around a
electrical field lines charged particle
bouncing from a wall.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 63 The electrical field around a

particle oscillating in vertical direction
(Quicktime film © Daniel Schroeder).
 104 3 what is light?

F I G U R E 64 The electrical field around

an oscillating dipole (Quicktime film
© Daniel Weiskopf ).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Finally, we have to integrate over all angles; this gives a factor of 2/3. In total we get

q 2 a2
P= . (66)
6πε0 c 3

The total radiated power P thus depends on the square of the acceleration and on the
square of the charge that is being accelerated. This is the so-called Larmor formula. It
shows why radio transmitters need power supplies and allows deducing how large they
need to be. Note that Figure 62 and Figure 63 and also show that transmitter antennas
have a preferred direction of power emission.
Usually, electromagnetic radiation is not produced by oscillating charges, but by oscil-
lating dipoles. A visualization of the electric field is shown in Figure 64. At large distances,
a wave section can be approximated as a plane wave.

How does the world look when riding on a light beam?

At the end of the nineteenth century, the teenager Albert Einstein read a book series by
Aaron Bernstein discussing the speed of light. The book asked what would happen if an
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 63
observer moved at the same speed as light. Einstein thought much about the issue, and
in particular, asked himself what kind of electromagnetic field he would observe in that
case. Einstein later explained that this Gedanken experiment convinced him already at
that young age that nothing could travel at the speed of light, since the field observed
Challenge 109 s would have a property not found in nature. Can you find out which one he meant?
Riding on a light beam situation would have strange consequences:
— You would have no mirror image, like a vampire.
— Light would not be oscillating, but would be a static field.
— Nothing would move, like in the tale of sleeping beauty.
But also at speeds near the velocity of light observations would be interesting. You would:
 what is light? 105

— see a lot of light coming towards you and almost no light from the sides or from
behind; the sky would be blue/white in the front and red/black behind;
— observe that everything around happens very very slowly;
— experience the smallest dust particle as a deadly bullet.
Challenge 110 s Can you think of more strange consequences? It is rather reassuring that our planet
moves rather slowly through its environment, when compared to the speed of light.

Can one touch light?

Ref. 64 If a little glass bead is put on top of a powerful laser, the bead remains suspended in
mid-air, as shown in Figure 65.* This example of optical levitation proves that light has
Vol. I, page 90 momentum. Therefore, contrary to what we said in the beginning of our mountain as-
cent, images can be touched! In fact, the ease with which objects can be pushed even has

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
a special name. For planets and planetoids, it is called the albedo, and for general objects
it is called the reflectivity, abbreviated as r.
Like each type of electromagnetic field, and like every kind of wave, light carries en-
Challenge 111 e ergy; the energy flow T per surface and time is

1 1
T= E×B giving an average ⟨T⟩ = E B . (67)
μ0 2μ0 max max

Obviously, light also has a momentum P. It is related to the energy E by

E
P= . (68)
c

Challenge 112 e As a result, the pressure p exerted by light on a body is given by

T
p= (1 + r) (69)
c
where for black bodies we have that a reflectivity r = 0 and for mirrors r = 1; other bodies
have values in between. What is your guess for the amount of pressure due to sunlight on
Challenge 113 s a black surface of one square metre? Is this the reason that we feel more pressure during
the day than during the night?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

If lasers are not available, rather delicate equipment is needed to detect the momen-
tum or the radiation pressure of light. Already in 1619, Johannes Kepler had suggested in
De cometis that the tails of comets exist only because the light of the Sun hits the small
dust particles that detach from it. For this reason, the tail always points away from the
Challenge 114 e Sun, as you might want to check at the next opportunity. Today, we know that Kepler
was right; but proving the hypothesis is not easy.
In order to detect the radiation pressure of light, in 1873, William Crookes** invented

* The heaviest object that has been levitated with a laser had a mass of 20 g; the laser used was enormous,
and the method also made use of a few additional effects, such as shock waves, to keep the object in the air.
** William Crookes (b. 1832 London, d. 1919 London), English chemist and physicist, president of the Royal
Society, discoverer of thallium, and believer in spiritualism.
 106 3 what is light?

light

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
light light

F I G U R E 65 Levitating a small glass bead with a laser from below and with two opposed horizontal
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

laser beams (© Mark Raizen, Tongcang Li).

the light mill radiometer. The light mill consists of four thin plates, black on one side
and shiny on the other, that are mounted on a vertical axis, as shown in Figure 67. How-
ever, when Crookes finished building it – it was similar to those sold in shops today – he
found, like everybody else, that it turned in the wrong direction, namely with the shiny
Challenge 115 s side towards the light! (Why is it wrong?) You can check it by yourself by shining a laser
pointer on to it. The behaviour has been a puzzle for quite some time. Explaining it in-
volves the tiny amount of gas left over in the glass bulb and takes us too far from the
Ref. 65 topic of our mountain ascent. It was only in 1901, with the advent of much better pumps,
that the Russian physicist Pyotr Lebedew managed to create a sufficiently good vacuum
 what is light? 107

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 66 The tail of comet McNaught, photographed in Australia in 2007 (© Flagstaffotos).

light

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 67 A commercial light mill turns against the light (Wikimedia).

Ref. 66 to allow him to measure the light pressure with such an improved, true radiometer. Lebe-
dew also confirmed the predicted value of the light pressure and proved the correctness
of Kepler’s hypothesis about comet tails. Today it is even possible to build tiny propellers
that start to turn when light shines on to them, in exactly the same way that the wind
Ref. 67 turns windmills.
 108 3 what is light?

suspension
wire

circularly
polarized
light beam

F I G U R E 68 Light can rotate F I G U R E 69 Umbrellas

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
objects decompose white light:
look at a small lamp
through a black umbrella
at night (© Wikimedia).

But light cannot only touch and be touched, it can also grab. In the 1980s, Arthur
Ashkin and his research group developed actual optical tweezers that allow one to grab,
Ref. 68 suspend and move small transparent spheres of 1 to 20 μm diameter using laser beams. It
is possible to do this through a microscope, so that one can also observe at the same time
what is happening. This technique is now routinely used in biological research around
the world, and has been used, for example, to measure the force of single muscle fibres,
by chemically attaching their ends to glass or Teflon spheres and then pulling them apart
with such optical tweezers.
But that is not all. In the last decade of the twentieth century, several groups even
Ref. 68 managed to rotate objects, thus realizing actual optical spanners. They are able to rotate
particles at will in one direction or the other, by changing the optical properties of the
laser beam used to trap the particle.
In fact, it does not take much to deduce that if light has linear momentum, circularly
polarized light also has angular momentum. In fact, for such a wave the angular momen-
tum L is given by
Energy
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

L= . (70)
ω

Challenge 116 e Equivalently, the angular momentum of a wave is λ/2π times its linear momentum. For
Ref. 69 light, this result was already confirmed in the early twentieth century: a light beam can
Challenge 117 ny put certain materials (which ones?) into rotation, as shown in Figure 68. Of course, the
whole thing works even better with a laser beam. In the 1960s, a beautiful demonstration
was performed with microwaves. A circularly polarized microwave beam from a maser
– the microwave equivalent of a laser – can put a metal piece absorbing it into rotation.
Indeed, for a beam with cylindrical symmetry, depending on the sense of rotation, the
angular momentum is either parallel or antiparallel to the direction of propagation. All
these experiments confirm that light also carries angular momentum, an effect which
 what is light? 109

will play an important role in the quantum part of our mountain ascent.
We note that not for all waves angular momentum is energy per angular frequency.
This is only the case for waves made of what in quantum theory will be called spin 1
particles. For example, for gravity waves the angular momentum is twice this value, and
they are therefore expected to be made of spin 2 particles.
What does this mean for the comet tails mentioned above? The issue was settled def-
Ref. 70 initely in 1986. A satellite was shot up to an altitude of 110 000 km and made to release
a cloud of barium. The cloud was visible from the Earth, and it soon developed a tail
that was visible from Earth: that was the first artificial comet. It turns out that comet
tails shapes are partly due to hitting photons, partly due to the solar wind, and partly to
magnetic fields.
In summary, light can touch and be touched. Obviously, if light can rotate bodies, it
Challenge 118 s can also be itself rotated. Could you imagine how this can be achieved?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
War, light and lies
From the tiny effects of equation (69) for light pressure we deduce that light is not an
efficient tool for hitting objects. On the other hand, light is able to heat up objects, as we
can feel in the sun or when the skin is touched by a laser beam of about 100 mW or more.
For the same reason even cheap laser pointers are dangerous to the eye.
In the 1980s, and again in 2001, a group of people who had read too many science
fiction novels managed to persuade the military – who also indulge in this habit – that
lasers could be used to shoot down missiles, and that a lot of tax money should be spent
on developing such lasers. Using the definition of the Poynting vector and a hitting time
of about 0.1 s, are you able to estimate the weight and size of the battery necessary for
Challenge 119 ny such a device to work? What would happen in cloudy or rainy weather?
Other people tried to persuade NASA to study the possibility of propelling a rocket
using emitted light instead of ejected gas. Are you able to estimate whether this is feasible?
Challenge 120 ny

What is colour?
We saw that radio waves of certain frequencies are visible. Within that range, different fre-
quencies correspond to different colours. (Are you able to convince a friend about this?)
Challenge 121 s But the story does not finish here. Numerous colours can be produced either by a single Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

wavelength, i.e., by monochromatic light, or by a mixture of several different colours. For

example, standard yellow can be, if it is pure, an electromagnetic beam of 575 nm wave-
length or it can be a mixture of standard green of 546.1 nm and standard red of 700 nm.
The eye cannot distinguish between the two cases; only spectrometers can. In everyday
life, all colours turn out to be mixed, with the exceptions of those of yellow street lamps,
of laser beams and of laboratory spectra. You can check this for yourself, using an um-
Challenge 122 e brella or a compact disc: they decompose light mixtures, but not pure colours.
In particular, white light is a mixture of a continuous range of colours with a given
intensity per wavelength. To check that white light is a mixture of colours, simply hold the
lower right-hand side of Figure 70 so close to your eye that you cannot focus the stripes
any more. The unsharp borders of the white stripes have a pink or a green shade. These
colours are due to the imperfections of the human eye, its so-called chromatic aberrations.
 110 3 what is light?

1. Colour-dependent refraction in glass

white
red
glass green
violet

2. Internal reflection and colour-dependent

refraction in the primary rainbow
white (Sun)
water droplet 3. Colour-dependent refraction in the eye:
40.5° watch pattern at 1 cm distance

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
42.4°

violet
green
red

2b. Internal reflection and colour-dependent

refraction in the secondary rainbow
white (Sun)
water droplet

50.3° 53.6°

red
green
violet

F I G U R E 70 Three proofs that white light is a mixture of colours (with exaggerated angle differences):
prism decomposition, rainbow formation and the coloured borders seen on a circular black and white
pattern (photograph by Susan Schwartzenberg, © Exploratorium www.exploratorium.edu).

Aberrations have the consequence that not all light frequencies follow the same path Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

through the lens of the eye, and therefore they hit the retina at different spots. This is
the same effect that occurs in prisms or in water drops showing a rainbow. By the way,
the shape of the rainbow tells something about the shape of the water droplets. Can you
Challenge 123 s deduce the connection?
The left-hand side of Figure 70 explains how rainbows form. The main idea is that
internal reflection inside the water droplets in the sky is responsible for throwing back
the light coming from the Sun, whereas the wavelength-dependent refraction at the air–
water surface is responsible for the different paths of each colour. The first two persons to
verify this explanation were Theodoricus Teutonicus de Vriberg (c. 1240 to c. 1318), in the
Ref. 71 years from 1304 to 1310 and, at the same time, the Persian mathematician Kamal al-Din
al-Farisi. To check the explanation, they did something smart and simple; anybody can
Challenge 124 e repeat this at home. They built an enlarged water droplet by filling a thin spherical (or
 what is light? 111

F I G U R E 71 A green flash above the setting Sun and one above the Moon, showing also the colour

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
change of the Moon rim (© Andrew Young and Laurent Laveder/PixHeaven.net).

cylindrical) glass container with water; then they shone a beam of white light through
it. Theodoricus and al-Farisi found exactly what is shown in Figure 70. With this experi-
ment, each of them was able to reproduce the angle of the main or primary rainbow, its
colour sequence, as well as the existence of a secondary rainbow, its observed angle and
Page 93 its inverted colour sequence.* All these bows are visible in Figure 55. Theodoricus’s beau-
tiful experiment is sometimes called the most important contribution of natural science
in the Middle Ages.
Incidentally, the explanation of Figure 70 is not complete. It is drawn with the light
ray hitting the water droplet at a specific spot. If the light ray hits the droplet at other
spots, the rainbows appear at other angles; however, all those rainbows wash out. Only
the visible rainbow remains, because its deflection angles are extremal.
Incidentally, at sunset the atmosphere itself also acts as a prism, or more precisely,
as a cylindrical lens affected by spherochromatism. That means that the Sun is split into
different images, one for each colour, which are slightly shifted with respect to each other;
Ref. 73 the total shift is about 1% of the diameter. As a result, the rim of the Sun is coloured. If the
weather is favourable, if the air is clear up to and beyond the horizon, and if the correct
temperature profile is present in the atmosphere, a colour-dependent mirage will appear.
As a result, for about a second it will be possible to see, after or near the red, orange and
yellow images of the setting Sun, the green–blue image, sometimes even detached. This
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 74 is the famous green flash described by Jules Verne in his novel Le Rayon-vert. It is often
seen on tropical beaches, for example in Hawaii, and from the decks of ships in warm
Ref. 73, Ref. 75 waters.
Even pure air splits white light. However, this is not done by dispersion, but by scatter-
ing. Wavelength-dependent scattering is the reason that the sky and far away mountains
look blue or that the Sun looks red at sunset and at sunrise. (The sky looks black even

Challenge 125 s * Can you guess where the ternary and quaternary rainbows are to be seen? There are rare reported sight-
ings of them. The hunt to observe the fifth-order rainbow is still open. (In the laboratory, bows around
Ref. 72 droplets up to the thirteenth order have been observed.) For more details, see the beautiful website at www.
atoptics.co.uk. There are several formulae for the angles of the various orders of rainbows; they follow from
straightforward geometric considerations, but are too involved to be given here.
 112 3 what is light?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 72 Milk and water simulate the evening sky (© Antonio
Martos).

during the day from the Moon.) You can repeat this effect by looking through water at
a black surface or at a lamp. Adding a few drops of milk to the water makes the lamp
yellow and then red, and makes the black surface blue (like the sky seen from the Earth
as compared to the sky seen from the Moon) as shown in Figure 72. More milk increases
the effect. For the same reason, sunsets are especially red after volcanic eruptions.
To clarify the difference between colours in physics and colour in human perception
and language, a famous linguistic discovery deserves to be mentioned: colours in human
language have a natural order. Colours are ordered by all peoples of the world, whether
they come from the sea, the desert or the mountains, in the following order: 1. black
and white, 2. red, 3. green and yellow, 4. blue, 5. brown, 6. mauve, pink, orange, grey
and sometimes a twelfth term that differs from language to language. (Colours that refer
to objects, such as aubergine or sepia, or colours that are not generally applicable, such
as blond, are excluded in this discussion.) The precise discovery is the following: if a
particular language has a word for any of these colours, then it also has a word for all the
preceding ones. The result also implies that people use these basic colour classes even if
their language does not have a word for each of them. These strong statements have been
Ref. 76 confirmed for over 100 languages.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Fun with rainbows

The width of the usual, primary rainbow is 2.25°, for the secondary rainbow it is about
twice that value (which is one reason why it is less bright). The width is larger than the
dispersion angle difference given in Figure 70 because the angular size of the sun, about
0.5°, has (roughly) to be added on top of the angle difference.
If the droplets are very fine, the rainbow becomes white; it is then called a fogbow.
Such bows are also often seen from aeroplanes. If the droplets are not round, for example
due to strong wind, one can get a so-called irregular or twinned rainbow. An example is
shown in Figure 73.
Light from the rainbow is tangentially polarized. You can check that easily with po-
 what is light? 113

F I G U R E 73 Five rare types of rainbows: a fogbow (top left), an irregular, split rainbow in a windy Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
situation due to non-spherical rain drops (top right, shown with increased colour saturation), a six-fold
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

rainbow (middle left), a red rainbow at sunset (middle right), and a moonbow, created by the Moon,
not by the Sun, and brightened digitally (© Michel Tournay, Eva Seidenfaden, Terje Nordvik, Zhu XiaoJin
and Laurent Laveder).

Challenge 126 e larizing sunglasses. During the internal reflection in the water droplets, as the reflection
angle is very near to the angle at which total reflection sets in, light gets polarized. (Why
Challenge 127 ny does this lead to polarization?) More on polarization will be told in the next section.
If the air is full of ice crystals instead of droplets, the situation changes again. One can
then get additional images of the sun in the direction of the sun. They are called parhelia
(or sundogs). This happens most clearly with no wind, if the crystals are all oriented
in the same direction. In that case one can take photographs such as the one shown in
 114 3 what is light?

F I G U R E 74 A composite photograph showing

the parhelia, the light pillars, the halo and the
upper tangent arc formed by ice crystals in the
air, if all oriented in the same direction (© Phil
Appleton).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Figure 74.

What is the speed of light? – Again

Physics talks about motion. Talking is the exchange of sound; and sound is an example of
a signal. A (physical) signal is the transport of information using the transport of energy.
Vol. I, page 264 There are no signals without a motion of energy. Indeed, there is no way to store infor-
mation without storing energy. To any signal we can thus ascribe a propagation speed.
The highest possible signal speed is also the maximal velocity of the general influences,
or, to use sloppy language, the maximal velocity with which effects spread causes.
If the signal is carried by matter, such as by the written text in a letter, the signal
velocity is then the velocity of the material carrier, and experiments show that it is limited
by the speed of light.
For a wave carrier, such as water waves, sound, light or radio waves, the situation is less
evident. What is the speed of a wave? The first answer that comes to mind is the speed
with which wave crests of a sine wave move. This already introduced phase velocity is
given by the ratio between the frequency and the wavelength of a monochromatic wave,
i.e., by
ω
󰑣ph = . (71)
k
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

For example, the phase velocity determines interference phenomena. Light in a vacuum
has the same phase velocity 󰑣ph = c for all frequencies. Are you able to imagine an exper-
Challenge 128 s iment to test this to high precision?
On the other hand, there are cases where the phase velocity is greater than c, most
notably when light travels through an absorbing substance, and when at the same time
the frequency is near to an absorption maximum. In these cases, experiments show that
Ref. 77 the phase velocity is not the signal velocity. For such situations, a better approximation
to the signal speed is the group velocity, i.e., the velocity at which a group maximum will
travel. This velocity is given by
dω 󵄨󵄨󵄨
󰑣gr = 󵄨󵄨 , (72)
dk 󵄨󵄨󵄨k0
 what is light? 115

F I G U R E 75 A visualisation of group velocity

(blue) and phase velocity (red) for different
types of waves (Quicktime film © ISVR,
University of Southhampton).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
v ph

v gr

v So
F I G U R E 76 The definition of
v fr the important velocities in
wave phenomena, including
Sommerfeld’s front velocity and
the forerunner velocity.

where k0 is the central wavelength of the wave packet. We observe that ω = c(k)k =
2π󰑣ph /λ implies the relation

dω 󵄨󵄨󵄨 d󰑣
󰑣gr = 󵄨󵄨 = 󰑣ph − λ ph . (73)
󵄨
dk 󵄨󵄨k0 dλ Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

This means that the sign of the last term determines whether the group velocity is larger
or smaller than the phase velocity. For a travelling group, as shown by the dashed line
in Figure 76, this means that new maxima appear either at the end or at the front of the
group. Experiments show that this is only the case for light passing through matter; for
light in vacuum, the group velocity has the same value 󰑣gr = c for all values of the wave
vector k.
You should be warned that many publications are still propagating the incorrect state-
ment that the group velocity in a material is never greater than c, the speed of light in
Challenge 129 ny vacuum. Actually, the group velocity in a material can be zero, infinite or even negative;
this happens when the light pulse is very narrow, i.e., when it includes a wide range of
frequencies, or again when the frequency is near an absorption transition. In many (but
 116 3 what is light?

not all) cases the group is found to widen substantially or even to split, making it dif-
ficult to define precisely the group maximum and thus its velocity. Many experiments
have confirmed these predictions. For example, the group velocity in certain materials
Ref. 78 has been measured to be ten times that of light. The refractive index then is smaller than
1. However, in all these cases the group velocity is not the same as the signal speed.*
What then is the best velocity describing signal propagation? The German physicist
Arnold Sommerfeld** almost solved the main problem in the beginning of the twentieth
century. He defined the signal velocity as the velocity 󰑣So of the front slope of the pulse, as
Ref. 77 shown in Figure 76. The definition cannot be summarized in a formula, but it does have
the property that it describes signal propagation for almost all experiments, in particular
those in which the group and phase velocity are larger than the speed of light. When
studying its properties, it was found that for no material is Sommerfeld’s signal velocity
greater than the speed of light in vacuum.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Sometimes it is conceptually easier to describe signal propagation with the help of
the energy velocity. As previously mentioned, every signal transports energy. The energy
velocity 󰑣en is defined as the ratio between the energy flow density S, i.e., the Poynting
vector, and the energy density W, both taken in the direction of propagation. For electro-
magnetic fields – the only ones fast enough to be interesting for eventual superluminal
signals – this ratio is
⟨P⟩
󰑣en = . (74)
⟨W⟩

However, as in the case of the front velocity, in the case of the energy velocity we have
to specify the underlying averaging procedure, denoted by ⟨⟩, i.e., whether we mean the
energy transported by the main pulse or by the front of it. In vacuum, neither is ever
greater than the speed of light.*** (In general, the velocity of energy in matter has a value
Ref. 77 slightly different from Sommerfeld’s signal velocity.)
In recent years, the progress in light detector technology, allowing one to detect even
the tiniest energies, has forced scientists to take the fastest of all these energy velocities
to describe signal velocity. Using detectors with the highest possible sensitivity we can
use as signal the first point of the wave train whose amplitude is different from zero,
i.e., the first tiny amount of energy arriving. This point’s velocity, conceptually similar
to Sommerfeld’s signal velocity, is commonly called the front velocity or, to distinguish it
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* In quantum mechanics, Schrödinger proved that the velocity of an electron is given by the group velocity
Vol. IV, page 79 of its wave function. Therefore the same discussion reappeared in quantum theory, as we will find out in
the next volume of our mountain ascent.
** Arnold Sommerfeld (b. 1868 Königsberg, d. 1951 Munich) was a central figure in the spread of special and
general relativity, of quantum theory, and of their applications. A professor in Munich, an excellent teacher
and text book writer, he worked on atomic theory, on the theory of metals and on electrodynamics, and
was the first to understand the importance and the mystery around ‘Sommerfeld’s famous fine structure
constant.’
*** Signals not only carry energy, they also carry negative entropy (‘information’). The entropy of a trans-
mitter increases during transmission. The receiver decreases in entropy (but less than the increase at the
Ref. 79 transmitter, of course).
Note that the negative group velocity implies energy transport against the propagation velocity of light.
Ref. 80 This is possible only in energy loaded materials.
 what is light? 117

Challenge 130 s even more clearly from Sommerfeld’s case, the forerunner velocity. It is simply given by

ω
󰑣fr = lim . (75)
ω→∞ k
The forerunner velocity is never greater than the speed of light in a vacuum, even in
materials. In fact it is precisely c because, for extremely high frequencies, the ratio ω/k is
independent of the material, and vacuum properties take over. The forerunner velocity is
the true signal velocity or the true velocity of light. Using it, all discussions on light speed
become clear and unambiguous.
To end this section, here are two challenges for you. Which of all the velocities of light
Challenge 131 s is measured in experiments determining the velocity of light, e.g. when light is sent to
the Moon and reflected back? And now a more difficult one: why is the signal speed of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 132 s light inside matter less than the speed in vacuum, as all experiments show?

Signals and predictions

When one person reads a text over the phone to a neighbour who listens to it and maybe
repeats it, we speak of communication. For any third person, the speed of communica-
tion is always less than the speed of light. But if the neighbour already knows the text,
he can recite it without having heard the readers’ voice. To the third observer such a
situation appears to imply motion that is faster than light. Prediction can thus mimic
communication and, in particular, it can mimic faster-than-light (superluminal) com-
munication. Such a situation was demonstrated most spectacularly in 1994 by Günter
Ref. 81 Nimtz, who seemingly transported music – all music is predictable for short time scales
– through a ‘faster-than-light’ system. To distinguish between the two situations, we note
that in the case of prediction, no transport of energy takes place, in contrast to the case
of communication. In other words, the definition of a signal as a transporter of informa-
tion is not as useful and clear-cut as the definition of a signal as a transporter of energy. In
the above-mentioned experiment, no energy was transported faster than light. The same
distinction between prediction on the one hand and signal or energy propagation on the
other will be used later to clarify some famous experiments in quantum mechanics.

“
If the rate at which physics papers are being
published continues to increase, physics
journals will soon be filling library shelves
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

faster than the speed of light. This does not

violate relativity since no useful information is

”
being transmitted.
David Mermin

Aether good-bye
Gamma rays, X-rays, light and radio waves are moving electromagnetic waves. All exist
in empty space. What is oscillating when light travels? Maxwell himself called the oscillat-
ing ‘medium’ the aether. The properties of the aether measured in experiments are listed
in Table 15. The strange numerical values are due to the definition of the units henry and
Page 287 farad.
 118 3 what is light?

TA B L E 15 Experimental properties of flat (uncurved) vacuum (and of the

‘aether’).

P h y s i c a l p r o p e r t y E x p e r i m e n t a l va l u e

permeability μ0 =1.3 μH/m

permittivity ε0 =8.9 pF/m
wave impedance/resistance Z0 = 376.7 Ω
conformal invariance applies
spatial dimensionality 3
topology R3
mass and energy content none
friction on moving bodies none
motion none (only if vacuum curvature is allowed)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 82 The last item of Table 15 is the most important: despite intensive efforts, nobody has
been able to detect any motion of the aether. In other words, even though the aether
supposedly oscillates, it does not move. Together with the other data, all these results
can be summed up in one sentence: there is no way to distinguish the aether from the
Challenge 133 s vacuum: they are one and the same.
Sometimes one hears that certain experiments or even the theory of relativity show
that the aether does not exist. This is not strictly correct. In fact, experiments show some-
thing more important. All the data show that the aether is indistinguishable from the vac-
uum. Of course, if we use the change of curvature as the definition for motion of the
vacuum, the vacuum can move, as we found out in the section on general relativity; but
the aether still remains indistinguishable from it.*
Later we will even find out that the ability of the vacuum to allow the propagation
of light and its ability to allow the propagation of particles are equivalent: both require
the same properties. Therefore the aether remains indistinguishable from a vacuum in
Ref. 83 the rest of our walk. In other words, the aether is a superfluous concept; we will drop it
from our walk from now on. Despite this result, we have not yet finished the study of the
vacuum; vacuum will keep us busy for a long time, starting with the following part of our
ascent. Moreover, quite a few of the aspects in Table 15 will require some amendments
later.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenges and fun curiosities about light

Since light is a wave, something must happen if it is directed to a hole less than its wave-
Challenge 134 s length in diameter. What exactly happens?
∗∗

Ref. 83 * In fact, the term ‘aether’ has been used as an expression for several different ideas, depending on the author.
First of all it was used for the idea that a vacuum is not empty, but full; secondly, that this fullness can be
described by mechanical models, such as gears, little spheres, vortices, etc.; thirdly, it was imagined that a
vacuum is similar to matter, being made of the same substrate. Interestingly, these issues will reappear in
the last part of our mountain ascent.
 what is light? 119

On a sunny day at moderate latitudes on the Earth, sunlight has a power density of
1 kW/m2 . What is the corresponding energy density and what are the average electric
Challenge 135 s and magnetic fields?
∗∗
Electrodynamics shows that light beams always push; they never pull. Can you confirm
Challenge 136 e that ‘tractor beams’ are impossible in nature?
∗∗
It is well known that the glowing material in light bulbs is tungsten wire in an inert gas.
This was the result of a series of experiments that began with the grandmother of all
lamps, namely the cucumber. The older generation knows that a pickled cucumber, when
attached to the 230 V of the mains, glows with a bright green light. (Be careful; the ex-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
periment is dirty and dangerous.)
∗∗
Light beams have an effective temperature and entropy. Though not often discussed
nowadays, the thermodynamics of light has been explored in great detail by Max von
Laue (b. 1879 Koblenz, d. 1960 Berlin) in the years between 1900 and 1906. Von Laue
Ref. 84 showed that usual light propagation in empty space is a reversible process and that the
entropy of a beam indeed remains constant in this case. When light is diffracted, scattered
or reflected diffusevily, the effective temperature decreases and the entropy increases. The
most interesting case is intereference, where entropy usually increases, but sometimes de-
creases.
∗∗
If the light emitted by the headlights of cars were polarized from the bottom left to the
upper right (as seen from the car’s driver) one could vastly improve the quality of driving
at night: one could add a polarizer to the wind shield oriented in the same direction. As
a result, a driver would see the reflection of his own light, but the light from cars coming
Challenge 137 ny towards him would be considerably dampened. Why is this not done in modern cars?
∗∗
Could light have a tiny mass, and move with a speed just below the maximal speed pos- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 85 sible in nature? The question has been studied extensively. If light had mass, Maxwell’s
equations would have to be modified, the speed of light would depend on the frequency
and on the source and detector speed, longitudinal electromagnetic radiation would ex-
ist. Despite a promise for eternal fame, no such effect has been observed.
∗∗
An interferometer is a device that uses the interference of light to study the properties
of a light beam. A common interferometer, the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, is shown
in Figure 77. If all sides have equal length, light interferes constructively in the output
direction A and destructively in the other output direction B. Thus light exits in direction
A.
Ref. 86 Only in the 1990s people started asking what would happen in the three-dimensional
 120 3 what is light?

source detectors
mirrors
beam beam
splitter splitter
possible
two identical light
photons paths

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 77 A conventional two-dimensional (Mach-Zehnder) interferometer, with sides of equal
lengths, and its outputs A and B. Light exits in direction A, the direction of constructive interference
(photo © Félix Dieu and Gaël Osowiecki).
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

interferometers shown in Figure 78. To clarify the situation, a few points are necessary.
First, we need to specify the polarization of the light used, and recall that only light of
the same polarization can interfere. Secondly, to simplify the discussion, we assume that
the mirrors are of a special type (namely corner cubes based on total refraction) so that,
in contrast to usual mirrors, they conserve polarization. Thirdly, we assume that all edges
Challenge 138 s have equal length. Can you deduce which exits are bright in the two cases of Figure 78?

Summary on light
In summary, radio waves, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, X-rays and gamma
rays are electromagnetic waves whose dispersion relation in vacuum is ω = ck, where
 what is light? 121

B
B

Beam Beam
in A in A

Polari- Polari-
zation zation

To simplify the exploration, the mirrors and beam splitters used above conserve handedness :

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 78 Two different three-dimensional interferometers, with all edges of equal lengths, the
mirrors/beam splitters used, and their outputs A and B. Where does the light exit?

c = 299 792 458 m/s. Electromagnetic waves carry energy, linear momentum and angu-
lar momentum, and move faster than any material object. The speed of electromagnetic
waves c is the (local) limit energy speed in nature.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 Chapter 4

IMAGES AND THE EYE – OPTICS

O
ptics is the field that explores the production of images. In particular,
ptics is the study and use of light production, of light transport, and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
f light and image detection. With this definition of optics, we note directly
that classical electrodynamics can describe only the transport of light. The production
and the detection of light are always quantum effects. Every lamp is a device based on
quantum physics. Every detector of light, including the eye, is based on quantum physics.
Therefore, in this chapter we mainly explore the motion of light and the way it forms
Ref. 87 images, and give only a short introduction into light sources and the eye.

Ways to produce images

Producing images is an important part of modern society. The quality of images depends
on the smart use of optics, electronics, computers and materials science. Despite the
long history of optics, there are still new results in the field. Images, i.e., two or three-
dimensional reproductions of a physical situation, can be taken by at least six groups of
techniques:
— Photography uses a light source, lenses and film – or another large area detector. Pho-
tography can be used in reflection, in transmission, with phase-dependence, with
various illuminations, and with light sources and detectors for various wavelengths.
— Optical microscopy uses a light source, lenses and film (or another large area detector).
If the illumination is through the sample, in transmission, one speaks of bright-field
microscopy. (Variations use coloured or polarizing filters.) If the illumination is from
the side, one speaks of oblique microscopy. If the illumination is confined to an outer
ring of light, one speaks of dark-field microscopy. An even more elaborate illumina-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tion system, using plane waves, allows phase-contrast microscopy. (It was invented by
Ref. 88 Frits Zernike in the 1930s and earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1953.) If one
splits a polarized illumination beam into two components that pass the sample at
close (but not identical) locations, and then recombines them afterwards, one speaks
of differential interference contrast microscopy. If a sample is treated with a fluores-
cent dye, the illuminating light is filtered out, and only the fluorescence is observed,
one speaks of fluorescence microscopy. The image quality of expensive microscopes
can be further improved with the help of a computer, with the help of deconvolution
techniques.
— Telescopy is used most of all in geodesy and astronomy. The most advanced astro-
nomical telescopes can compensate star images for the effects of the turbulence of
images and the eye – optics 123

F I G U R E 79 An X-ray photographic image of a ten-year old

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
boy with polydactyly (courtesy Drgnu23/Wikimedia).

the atmosphere; they can also take images at various wavelengths, ranging from radio
frequencies, infrared, visible, ultraviolet to X-rays. Simple telescopes are lens-based;
high-performance telescopes are usually mirror-based. X-ray telescopes have to be
operated outside the atmosphere, to avoid absorption by air, for example on rockets,
satellites or high-altitude balloons. They are all mirror based.
— Scanning techniques construct images point by point through the motion of the
detector, the light source or both. There are numerous scanning microscopy tech-
niques: confocal laser scanning microscopy, the fibre-based near-field scanning optical
microscopy, and combinations of them with fluorescence techniques or various de-
convolution techniques. Many of these scanning microscopy techniques allow reso-
lutions much lower than the wavelength of light, a feat that is impossible with con-
ventional microscopic techniques.
— Tomography, usually performed in transmission, uses a source and a detector that are
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

rotated together around an object. This technique, effectively a specialized scanning

technique, allows imaging cross sections of physical bodies. For example, light tomog-
raphy is a promising technique, without any health risk, for breast cancer detection.
— Holography uses lasers and large area detectors and allows taking three-dimensional
images of objects. Such images seem to float in space. Holography can be used in
reflection or in transmission.
Each imaging method can be used with radio waves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet
light, X-rays or gamma rays. And in all imaging methods, the race is for images with
the highest resolution possible and for images with the shortest shutter times possible,
in order to produce films. We start our overview of imaging techniques with the most
important tool: light sources.
124 4 images and the eye – optics

2.50
Solar Radiation Spectrum

2.00 AM0 Direct normal (black body at 5780 K)

Irradiance (W m-2 nm-1)

AM0 Direct normal (Gueymard 2004)
AM1.5 Direct normal (ASTM G 173)
1.50 O3

1.00
H2O
H2O
O2,
0.50 H2O
O3 H2O, CO2
H2O, CO2

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
H2O, CO2
H2O
0.00
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600
Wavelength (nm)
F I G U R E 80 A black body spectrum at 5780 K, the solar spectrum above the atmosphere in direction of
the Sun, with 1350 W/m2 , and the spectrum with 1.5 air masses in between, with 844 W/m2 , giving
roughly the spectrum of a typical sunny day at sea level; the gases responsible for the absorption bands
are also shown (© Chris Gueymard).

light sources
Without radiation sources, there would be no images. All imaging techniques need
sources of radiation. In the domain of optics, the most important light sources of visible
and infrared light are glowing objects, such as candles, flashlamps or fluorescent lamps.
Physically speaking, these light sources are approximations of black bodies. Let us see
why they are used.

Why can we see each other? Black bodies and the temperature of
light
Physicists have a strange use of the term ‘black’. A body that glows perfectly is called a
black body. In this domain, ‘perfect’ means that the surface of the body has no effect on
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

its colour.

⊳ A black body is a body that absorbs all radiation impinging on it.

In other words, a black body is a body without reflection or transmission of radiation.

Black bodies are an idealization; above all, they are only black at low temperature. With
increasing temperature, black bodies glow or shine in black, brown, red, orange, yellow,
white or blue.
The essence of black bodies is that the colour they have, i.e., the light they radiate, is
independent of the surface. Black bodies are thus ideal in this sense. Real bodies, which
do show surface effects, can be classified by their emissivity. The emissivity gives the de-
 light sources 125

gree to which a body approaches a black body. Mirrors have emissivities of around 0.02,
whereas black soot can have values as high as 0.95. Practically all bodies at everyday tem-
perature are not black bodies: their colour is not determined by emission, but mostly by
the absorption and reflection of light at their surface.
Black bodies, as the section on quantum theory will show, have smooth light emission
spectra. An example for a spectrum of a black body, and for a spectrum of a real body –
in this case, the Sun – is shown in Figure 80.
Black bodies are also used to define the colour white. What we commonly call pure
white is the colour emitted by the Sun. The sun is not a good black body, as Figure 80
shows (its effective temperature is 5780 K). Because of these problems, pure white is now
defined as the colour of a black body of 6500 K, e.g. by the Commission Internationale
Ref. 89 d’Eclairage. Hotter black bodies are bluish, colder ones are yellow, orange, red, brown or
Vol. I, page 225 black. The stars in the sky are classified in this way.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Black bodies are thus bodies that glow perfectly. Most real bodies are only rough ap-
proximations of black bodies, even at temperatures at which they shine yellow light. For
example, the tungsten in incandescent light bulbs, at around 2000 K, has an emissivity of
around 0.4 for most wavelengths, so that its spectrum is a corresponding fraction of that
of black body. (However, the glass of the light bulb then absorbs much of the ultraviolet
and infrared components, so that the final spectrum is not at all that of a black body.)
Black body radiation has two important properties: first, the emitted light power in-
creases with the fourth power of the temperature. With this relation alone you can check
the temperature of the Sun, mentioned above, simply by comparing the size of the Sun
with the width of your thumb when your arm is stretched out in front of you. Are you
Challenge 139 d able to do this? (Hint: use the excellent approximation that the Earth’s average tempera-
Ref. 90 ture of about 14.0°C is due to the Sun’s irradiation.)
The precise expression for the emitted energy density u per frequency 󰜈 can be de-
duced from the radiation law for black bodies discovered by Max Planck*

8πh 󰜈3
u(󰜈, T) = . (76)
c 3 eh󰜈/kT − 1

He made this important discovery, which we will discuss in more detail in the quantum
part of our mountain ascent, simply by comparing this curve with experiment. The new
constant h is called the quantum of action or Planck’s constant and turns out to have the
value 6.6 ⋅ 10−34 Js, and is central to all quantum theory, as we will see. The other constant
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. IV, page 14

Planck introduced, the Boltzmann constant k, appears as a prefactor of temperature all
over thermodynamics, as it acts as a conversion unit from temperature to energy.

* Max Planck (1858–1947), professor of physics in Berlin, was a central figure in thermostatics. He discov-
ered and named Boltzmann’s constant k and the quantum of action h, often called Planck’s constant. His
introduction of the quantum hypothesis gave birth to quantum theory. He also made the works of Einstein
known in the physical community, and later organized a job for him in Berlin. He received the Nobel Prize
for physics in 1918. He was an important figure in the German scientific establishment; he also was one
of the very few who had the courage to tell Adolf Hitler face to face that it was a bad idea to fire Jewish
Ref. 91 professors. (He got an outburst of anger as answer.) Famously modest, with many tragedies in his personal
life, he was esteemed by everybody who knew him.
 126 4 images and the eye – optics

Challenge 140 ny The radiation law gives for the total emitted energy density the expression

8π5 k 4
u(T) = T 4 (77)
15c 3 h3

Challenge 141 ny from which equation (85) is deduced using I = uc/4. (Why?)
The second property of black body radiation is the value of the peak wavelength,
i.e., the wavelength emitted with the highest intensity. This wavelength determines their
Challenge 142 ny colour; it is deduced from equation (76) to be

1 hc 2.90 mm K
λmax = = but ħ󰜈max = T ⋅ 2.82 k/h = T ⋅ 5.9 ⋅ 1010 Hz/K .(78)
T 4.956 k T

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Either of these expressions is called Wien’s colour displacement rule after its discoverer.*
The colour change with temperature is used in optical thermometers; this is also the way
the temperatures of stars are measured. For 37°C, human body temperature, it gives a
peak wavelength of 9.3 μm or 115 THz, which is therefore the colour of the bulk of the
radiation emitted by every human being. (The peak wavelength does not correspond to
Challenge 143 s the peak frequency. Why?) On the other hand, following the telecommunication laws of
many countries, any radiation emitter needs a licence to operate; it follows that strictly
in Germany only dead people are legal, and only if their bodies are at absolute zero tem-
perature.
We saw that a black body – or a star – can be blue, white, yellow, orange, red or brown.
Challenge 144 ny A black body is never green. Can you explain why?
Above, we predicted that any material made of charges emits radiation. Are you able
to find a simple argument showing whether heat radiation is or is not this classically
Challenge 145 ny predicted radiation?
But let us come back to the question in the section title. The existence of thermal radi-
ation implies that any hot body will cool, even if it is left in the most insulating medium
there is, namely in vacuum. More precisely, if the vacuum is surrounded by a wall, the
temperature of a body in the vacuum will gradually approach that of the wall.
Interestingly, when the temperature of the wall and of the body inside have become
the same, something strange happens. The effect is difficult to check at home, but impres-
Ref. 92 sive photographs exist in the literature.
One arrangement in which walls and the objects inside them are at the same temper-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ature is an oven. It turns out that it is impossible to see objects in an oven using the light
coming from thermal radiation. For example, if an oven and all its contents are red hot,
taking a picture of the inside of the oven (without a flash!) does not reveal anything; no
contrast nor brightness changes exist that allow one to distinguish the objects from the
Challenge 146 s walls or their surroundings. Can you explain the finding?
In short, we are able to see each other only because the light sources we use are at
a different temperature from us. We can see each other only because we do not live in
* Wilhelm Wien (b. 1864 Gaffken, d. 1928 Munich), East-Prussian physicist; he received the Nobel Prize for
physics in 1911 for the discovery of this relation.
Note that the value appearing in Wien’s rule can be uniquely calculated from equation (76), but cannot
be expressed as a formula. Indeed, Wien’s constant contains the solution of the equation x = 5(1 − e−x ).
light sources 127

Figure to be inserted

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 81 Bodies inside an oven at room temperature differ in colour, in contrast to bodies at high
temperature (photo © Wolfgang Rueckner).

F I G U R E 82 The last mirror of the solar furnace at

Odeillo, in the French Pyrenees (© Gerhard
Weinrebe).

thermal equilibrium with our environment.

Limits to the concentration of light

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Light sources should be as bright as possible. Are there any limits? Interestingly, for black
body radiation there is an important and instructive limitation.
If we build a large lens or a curved mirror, we can collect the light of the Sun and focus
it on a very small spot. Everybody has used a converging lens as a child to burn black
spots on newspapers – or ants – in this way. In Odeillo, in Spain, wealthier researchers
have built a curved mirror as large as a house, in order to study solar energy use and
material behaviour at high temperature. Essentially, the mirror provides a cheap way to
fire an oven in its focus. (And ‘focus’ is the Latin word for ‘hearth’.)
Kids find out quite rapidly that large lenses allow them to burn things more easily than
small ones. It is obvious that the Odeillo site is the record holder in this game. However,
building a larger mirror does not make much sense. Whatever its size may be, such a set-
 128 4 images and the eye – optics

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 83 The solar power plant at Sanlucar la Mayor, near Seville, in Spain (© Wikimedia).

Ref. 93 up cannot reach a higher temperature than that of the original light source. The surface
temperature of the Sun is about 5780 K; indeed, the highest temperature reached so far
is about 4000 K. Are you able to show that this limitation is equivalent to the second law
Challenge 147 ny of thermodynamics, as Hemholtz, Clausis and Airy showed?
In short, nature provides a limit to the concentration of light energy. More precisely,
we can say: thermodynamics limits heating with thermal light sources.
The thermodynamic limits do not prevent people to use light concentration to gather
solar energy. Experimental power plants such as the one shown in Figure 83 are one
promising way to supply energy to households when fossil fuel prices rise too much.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Measuring light intensity

Light sources differ in brightness. Measuring what we call ‘dark’ and ‘bright’ is somewhat
involved, because light can be diffuse or directed. To achieve proper measurements, the
Page 286 SI, the international system of units, defines a specific base unit, the candela:
‘The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits
monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 ⋅ 1012 hertz and has a radiant intensity in that
direction of (1/683) watt per steradian.’
The candela is thus a unit for light power per (solid) angle, usually called luminous inten-
sity, except that it is corrected for the eye’s sensitivity: the candela measures only visible
 light sources 129

TA B L E 16 Some measured illuminance values.

O b s e r va t i o n Illumi -
nance

Brightness of the human body 1 plx

Faint star 0.1 nlx
Sirius 10 μlx
phot (old illuminance unit) 10 μlx
Jupiter 20 μlx
Dark, moonless night 1 mlx
Full moon 0.01 to 0.24 lx
Street at night, low traffic, poor lighting 0.1 to 3 lx
Street at night, high traffic 10 to 30 lx

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
For reading 50 to 100 lx
Cinema screen 100 lx
Workplace 0.2 to 5 klx
Cloudy day 1 klx
Brightest lamps, used for surgery 120 klx
Sunny day 120 klx
Film in cinema projector 5 Mlx
Painful to the eye 100 Mlx

power per angle. The definition of the candela simply says that 683 cd = 683 lm/sr corre-
sponds to 1 W/sr. For example, a glow worm produces 0.01 cd, a candle indeed around
1 cd, a car light around 100 cd, and a lighthouse around 2 Mcd. Another way to look at
the candela is the following: watching a source with 1 cd from a distance of 1 m is a just
bit brighter than the full moon.
Total light power, irrespective of its direction, is measured in lumen. Therefore,
683 lm = 683 cd sr corresponds to 1 W. In other words, both the lumen and the watt
measure power, or energy flux, but the lumen measures only the visible part of the power
or energy flux. This difference is expressed by adding ‘luminous’ or ‘radiant’: thus, the lu-
men measures luminous flux, whereas the Watt measures radiant flux. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The factor 683 is historical. An ordinary candle emits a luminous intensity of about
a candela. To put this into perspective: at night, a candle can be seen up to a distance
Challenge 148 e of 10 or 20 kilometres. A 100 W incandescent light bulb produces 1700 lm, and the
brightest commercial light emitting diodes about 20 lm, though laboratory devices ex-
ceed 1000 lm. Cinema projectors produce around 2 Mlm, and the brightest flashes, like
lightning, 100 Mlm.
The irradiance of sunlight is about 1300 W/m2 on a sunny day; on the other hand, the
illuminance is only 120 klm/m2 = 120 klx or 170 W/m2 . A cloud-covered summer day
or a clear winter day produces about 10 klx. These numbers show that most of the energy
from the Sun that reaches the Earth is outside the visible spectrum.
Illuminance is essentially what we call ‘brightness’ in everyday life. On a glacier, near
the sea shore, on the top of a mountain, or in particular weather condition the bright-
 130 4 images and the eye – optics

ness can reach 150 klx. Museums are often kept dark because water-based paintings are
Ref. 94 degraded by light above 100 lx, and oil paintings by light above 200 lx. The eyes lose their
ability to distinguish colours somewhere between 0.1 lx and 0.01 lx; the eye stops to work
below 1 nlx. Technical devices to produce images in the dark, such as night goggles, start
to work at 1 μlx. By the way, the human body itself shines with about 1 plx, a value too
small to be detected with the eye, but easily measured with specialized apparatus. The
origin of this emission is still a topic of research.
The highest achieved light intensities, produced with high-power lasers, are in excess
of 1018 W/m2 , more than 15 orders of magnitude higher than the intensity of sunlight.
Challenge 149 e (How much is that in lux?) Such intensities are produced by tight focusing of pulsed
laser beams. The electric field in such light pulses is of the same order as the field inside
Ref. 95 atoms; such a laser beam therefore ionizes all matter it encounters, including the air.
The luminous density is a quantity often used by light technicians. Its unit is 1 cd/m2 ,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
unofficially called 1 Nit and abbreviated 1 nt. Human eyes see using rods only from
0.1 μcd/m2 to 1 mcd/m2 ; they see with cones only above 5 cd/m2 . Eyes see best between
100 and 50 000 cd/m2 , and they get completely overloaded above 10 Mcd/m2 : a total
range of 15 orders of magnitude. Very few technical detectors achieve this range.

Other light and radiation sources

Apart from black bodies, many other types of light sources exist, from glowing fish to
high-power lasers. They range in size from an atom to a building, in cost from a fraction
of an Euro to hundreds of millions of Euros, and in lifetime from a fraction of a second to
hundreds of years. Most sources of visible, infrared and ultraviolet light, including most
Vol. V, page 73 laser types, are covered later on in our adventure. In the domain of imaging, lasers are
used in specialized microscopy techniques, in tomography and in holography.
Sources of radio waves are common; mobile phones, radio transmitters, tv transmit-
ters and walkie-talkies are all sources of radio waves. They are rarely used for imaging,
with one important exception: Since many stars are radio emitters, one can image the sky
Vol. II, page 194 at radio wavelengths. In fact, radio astronomy is an important part of modern astronomy
and has led to many discoveries. Radio astronomy has also been an important tool for
the precision testing and confirmation of general relativity.
On the other end of the electromagnetic spectrum, light sources that emit X-rays and
gamma rays are common. They are routinely used in medicine and material science.
All sources of electromagnetic radiation are potentially dangerous to humans, so that
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

special care has to be taken when using them. This has also led to various unfortunate
developments.

Radiation as weapon
High-intensity electromagnetic radiation is dangerous. In many countries, there is more
money to study assault weapons than to increase the education and wealth of their citizen.
Several types of assault weapons using electromagnetic radiation are being researched.
Two are particularly advanced.
The first such weapon is a truck with a movable parabolic antenna on its roof, about
1 m in size, that emits a high power – a few kW – microwave beam at 95 GHz. The beam,
light sources 131

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 84 A modern
picosecond pulse laser and
an industrial X-ray source,
both about 700 mm in size
(© Time-Bandwidth, SPECS).

like all microwave beams, is invisible; depending on power and beam shape, it is painful
or lethal, up to a distance of 100 m and more. This terrible device, officially called ac-
tive denial system, with which the operator can make many victims even by mistake,
was ready in 2006. Some politicians want to give it to the police. (Who expects that a Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

parabolic antenna is dangerous?) Efforts to ban it across the world are slowly gathering
momentum.
The second weapon under development is the so-called pulsed impulse kill laser. The
idea is to take a laser that emits radiation that is not absorbed by air, steam or similar
obstacles. An example is a pulsed deuterium fluoride laser that emits at 3.5 μm. This laser
burns every material it hits; in addition, the evaporation of the plasma produced by the
burn produces a strong hit, so that people hit by such a laser are hurt and hit at the same
time. Fortunately, it is still difficult to make such a device rugged enough for practical
mobile use. Nevertheless, experts expect battle lasers to appear soon.
In short, it is probable that radiation weapons will appear in the coming years. What
the men working on such developments tell their children when they come home in the
evening is not clear, though.
 132 4 images and the eye – optics

F I G U R E 85 The spookfish
Dolichopteryx longipes has orange
mirrors that help him make sharp
images also from the dim light
coming upwards from
bioluminescent lifeforms below it

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
(© Tamara Frank).

images – transp orting light

All images are formed by transporting light in a useful manner along known paths. The
simplest path is the straight line.

Making images with mirrors

Since light moves in a straight line, a flat mirror produces an image of the same size than
the original. Curved mirrors can be used to increase, reduce and distort images. Expen-
sive room mirrors are often slightly curved, in order to make people appear thinner.
Most human-made mirrors are made of metal; but living systems cannot produce
pure metals. On the other hand, in living systems, mirrors abound: they are found as
the tapetum in the eyes, on fish scales, on bugs, etc. How does nature produce mirrors,
despite lacking the ability to use pure metals? It turns out that sandwiches of different
thin transparent materials – one of which is typically crystalline guanine – can produce
mirrors that are almost as good as metal mirrors. Such mirrors are based on interference
effects and are called dielectric mirrors.
Image-forming mirrors are used in large telescopes, in systems for X-rays, in devices
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

by medical doctors, and, if one wants to count this, for the shaping of light beams in cars
or in pocket lamps. Interestingly, also some living beings use mirrors for imaging. The
most famous example is the spookfish shown in Figure 85. It is able to look up and down
at the same time, and does so using mirrors attached to his eyes.
Challenge 150 s By the way, why are mirrors used in telescopes, but not in microscopes?

Does light always travel in a straight line? – Refraction

Usually light moves in straight lines. A laser in a misty night shows this most clearly, as
illustrated in Figure 86. But any laser pointer in the mist is equally fascinating. Indeed, we
Page 14 use light to define ‘straightness’, as we explained in the exploration of relativity. However,
there are a number of situations in which light does not travel in a straight line, and every
 images – transporting light 133

F I G U R E 86 Light usually travels in a straight

line. In the figure, a sodium frequency laser
beam is used as laser guide star to provide a
signal for adaptive optics in large telescopes.
The laser illuminates a layer of sodium found
in the atmosphere at around 90 km of
altitude, thus providing an artificial star. The
artificial star is used to improve the image
quality of the telescope through adaptive

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
optics. In the photograph, the images of the
real stars are blurred because of the long
exposure time of 3 min (photo Paul Hirst).

air

light
beam
sugar and water

F I G U R E 87 Diluted sugar syrup bends light (photo © Jennifer Nierer).

Ref. 96 expert on motion should know them.

In diluted sugar syrup, light beams curve, as shown in Figure 87. The reason is that in Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

such an experiment, the sugar concentration changes with depth. Are you able to explain
Challenge 151 s the syrup effect?
More detailed observation show that a light beam is bent at every material change it
encounters on its path. This effect, called refraction, is quite common. Refraction changes
the appearance of the shape of our feet when we are in the bath tub; refraction also makes
Vol. I, page 227 aquaria seem less deep than they actually are. Refraction is a consequence of the change
of the phase velocity of light from material to material, as shown by Figure 88.
Refraction can also be seen to follow from the minimization principle for the motion
of light: light always takes the path that requires the shortest travel time. For example,
light moves more slowly in water than in air; the speed ratio between air and water is
called the refractive index of water. The refractive index, usually abbreviated n, is material-
dependent. The value for water is about 1.3. This speed ratio, together with the minimum-
 134 4 images and the eye – optics

F I G U R E 88 A visualisation of
refraction (Quicktime film © ISVR,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
University of Southhampton).

α air

water

β
F I G U R E 89 Refraction of light is due to travel-time optimization.

time principle, leads to the ‘law’ of refraction, a simple relation between the sines of the
Challenge 152 s two angles. Can you deduce it? In fact, the exact definition of the refractive index is with
respect to vacuum, not to air. But the difference is negligible, because gases are mainly
made of vacuum and their index of refraction is close to one.
In many fluids and solids, light signals move more slowly than in vacuum; also the
(different) phase and group velocities of light inside materials are regularly lower than c, Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 114 the light speed in vacuum. We discussed the difference between these speeds above. For
such ‘normal’ materials, the refractive index n, the ratio of c to the phase velocity inside
the material, is larger than 1. The refractive index is an important material property for
the description of optical effects. For example, the value for visible light in water is about
1.3, for glasses it is around 1.5, and for diamond 2.4. The high value is one reason for the
sparkle of diamonds cut with the 57-face brilliant cut.
The refractive index also depends on wavelength; most materials show dispersion.
Prisms make use of this dependence to split white or other light into its constituent
colours. Also diamond, and in particular the brilliant cut, works as a prism, and this
is the second reason for their sparkle.
In contrast to ‘normal’ materials, various materials have refractive indices that are
lower than 1, and thus phase velocities larger than c. For example, gold has a refractive
 images – transporting light 135

The (inverted) superior mirage:

hot air
cold air

The (inverted) inferior mirage:

cold air

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
hot air

F I G U R E 90 The basis of mirages is an effective reflection due to refraction in a hot air layer; it can lead
to spectacular effects, such as the inverted superior mirage (top left and right) and the inferior image
(bottom left and right) (photographs © Thomas Hogan and Andy Barson).

index of around 0.2 for visible light, and thus a phase velocity of around 5c for such waves.
In fact, almost all materials have refractive indices below 1 for some wave frequencies,
Ref. 97 including table salt.
In short, refraction of light, the change of the direction of light motion, is due to dif-
ferent phase velocities of light in different materials. Material changes bend light paths.
Refraction is so common because it is extremely rare to have different materials with the
same refractive index.
Gases have refractive indices close to the vacuum value 1. Nevertheless, also gases lead
to refraction. In particular, the refractive index of gases depends on temperature. Refrac-
tion in gases leads to the most famous effect of light curvature: the mirage. Figure 90
shows photographs of a superior mirage, which relies an inversion or boundary layer in
the atmosphere above the object and the observer, and a inferior mirage, due to a hot
layer of air just above the ground. Inferior mirages are also regularly seen on hot high-
Ref. 98 ways. All mirage types are due to refraction; their detailed appearance depends on the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

given temperature profile in the air, and the relative heights of the observer, the inversion
layer and the observed object.
Above all, refraction is used in the design of lenses. With glass one can produce pre-
cisely curved surfaces that allow us to focus light. All focusing devices, such as lenses, can
be used to produce images. The two main types of lenses, with their focal points and the
images they produce, are shown in Figure 91; they are called converging lenses and diver-
gent lenses. When an object is more distant from a single converging lens than its focus,
the lens produces a real image, i.e., an image that can be projected onto a screen. In all
other cases single converging or diverging lenses produce so-called virtual images: such
images can be seen with the eye but not be projected onto a screen. For example, when
an object is put between a converging lens and its focus, the lens works as a magnifying
glass. Figure 91 also allows one to deduce the thin lens formula that connects the lengths
 136 4 images and the eye – optics

focus

object and real

light departing image
from it with
optional
screen

do di

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
object and focus virtual
light departing image
from it F I G U R E 91 A real image produced by
di
a converging lens (if used in the way
shown) and the virtual image
do
produced by a diverging lens.

Challenge 153 s do , di and f . What is it?

Even though glasses and lenses have been known since antiquity, the Middle Ages had
to pass by before two lenses were combined to make more elaborate optical instruments.
Ref. 99 The various effects that can be observed with one or two lenses are shown in Figure 92.
The telescope was invented – after a partial succes in Italy by Giambattista della Porta –
just before 1608 in the Netherlands. The most well-known of at least three simultaneous
inventors was the German–Dutch lens grinder Johannes Lipperhey (c. 1570–1619) who
made a fortune by selling his telescopes to the Dutch military. When Galileo heard about
the discovery, he quickly took it over and improved it. Already in 1609, Galileo performed
the first astronomical observations; they made him world-famous. The Dutch telescope Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

design has a short tube yielding a bright and upright image, and its magnification is the
Challenge 154 e ratio of the focal distances of the two lenses. It is still used today in opera glasses. Over the
years, many other ways of building telescopes have been developed; in particular, many
Ref. 100 modern high-performance telescopes use mirrors. Since mirrors are cheaper and easier
to fabricate for high-precision imaging, most large telescopes have a mirror instead of
the first lens.
By the way, telescopes also exist in nature. Most spiders have several types of eyes, and
some up to 6 different pairs. For example, the jumping spider genus Portia (Salticidae)
has two especially large eyes, made to see distant objects, which have two lenses behind
each other; the second lens and the retina behind it can be moved with muscles, so that
such spiders can effectively point their telescope in different directions without moving
their head. In order to process the input from all their eyes, jumping spiders need a large
 images – transporting light 137

No
(glass)
lens
d (cm) : 5 15 35 35 45 85

One
lens

Two equal
converging
lenses

Two different

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
converging lenses
(astronomical telescope)

A converging and
a diverging lens
(the Durch telescope)

The Dutch telescope final,

enlarged
virtual
common image
focus
of both
lenses
intermediate,
real image
(if ocular
missing) object
to the ocular: objective:
eye diverging converging
lens lens
F I G U R E 92 Lens refraction as the basis of the telescope: above, the experiments with lenses that lead
to the development of the telescope: the object to watch compared with the images produced by a
single converging lens, by two equal converging lenses, by two different converging lenses in the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

astronomical telescope, and by a diverging and a converging lens in the Dutch telescope, at various
distances from the eye; below, the explanation of the Dutch telescope (photographs © Eric Kirchner).

brain. In fact, about 50% of the body mass of jumping spiders is brain mass.
Another way to combine two lenses leads to the microscope. Can you explain to a
Challenge 155 s non-physicist how a microscope works? Werner Heisenberg almost failed his Ph.D. exam
because he could not. The problem is not difficult, though. Indeed, the inventor of the
microscope was an autodidact of the seventeenth century: the Dutch technician Antoni
van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) made a living by selling over five hundred of his micro-
scopes to his contemporaries. (This is a somewhat nasty remark: Van Leeuwenhoek only
used one lens, not two, as in the modern microscope.)
 138 4 images and the eye – optics

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 93
The glory
produced by
the droplets
in a cloud.

Eye lens dispersion

F I G U R E 94 Watching this graphic at higher
magnification shows the dispersion of the
human eye: the letters float at different depths.

No ray tracing diagram, be it that of a simple lens, of a telescope or of a microscope, is

really complete if the eye, with its lens and retina, is missing. Can you add it and convince
Challenge 156 ny yourself that these devices really work?
Refraction is usually colour-dependent. For that reason (and also in order to com-
pensate the other lens imaging errors called aberrations) microscopes or photographic
cameras have several lenses, made of different types of glass. They compensate the colour
effects, which otherwise yield coloured image borders. The colour dependence of refrac- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 109 tion in water droplets is also the basis of the rainbow, as shown below, and refraction in
ice crystals in the atmosphere is at the basis of the halos, sun pillars and the many other
Ref. 101 light patterns often seen around the Sun or the Moon.
Also the human eye has colour-dependent refraction. (It is well known that for the
working of the eye, the curvature of the cornea is more important than the refractive
power of the lens, because the lens is embedded in a medium with nearly the same index
of refraction, thus limiting the effects of refraction.) The colour-dependent refraction is
not corrected in the eye, but in the brain. Indeed, the dispersion of the eye lens can be
noticed if this correction is made impossible, for example when red or blue letters are
printed on a black background, as shown in Figure 94. One gets the impression that the
red letters float in front of the blue letters. Can you show how dispersion leads to the
Challenge 157 s floating effect?
 images – transporting light 139

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 95 Optical fibres: their working principle and their application in the vertebrate eye, in marine
animals, in insect eyes, in illumination, in tapers for image size change, and in telecommunications
(© Schott).

Bending light with tubes – fibre optics

Another way to bend light, also based on refraction, is used by many animals and techni-
cal devices: optical fibres. Optical fibres are based on total internal reflection; an overview
of their uses is given in Figure 95.
In nature, optical fibres appear in at least three systems. In insect eyes, such as the eyes
of the house fly or the eye of a honey bee, the light for each image pixel is transported
along a structure that works as a conical optical fibre. In certain sea animals, such as the
glass sponge Euplectella aspergillum and a number of other sponges, actual silica fibres
are used to provide structural stability and to transport light signals to photodetectors.
Finally, all vertebrate eyes, including the human eye, contain a large number of optical
fibres above the retina, to avoid the image problems that might be caused by the blood
Ref. 102 vessels, which lie above the retina in all vertebrate eyes. By the way, the frequently heard
Ref. 103 claim that the white hair of polar bears works as optical fibres for UV light is false.
In technical applications, optical fibres are essential for the working of the telephone
network and the internet, for signal distribution inside aeroplanes and cars, for the trans-
port of laser light for medical uses, for high-power lasers and in many other settings.
Hollow glass fibres are successfully used for the imaging of X-rays.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

200 years too late – negative refraction indices

In 1968 the Soviet physicist Victor Veselago made a strange prediction: the index of re-
fraction could have negative values without invalidating any known ‘law’ of physics. A
negative index means that a beam is refracted to the same side of the vertical, as shown
in Figure 96. As a result, concave lenses made of such materials focus and convex lenses
disperse parallel beams, in contrast to usual lens materials.
In 1996, John Pendry and his group proposed ways of realizing such materials. In
2000, a first experimental confirmation for microwave refraction was published, but it
Ref. 104 met with strong disbelief. In 2002 the debate was in full swing. It was argued that neg-
ative refraction indices imply speeds greater than that of light and are only possible for
 140 4 images and the eye – optics

α air α air
n≈1 n≈1

water left-handed
n>1 material
n<0 F I G U R E 96 Positive and
β β
negative indices of
refraction n.

either phase velocity or group velocity, but not for the energy or true signal velocity. The

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
conceptual problems would arise only because in some physical systems the refraction
angle for phase motion and for energy motion differ.
In the meantime, the debate is over. Negative indices of refraction have indeed been
frequently observed; the corresponding systems are being extensively explored all over
Ref. 105 the world. Systems with negative index of refraction do exist. The materials showing this
property are called left-handed. The reason is that the vectors of the electric field, the
magnetic field and the wave vector form a left-handed triplet, in contrast to vacuum and
most usual materials, where the triplet is right-handed. Such materials consistently have
Ref. 106 negative magnetic permeability and negative dielectric coefficient (permittivity).
Apart from the unusual refraction properties, left-handed materials have negative
phase velocities, i.e., a phase velocity opposed to the energy velocity; they also show re-
versed Doppler effect and yield obtuse angles in the Vavilov–Çerenkov effect (emitting
Vavilov–Çerenkov radiation in the backward instead of in the forward direction).
But, most intriguing, negative refraction materials are predicted to allow constructing
Ref. 107 lenses that are completely flat. In addition, in the year 2000, John Pendry gained the
attention of the whole physics community world-wide by predicting that lenses made
with such materials, in particular for n = −1, would be perfect, thus beating the usual
diffraction limit. This would happen because such a lens also images the evanescent parts
of the waves – i.e., the exponentially decaying ones – by amplifying them accordingly.
Ref. 106 First experiments seem to confirm the prediction. Exploration of the topic is still in full
swing.
It should be mentioned that one type of negative refraction systems have been known
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

since a long time: diffraction gratings. The only difference is that negative index materials
try to work as gratings in all spatial directions.

Metamaterials
The simplest realization of left-handed systems are metamaterials. Metamaterials are en-
gineered metal-insulator structures that are left-handed for a certain wavelength range,
usually in the radio or microwave domain.
Ref. 108 Currently, there are two basic approaches to realize metamaterials. The first is to build
a metamaterial from a large array of resonant inductor-capacitor (LC-) circuits. The sec-
Ref. 109 ond approach is to build them from resonant transmission lines. The latter approach has
lower losses and a wider spectral range. An example is shown in Figure 97.
 images – transporting light 141

F I G U R E 97 An example of an isotropic metamaterial (M. Zedler

et al., © 2007 IEEE).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Most metamaterials are conceived for waves in the microwave range. Crystals that act
as left-handed materials in the optical range, though for certain frequencies only, and
only in one dimension, have been identified recently. Research on the topic is presently
in full swing. Industrial applications of left handed (meta-)materials are expected for an-
tenna design; for example, the antenna dipole could be located just above a metamaterial,
allowing flat directional antennas. The most unrealistic people are those who claim that
invisibility cloaks can be realized with metamaterials. While this is a good marketing slo-
gan to attract funding, it is not realistic, due to inevitable signal losses in the materials,
dispersion, finite cell size etc. So far, all aeroplanes that were claimed to be invisible for
certain (radar) frequencies have turned out to be visible to radar. But sources of military
funding are known to have only a distant relation to reality.

Light around corners – diffraction

Light goes around corners. This effect was called diffraction by Francesco Grimaldi, in his
Ref. 110 text Physico-mathesis de lumine, published in 1665. Grimaldi studied shadows very care-
fully. He found out what everybody now learns in secondary school: light goes around
corners in the same way that sound does, and light diffraction is due to the wave nature
of light. (Newton got interested in optics after he read Grimaldi; Newton then wrongly
dismissed his conclusions.)
Because of diffraction, it is impossible to produce strictly parallel light beams. For ex- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ample, every laser beam diverges by a certain minimum amount, called the diffraction
limit. Maybe you know that the world’s most expensive Cat’s-eyes are on the Moon, where
Ref. 111 they have been deposited by the Lunokhod and the Apollo missions. Can you determine
how wide a laser beam with minimum divergence has become when it arrives at the
Moon and returns back to Earth, assuming that it was 1 m wide when it left Earth? How
Challenge 158 s wide would it be when it came back if it had been 1 mm wide at the start? In short, diffrac-
tion and the impossibility of parallel beams confirms that light is a wave.
Diffraction implies that there are no perfectly sharp images: there exists a limit on res-
olution. This is true for every optical instrument, including the eye. The resolution of the
eye is between one and two minutes of arc, i.e., between 0.3 and 0.6 mrad. The limit is
partly due to the finite size of the pupil. (That is why squinting helps to see more sharply.)
In practice, the resolution of the eye is often limited by chromatic aberrations and shape
 142 4 images and the eye – optics

Naive prediction Observation

lamp

circular plate

screen with
shadow Poisson’s spot

F I G U R E 98 Shadows show that light is a wave: the naive expectation (left), neglecting the wave idea,
and the actual observation (middle and right) of the shadow of a circular object (photo © Christopher
Jones).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
imperfections of the cornea and lens. (Can you check the numbers and their interpreta-
Challenge 159 d tion by calculation? Is it true that the number of cones in the eye is tuned exactly to its
resolution?) Therefore, for example, there is a maximum distance at which humans can
Challenge 160 s distinguish the two headlights of a car. Can you estimate it?
Resolution limits also make it impossible to see the Great Wall in northern China from
the Moon, contrary to what is often claimed. In the few parts that are not yet in ruins,
the wall is about 6 metres wide, and even if it casts a wide shadow during the morning
or the evening, the angle it subtends is way below a second of arc, so that it is completely
invisible to the human eye. In fact, three different cosmonauts who travelled to the Moon
Ref. 112 performed careful searches and confirmed that the claim is absurd. The story is one of the
Challenge 161 ny most tenacious urban legends. (Is it possible to see the Wall from the space shuttle?) The
largest human-made objects are the polders of reclaimed land in the Netherlands; they
are visible from outer space. So are most large cities as well as the highways in Belgium
at night; their bright illumination makes them stand out clearly from the dark side of the
Earth.
Diffraction has the consequence that behind a small disc illuminated along its axis, the
centre of the shadow shows, against all expectations, a bright spot, as shown in Figure 98.
This ‘hole’ in the shadow was predicted in 1819 by Denis Poisson (1781–1840) in order
to show to what absurd consequences the wave theory of light would lead. He had just
read the mathematical description of diffraction developed by Augustin Fresnel* on the
basis of the wave description of light. But shortly afterwards, François Arago (1786–1853)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

actually observed Poisson’s spot, converting Poisson, making Fresnel famous and starting
the general acceptance of the wave properties of light.
Diffraction can also be used, in certain special applications, to produce images. A few
examples of the use of diffraction in optics are shown in Figure 99. Of these, acousto-
optic modulators are used in many laser systems, for example in laser shows. Also holo-
Page 146 grams, to be discussed in detail below, can be considered a special kind of diffractive
images.

* Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788–1827), engineer and part time physicist (the ‘s’ in his name is silent). In 1818,
he published his great paper on wave theory for which he got the prize of the French Academy of Sciences
in 1819. To improve his finances, he worked in the commission responsible for lighthouses, for which he
developed the well-known Fresnel lens. He died prematurely, partly of exhaustion due to overwork.
images – transporting light 143

F I G U R E 99 Examples of diffractive optics: a diffractive aspherical lens, the result shining a red laser
through of a plastic sheet with a diffractive cross generator, and an acousto-optic modulator used to
modulate laser beams that are transmitted through the built-in crystal (© Jenoptik, Wikimedia, Jeff
Sherman).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 100 Sub-wavelength optical
microscopy using stimulated emission
depletion (right) compared to
conventional confocal microscopy (left)
(© MPI für biophysikalische
Chemie/Stefan Hell).

In summary, diffraction is sometimes used to form or to influence images; but above

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

all, in every image, diffraction determines the resolution, i.e., the image quality.

Beating the diffraction limit

In all imaging methods, the race is for images with the highest resolution possible. In
particular, the techniques of producing images with resolutions less than the wavelength
of light have made great progress in recent years.
Nowadays, extraordinary images can be produced with modified commercial light
microscopes. The conventional diffraction limit for microscopes is

λ
d⩾ , (79)
2n sin α
 144 4 images and the eye – optics

where λ is the wavelength, n the index of refraction and α is the angle of observation.
There are three main ways to circumvent this limit. The first is to work in the ‘near field’,
where the diffraction limit is not valid, the second way is to observe and measure the
diffraction effects and then to use computers to reduce the effects via image processing,
the third way is to use effects that produces light emission from the sample that is smaller
than the wavelength of light, and the fourth way is to use resolution in time to increase
resolution in time.
A well-known near-field technique is the near-field scanning optical microscope.
Light is sent through a tapered glass fibre with a small transparent hole at the end, down
to 15 nm; the tip is scanned over the sample, sp that the image is acquired point by point.
These microscopes achieve the highest resolution of all optical microscopes. However, it
is hard to get a practical amount of light through the small holw at the end of the tip.
Many computational techniques can achieve images that achieve resolutions below

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the diffraction limit. The simpler types of these deconvolution microscopy techniques
are already commercially available.
One of the first techniques that beat the diffraction limit by a substantial amount using
in a conventional microscope is stimulated emission depletion microscopy. Using a clever
illumination system based on two laser beams, the technique allows spot sizes of almost
molecular size. The new technique, a special type of fluorescence microscopy developed
by Stefan Hell, uses an illuminating laser beam with a circular spot and a second laser
beam with a ring-like shape. As a result of this combination, the techniques modifies the
diffraction limit to
λ
d⩾ , (80)
2n sin α 󵀄I/Isat

so that a properly chosen saturation intensity allows one to reduce the diffraction limit
to arbitrary low values. So far, light microscopy with a resolution of 16 nm has been
Ref. 113 performed. An example image is shown in Figure 100. This and similar techniques are
becoming commonplace in material science, medicine and biology.
Research in new microscopy techniques is still ongoing, also in the numerous at-
tempts to transfer resolution in time to resolution in space. Another important domain
of research is the development of microscopes that can be included in endoscopes, so
that physicians can explore the human body without the need of large operations. Mi-
croscopy is still a field in full swing. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Other ways to bend light

Optical technology can be defined as the science of bending light. Reflection, refraction
and diffraction are the most important methods to achieve this. But it makes sense to
explore the question more generally: what other ways can be used to bend light beams?
Vol. I, page 177 A further way to bend light is gravity, as discussed already in the chapters on universal
Vol. II, page 161 gravity and those on general relativity. Since the effect of gravity is weak, it is only of
importance in astronomy. Gravitational lensing is used in various projects to measure
the size, mass and distance of galaxies and galaxy groups. The usually negligible effect of
Vol. II, page 238 gravity between two light beams was also discussed earlier on.
In practice, there are no laboratory-scale methods to bend light beams apart from
 images – transporting light 145

α
b

M
preliminary drawing
F I G U R E 101 In certain materials, light F I G U R E 102 Masses bend light.
beams can spiral around each other.

reflection, refraction and diffraction. All known methods are specialized cases of these
three options.
An important way in which materials can be used to bend light are acousto-optic de-
Page 142 flectors. They work like acousto-optic modulators, i.e., a sound wave travelling through
a crystal generates a diffraction grating that is used to deflect a laser beam. Such modu-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
lators thus use diffraction to bend light.
Additional electromagnetic fields usually do not influence light directly, since light has
no charge and since Maxwell’s equations are linear. But in some materials the effective
equations are non-linear, and the story changes. For example, in certain photorefractive
materials, two nearby light beams can even twist around each other, as was shown by
Ref. 114 Segev and coworkers in 1997. This is illustrated in Figure 101. This effect is thus a form of
refraction.
Another common way to deflect light uses its polarization. Many materials, for exam-
ple liquid crstals or electro-optic materials, bend light beams depending on their polar-
ization. These materials can be used to steer or even to block laser beams. Liquid crystal
modulators and electro-optic modulators are thus based in refraction.
Scattered light also changes direction. It is debatable whether it is appropriate to call
Vol. IV, page 58 this process an example of bending of light. In any case, scattering is important: without
it, we would not see almost anything around us. After all, everyday seeing is detection of
scattered light. And of course, scattering is a case of diffraction.
The next question is: what methods exist to move light beams? Even though photons
have zero mass and electrons have non-zero mass, scanning electron beams is easily
achieved with more than 1 GHz frequency, whereas scanning powerful light beams is
hard for more than 10 kHz.
Moving light beams – and laser scanners in particular – is important: solutions are
the basis of a sizeable industry. Moving laser beams are used for laser treatments of the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

eye, for laser marking, for laser shows, for laser cutting, for barcode reading in super-
markets, for rapid prototyping, for laser sintering, for laser distance measurements, for
Page 123 lidar, for the mentioned microscopy techniques, and for various industrial processes in
the production of electronic printed circuits and of display for mobile phones. Most laser
scanners are based on moving mirrors, prisms or lenses, though acousto-optic scanners
and electro-optic scanners, which achieve a few MHz scanning rate for low power beams,
are also used in special applications. Many applications are eagerly waiting for inventions
that allow faster laser scanning.
In summary, moving light beams requires to move matter, usually in the form of mir-
ror or lenses. Light travels in straight line only if it travels far from matter. In everyday
life, ‘far’ simply means more than a few millimetres, because electromagnetic effects are
negligible at these distances, mainly due to light’s truly supersonic speed. However, as
 146 4 images and the eye – optics

Recording: Observation:
holographic plate developed
virtual film
object observer
object image

reference reconstruction
beam beam

laser laser or point-like light source

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 103 The recording (left) and the observation (right) of a hologram (in this case, in transmission).

we have seen, in some cases that involve gravitation, larger distances from matter are
necessary to ensure undisturbed motion of light.

How does one make holograms and other three-dimensional

images?
Our sense of sight gives us the impression of depth mainly due to three effects. First, the
two eyes see different images. Second, the images formed in the eyes are position depen-
dent. Third, for different distances, our eye needs to focus differently.
A usual paper photograph does not capture any of these three-dimensional effects: a
paper photograph corresponds to the picture taken by one eye, from one particular spot
Challenge 162 e and at one particular focus. In fact, all photographic cameras are essentially copies of a
single static eye with fixed focus.
Any system wanting to produce the perception of depth must include at least one
of the three three-dimensional effects just mentioned. In fact, the third effect, varying
focus with distance, is the weakest one, so that most systems concentrate on the other
two effects, different images for the two eyes, and an image that depends on the position
of the head. Stereo photography and stereo films extensively use the first effect by sending Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

two different images to the eyes, sometimes with the help of coloured glasses. Also certain
post cards and computer screens are covered by thin cylindrical lenses that allow sending
two different images to the two eyes, thus generating an impression of depth.
But obviously the most spectacular depth effect is obtained whenever position depen-
dent images can be created. Modern virtual reality systems produce this effect using a
sensor attached to the head, and creating computer–generated images that depend on
the head’s position. However, such systems are limited to computer graphics; they are
not able to reproduce reality and thus they pale when compared with the impression
produced by holograms.
Holograms reproduce all data that is seen from any point of a region of space. A holo-
gram is thus a stored set of position dependent pictures of an object. A hologram is pro-
duced by storing amplitude and phase of the light emitted or scattered by an object. To
images – transporting light 147

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 104 A selection of holograms: the hologram of a train, the reflection hologram on a Euro bill,
and a rare colour hologram (© Anonymous, Hans-Ulrich Pötsch, Robert Norwood).
 148 4 images and the eye – optics

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 105 Interferograms of a guitar (© Wikimedia).

achieve this storage, the object is illuminated by a coherent light source, such as a laser,
and the interference pattern between the illumination and the scattered light is stored,
usually in a photographic film. The procedure is shown schematically in Figure 103. In
a second step, illuminating the developed film by a coherent light source – a laser or a
small lamp – then allows one to see a full three-dimensional image. In particular, due to
the reproduction of the situation, the image appears to float in free space.
A few examples of holograms are shown in Figure 104. Holograms were developed in
1947 by the Hungarian physicist Dennis Gabor (1900–1979), who received the 1971 Nobel
Prize for physics for this work. The beauty of Gabor’s invention is that it was mainly
theoretical, since lasers were not yet available at the time.
Holograms can be transmission holograms, like those in seen in museums, or reflec-
tion holograms, like those found on credit cards or currency bills. Holograms can be laser
holograms and white light holograms. Most coloured holograms are rainbow holograms,
showing false colours that are unrelated to the original objects. Real colour holograms, Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

made and rendered with three different lasers, are rare but possible. Specific hologram
systems are used in head-up displays in cars and computer-aided assembly.
By a double illumination at two different times, one obtains a so-called interferogram,
which allows visualizing and measuring the deformation of an object. Interferograms are
used to observe and measure deformation, oscillation or temperature effects.
Is it possible to make moving holograms? Yes; however, the technical set-ups are still
extremely expensive. So far, they exist only in a few laboratories (for example, www.
optics.arizona.edu/pstg/index.html) and are extremely expensive. By the way, can you
describe how you would distinguish a high quality moving hologram from a real body
Challenge 163 s without touching it?
Not all three-dimensional images are holograms. Using rotating displays, rotating mir-
rors or rotating screens, it is possible to produce stunning three-dimensional images. An
 images – transporting light 149

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 106 A three-dimensional image system based on a rotating mirror, from the University of
Southern California, at gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/3DDisplay (© USC Stevens Institute for Innovation).

impressive example of such technology demonstrators is presented in Figure 106. Can

Challenge 164 e you deduce why it was not a commercial success?

Images through scanning

When images are produced using lenses or mirrors, all the points of an image are pro-
duced in parallel. In contrast, in scanning techniques, images are constructed serially,
point by point. Even though scanning is intrinsically slower than any parallel technique,
it has its own advantages: scanning allows imaging in three dimensions and resolutions
higher than the diffraction limit. Scanning techniques are mostly used in microscopy.
The most famous scanning technique does not use light rays, but electrons: the scan-
ning electron microscope. As shown in Figure 108, such microscopes can produce stun-
ning images. However, the images produced are two-dimensional.
A typical example for a modern three-dimensional imaging technique based on light Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

is confocal laser scanning microscopy. The technique is based on eliminating all light sig-
nals that are outside the focus of the microscope. The technique allows taking a picture
of a more or less transparent specimen at a specified depth below its surface, up to a
maximum depth of about 500 μm. Confocal microscopes are now available from various
manufacturers.
An example of a technique for high-resolution is multiphoton microscopy. In this tech-
nique, the fluorescence of a specimen is excited using two or three photons of longer
wavelengths. Like all fluorescence techniques, the image is produced from the fluores-
cent light emitted by certain chemical substances found in living organisms. In contrast
to usual fluorescence microscopy, multiphoton imaging is based on a nonlinear effect, so
that the emission region in extremely narrow and therefore high resolution is achieved.
An example of a technique that allows both three-dimensional imaging and high-
150 4 images and the eye – optics

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 107 Three scanning imaging techniques and the images they produce: confocal laser scanning
microscopy, multiphoton microscopy and optical coherence tomography (© Nikon, Carl Zeiss,
Heidelberg Engineering).
images – transporting light 151

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 108 A modern scanning electron microscope, and an image of pollen – field size about 0.3 mm
– showing the resolution and the depth of field achievable with the technique (© Zeiss, Wikimedia).
152 4 images and the eye – optics

X-ray
tube
sample

X-ray
computer detector
controlled
positioning

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 109 A set-up for high-resolution X-ray tomography, and two examples of images produced
with it: a cross-section of a coffee bean (lower left) with a size of 8 mm, and a three-dimensional
reconstruction of the exoskeleton of a foraminiferan, with a diameter of only 0.5 mm (© Manuel Dierick).

resolution is optical coherence tomography. The technique is free of danger for the speci-
men, allows a depth of a few millimetres in animal tissue, and allows resolutions down
to 500 nm. Modern systems allow imaging of 10 GVoxel/s and more, so that films of bio-
logical processes can be produced in vivo, such as the blood flow in a human finger. But
above all, the technique allows to observe the retina of the human eye and the region
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

below it. Through the detailed pictures it provides, optical coherence tomography allows
extremely precise diagnoses; it has profoundly changed modern ophthalmology.
In summary, technological advances allow sophisticated imaging systems based on
scanning, in particular in the field of microscopy. Since the field is still in flux, scanning
techniques are expected to yield even more impressive results in the coming years. This
progress in scanning techniques reminds one of the past progress of a further type of
imaging principle that reconstructs images in an even more involved way: tomography.

Tomography
A spectacular type of imaging has become possible only after high-speed computers be-
came cheap: tomography. In tomography, a radiation source rotates around the object
 the eye and the brain: observing images 153

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 110 A limitation of the eye (see text).

to be imaged; the radiation that is scattered and/or transmitted is detected, and with so-
phisticated computer programming, a cross section of the object is reconstructed. Three-
dimensional reconstructions are also possible. Tomography can be performed with any
type of radiation that can be emitted in sufficiently well-defined beams, such as gamma
rays, X-rays, light, radio waves, electron beams, neutron beams, sound and even earth-
quakes. X-ray tomography is a standard method in health care; visible light tomography,
which has no side effects on humans, is being developed for breast tumour detection. Ad-
ditional specialized techniques are electrical resistivity tomography, magnetic induction
tomography and cryo-electron tomography.
In several types of tomography, the resolution achieved is breath-taking. An exam-
ple for modern high-resolution X-ray tomography of really small objects is shown in
Figure 109. Also magnetic resonance imaging, widely used in health care to image the
interior of the human body, is a type of tomography, based on radio waves; it will be
Vol. V, page 118 presented later on in our journey. Various types of tomographic systems – including
opto-acoustic tomography based on sound produced by pulsed light, positron emission
tomography, optical coherence tomography and the common sonography – also allow
the production of film sequences.
An unusual imaging method is muon tomography, an imaging method that uses the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

muons in cosmic rays to detect heavy metals in boxes, luggage and trucks. This method is
particularly interesting for searching for hidden heavy metals, such as plutonium, which
scatter muons much more strongly than other materials such as iron.

the eye and the brain: observing images

Do we see what exists?
Sometimes we see less than there is. Close your left eye, look at the white spot in
Figure 110, bring the page slowly towards your eye, and pay attention to the middle lines.
Challenge 165 s At a distance of about 15 to 20 cm the middle line will seem uninterrupted. Why?
 154 4 images and the eye – optics

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 111 What is the angle between the thin lines between the squares?

F I G U R E 112 The Lingelbach lattice: do you see white, grey, or black dots at the crossings?
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

On the other hand, sometimes we see more than there is, as Figures 111 and 112 show.
The first shows that parallel lines can look skewed, and the second show a so-called Her-
mann lattice, named after its discoverer.* The Hermann lattice of Figure 112, discovered
by Elke Lingelbach in 1995, is especially striking. Variations of these lattices are now used
Ref. 115 to understand the mechanisms at the basis of human vision. For example, they can be
used to determine how many light sensitive cells in the retina are united to one signal
pathway towards the brain. The illusions are angle dependent because this number is also
angle dependent.

* Ludimar Hermann (1838–1914), Swiss physiologist. The lattices are often falsely called ‘Hering lattices’
after the man who made Hermann’s discovery famous.
 the eye and the brain: observing images 155

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 113 An example of an infrared photograph, slightly mixed with a colour image (© Serge
Augustin).

Our eyes also ‘see’ things differently: the retina sees an inverted image of the world.
There is a simple method to show this, due to Helmholtz.* You need only a needle and
a piece of paper, e.g. this page of text. Use the needle to make two holes inside the two
letters ‘oo’. Then keep the page as close to your eye as possible, look through the two
holes towards the wall, keeping the needle vertical, a few centimetres behind the paper.
You will see two images of the needle. If you now cover the left hole with your finger, the
right needle will disappear, and vice versa. This shows that the image inside the eye, on
Challenge 166 ny the retina, is inverted. Are you able to complete the proof?
Two other experiments can show the same result. If you push very lightly on the inside
of your eye (careful!), you will see a dark spot appear on the outside of your vision field.
And if you stand in a dark room and ask a friend to look at a burning candle, explore his
eye: you will see three reflections: two upright ones, reflected from the cornea and from
the lens, and a dim third one, upside-down, reflected from the retina.
Another reason that we do not see the complete image of nature is that our eyes have
a limited sensitivity. This sensitivity peaks around 560 nm; outside the red and the violet,
the eye does not detect radiation. We thus see only part of nature. For example, infrared
photographs of nature, such as the one shown in Figure 113, are interesting because they
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

show us something different from what we see usually. The same happens to ultraviolet
Ref. 116 photographs, as shown in Figure 114.
Every expert of motion should also know that the sensitivity of the eye does not cor-
Ref. 117 respond to the brightest part of sunlight. This myth has been spread around the world

* See Hermann von Helmholtz, Handbuch der physiologischen Optik, 1867. This famous classic is
available in English as Handbook of Physiological Optics, Dover, 1962. The Prussian physician, physicist and
science politician born as Hermann Helmholtz (b. 1821 Potsdam, d. 1894 Charlottenburg) was famous for
his works on optics, acoustics, electrodynamics, thermodynamics, epistemology and geometry. He founded
several physics institutions across Germany. He was one of the first to propagate the idea of conservation
of energy. His other important book, Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen, published in 1863, describes the
basis of acoustics and, like the Handbook, is still worth reading.
 156 4 images and the eye – optics

F I G U R E 114 How the appearance of a sunflower changes with wavelength: how it looks to the human
eye, how it might look to a bird, and how it looks in the ultraviolet (© Andrew Davidhazy).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
by the numerous textbooks that have copied from each other. Depending on whether
frequency or wavelength or wavelength logarithm is used, the solar spectrum peaks at
500 nm, 880 nm or 720 nm. The human eye’s spectral sensitivity, like the completely dif-
ferent sensitivity of birds or frogs, is due to the chemicals used for detection. In short,
the human eye can only be understood by a careful analysis of its particular evolution-
ary history.
An urban legend, spread by many medical doctors and midwives to this day, pre-
tends that newborn babies see everything upside down. Can you explain why this idea
Challenge 167 s is wrong?
In summary, we have to be careful when maintaining that seeing means observing.
Examples such as these lead to ask whether there are other limitations of our senses
which are less evident. And our walk will indeed uncover several of them.

How can one make pictures of the inside of the eye?

The most beautiful pictures so far of a living human retina, such as that of Figure 115, were
made by the group of David Williams and Austin Roorda at the University at Rochester in
Ref. 118 New York. They used adaptive optics, a technique that changes the shape of the imaging
lens in order to compensate for the shape variations of the lens in the human eye.*
The eyes see colour by averaging the intensity arriving at the red, blue and green sensi-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 109 tive cones. This explains the possibility, mentioned above, of getting the same impression
of colour, e.g. yellow, either by a pure yellow laser beam, or by a suitable mixture of red
and green light.
But if the light is focused on to one cone only, the eye makes mistakes. If, using this
adaptive optics, a red laser beam is focused such that it hits a green cone only, a strange
thing happens: even though the light is red, the eye sees a green colour!
Incidentally, Figure 115 is quite puzzling. In the human eye, the blood vessels are lo-
cated in front of the cones. Why don’t they appear in the picture? And why don’t they

* Nature uses another trick to get maximum resolution: the eye continuously performs small movements,
called micronystagmus. The eye continuously oscillates around the direction of vision with around 40 to
50 Hz. In addition, this motion is also used to allow the cells in the retina to recharge.
 the eye and the brain: observing images 157

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 115 A high quality photograph of a live human retina, including a measured (false colour)
indication of the sensitivity of each cone cell (© Austin Roorda).

Challenge 168 s disturb us in everyday life? (The picture does not show the other type of sensitive light
cells, the rods, because the subject was in daylight; rods come to the front of the retina
only in the dark, and then produce black and white pictures.)
Of all the mammals, only primates can see full colours. Bulls for example, don’t; they
cannot distinguish red from blue. On the other hand, the best colour seers overall are the
birds. They have cone receptors for red, blue, green, ultraviolet, and, depending on the
bird, for up to three more sets of colours. A number of birds (but not many) also have a
better eye resolution than humans. Several birds also have a faster temporal resolution:
humans see continuous motion when the images follow with 30 to 70 Hz (depending on
the image content); some insects can distinguish images up to 300 Hz.
All vertebrate eyes have rods. In addition, on the retina of the human eye, there are
rods and three types of cones, for the colours red, green and blue. As mentioned, a much
better eye is found in birds, many reptiles and fish: they have four or more types of cones,
a ultraviolet-transparent lens, and have built-in colour filters. The fourth type of cones, Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

and the specific eye lens, make the eyes of birds and reptiles sensitive to near-ultraviolet
light; birds use their ultraviolet sense to find food and to distinguish males from females.
Indeed, most birds whose males and females look the same to humans differ markedly
in the ultraviolet.
Birds and reptiles also have coloured oil droplets built into the top of their cones, and
each cone type has a different oil colour. These droplets act as colour filters. In this way,
the spectral resolution of their cones is much sharper than in mammals. The sense of
colour in birds is much more evolved than in humans – it would be fascinating to watch
the world with a bird’s eye. Unfortunately, in the course of evolution the eye of mammals
lost two cones. The primates later regained one type, in order to distinguish more clearly
the tree fruit, so important for the brain, from the surrounding leaves. But despite this
change, primates never reached the capability of the best bird’s eyes.
 158 4 images and the eye – optics

grass dew head Sun

(not to
scale)

F I G U R E 116 The path of light

for the dew on grass that is
responsible for the aureole.

How to prove you’re holy

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Light reflection and refraction are responsible for many effects. The originally Indian
symbol of holiness, now used throughout most of the world, is the aureole, also called
halo or Heiligenschein, a ring of light surrounding the head. You can easily observe it
around your own head. You need only to get up early in the morning and look into
the wet grass while turning your back to the Sun. You will see an aureole around your
shadow. The effect is due to the morning dew on the grass, which reflects the light back
predominantly in the direction of the light source, as shown in Figure 116. The fun part
Ref. 119 is that if you do this in a group, you will see the aureole around only your own head.
Retroreflective paint works in the same way: it contains tiny glass spheres that play
the role of the dew. A large surface of retroreflective paint, a traffic sign for example, can
Ref. 120 also show your halo if the light source is sufficiently far away. Also the so-called ‘glow’ of
the eyes of a cat at night is due to the same effect; it is visible only if you look at the cat
Challenge 169 s with a light source behind you. By the way, do Cat’s-eyes work like a cat’s eyes?

Challenges and fun curiosities about images and the eye

An image sensor does not need a lens. The temple viper (or Wagler’s pit viper) has two
infrared sensors – one is shown in Figure 117 – with a resolution of 40 times 40 pixels
each, and it just has a hole instead of a lens. The pit viper uses these sensors to catch mice
even in the dark. The working of this infrared sensor has been explored and simulated
by several research groups. It is now known how the sensor acquires the data, how the
Ref. 121 snake brain reconstructs the image, and how itachieves the high resolution. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Modern technology provides the possibilities to think anew how a microscope should
look like. Figure 118 shows a microscope that is in fact an array of thousands of micro-
Ref. 122 scopes. The lenses produce images on a CMOS imaging chip with 16 megapixel.
∗∗
If a sufficient number of images is available, it is possible to identify the camera that
produced them. Every camera has a specific image noise patern; by extracting it through
clever averaging, computer software is able to support police investigations.
∗∗
the eye and the brain: observing images 159

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 117 A collection of image sensors – thus of pixel systems: A cat’s retina, a CCD sensor still on a
wafer, the eye of a house fly, a CMOS sensor, a human retina, a multichannel plate, and a temple viper’s
infrared pit (© Wikimedia, Austin Roorda, Hamamatsu Photonics, Guido Westhoff/Leo van Hemmen).
 160 4 images and the eye – optics

F I G U R E 118 A flat microscope based on stacked microlens arrays and an image it produces (© Frank
Wippermann).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The eye is a wonderful organ. To learn more about it, read the beautiful book Si-
mon Ings, The Eye – A Natural History, Bloomsbury, 2007.
∗∗
An important device in medicine is the endoscope. An endoscope allows to look into
a body cavity through a very small hole. It is a metal tube, typically with a diameter of
Challenge 170 e around 5 mm and a length of 300 mm. How would you build one? (The device must resist
at least 150 disinfection cycles in an autoclave; each cycle implies staying at 134°C and
3 bar for three hours.)
∗∗
Challenge 171 s The Sun is visible to the naked eye only up to a distance of 50 light years. Is this true?
∗∗
Ref. 123 Grass is usually greener on the other side of the fence. Can you give an explanation based
Challenge 172 s on observations for this statement?
∗∗
It is said that astronomers have telescopes so powerful that they could see whether some-
Challenge 173 s body would be lighting a match on the Moon. Can this be true? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Total refraction is an interesting phenomenon it itself; but its details are even more fasci-
nating. In 1943 Fritz Goos and Hilda Hänchen showed that the reflected beam is slightly
shifted; in other words, the reflected beam is effectively reflected by a plane that lies
slightly behind the material interface. This so-called Goos-Hänchen shift can be as large
as a few wavelengths and is due travelling evanescent waves in the thinner medium.
Ref. 124 In fact, recent research into this topic discovered something even more interesting.
When reflection is explored with high precision, one discovers that no reflected light
ray is exactly on the position one expects them: there is also a lateral shift, the Imbert–
Fedorov shift, and even the angle of the reflected ray can deviate from the expected one.
The fascinating details depend on the polarization of the beam, on the divergence of
 the eye and the brain: observing images 161

The Goos–Hänchen shift

path predicted
incoming by geometric optics
ray

observed
reflection The Imbert–Fedorov shift
glass
air incoming,
polarized observed path predicted
ray reflection by geometric optics

The Goos-Hänchen shift and angular deviation

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
in metallic reflection glass
incoming, observed
polarized reflection air
ray

path predicted
air by geometric optics

metal

F I G U R E 119 The Goos-Hänchen shift and other deviations from geometric reflection: In total reflection,
the reflected light beam is slightly displaced from its naively expected position; in metallic reflection,
even more deviations are observed.

the beam and on the material properties of the reflecting layer. All this is stilla topic of
research.
∗∗
Materials that absorb light strongly also emit strongly. Why then does a door with dark
paint in the sun get hotter than a door that is painted white? The reason is that the emis- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

sion takes place at a much lower wavelength than that of visible light; for everyday sit-
uations and temperatures, emission is around 10 μm. And at that wavelength, almost
all paints are effectively black, with emissivities of the order of 0.9, irrespective of their
colour. And for the same reason, when you paint your home radiator, the colour is not
important.
∗∗
Ref. 125 When two laser beams cross at a small angle, they can form light pulses that seem to
Challenge 174 s move faster than light. Does this contradict special relativity?
∗∗
Colour blindness was discovered by the great English scientist John Dalton (1766–1844)
 162 4 images and the eye – optics

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 120 How natural colours (top) change for three types of colour blind: deutan, protan and tritan
(© Michael Douma).

Challenge 175 ny – on himself. Can you imagine how he found out? It affects, in all its forms, one in 20 men.
In many languages, a man who is colour blind is called daltonic. Women are almost never
Ref. 126 daltonic, as the property is linked to defects on the X chromosome. If you are colour
blind, you can check to which type you belong with the help of Figure 120.
∗∗
Artificial colour blindness is induced by certain types of illumination. For example, violet
light is used to reduce intravenous drug consumption, because violet light does not allow
finding veins under the skin.
Artificial contrast enhancement with illumination is also useful. Pink light is used by
beauticians to highlight blemishes, so that the skin can be cleaned as well as possible. In
2007, the police officer Mike Powis in Nottingham discovered that this ‘acne light’ could
be used to reduce the crime rate; since acne is not fashionable, pink light deters youth
from gathering in groups, and thus calms the environment where it is installed.
Yellowish light is used by by supermarkets to increase their sales of fruits and vegeta- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

bles. In yellow light, tomatoes look redder and salad looks greener. Check by yourself:
Challenge 176 e you will not find a single supermarket without these lights installed over fruits and veg-
etables.
∗∗
Light beams, such as those emitted from lasers, are usually thought of as thin lines. How-
ever, light beams can also be tubes. Tubular laser beams, i.e., Bessel beams of high order,
are used in modern research experiments to guide plasma channels and sparks.
∗∗
Is it possible to see stars from the bottom of a deep pit or of a well, even during the day,
Challenge 177 s as is often stated?
 the eye and the brain: observing images 163

F I G U R E 121 Ames rooms in Paris and in San Francisco (© Sergio Davini, David Darling).

∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The simplest imaging system are eye glasses. A child that has no proper glasses misses
an important experience: seeing the stars. Such a child will not understand the famous
statement by Immanuel Kant: ‘Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing
admiration and awe, the more often and persistently thought considers them: the starred
sky above me and the moral law inside me.’ Always be sure that children can see the stars.
∗∗
Ref. 127 Humans are the only primates that have white eyes. All apes have brown eyes, so that it
is impossible to see in which direction the are looking. Apes make extensive use of this
impossibility: they often turn their head in one direction, pretending to look somewhere,
but turn their eyes in another. In other words, brown eyes are useful for deception. The
same effect is achieved in humans by wearing dark sunglasses. So if you see somebody
with sunglasses in a situation where there is no sunlight, you know that he or she is
behaving like an ape.
∗∗
Challenge 178 s How can you measure the power of the Sun with your eyes closed?
∗∗
Even in a dark, moonless and starless night, a forest is not dark. You can see luminescent Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

mushrooms (of which there are over 70 different species), luminescent moulds, you can
see sparks when you take off your pullover or when your friend bites a mint bonbon or
Challenge 179 ny when you unroll a roll of adhesive tape or open a letter. What else can you see?
∗∗
The number of optical illusions is enormous, and there are many websites devoted to
the topic. A pretty illusion, often used in films to transform actors into dwarfs, is the
so-called Ames room, shown in Figure 121.
∗∗
Page 156 The eye and the brain sometimes add false colours, as we have seen above in the discus-
sion of rods. Also Haidinger’s brush is an example of added colours. In contrast, some-
164 4 images and the eye – optics

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 122 Look at the
central dot for twenty
seconds: the colours will
disappear (© Kitaoka
Akiyoshi).

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 123 The beauty of X-rays: X-ray images of a person (taken with a corpse) and of a sea shell
(© Nick Veasey).

times the brain and the eye make colours disappear, as shown in Figure 122. The ex-
ample is taken from the beautiful collection of visual illusions at www.psy.ritsumei.ac.jp/
~akitaoka/color9e.html. Several related illusions, based on this one, use moving coloured
dots.
 the eye and the brain: observing images 165

∗∗
X-ray imaging is so impressive that it has become a form of art. One of the foremost X-
ray artists is Nick Veasey, and two of his works are shown in Figure 123. Among many
examples, he has even taken X-ray images of complete buses and aeroplanes.
∗∗
Lenses are important components in most optical systems. Approximately, the distance
of the lens focus f , the distance of the object to be imaged o, and the distance of its image
i are related by the thin lens formula

1 1 1
= + . (81)
f o i

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 180 e It is not hard to deduce it with the help of raytracing.
If you ever are in the situation to design a lens, you will want to know the relation
between the shape of a lens and its focal distance. It turns out that there are two types
of lenses: The first type are spherical lenses which are easy and thus cheap to make, but
whose images are not perfect. The second lens type are aspherical lenses, which are hard
to fabricate, more expensive, but provide much better image quality. High-quality optical
systems always contain aspherical lenses.
For historical reasons, most books on optics teach readers the approximate relation
between the geometric radii of a thin spherical lens, its refractive index n and its focal
Challenge 181 e distance:
1 1 1
= (n − 1)( + ) . (82)
f R1 R2

This is called the lensmaker formula. Most aspherical lenses are apprximately shperical,
so that the formula helps as a rough first estimate also in these cases.
∗∗
Imaging is an important part of modern industry. Without laser printers, photocopying
machines, CD players, DVD players, microscopes, digital photographic cameras, film
and video cameras, lithography machines for integrated circuit production, telescopes,
film projectors, our world would look much more boring. Nowadays, designing optical
systems is done with the help of dedicated software packages. They allow to calculate im-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

age quality, temperature effects and mechanical tolerances with high precision. Despite
the beauty of optical design, there is a shortage of experts on this fascinating field, across
Ref. 93 the world.
∗∗
Ultrasound imaging is regularly used in medical applications. As mentioned earlier on,
Vol. I, page 266 unfortunately it is not safe for imaging pregnancies. Is ultrasound imaging, though not
Challenge 182 e an optical imaging method, a type of tomography?
∗∗
CMOS cameras, batteries and radio transmitters have become so small that they can be
166 4 images and the eye – optics

CD DVD Blue Ray Disk

track pitch 1.6 µm track pitch 0.74 µm track pitch 0.32 µm
minimum pit length 0.8 µm minimum pit length 0.4 µm minimum pit length 0.15µm

F I G U R E 124 Composed image of the tracks and the laser spot in a drive reading a CD, a DVD and a
blue ray disk (© Wikimedia).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
made into a package with the size of a pill. Such a camera can be swallowed, and with
electrodes attached to the belly of a person, one can record movies of the intestine while
the person is continuing its daily activities.
∗∗
The most common optical systems are those found inside CD and DVD drives. If you ever
have the opportunity to take one apart, do it. They are fascinating pieces of technology,
in which every cubic millimetre has been optimized by hundreds of engineers. Can you
imagine how a CD or DVD player works, starting from the photographs of Figure 124?
∗∗
The most expensive optical systems are not those found on espionage satellites – which
can read the headlines of a newspaper from space – but those found in wafer steppers.
Wafer steppers are machines used for the production of electronic integrated circuits. In
such steppers, a metal mask is imaged, using light from a UV laser, onto a photo-resist
covered silicon wafer. The optical systems used have the size of an average human, are
precise within a few nanometres, and cost more than six million Euro a piece.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
To experience the beauty of optics, you can explore the website showing the ‘optics pic-
ture of the day’ at www.atoptics.co.uk/opod.htm.
∗∗
A rotating wheel colored in a specific black and white pattern, such as Benham’s wheel,
can produce false colour effects in the eye. Unfortunately, a video of the effect does
not work inside a pdf file such as the one of this book; instead, have a look at Ken-
neth Brecher’s website at lite.bu.edu/vision/applets/Color/Benham/Benham.html or lite.
bu.edu/vision-flash10/applets/Color/Benham/Benham.html.
the eye and the brain: observing images 167

Summary on optics
The art and science of making images is central to modern health care, industry, sci-
ence, entertainment and telecommunications. Imaging is in large part the result of bend-
ing light beams in predefined ways and detecting them. All imaging systems, biological
or human-made, are based on reflection, refraction or diffraction combined with pixel
detectors. All imaging systems that produce high-quality images, biological or human-
made, use clever combinations of material science, sensors, actuators and signal process-
ing. The field is still evolving.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 5

ELECTROMAGNETIC EFFECT S

L
ooking carefully, the atmosphere is full of electrical effects. The most impressive,
Ref. 128 ightning, is now reasonably well understood. However, it took decades and a

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
arge number of researchers to discover and put together all the parts of the puz-
zle. Also below our feet there is something important going on: the hot magma below
the continental crust produces the magnetic field of the Earth. Strong magnetic fields
can be used for levitation. We explore these topics first and then give an overview about
the many effects that fields produce.

Is lightning a discharge? – Electricity in the atmosphere

Inside a thunderstorm cloud, especially inside tall cumulonimbus clouds,* charges are
separated by collision between the large ‘graupel’ ice crystals falling due to their weight
Ref. 130 and the small ‘hail’ ice crystallites rising due to thermal upwinds. Since the collision takes
part in an electric field, charges are separated in a way similar to the mechanism in the
Page 18 Kelvin generator. Discharge takes place when the electric field becomes too high, taking
a strange path influenced by ions created in the air by cosmic rays. (There are however,
Ref. 131 at least ten other competing explanations for charge separation in clouds.) It seems that
cosmic rays are at least partly responsible for the zigzag shape of lightning. For a striking
example, see Figure 125.
A lightning flash typically transports 20 to 30 C of charge, with a peak current of up
to 20 kA. But lightning flashes have also strange properties. First, they appear at fields
around 200 kV/m (at low altitude) instead of the 2 MV/m of normal sparks. Second,
lightning emits radio pulses. Third, lightning emits X-rays and gamma rays. Russian re-
Ref. 132 searchers, from 1992 onwards explained all three effects by a newly discovered discharge
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

mechanism. At length scales of 50 m and more, cosmic rays can trigger the appearance of
lightning; the relativistic energy of these rays allows for a discharge mechanism that does
not exist for low energy electrons. At relativistic energy, so-called runaway breakdown

* Clouds have Latin names. They were introduced in 1802 by the English explorer Luke Howard (1772–1864),
who found that all clouds could be seen as variations of three types, which he called cirrus, cumulus and
Ref. 129 stratus. He called the combination of all three, the rain cloud, nimbus (from the Latin ‘big cloud’). Today’s
internationally agreed system has been slightly adjusted and distinguishes clouds by the height of their lower
edge. The clouds starting above a height of 6 km are the cirrus, the cirrocumulus and the cirrostratus; those
starting at heights of between 2 and 4 km are the altocumulus, the altostratus and the nimbostratus; clouds
starting below a height of 2 km are the stratocumulus, the stratus and the cumulus. The rain or thunder
cloud, which crosses all heights, is today called cumulonimbus. For beautiful views of clouds, see the www.
goes.noaa.gov and www.osei.noaa.gov websites.
electromagnetic effects and challenges 169

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 125 A rare photograph of a lightning stroke hitting a tree (© Niklas Montonen).

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 126 Cumulonimbus clouds from ground and from space (NASA).

leads to discharges at much lower fields than usual laboratory sparks. The multiplication
of these relativistic electrons also leads to the observed radio and gamma ray emissions.
Incidentally, you have a 75 % chance of survival after being hit by lightning, especially
170 5 electromagnetic effects

graupel
– – – –
electric – – ++
field
+
++ ++
–
+

–
+

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 127 The charging and discharging of clouds: the most probable microscopic mechanism,
namely charging of graupel particles by collision with ice particles, the cloud charge distribution, the
three-dimensional structure and the large scale processes discovered in the past decades from
aeroplanes (© nordique, NASA, NOAA).
 electromagnetic effects and challenges 171

if you are completely wet, as in that case the current will flow outside the skin. Usually,
wet people who are hit lose all their clothes, as the evaporating water tears them off. Rapid
resuscitation is essential to help somebody to recover after a hit.*
As a note, you might know how to measure the distance of a lightning by counting
the seconds between the lightning and the thunder and multiplying this by the speed of
sound, 330 m/s; it is less well known that one can estimate the length of the lightning bolt
by measuring the duration of the thunder, and multiplying it by the same factor.
In the 1990s more electrical details about thunderstorms became known. Airline pilots
and passengers sometime see weak and coloured light emissions spreading from the top
of thunderclouds. There are various types of such emissions: blue jets and mostly red
sprites and elves, which are somehow due to electric fields between the cloud top and
the ionosphere. The details are still under investigation, and the mechanisms are not yet
clear.**

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Lightning are part of the electrical circuit around the Earth. This fascinating part of
geophysics would lead us too far from the aim of our mountain ascent. But every physi-
cist should know that there is a vertical electric field of between 100 and 300 V/m on
a clear day, as discovered already in 1752. (Can you guess why it is not noticeable in
everyday life? And why despite its value it cannot be used to extract large amounts of
Challenge 183 s energy?) The field is directed from the ionosphere down towards the ground; in fact the
Earth is permanently negatively charged, and in clear weather current flows downwards
(electrons flow upwards) through the clear atmosphere, trying to discharge our planet.
The current of about 1 to 2 kA is spread over the whole planet; it is possibly due to the
ions formed by cosmic radiation. (The resistance between the ground and the ionosphere
is about 200 Ω, so the total voltage drop is about 200 kV.) At the same time, the Earth
is constantly being charged by several effects: there is a dynamo effect due to the tides
of the atmosphere and there are currents induced by the magnetosphere. But the most
important charging effect is lightning. In other words, contrary to what one may think,
Ref. 133 lightning does not discharge the ground, it actually charges it up!*** Of course, lightning
does discharge the cloud to ground potential difference; but by doing so, it actually sends
(usually) a negative charge down to the Earth as a whole. Thunderclouds are batteries;
the energy from the batteries comes from the thermal uplifts mentioned above, which
transport charge against the global ambient electrical field.
Using a few electrical measurement stations that measure the variations of the electri-
cal field of the Earth it is possible to locate the position of all the lightning that comes Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

down towards the Earth at a given moment. (Distributed around the world, there are
Ref. 134 about a hundred lightning flashes per second.) Present research also aims at measuring
the activity of the related electrical sprites and elves in this way.
The ions in air play a role in the charging of thunderclouds via the charging of ice
crystals and rain drops. In general, all small particles in the air are electrically charged.
When aeroplanes and helicopters fly, they usually hit more particles of one charge than

* If you are ever hit by lightning and survive, go to the hospital! Many people died three days later having
failed to do so. A lightning strike often leads to coagulation effects in the blood. These substances block the
kidneys, and one can die three days later because of kidney failure. The remedy is to have dialysis treatment.
** For images, have a look at the interesting sprite.gi.alaska.edu/html/sprites.htm, www.fma-research.com/
spriteres.htm and paesko.ee.psu.edu/Nature websites.
Challenge 184 s *** The Earth is thus charged to about −1 MC. Can you confirm this?
 172 5 electromagnetic effects

of the other. As a result, aeroplanes and helicopters are charged up during flight. When
a helicopter is used to rescue people from a raft in high seas, the rope pulling the people
upwards must first be earthed by hanging it in the water; if this is not done, the people
on the raft could die from an electrical shock when they touch the rope, as has happened
a few times in the past.
The charges in the atmosphere have many other effects. Recent experiments have con-
Ref. 135 firmed what was predicted back in the early twentieth century: lightning emits X-rays.
The confirmation is not easy though; it is necessary to put a detector near the lightning
flash. To achieve this, the lightning has to be directed into a given region. This is possible
using a missile pulling a metal wire, the other end of which is attached to the ground.
These experimental results are now being collated into a new description of lightning
which also explains the red-blue sprites above thunderclouds. In particular, the processes
Ref. 136 also imply that inside clouds, electrons can be accelerated up to energies of a few MeV.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Why are sparks and lightning blue? This turns out to be a material property: the colour
comes from the material that happens to be excited by the energy of the discharge, usually
air. This excitation is due to the temperature of 30 kK inside the channel of a typical
lightning flash. For everyday sparks, the temperature is much lower. Depending on the
situation, the colour may arise from the gas between the two electrodes, such as oxygen
or nitrogen, or it may due to the material evaporated from the electrodes by the discharge.
For an explanation of such colours, as for the explanation of all colours due to materials,
we need to wait for the next part of our walk, on quantum theory.
But not only electric fields are dangerous. Also time-varying electromagnetic fields
can be. In 1997, in beautiful calm weather, a Dutch hot air balloon approached the power-
ful radio transmitter in Hilversum. After travelling for a few minutes near to the antenna,
the gondola suddenly detached from the balloon, killing all the passengers inside.
An investigation team reconstructed the facts a few weeks later. In modern gas bal-
loons the gondola is suspended by high quality nylon ropes. To avoid damage by light-
ning and in order to avoid electrostatic charging problems all these nylon ropes contain
thin metal wires which form a large equipotential surface around the whole balloon. Un-
fortunately, in the face of the radio transmitter, these thin metal wires absorbed radio
energy from the transmitter, became red hot, and melted the nylon wires. It was the first
time that this had ever been observed.

Does ball lightning exist? Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

For hundreds of years, people have reported sightings of so-called ball lightning. Usually
they were noticed during thunderstorms, often after a lightning had struck. With a few
Ref. 137 exceptions, nobody took these reports seriously, because no reproducible data existed.
When microwave ovens become popular, several methods to produce ball-shaped dis-
charges became known. To observe one, just stick a toothpick into a candle, light the
toothpick, and put it into (somebody else’s) microwave oven at maximum power. This
set-up produces a beautiful ball-like discharge. However, humans do not live in a mi-
crowave oven; therefore, this mechanism is not related to ball lightning.
The experimental situation changed completely in the years 1999 to 2001. In those
Ref. 138 years the Russian physicists Anton Egorov and Gennady Shabanov discovered a way to
produce plasma clouds, or plasmoids, floating in air, using three main ingredients: water,
 electromagnetic effects and challenges 173

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 128 A floating plasma cloud produced in the laboratory (© Sergei Emelin and Alexei Pirozerski).

metal and high voltage. If high voltage is applied to submerged metal electrodes of the
proper shape and make, plasma clouds emerge from the water, about 10 to 20 cm in size,
float above the surface, and disappear after about half a second. Two examples can be
seen in Figure 128.
The phenomenon of floating plasmoids is still being studied. There are variations in
shape, colour, size and lifetime. The spectrum of observations and techniques will surely
evolve in the coming years.
An even more astonishing effect was published in 2007. A Brazilian research team
Ref. 139 found a way to make golf-ball sized discharges that seem to roll along the floor for as
long as 8 s. Their method was beautifully simple: with the help of a 25 V power supply,
they passed a current of 140 A through an arc at the surface of a silicon wafer. They
discovered that small silicon particles detach and move away, while being surrounded
by a luminous glow. These luminous clouds can wander around the table and floor of the
laboratory, until they extinguish.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

It seems that these phenomena could explain a number of ball lightning observations.
But it is equally possible that other effects will still be discovered.

Does gravity make charges radiate?

We learned in the section on general relativity that gravitation has the same effects as
acceleration. This means that a charge kept fixed at a certain height is equivalent to a
charge accelerated by 9.8 m/s2 , which would imply that it radiates electromagnetically,
since all accelerated charges radiate. However, the world around us is full of charges at
fixed heights, and there is no such radiation. How is this possible?
Ref. 140 The question has been a pet topic for many years. Generally speaking, the concept of
radiation is not observer invariant: If one observer detects radiation, a second one does
 174 5 electromagnetic effects

ocean

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
crust

mantle

liquid core

solid core

F I G U R E 129 The structure of our planet (© MPI-Chemie, Mainz/GEO).

not necessarily do so as well. The exact way a radiation field changes from one observer
to the other depends on the type of relative motion and on the field itself.
A detailed exploration of the problem shows that for a uniformly accelerated charge,
an observer undergoing the same acceleration only detects an electrostatic field. In con-
Ref. 141 trast, an inertial observer detects a radiation field. Since gravity is (to a high precision)
equivalent to uniform acceleration, we get a simple result: gravity does not make electri-
cal charges radiate for an observer at rest with respect to the charge, as is observed. The
results holds true also in the quantum theoretical description.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Planetary magnetic fields

The classical description of electrodynamics is coherent and complete; nevertheless there
are still many subjects of research. Here are a few of them.
The origin of the magnetic field of the Earth, the other planets, the Sun and even of
the galaxy is a fascinating topic. The way that the convection of fluids inside the planets
generates magnetic fields, an intrinsically three-dimensional problem, the influence of
turbulence, of non-linearities and of chaos makes it a surprisingly complex question.
The details of the generation of the magnetic field of the Earth, usually called the geody-
namo, began to appear only in the second half of the twentieth century, when the knowl-
Ref. 27 edge of the Earth’s interior reached a sufficient level. The Earth’s interior starts below the
 electromagnetic effects and challenges 175

Earth’s crust. The crust is typically 30 to 40 km thick (under the continents), though it
is thicker under high mountains and thinner near volcanoes or under the oceans. As al-
ready mentioned, the crust consists of large segments, the plates, that move with respect
to one other. The Earth’s interior is divided into the mantle – the first 2900 km from the
surface – and the core. The core is made up of a liquid outer core, 2210 km thick, and
a solid inner core of 1280 km radius. (The temperature of the core is not well known; it
Challenge 185 d is believed to be 6 to 7 kK. Can you find a way to determine it? The temperature might
have decreased a few hundred kelvin during the last 3000 million years.)
The Earth’s core consists mainly of iron that has been collected from the asteroids that
collided with the Earth during its youth. It seems that the liquid and electrically conduct-
ing outer core acts as a dynamo that keeps the magnetic field going. The magnetic energy
comes from the kinetic energy of the outer core, which rotates with respect to the Earth’s
surface; the fluid can act as a dynamo because, apart from rotating, it also convects from

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
deep inside the Earth to more shallow depths, driven by the temperature gradients be-
tween the hot inner core and the cooler mantle. Huge electric currents flow in complex
ways through these liquid layers, maintained by friction, and create the magnetic field.
Why this field switches orientation at irregular intervals of between a few tens of thou-
sands and a few million years, is one of the central questions. The answers are difficult;
experiments are not yet possible, 150 years of measurements is a short time when com-
pared with the last transition – about 730 000 years ago – and computer simulations are
extremely involved. Since the field measurements started, the dipole moment of the mag-
netic field has steadily diminished, presently by 5% a year, and the quadrupole moment
has steadily increased. Maybe we are heading towards a surprise.* (By the way, the study
of galactic magnetic fields is even more complex, and still in its infancy.)

Levitation
We have seen that it is possible to move certain objects without touching them, using a
magnetic or electric field or, of course, using gravity. Is it also possible, without touching
an object, to keep it fixed, floating in mid-air? Does this type of rest exist?
It turns out that there are several methods of levitating objects. These are commonly
Ref. 143 divided into two groups: those that consume energy and those who do not. Among the
methods that consume energy is the floating of objects on a jet of air or of water, the float-
ing of objects through sound waves, e.g. on top of a siren, or through a laser beam com-
ing from below, and the floating of conducting material, even of liquids, in strong radio-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

frequency fields. Levitation of liquids or solids by strong ultrasound waves is presently

Ref. 144 becoming popular in laboratories. All these methods give stationary levitation. Another
group of energy consuming methods sense the way a body is falling and kick it up again
in the right way via a feedback loop; these methods are non-stationary and usually use
magnetic fields to keep the objects from falling. The magnetic train being built in Shang-
Ref. 145 hai by a German consortium is levitated this way. The whole train, including the passen-
gers, is levitated and then moved forward using electromagnets. It is thus possible, using
magnets, to levitate many tens of tonnes of material.

* In 2005, it has been reported that the inner core of the Earth seems to rotate faster than the Earth’s crust
Ref. 142 by up to half a degree per year.
 176 5 electromagnetic effects

For levitation methods that do not consume energy – all such methods are necessar-
ily stationary – a well-known limitation can be found by studying Coulomb’s ‘law’ of
electrostatics: no static arrangement of electric fields can levitate a charged object in free
space or in air. The same result is valid for gravitational fields and massive objects;* in
other words, we cannot produce a local minimum of potential energy in the middle of a
Ref. 146 box using electric or gravitational fields. This impossibility is called Earnshaw’s theorem.
Speaking mathematically, the solutions of the Laplace equation Δφ = 0, the so-called
harmonic functions, have minima or maxima only at the border, and never inside the do-
main of definition. (You proved this yourself on page 162 in volume I.) The theorem can
also be proved by noting that given a potential minimum in free space, Gauss’ theorem
for a sphere around that minimum requires that a source of the field be present inside,
which is in contradiction with the original assumption.
We can deduce that it is also impossible to use electric fields to levitate an electrically

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
neutral body in air: the potential energy U of such a body, with volume V and dielectric
constant ε, in an environment of dielectric constant ε0 , is given by

U 1
= − (ε − ε0 ) E 2 . (83)
V 2

Challenge 186 ny Since the electric field E never has a maximum in the absence of space charge, and since
for all materials ε > ε0 , there cannot be a minimum of potential energy in free space for
a neutral body.**
To sum up, using static electric or static gravitational fields it is impossible to keep an
object from falling; neither quantum mechanics, which incorporates phenomena such as
antimatter, nor general relativity, including phenomena such as black holes, change this
basic result.
For static magnetic fields, the argument is analogous to electrical fields: the potential
energy U of a magnetizable body of volume V and permeability μ in a medium with
Challenge 188 ny permeability μ0 containing no current is given by

U 1 1 1
= − 󶀥 − 󶀵 B2 (84)
V 2 μ μ0

and due to the inequality ΔB 2 ⩾ 0, isolated maxima of a static magnetic field are not
possible, only isolated minima. Therefore, it is impossible to levitate paramagnetic (μ >
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

μo ) or ferromagnetic (μ ≫ μ0 ) materials such as steel, including bar magnets, which are

Challenge 189 e all attracted, and not repelled to magnetic field maxima.
There are thus two ways to realize magnetic levitation: levitating a diamagnet or us-
ing a time-dependent field. Diamagnetic materials (μ < μ0 , or μr = μ/μ0 < 1) were
Page 35 discovered shortly after Earnshaw published his theorem, and allow circumventing it.

* To the disappointment of many science-fiction addicts, this would even be true if a negative mass existed.
Vol. I, page 97 And even though gravity is not really due to a field, but to space-time curvature, the result still holds in
general relativity.
Ref. 147 ** It is possible, however, to ‘levitate’ gas bubbles in liquids – ‘trap’ them to prevent them from rising would
be a better expression – because in such a case the dielectric constant of the environment is higher than that
Challenge 187 ny of the gas. Can you find a liquid–gas combination where bubbles fall instead of rise?
 electromagnetic effects and challenges 177

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 130 Stable diamagnetic levitation of a graphite bar over rectangular permanent magnets
(above) and of two graphite plates, one seen from above and another from the side (centre); below,
levitation of a 4 mm diameter NdFeB permanent magnet, above a graphite plate and between two
graphite plates, near a large ring magnet (not shown) (© Joachim Schlichting from Ref. 148). Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Indeed, diamagnetic materials, such as graphite or water, can be levitated by static mag-
netic fields because they are attracted to magnetic field minima. In fact, it is possible to
Ref. 149 levitate magnets if one uses a combination containing diamagnets. A few cases that can
Ref. 148 easily be replicated on a kitchen table are shown in Figure 130.
Another well-known example of diamagnetic levitation is the levitation of supercon-
ductors. Indeed, superconductors, at least those of type I, are perfects diamagnets (μ = 0).
In some cases, superconductors can even be suspended in mid-air, below a magnet. Also
single atoms with a magnetic moment are diamagnets; they are routinely levitated this
Ref. 150 way and have also been photographed in this state. Single neutrons, which have a mag-
netic dipole moment, have been kept in magnetic bottles through magnetic levitation,
 178 5 electromagnetic effects

F I G U R E 131 Trapping a metal sphere using a variable speed drill

and a plastic saddle.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 132 Floating ‘magic’ nowadays available in toy shops, left, with a spinning top and, right, with
a spinning magnetic sphere levitating above a large ring magnet (© Kay Kublenz).

until they decay.

Diamagnets levitate if ∇B 2 > 2μ0 ρд/χ, where ρ is the mass density of the object and
Challenge 190 ny χ = 1 − μ/μ0 its magnetic susceptibility. Since χ is typically about 10−5 and ρ of order
1000 kg/m3 , field gradients of about 1000 T2 /m are needed. In other words, levitation
requires fields changes of 10 T over 10 cm, which is nowadays common for high field
laboratory magnets. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Recently, scientists have levitated pieces of wood and of plastic, strawberries, water
droplets, liquid helium droplets as large as 2 cm, grasshoppers, fish and frogs (all alive
and without any harm) using magnetic levitation. Indeed, animals, like humans, are all
Ref. 151 made of diamagnetic material. Humans themselves have not yet been levitated, but the
feat, expected to require 40 T and large amounts of electrical power, is being planned
and worked on. In fact, a similar feat has already been achieved: diamagnetic levitation
Ref. 145 is being explored for the levitation of passenger trains, especially in Japan, though with
little commercial success.
Time-dependent electrical or magnetic fields, e.g. periodic fields, can lead to levitation
Ref. 143 in many different ways without any consumption of energy. This is one of the methods
used in the magnetic bearings of turbomolecular vacuum pumps. Also single charged
particles, such as ions and electrons, are now regularly levitated with Paul traps and Pen-
 electromagnetic effects and challenges 179

Ref. 143 ning traps. The mechanical analogy is shown in Figure 131.
Ref. 152 Figure 132 shows a toy that allows you to personally levitate a spinning top or a spin-
ning magnetic sphere in mid-air above a ring magnet, a quite impressive demonstration
of levitation for anybody looking at it. The photo shows that is not hard to build such a
Ref. 153 device yourself.
Even free electrons can be levitated, letting them float above the surface of fluid he-
Ref. 154 lium. In the most recent twist of the science of levitation, in 1995 Stephen Haley pre-
dicted that the suspension height of small magnetic particles above a superconducting
ring should be quantized. However, the prediction has not been verified by experiment
yet.
For the sake of completeness we mention that nuclear forces cannot be used for levi-
tation in everyday life, as their range is limited to a few femtometres. However, we will
Vol. V, page 152 see later that the surface matter of the Sun is prevented from falling into the centre by

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
these interactions; we could thus say that it is indeed levitated by nuclear interactions.

Matter, levitation and electromagnetic effects

The levitation used by magicians mostly falls into another class. When David Copper-
field, a magician performing for young girls at the end of the twentieth century, ‘flies’
during his performances, he does so by being suspended on thin fishing lines that are
Challenge 191 s rendered invisible by clever lighting arrangements. (How could one check this?) In fact,
if we want to be precise, we should count fishing lines, plastic bags, as well as every table
and chair as levitation devices. (Tabloid journalists would even call them ‘anti-gravity’
devices.) Contrary to our impression, a hanging or lying object is not really in contact
with the suspension, if we look at the critical points with a microscope.* More about this
in the quantum part of our walk.
But if this is the case, why don’t we fall through a table or through the floor? We
started the study of mechanics by stating that a key property of matter its solidity, i.e.,
the impossibility of having more than one body at the same place at the same time. But
what is the origin of solidity? Again, we will be able to answer the question only in the
Vol. V, page 50 forthcoming, quantum part of our adventure, but we can already collect the first clues at
this point.
Solidity is due to electricity. Many experiments show that matter is constituted of
charged particles; indeed, matter can be moved and influenced by electromagnetic fields
Ref. 155 in many ways. Over the years, material scientists have produced a long list of such effects,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

all of which are based on the existence of charged constituents. Can you find or imagine
Challenge 193 r a new one? For example, can electric charge change the colour of objects?

TA B L E 17 Selected matter properties related to electromagnetism, showing among other things the
role it plays in the constitution of matter; at the same time a short overview of atomic, solid state, fluid
and business physics.

Propert y Example Definition

thermal radiation or heat every object temperature-dependent radiation emitted

radiation or incandescence by any macroscopic amount of matter
Challenge 192 ny * The issue is far from simple: which one of the levitation methods described above is used by tables or
chairs?
180 5 electromagnetic effects

TA B L E 17 (Continued) Selected matter properties related to electromagnetism.

Propert y Example Definition

Interactions with charges and currents

electrification separating metals from spontaneous charging
insulators
triboelectricity glass rubbed on cat fur charging through rubbing
barometer light mercury slipping along gas discharge due to triboelectricity Ref. 156
glass
insulation air no current flow below critical voltage drop
semiconductivity diamond, silicon or current flows only when material is impure
gallium arsenide (‘doped’)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
conductivity copper, metals current flows easily
superconductivity niobium current flows indefinitely
ionization fire flames current flows easily
localization (weak, disordered solids resistance of disordered solids
Anderson)
resistivity, Joule effect graphite heating due to current flow
thermoelectric effects: ZnSb, PbTe, PbSe, cooling due to current flow, current flow
Peltier effect, Seebeck BiSeTe, Bi2 Te3 , etc.
due to temperature difference, or due to
effect, Thomson effect temperature gradients
acousto-electric effect CdS sound generation by currents, and vice
versa
magnetoresistance iron, metal multilayers resistance changes with applied magnetic
field Ref. 157
recombination fire alarms charge carriers combine to make neutral
atoms or molecules
annihilation positron tomography particle and antiparticle, e.g. electron and
positron, disappear into photons
Penning effect Ne, Ar ionization through collision with
metastable atoms
Richardson effect, thermal BaO2 , W, Mo, used in emission of electrons from hot metals
emission tv and electron
microscopes
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

skin effect Cu high current density on exterior of wire

pinch effect InSb, plasmas high current density on interior of wire
Josephson effect Nb-Oxide-Nb tunnel current flows through insulator
between two superconductors
Sasaki–Shibuya effect n-Ge, n-Si anisotropy of conductivity due to applied
electric field
switchable magnetism InAs:Mn voltage switchable magnetization Ref. 158
Interactions with magnetic fields
electromagnetic effects and challenges 181

TA B L E 17 (Continued) Selected matter properties related to electromagnetism.

Propert y Example Definition

Hall effect silicon; used for voltage perpendicular to current flow in

magnetic field applied magnetic field
measurements
Zeeman effect Cd change of emission frequency with
magnetic field
Paschen–Back effect atomic gases change of emission frequency in strong
magnetic fields
ferromagnetism Fe, Ni, Co, Gd spontaneous magnetization; material
strongly attracted by magnetic fields
paramagnetism Fe, Al, Mg, Mn, Cr induced magnetization parallel to applied

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
field; attracted by magnetic fields
diamagnetism water, Au, graphite, induced magnetization opposed to applied
NaCl field; repelled by magnetic fields
magnetostriction (and the CeB6 , CePd2 Al3 , change of shape or volume by applied
related Joule effect, Villari TbDyFe magnetic field
effect, Wiedemann effect,
Matteucci effect, Barret
effect and Nagaoka-Honds
effect)
magnetoelastic effect Fe, Ni change of magnetization by tension or
pressure
acousto-magnetic effect metal alloys, anti-theft excitation of mechanical oscillations
stickers through magnetic field
spin valve effect metal multilayers electrical resistance depends on spin
direction of electrons with respect to
applied magnetic field
magneto-optical activity or flint glass polarization angle is rotated with magnetic
Faraday effect or Faraday field; different refraction index for right
rotation and left circularly polarized light, as in
magneto-optic (MO) recording
magnetic circular gases different absorption for right- and
dichroism left-circularly polarized light; essentially
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the same as the previous one

Majorana effect colloids specific magneto-optic effect
photoelectromagnetic InSb current flow due to light irradiation of
effect semiconductor in a magnetic field
inverse Faraday effect GdFeCo switch of magnetisation by femtosecond
laser pulse
Voigt effect vapours birefringence induced by applied magnetic
field
Cotton–Mouton effect liquids birefringence induced by applied magnetic
field
182 5 electromagnetic effects

TA B L E 17 (Continued) Selected matter properties related to electromagnetism.

Propert y Example Definition

Hanle effect Hg change of polarization of fluorescence with

magnetic field
Shubnikov–de Haas effect Bi periodic change of resistance with applied
magnetic field
thermomagnetic effects: BiSb alloys relation between temperature, applied
Ettinghausen effect, fields and electric current
Righi–Leduc effect, Nernst
effect, magneto–Seebeck
effect
Ettinghausen–Nernst effect Bi appearance of electric field in materials

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
with temperature gradients in magnetic
fields
photonic Hall effect CeF3 transverse light intensity depends on the
applied magnetic field Ref. 159
magnetocaloric effect gadolinium, GdSiGe material cools when magnetic field is
alloys switched off Ref. 160
cyclotron resonance semiconductors, selective absorption of radio waves in
metals magnetic fields
magnetoacoustic effect semiconductors, selective absorption of sound waves in
metals magnetic fields
magnetic resonance most materials, used selective absorption of radio waves in
for imaging in magnetic fields
medicine for structure
determination of
molecules
magnetorheologic effect liquids, used in change of viscosity with applied magnetic
advanced car fields
suspensions
Meissner effect type 1 superconductors, expulsion of magnetic field from
used for levitation superconductors
Interactions with electric fields Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

polarizability all matter polarization changes with applied electric

field
ionization, field emission, all matter, tv charges are extracted at high fields
Schottky effect
paraelectricity BaTiO3 applied field leads to polarization in same
direction
dielectricity water in opposite direction
ferroelectricity BaTiO3 spontaneous polarization below critical
temperature
piezoelectricity the quartz lighter used polarization appears with tension, stress,
in the kitchen, human or pressure
bones
electromagnetic effects and challenges 183

TA B L E 17 (Continued) Selected matter properties related to electromagnetism.

Propert y Example Definition

electrostriction platinum sponges in shape change with applied voltage Ref. 161
acids
pyroelectricity CsNO3 , tourmaline, change of temperature produces charge
crystals with polar separation
axes; used for infrared
detection
electro-osmosis or many ionic liquids liquid moves under applied electric field
electrokinetic effect Ref. 162
electrowetting salt solutions on gold wetting of surface depends on applied
voltage

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
electrolytic activity sulphuric acid charge transport through liquid
liquid crystal effect watch displays molecules turn with applied electric field
electro-optical activity: liquids (e.g. oil), material in electric field rotates light
Kerr effect, Pockels effect crystalline solids polarization, i.e., produces birefringence
Freederichsz effect, nematic liquid crystals electrically induced birefringence
Schadt–Helfrichs effect
Stark effect hydrogen, mercury colour change of emitted light in electric
field
field ionization helium near tungsten ionization of gas atoms in strong electric
tips in field ion fields
microscope
Zener effect Si energy-free transfer of electrons into
conduction band at high fields
field evaporation W evaporation under strong applied electric
fields
Interactions with light
absorption coal, graphite transformation of light into heat or other
energy forms (which ones?)Challenge 194 s
blackness coal, graphite complete absorption in visible range
colour, metallic shine ruby absorption depending on light frequency
photostriction PbLaZrTi light induced piezoelectricity
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

photography AgBr, AgI light precipitates metallic silver

photoelectricity, Cs current flows into vacuum due to light
photoeffect irradiation
internal photoelectric effect Si p–n junctions, solar voltage generation and current flow due to
cells light irradiation
photon drag effect p-Ge current induced by photon momentum
emissivity all bodies ability to emit light
transparency glass, quartz, diamond low reflection, low absorption, low
scattering
reflectivity metals light bounces on surface
184 5 electromagnetic effects

TA B L E 17 (Continued) Selected matter properties related to electromagnetism.

Propert y Example Definition

polarization pulled polymer sheets light transmission depending on

polarization angle
optical activity sugar dissolved in rotation of polarization
water, quartz
birefringence calcite,cornea refraction index depends on polarization
direction, light beams are split into two
beams
dichroism aminoacids, andalusite absorption depends on circular
polarization
optically induced AgCl optically induced birefringence and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
anisotropy, Weigert effect dichroism
second harmonic LiNbO3 , KPO4 light partially transformed to double
generation frequency
luminescence: general term GaAs, tv cold light emission
for opposite of
incandescence
fluorescence CaF2 , X-ray light emission during and after light
production, light tubes, absorption or other energy input
cathode ray tubes,
television tubes
phosphorescence TbCl3 light emission due to light, electrical or
chemical energy input, continuing long
after stimulation
electroluminescence ZnS emission of light due to alternating
electrical field
photoluminescence ZnS : Cu, light emission triggered by UV light, used
SrAlO4 : Eu, Dy, in safety signs
hyamine
chemoluminescence H2 O2 , phenyl oxalate cold light emission used in light sticks for
ester, dye divers and fun
bioluminescence glow-worm, deep sea cold light emission in animals
fish
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

triboluminescence sugar light emission during friction or crushing

thermoluminescence quartz, feldspar light emission during heating, used e.g. for
archaeological dating of pottery Ref. 163
bremsstrahlung X-ray generation radiation emission through fast
deceleration of electrons
Compton effect momentum change of wavelength of light, esp. X-rays
measurements and gamma radiation, colliding with
matter
electromagnetic effects and challenges 185

TA B L E 17 (Continued) Selected matter properties related to electromagnetism.

Propert y Example Definition

Čerenkov effect water, polymer particle light emission in a medium due to

detectors particles, e.g. emitted by radioactive
processes, moving faster than the speed of
light in that medium
transition radiation any material light emission due to fast particles moving
from one medium to a second with
different refractive index
electrochromicity wolframates colour change with applied electric field
scattering gases, liquids light changes direction
Mie scattering dust in gases light changes direction

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Raleigh scattering sky light changes direction, sky is blue
Raman effect or molecular gases scattered light changes frequency
Smekal–Raman effect
laser activity, beer, ruby, He–Ne emission of stimulated radiation
superradiation
sonoluminescence air in water light emission during cavitation
gravitoluminescence does not exist; Challenge
195 s why?
switchable mirror LaH voltage controlled change from reflection
to transparency Ref. 164
radiometer effect bi-coloured windmills irradiation turns mill (see page 105)
luminous pressure idem irradiation turns mill directly
solar sail effect future satellites motion due to solar wind
acousto-optic!effect LiNbO3 diffraction of light by sound in transparent
materials
photorefractive materials LiNbO3 , GaAs, InP light irradiation changes refractive index
Auger effect Auger electron electron emission due to atomic
spectroscopy reorganization after ionization by X-rays
Bragg reflection crystal structure X-ray diffraction by atomic planes
determination
Mößbauer effect Fe, used for recoil-free resonant absorption of gamma
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

spectroscopy radiation
pair creation Pb transformation of a photon in a charged
particle–antiparticle pair
photoconductivity Se, CdS change of resistivity with light irradiation
optoacoustic affect, gases, solids creation of sound due to absorption of
photoacoustic effect pulsed light; used for imaging of animal
and human tissue
optogalvanic effect plasmas change of discharge current due to light
irradiation
optical nonlinear effects: parametric amplification, frequency mixing, saturable absorption, n-th
harmonic generation, optical Kerr effect, etc.
 186 5 electromagnetic effects

TA B L E 17 (Continued) Selected matter properties related to electromagnetism.

Propert y Example Definition

phase conjugated mirror gases reflection of light with opposite phase

activity
Material properties
solidity, impenetrability floors, columns, ropes, at most one object per place at a given time
buckets
Interactions with vacuum
Casimir effect metals attraction of uncharged, conducting bodies

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
All matter properties in the list can be influenced by electric or magnetic fields or
directly depend on them. This shows that the nature of all these material properties is
electromagnetic. In other words, charges and their interactions are an essential and fun-
damental part of the structure of objects. The table shows so many different electromag-
netic properties that the motion of charges inside each material must be complex indeed.
Most effects are the topic of solid state physics,* fluid and plasma physics.
Solid state physics is by far the most important part of physics, when measured by the
impact it has on society. Almost all effects have applications in technical products, and
give employment to many people. Can you name a product or business application for
Challenge 196 e any randomly chosen effect from the table?
In our mountain ascent however, we look at only one example from the above list:
thermal radiation, the emission of light by hot bodies.
Earnshaw’s theorem about the impossibility of a stable equilibrium for charged parti-
cles at rest implies that the charges inside matter must be moving. For any charged par-
ticle in motion, Maxwell’s equations for the electromagnetic field show that it radiates
energy by emitting electromagnetic waves. In short, classical mechanics thus predicts
that matter must radiate electromagnetic energy.
Interestingly, everybody knows from experience that this is indeed the case. Hot bod-
ies light up depending on their temperature; the working of light bulbs thus proves that
metals are made of charged particles. Incandescence, as it is called, requires charges. Ac-
tually, every body emits radiation, even at room temperature. This radiation is called
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

thermal radiation; at room temperature it lies in the infrared. Its intensity is rather weak
Ref. 165 in everyday life; it is given by the general expression

2π5 k 4
I(T) = f T 4 or I(T) = f σT 4 with σ = 56.7 nW/K4 m2 , (85)
15c 2 h3
where f is a material-, shape- and temperature-dependent factor, with a value between
zero and one, and is called the emissivity. The constant σ is called the Stefan–Boltzmann
black body radiation constant or black body radiation constant. A body whose emissivity

* Probably the best and surely the most entertaining introductory English language book on the topic is the
one by Neil Ashcroft & David Mermin, Solid State Physics, Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1976.
 electromagnetic effects and challenges 187

is given by the ideal case f = 1 is called a black body, because at room temperature such a
body also has an ideal absorption coefficient and thus appears black. (Can you see why?)
Challenge 197 s The heat radiation such a body emits is called black body radiation.
Ref. 166 By the way, which object radiates more energy: a human body or an average piece of
Challenge 198 s the Sun of the same mass? Guess first!

Challenges and fun curiosities about electromagnetic effects

‘Inside a conductor there is no electric field.’ This statement is often found. In fact the
truth is not that simple. First, a static field or a static charge on the metal surface of a
body does not influence fields and charges inside it. A closed metal surface thus forms a
Challenge 199 s shield against an electric field. Can you give an explanation? In fact, a tight metal layer
is not required to get the effect; a cage is sufficient. One speaks of a Faraday cage.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The detailed mechanism allows you to answer the following question: do Faraday
cages for gravity exist? Why?
For moving external fields or charges, the issue is more complex. Fields due to accel-
erated charges – radiation fields – decay exponentially through a shield. Fields due to
charges moving at constant speed are strongly reduced, but do not disappear. The reduc-
tion depends on the thickness and the resistivity of the metal enclosure used. For sheet
metal, the field suppression is very high; it is not necessarily high for metal sprayed plas-
Ref. 167 tic. Such a device will not necessarily survive a close lightning stroke.
In practice, there is no danger if lightning hits an aeroplane or a car, as long they are
made of metal. (There is one film on the internet of a car hit by lightning; the driver does
not even notice.) However, if your car is hit by lightning in dry weather, you should wait
a few minutes before getting out of it. Can you imagine why?
Faraday cages also work the other way round. (Slowly) changing electric fields that
are inside a Faraday cage are not felt outside. For this reason, radios, mobile phones and
computers are surrounded by boxes made of metal or metal-sprayed plastics. The metal
keeps the so-called electromagnetic smog to a minimum.
There are thus three reasons to surround electric appliances by a grounded shield:
to protect the appliance from outside fields, to protect people and other machines from
electromagnetic smog, and to protect people against the mains voltage accidentally being
fed into the box (for example, when the insulation fails). In high precision experiments,
these three functions can be realized by three separate cages.
For purely magnetic fields, the situation is more complex. It is quite difficult to shield
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the inside of a machine from outside magnetic fields. How would you do it? In practice
Challenge 200 ny one often uses layers of so-called mu-metal; can you guess what this material does?
∗∗
Ref. 169 Researchers are trying to detect tooth decay with the help of electric currents, using the
observation that healthy teeth are bad conductors, in contrast to teeth with decay. How
Challenge 201 ny would you make use of this effect in this case? (By the way, it might be that the totally
unrelated technique of imaging with terahertz waves could yield similar results.)
∗∗
Human bone is piezoelectric: it produces electric signals when stressed. When we move
 188 5 electromagnetic effects

and grow, the electric signals are used by the body to reinforce the bones in the regions
that are in need. The piezoelectricity of the bones thus controls and guides their growth.
This connection is also used to make fractured bones heal more rapidly: by applying
pulsed magnetic fields to a broken bone, the healing is stimulated and accelerated. (Static
magnetic fields obviously do not work for this aim.) Also teeth are piezoelectric, and the
effect plays a role in their growth.
∗∗
In shops, one can buy piezoelectric devices – similar to a gas lighter – that are applied to
mosquito bites and are said to reduce itching and even swelling. (Some product names
Challenge 202 e are ‘zanza click’ and ‘skeeter click’) Can this be true?
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
A team of camera men in the middle of the Sahara were using battery-driven electrical
equipment to make sound recordings. Whenever the microphone cable was a few tens
of metres long, they also heard a 50 Hz power supply noise, even though the next power
supply was thousands of kilometres away. An investigation revealed that the high voltage
lines in Europe lose a considerable amount of power by irradiation; these 50 Hz waves are
reflected by the ionosphere around the Earth and thus can disturb recording in the mid-
dle of the desert. Can you estimate whether this observation implies that living directly
Challenge 203 s near a high voltage line is dangerous?
∗∗
When solar plasma storms are seen on the Sun, astronomers first phone the electricity
company. They know that about 24 to 48 hours later, the charged particles ejected by the
storms will arrive on Earth, making the magnetic field on the surface fluctuate. Since
power grids often have closed loops of several thousands of kilometres, additional elec-
tric currents are induced, which can make transformers in the grid overheat and then
switch off. Other transformers then have to take over the additional power, which can
lead to their overheating, etc. On several occasions in the past, millions of people have
been left without electrical power due to solar storms. Today, the electricity companies
avoid the problems by disconnecting the various grid sections, by avoiding large loops,
by reducing the supply voltage to avoid saturation of the transformers and by disallowing
load transfer from failed circuits to others. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
If the electric field is described as a sum of components of different frequencies, its so-
Ref. 170 called Fourier components, the amplitudes are given by

̂ t) = 1
E(k, 󵐐 E(x, t)e−ikx d3 x (86)
(2π)3 /2

and similarly for the magnetic field. It then turns out that a Lorentz invariant quantity
 electromagnetic effects and challenges 189

N, describing the energy per circular frequency ω, can be defined:

1 |E(k, t)|2 + |B(k, t)|2 3

N= 󵐐 d k. (87)
8π c|k|

Challenge 204 s Can you guess what N is physically? (Hint: think about quantum theory.)
∗∗
Faraday discovered how to change magnetism into electricity, knowing that electricity
could be transformed into magnetism. (The issue is subtle. Faraday’s law is not the dual of
Ampère’s, as that would imply the use of magnetic monopoles; neither is it the reciprocal,
as that would imply the displacement current. But he was looking for a link and he found
a way to relate the two observations – in a novel way, as it turned out.) Faraday also

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
discovered how to transform electricity into light and into chemistry. He then tried to
Challenge 205 ny change gravitation into electricity. But he was not successful. Why not?
∗∗
At high altitudes above the Earth, gases are completely ionized; no atom is neutral. One
speaks of the ionosphere, as space is full of positive ions and free electrons. Even though
both charges appear in exactly the same number, a satellite moving through the iono-
Challenge 206 s sphere acquires a negative charge. Why? How does the charging stop?
∗∗
A capacitor of capacity C is charged with a voltage U. The stored electrostatic energy is
E = CU 2 /2. The capacitor is then detached from the power supply and branched on to an
empty capacitor of the same capacity. After a while, the voltage obviously drops to U/2.
However, the stored energy now is C(U/2)2 , which is half the original value. Where did
Challenge 207 s the energy go?
∗∗
Challenge 208 s How can you give somebody an electric shock using a 4.5 V battery and some wire?
∗∗
An old puzzle about electricity results from the equivalence of mass and energy. It is
known from experiments that the size d of electrons is surely smaller than 10−22 m. This
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 171
Challenge 209 e means that the electric field surrounding it has an energy content E given by at least

∞
1 2 1 1 q 2
Energy = ε0 󵐐 Electric field dV = ε0 󵐐 󶀥 2
󶀵 4πr 2 dr
2 2 d 4πεo r
q2 1
= > 1.2 μJ . (88)
8πεo d

On the other hand, the mass of an electron, usually given as 511 keV/c2 , corresponds
to an energy of only 82 fJ, ten million times less than the value just calculated. In other
words, classical electrodynamics has considerable difficulty describing electrons. In fact,
 190 5 electromagnetic effects

a consistent description of charged point particles within classical electrodynamics is

Ref. 172 impossible. This pretty topic receives only a rare – but then often passionate – interest
nowadays, because the puzzle is solved in a different way in the upcoming, quantum part
of our mountain ascent.
∗∗
Even though the golden days of materials science are over, the various electromagnetic
properties of matter and their applications in devices do not seem to be completely ex-
plored yet. About once a year a new effect is discovered that merits inclusion in the list of
Page 179 electromagnetic matter properties of Table 17. Among others, some newer semiconduc-
tor technologies will still have an impact on electronics, such as the recent introduction
of low cost light detecting integrated circuits built in CMOS (complementary metal oxide
silicon) technology.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∗∗
The building of light sources of high quality has been a challenge for many centuries
and remains one for the future. Light sources that are intense, tunable and with large
coherence length or sources that emit extreme wavelengths are central to many research
pursuits. As one example of many, the first X-ray lasers have recently been built; how-
ever, they are several hundred metres in size and use modified particle accelerators. The
constructionof compact X-ray lasers is still many years off – if it is possible at all.
∗∗
In many materials, left and right circularly polarized light is absorbed differently. The
effect, called circular dichroism, was discovered by Aimé Cotton in 1896. Since circu-
lar dichroism appears in optically active chiral molecules, the measurement of circular
dichroism spectra is a simple and important method for the structure determination of
biological molecules.
∗∗
But maybe the biggest challenge imaginable in classical electrodynamics is to decode
the currents inside the brain. Will it be possible to read our thoughts with an apparatus
placed outside the head?
Challenge 210 r One could start with a simpler challenge: Would it be possible to distinguish the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

thought ‘yes’ from the thought ‘no’ by measuring electrical or magnetic fields around
the head? In other words, is simple mind-reading possible? The answer is yes. This has
already been achieved. Even more, using brain imaging, it is already possible to distin-
Ref. 173 guish among simple concepts that a person has in mind.
Page 85 As we have seen above, partial mind-reading is also possible already for motion-
related tasks, including some video games.
In fact, it is now possible to use a cap with electrical contacts and use passwords that
you simply think about to secure computer systems. The advantage of such a password
Challenge 211 s is that it is hard to steal it. (Is this system secure?)
Challenge 211, page 190: No. In any system, the security is given by the weakest spot. And in
any password system, the weakest spots are the transport of the raw data – in this case the signals
from the electric cap to the computer – and the password checking system. Both are as vulnerable
electromagnetic effects and challenges 191

as any other password system.

The twenty-first century will surely bring many new results also for the mind reading of cog-
nitive tasks. The team first performing such a feat will become instantly famous.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 6

SUMMARY AND LIMIT S OF

CL ASSICAL ELECTRODYNAMICS

A
ll of classical electrodynamics can be summarized in three principles. Every
dventurer should know them, because they will help us later on, when we

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
pproach the top of Motion Mountain. We will discover that we can arrive at
the top only if we express things as simply as possible. The three principles of classical
electrodynamics are:

⊳ Electric charges exert forces on other charges; for charges at rest, the force
falls off as the inverse square of the distance.* Equivalently, charges are sur-
rounded by an electromagnetic field.
⊳ Electric charges are conserved.
⊳ Charges move more slowly than light.

From these three principles we can deduce all of electrodynamics. Electrodynamics is

thus built on the definition of charge, the conservation of charge, and the invariance of
Ref. 36 the speed of light. In particular, we can deduce the following basic statements:
— The electromagnetic field is a physical observable, as shown e.g. by compass needles.
— The electromagnetic field sources are the (moving) charges, as shown by amber, lode-
stone or mobile phones.
— The electromagnetic field changes the motion of electrically charged objects via the
Lorentz expression as, for example, shown by electric motors.
— The electromagnetic field can exist in empty space and moves in it as a wave, as shown,
for example, by the stars.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

— The electromagnetic field behaves like a continuous quantity and is described by

Maxwell’s evolution equations, as shown, for example, by mobile phones and electric
toothbrushes.
More precisely, the motion of the electric field E and of the magnetic field B is described
by the Lagrangian density
ε 1 2
L = 0 E2 − B . (89)
2 2μ0

* Quantum theory will show that this principle, Coulomb’s law, can be rephrased as: electric charges at rest
emit virtual photons with a constant average rate.
 summary and limits 193

Like for any motion described by a Lagrangian, the motion of the field is reversible, con-
tinuous, conserved and deterministic. However, there is quite some fun in the offing;
even though this description is correct in everyday life, during the rest of our mountain
ascent we will find that the last basic statement must be wrong: fields do not always follow
Maxwell’s equations. A simple example shows this.
At a temperature of zero kelvin, when matter does not radiate thermally, we have the
paradoxical situation that the charges inside matter cannot be moving, since no emitted
radiation is observed, but they cannot be at rest either, due to Earnshaw’s theorem. In
short, the simple existence of matter – with its charged constituents – shows that classical
electrodynamics is wrong.
In fact, the overview of the numerous material properties and electromagnetic effects
Page 179 given in Table 17 makes the same point even more strongly; classical electrodynamics
can describe many of the effects listed, but it cannot explain the origin of any of them.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Even though few of the effects will be studied in our walk – they are not essential for our
adventure – the general concepts necessary for their description will be the topic of the
upcoming part of this mountain ascent, that on quantum theory.
In fact, there are two domains where classical electrodynamics fails.

Strong fields and gravitation

First of all, classical electrodynamics fails in regions with strong fields. When electro-
magnetic fields are extremely strong, their energy density will curve space-time. Classical
electrodynamics, which assumes flat space-time, is not valid in such situations.
The failure of classical electrodynamics is most evident in the most extreme case of all:
when the fields are extremely strong, they will lead to the formation of black holes. The
existence of black holes, together with the discreteness of charge, imply maximum elec-
Page 24 tric and magnetic field values. These upper limits were mentioned in Table 3, which lists
Page 34 various electric field values found in nature, and in Table 8, which lists possible magnetic
Challenge 212 s field values. Can you deduce the values of these so-called Planck fields?
The curvature of space and electrodynamics interact in many ways. For example, the
Vol. II, page 97 maximum force in nature limits the maximum charge that a black hole can carry. Can
Challenge 213 ny you find the relation? As another example, it seems that magnetic fields effectively in-
Ref. 174 crease the stiffness of empty space, i.e., they increase the difficulty to bend empty space.
Not all interactions between gravity and electrodynamics have been studied up to now;
more examples should appear in the future.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In summary, classical electrodynamics does not work for extremely high field values,
when gravitation plays a role.

Charges are discrete

Classical electrodynamics fails to describe nature correctly also for a second reason,
which has already been mentioned a number of times: electric charges are discrete. Elec-
Vol. I, page 333 tric charges do not vary continuously, but change in fixed steps. Not only does nature
show a smallest value of entropy – as we found in our exploration of heat, – and smallest
Vol. I, page 334 amounts of matter; nature also shows a smallest charge. Electric charge values are quan-
tized.
In metals, the quantization of charge is noticeable in the flow of electrons. In elec-
 194 6 cl assical electrodynamics

trolytes, i.e. electrically conducting liquids, the quantization of charge appears in the flow
of charged atoms, usually called ions. All batteries have electrolytes inside; also water is
an electrolyte, though a poorly conducting one. In plasmas, like fire or fluorescent lamps,
both ions and electrons move and show the discreteness of charge. Also in all known
types of particle radiation – from the electron beams inside television tubes, the channel
rays formed in special low-pressure glass tubes, the cosmic radiation hitting us all the
time, up to the omnipresent radioactivity – charges are quantized.
In all known experiments, the same smallest value e for electric charge has been found.
The result is
e = 0.160 217 656 5(35) aC , (90)

around a sixth of an attocoulomb. All observed electric charges in nature are multiples
of this so-called elementary charge.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In short, like all flows in nature, also the flow of electricity is due to a flow of discrete
particles. In fact, the nature of the particles differs from situation to situation: they may
be electrons, ions, muons and many kind of other particles. However, the charge steps
are always exactly the same. In fact, at this point of our adventure, the equality of the ele-
mentary charge for all matter particles is unexplained. We will only discover the reason
only at the very end of our adventure.
Above all, a smallest charge change has a simple implication: classical electrodynamics
is wrong. A smallest charge implies that no infinitely small test charges exist. But such
Page 23 infinitely small test charges are necessary to define electric and magnetic fields. For a finite
test charge, the disturbance of the field introduced by the test charge itself makes a precise
field measurement – and thus a precise field definition – impossible. As a consequence,
the values of electric and magnetic field measured with finite test charges are always
somewhat fuzzy. This fuzziness is most apparent for low field values. For example, for
low intensities of light, experiments detect photons, discrete light particles. All low light
intensities are time-averages of low photon numbers; they are not continuous fields.
The lower limit on charge magnitude also implies that there is no fully correct way
of defining an instantaneous electric current in classical electrodynamics. Indeed, the
Vol. IV, page 148 position and the momentum of a charge are always somewhat fuzzy, as we will find out.
In summary, Maxwell’s evolution equations are only approximate. Classical electro-
magnetism does not work for extremely low field values, when quantum effects play a
role, and does not work for extremely high field values, when gravitation plays a role. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

These cases will be explored in the remaining legs of our adventure, those on quantum
theory and those on unification. Only some effects of the discreteness of charge can be
treated in classical physics. A few instructive examples follow.

How fast do charges move?

In vacuum, such as inside a colour television, charged particles accelerated by a voltage
Challenge 214 s of 30 kV move with a third of the speed of light. In modern particle accelerators charges
move so rapidly that their speed is indistinguishable from that of light for all practical
purposes.
Inside a metal, electric signals move with speeds of the order of the speed of light. The
precise value depends on the capacity and impedance of the cable and is usually in the
 summary and limits 195

range 0.3c to 0.5c. This high speed is due to the ability of metals to easily take in arriving
charges and to let others depart. The ability for rapid reaction is due to the high mobility
of the charges inside metals, which in turn is due to the small mass and size of these
charges, the electrons.
The high signal speed in metals appears to contradict another determination. The drift
speed of the electrons in a metal wire, i.e., the average speed of the charges, obviously
obeys
I
󰑣= , (91)
Ane
where I is the current, A the cross-section of the wire, e the charge of a single electron and
n the number density of electrons. The electron density in copper is 8.5 ⋅ 1028 m−3 . Using
a typical current of 0.5 A and a typical cross-section of a square millimetre, we get a drift

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
speed of 0.37 μm/s. In other words, electrons move a thousand times slower than ketchup
inside its bottle. Worse, if a room lamp used direct current instead of alternate current,
the electrons would take several days to get from the switch to the bulb! Nevertheless,
the lamp goes on or off almost immediately after the switch is activated. Similarly, the
electrons from an email transported with direct current would arrive much later than a
paper letter sent at the same time; nevertheless, the email arrives quickly. Are you able
Challenge 215 s to explain the apparent contradiction between drift velocity and signal velocity?
Inside liquids, charges move with a different speed from that inside metals, and their
charge to mass ratio is also different. We all know this from direct experience. Our nerves
work by using electric signals and take (only) a few milliseconds to respond to a stimulus,
even though they are metres long. A similar speed is observed inside semiconductors
and inside batteries. In all these systems, moving charge is transported by ions; they are
charged atoms. Ions, like atoms, are large and composed entities, in contrast to the tiny
electrons.
In other matter systems, charges move both as electrons and as ions. Examples
are neon lamps, fire, plasmas and the Sun. Inside atoms, electrons behave even more
strangely. One tends to think that they orbit the nucleus (as we will see later) at a rather
high speed, as the orbital radius is so small. However, it turns out that in most atoms
many electrons do not orbit the nucleus at all. The strange story behind atoms and their
Vol. IV, page 158 structure will be told in the quantum legs of our mountain ascent.

Challenges and curiosities about charge discreteness

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 216 s How would you show experimentally that electrical charge comes in smallest chunks?
∗∗
The discreteness of charge implies that one can estimate the size of atoms by observing
Challenge 217 ny galvanic deposition. How?
∗∗
Cosmic radiation consists of charged particles hitting the Earth. (We will discuss this
Vol. V, page 118 in more detail later.) Astrophysicists explain that these particles are accelerated by the
Ref. 175 magnetic fields around the Galaxy. However, the expression of the Lorentz acceleration
 196 6 cl assical electrodynamics

shows that magnetic fields can only change the direction of the velocity of a charge, not
Challenge 218 ny its magnitude. How can nature get acceleration nevertheless?
∗∗
What would be the potential of the Earth in volt if we could take away all the electrons
Challenge 219 s of a drop of water?
∗∗
When a voltage is applied to a resistor, how long does it take until the end value of the cur-
rent, given by Ohm’s ‘law’, is reached? The first to answer this question was Paul Drude.*
in the years around 1900. He reasoned that when the current is switched on, the speed 󰑣
of an electron increases as 󰑣 = (eE/m)t, where E is the electrical field, e the charge and m
the mass of the electron. Drude’s model assumes that the increase of electron speed stops

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
when the electron hits an atom, loses its energy and begins to be accelerated again. Drude
deduced that the average time τ up to the collision is related to the specific resistance by

E E 2m
ρ= = = 2 , (92)
j en󰑣 τe n

with n being the electron number density. The right side does not depend on E any more;
it is a constant. Drude had thus explained Ohm’s ‘law’ U = RI (or E = j ρ) from ma-
terial properties, by assuming that resistance is due to moving electrons that continu-
ously collide and speed up again. Inserting numbers for copper (n = 10.3 ⋅ 1028 /m−3
and ρ = 0.16 ⋅ 10−7 Ωm), one gets a time τ = 42 ps. This time is so short that the switch-
on process can usually be neglected.
∗∗
Does it make sense to write Maxwell’s equations in vacuum? Both electrical and magnetic
fields require charges in order to be measured. But in vacuum there are no charges at all.
And fields are defined by using infinitesimally small test charges. But, as we mentioned
already, infinitesimally small charges do not exist. In fact, only quantum theory solves
Challenge 220 d this issue. Are you able to imagine how?
∗∗
We have seen that in many cases, charge discreteness is not in contradiction with classical
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

electrodynamics. One system that makes use of discrete charge but can nevertheless be
described with classical electrodynamics merits a separate discussion: our brain.

* Paul Karl Ludwig Drude (1863–1906), German physicist. A result of his electron gas model of metals was
the prediction, roughly correct, that the ratio between the thermal conductivity and the electric conductivity
at a given temperature should be the same for all metals. Drude also introduced c as the symbol for the speed
of light.
 Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
197
summary and limits
 Chapter 7

THE STORY OF THE BR AIN

“
Alles was überhaupt gedacht werden kann,

”
kann klar gedacht werden.*
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 4.116

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
I n our quest for increased precision in the description of all motion around us, it
s time to take a break, sit down and look back. In our walk so far, which has led us to
nvestigate mechanics, general relativity and electrodynamics, we used several con-
cepts without defining them. Examples are ‘information’, ‘memory’, ‘measurement’, ‘set’,
‘number’, ‘infinity’, ‘existence’, ‘universe’ and ‘explanation’. Each of these is a common and
important term. In this intermezzo, we take a look at these concepts and try to give some
simple, but sufficiently precise definitions, keeping them as provocative and entertaining
Challenge 221 e as possible. For example, can you explain to your parents what a concept is?
The reason for studying the definitions of concepts is simple. We need the clarifica-
tions in order to get to the top of Motion Mountain, i.e., to the full description of mo-
tion. In the past, many have lost their way because of lack of clear concepts. In order to
avoid these difficulties, physics has a special guiding role. All sciences share one result:
every type of change observed in nature is a form of motion. In this sense, but in this sense
only, physics, focusing on motion itself, forms the basis for all the other sciences. In other
words, the search for the famed ‘theory of everything’ is an arrogant expression for the
search for a final theory of motion. Even though the knowledge of motion is basic, its pre-
cise description does not imply a description of ‘everything’: just try to solve a marriage
problem using the Schrödinger equation to note the difference.
Given the basic importance of motion, it is necessary that in physics all statements on
observations be as precise as possible. For this reason, many thinkers have investigated
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

physical statements with particular care, using all criteria imaginable. Physics is precise
prattle by curious people about moving things. What does precision mean? The meaning
appears once we ask: which abilities does such prattle require? You might want to fill in
Challenge 222 e the list yourself before reading on.
The abilities necessary for talking are a topic of research even today. The way that
the human species acquired the ability to chat about motion is studied by evolutionary
biologists. Child psychologists study how the ability develops in a single human being.
Physiologists, neurologists and computer scientists are concerned with the way the brain

* ‘Everything that can be thought at all can be thought clearly.’ This and other quotes of Ludwig Wittgenstein
are from the equally short and famous Tractatus logico-philosophicus, written in 1918, first published in 1921;
it has now been translated into many other languages.
 the story of the brain 199

F I G U R E 133 Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951).

and the senses make this possible; linguists focus on the properties of the language we
use, while logicians, mathematicians and philosophers of science study the general prop-
erties of statements about nature. All these fields investigate tools that are essential for

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the development of physics, the understanding of motion and the specification of the
undefined concepts listed above. The fields structure the following exploration.

Evolution

“
A hen is only an egg’s way of making another

”
egg.
Samuel Butler, Life and Habit.

The evolution of the human species is the result of a long story that has been told in
Ref. 176 many excellent books. A summarizing table on the history of the universe was given in
Vol. II, page 210 the exploration of general relativity. The almost incredible chain of events that has lead to
one’s own existence includes the formation of atoms, of the galaxies, the stars, the planets,
the Moon, the atmosphere, the oceans, the first cells, the water animals, the land animals,
Ref. 177 the mammals, the hominids, the humans, the ancestors, the family and finally oneself.
The way the atoms we are made of moved during this sequence, being blown through
space, being collected on Earth, becoming organized to form organic matter and then
people, is one of the most awe-inspiring examples of motion. Remembering and medi-
tating about this fantastic sequence of motion every now and then can be an enriching
Challenge 223 e experience.
In particular, without biological evolution, we would not be able to talk about motion
at all; only moving bodies can study moving bodies. And without a brain, we would not
be able to think or talk. Without evolution, we would have no muscles, no senses, no
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

nerves and no brains. Evolution was also the fount of childhood and curiosity. In this
chapter we will discover that most concepts of classical physics are already introduced
by every little child, in the experiences it has while growing up.

Children, laws and physics

“
Physicists also have a shared reality. Other than
that, there isn’t really a lot of difference between

”
being a physicist and being a schizophrenic.
Ref. 178 Richard Bandler

During childhood, everybody is a physicist. When we follow our own memories back-
Ref. 179 wards in time as far as we can, we reach a certain stage, situated before birth, which forms
 200 7 the story of the brain

the starting point of human experience. In that magic moment, we sensed somehow that
apart from ourselves, there is something else. The first observation we make about the
world, during the time in the womb, is thus the recognition that we can distinguish two
parts: ourselves and the rest of the world. This distinction is an example – perhaps the
first – of a large number of ‘laws’ of nature that we stumble upon in our lifetime. Be-
ing a physicist started back then. By discovering more and more distinctions we bring
structure in the chaos of experience. We quickly find out that the world is made of re-
lated parts, such as mama, papa, milk, earth, toys, etc. We divide the parts in objects and
images.
Later, when we learn to speak, we enjoy using more difficult words and we call the
Vol. I, page 27 surroundings the environment. Depending on the context, we call the whole formed by
oneself and the environment together the (physical) world, the (physical) universe, na-
ture, or the cosmos. These concepts are not distinguished from each other in this walk;*

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
they are all taken to designate the sum of all parts and their relations. They are simply
taken here to designate the whole.
The discovery of the first distinction in nature starts a chain of similar discoveries that
continue throughout our life. We extract the numerous distinctions that are possible in
the environment, in our own body and in the various types of interactions between them.
The ability to distinguish is the central ability that allows us to change our view from that
of the world as chaos, i.e., as a big mess, to that of the world as a system, i.e., a structured
Challenge 224 s set, in which parts are related in specific ways. (If you like precision, you may ponder
whether the two choices of ‘chaos’ and ‘system’ are the only possible ones.)
In particular, the observation of the differences between oneself and the environment
goes hand in hand with the recognition that not only are we not independent of the
environment, but we are firmly tied to it in various inescapable ways: we can fall, get
hurt, feel warm, cold, etc. Such relations are called interactions. Interactions express the
observation that even though the parts of nature can be distinguished, they cannot be
Page 258 isolated. In other words, interactions describe the difference between the whole and the
sum of its parts. No part can be defined without its relation to its environment. (Do you
Challenge 225 e agree?)
Interactions are not arbitrary; just take touch, smell or sight as examples. They differ
in reach, strength and consequences. We call the characteristic aspects of interactions
patterns of nature, or properties of nature, or rules of nature or, equivalently, with their
historical but unfortunate name, ‘laws’ of nature. The term ‘law’ stresses their general va- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

lidity; unfortunately, it also implies design, aim, coercion and punishment for infringe-
ment. However, no design, aim or coercion is implied in the properties of nature, nor is
infringement possible. The ambiguous term ‘law of nature’ was made popular by René
Descartes (1596–1650) and has been adopted enthusiastically because it gave weight to
the laws of the state – which were far from perfect at that time – and to those of other
organizations – which rarely are. The expression is an anthropomorphism coined by an
authoritarian world view, suggesting that nature is ‘governed’. We will therefore use the
* The differences in their usage can be deduced from their linguistic origins. ‘World’ is derived from old
Germanic ‘wer’ – person – and ‘ald’ – old – and originally means ‘lifetime’. ‘Universe’ is from the Latin, and
designates the one – ‘unum’ – which one sees turning – ‘vertere’, and refers to the starred sky at night which
turns around the polar star. ‘Nature’ comes also from the Latin, and means ‘what is born’. ‘Cosmos’ is from
Greek κόσμος and originally means ‘order’.
 the story of the brain 201

term as rarely as possible in our walk and it will, if we do, be always between ‘ironical’
parentheses. Nature cannot be forced in any way. The ‘laws’ of nature are not obligations
for nature or its parts, they are obligations only for physicists and all other people: the
patterns of nature oblige us to use certain descriptions and to discard others. Whenever
one says that ‘laws govern nature’ one is talking nonsense; the correct expression is rules
describe nature.
During childhood we learn to distinguish between interactions with the environment
(or perceptions): some are shared with others and called observations, others are uniquely
personal and are called sensations.* A still stricter criterion of ‘sharedness’ is used to di-
vide the world into ‘reality’ and ‘imagination’ (or ‘dreams’). Our walk will show that this
distinction is not essential, provided that we stay faithful to the quest for ever increasing
precision: we will find that the description of motion that we are looking for does not
Vol. VI, page 356 depend on whether the world is ‘real’ or ‘imagined’, ‘personal’ or ‘public’.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Humans enjoy their ability to distinguish parts, which in other contexts they also call
details, aspects or entities, and enjoy their ability to associate them or to observe the re-
Ref. 181 lations between them. Humans call this activity classification. Colours, shapes, objects,
mother, places, people and ideas are some of the entities that humans discover first.
Our anatomy provides a handy tool to make efficient use of these discoveries: memory.
It stores a large amount of input that is called experience afterwards. Memory is a tool
used by both young and old children to organize their world and to achieve a certain
security in the chaos of life.
Memorized classifications are called concepts. Jean Piaget was the first researcher to
describe the influence of the environment on the concepts that every child forms. Step by
step, children learn that objects are localized in space, that space has three dimensions,
that objects fall, that collisions produce noise, etc. In particular, Piaget showed that space
and time are not a priori concepts, but result from the interactions of every child with its
environment.**

* A child that is unable to make this distinction among perceptions – and who is thus unable to lie – almost
Ref. 180 surely develops or already suffers from autism, as recent psychological research has shown.
** An overview of the origin of developmental psychology is given by J. H. Flavell, The Developmental
Psychology of Jean Piaget, 1963. This work summarizes the observations by the French speaking Swiss Jean
Piaget (1896–1980), the central figure in the field. He was one of the first researchers to look at child devel-
opment in the same way that a physicist looks at nature: carefully observing, taking notes, making exper-
iments, extracting hypotheses, testing them, deducing theories. His astonishingly numerous publications,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

based on his extensive observations, cover almost all stages of child development. His central contribution
is the detailed description of the stages of development of the cognitive abilities of humans. He showed that
all cognitive abilities of children, the formation of basic concepts, their way of thinking, their ability to talk,
etc., result from the continuous interaction between the child and the environment.
In particular, Piaget described the way in which children first learn that they are different from the exter-
nal environment, and how they then learn about the physical properties of the world. Of his many books
related to physical concepts, two especially related to the topic of this walk are J. Piaget, Les notions de
mouvement et de vitesse chez l’enfant, Presses Universitaires de France, 1972 and Le developpement de la
notion de temps chez l’enfant, Presses Universitaires de France, 1981, this last book being born from a sugges-
tion by Albert Einstein. These texts should be part of the reading of every physicist and science philosopher
interested in these questions.
Piaget also describes how in children the mathematical and verbal intelligence derives from sensomoto-
rial, practical intelligence, which itself stems from habits and acquired associations to construct new con-
cepts. Practical intelligence requires the system of reflexes provided by the anatomical and morphological
 202 7 the story of the brain

Around the time that a child goes to school, it starts to understand the idea of per-
manence of substances, e.g. liquids, and the concept of contrary. Only at that stage does
Ref. 183 its subjective experience becomes objective, with abstract comprehension. Still later, the
child’s description of the world stops to be animistic: before this step, the Sun, a brook
or a cloud are alive. In short, only after puberty does a human become ready for physics.
Even though everyone has been a physicist in their youth, most people remain classical
physicists. In the present adventure we go much further, by using all the possibilities of
a toy with which nature provides us: the brain.

“
Experience is the name everyone gives to their

”
mistakes.
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Polymer electronics
The brain is electrical. This was proven in 1924, when the neurologist Hans Berger (b.
1873 Neuses, d. 1941 Jena) recorded and named the first electroencephalogram. A mod-
ern electroencephalogram is shown in Figure 136.* In more detail, the brain is a flexible,
polymer-based, metal-free, short-lived, sensitive, unreliable and electronic device. Inci-
dentally, all these properties are shared by polymer electronics, whether alive or not. Re-
liability is the main reason that commercial electronics is usually silicon-based instead.
The polymer electronics that forms the brain is organized like a computer. Some de-
Ref. 184 tails are shown in Table 18, Figure 134 and Figure 135. Though the functional blocks of a
brain and of a computer are astonishingly similar, the specific mechanisms they use are
usually completely different.

Why a brain?

“ ”
Denken ist bereits Plastik.**
Ref. 185 Joseph Beuys, sculptor.

The brain exists to control the motion of an organism. The more complex the motions of
an organism are, the larger its brain is. The brain controls motion by processing the input
provided by the various senses and sending the results of the processing to the various
muscles in the body. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

structure of our organism. Thus his work shows in detail that our faculty for mathematical description of
the world is based, albeit indirectly, on the physical interaction of our organism with the world.
Some of his opinions on the importance of language in development are now being revised, notably
Ref. 182 through the rediscovery of the work of Lev Vigotsky, who argues that all higher mental abilities, emotions,
recollective memory, rational thought, voluntary attention and self-awareness, are not innate, but learned.
This learning takes place through language and culture, and in particular through the process of talking to
oneself.
At www.piaget.org you can find the website maintained by the Jean Piaget Society.
* In the electric signals in the brain one distiguishes, apart from the chatic signals, beta waves, mainly during
attention, with a frequency between 14 and 30 Hz, alpha waves, during relaxation, with a frequency between
8 and 13 Hz, theta waves, during early sleep and during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, with a frequency
between 3 and 7 Hz, and delta waves, during deep sleep, with a frequency between 0.5 and 2 Hz.
** ‘Thinking is already sculpture.’ Joseph Beuys (1920–1986).
the story of the brain 203

TA B L E 18 Some aspects of the human brain.

Aspect D eta i l s Computer

e q u i va l e n t

Hardware
Ultrashort term memory 5 to 9 concepts cache
Hippocampus novelty detector, spatial RAM and Flash
memory, learning memory
Amygdala emotions, learning priority scheduler of
operating system
Ventral striatum, dopamine rewards system priority scheduler of
and opioid provider operating system
Neurons in cortex women c. 19⋅109 , men c. 22⋅109 hard disk and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
processor
Glial cells in brain about as many as neurons power supply,
structure
Neuron number decay women: e3.05−0.00145⋅age/a ⋅ 109 , hard disk scratching
men: e3.2−0.00145⋅age/a ⋅ 109
Pulses exchanged between both 4 ⋅ 109 /s internal bus speed
brain halves
Synapses per neuron 104
Total synapse connections c. 2 ⋅ 1014 memory cells
Input pathways from the eye c. 2 ⋅ 106 camera wire
Input pathways from the ear c. 2 ⋅ 3000 microphone line
Input pathways from skin, c. 0.5 ⋅ 106 sensor interfaces
mouth, and nose
Input signal capacity (total, 300 c. 100 MB/s input bandwidth
pulses/s per pathway)
Output pathways (muscles, c. 1.5 ⋅ 106 actuator interfaces
organs)
Output signal capacity (total, c. 50 MB/s output bandwidth
300 pulses/s per pathway)
Non-serious – probably too low 10 PFlop several dozens of
– estimate of the processing supercomputers
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

capacity
Typical mass (Einstein’s brain) 1.230 kg; varies between 0.7 1 to 5000 kg
and 2.0 kg
Power consumption (average) 1600 to 2200 kJ/d or 18 to 25 W 20 W to 20 kW
(with 750 ml/min blood
supply)
Lifetime 130 years often only 2 years
Size 0.14 m 0.17 m0.09 m from a few cm3 to
1 m3
Software and processing
Learning changing synapse strength activate, classify,
through long-term store
potentiation
Deep sleep and learning storage structured writing from clean-up and
hippocampus to cortex back-up to hard disk
REM (rapid eye movement, or offline processing data compression in
dream) sleep batch process
 204 7 the story of the brain

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 134 Sections and side view of the human brain, all in false colours (images WikiCommons).

Numerous observations show that sense input is processed, i.e., classified, stored and
retrieved in the brain. Notably, lesions of the brain can lead to the loss of part or all of
Ref. 186 these functions. Among the important consequences of these basic abilities of the brain
are thought and language. All brain abilities result from the construction, i.e., from the Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 187 ‘hardware’ of the brain.

Systems with the ability to deduce classifications from the input they receive are called
Ref. 188 classifiers, and are said to be able to learn. Our brain shares this property with many com-
plex systems; the brain of many animals, but also certain computer algorithms, such as
the so-called ‘neural networks’, are examples of classifiers. Classifiers are studied in sev-
Ref. 189 eral fields, from biology to neurology, mathematics and computer science. All classifiers
have the double ability to discriminate and to associate; and both abilities are fundamen-
tal to thinking.
Machine classifiers have a lot in common with the brain. As an example, following
Ref. 190 an important recent hypothesis in evolutionary biology, the necessity to cool the brain
in an effective way is responsible for the upright, bipedal walk of humans. The brain,
which uses around a quarter of all energy burned in the human body, needs a powerful
 the story of the brain 205

Brain
consciousness
priority scheduler
prediction calculator
motion control

Sensor- Actuator-
specific specific
hardware hardware

feedback
Sensor- Actuator-
specific specific
hardware hardware

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
feedback
Sensor- Actuator-
specific specific
hardware hardware

feedback Actuator e.g. muscle or

Sensor and
signal generator chemical factory

F I G U R E 135 The general structure of the nervous system, with the many feedback loops it contains
and the numerous sensor-specific hardware.

cooling system to work well. In this, brains resemble modern computers, which usually
have powerful fans or even water cooling systems built into them. It turns out that the
human species has the most powerful cooling system of all mammals. An upright pos-
ture allowed the air to cool the body most effectively in the tropical environment where
humans evolved. For even better cooling, humans have also no body hair, except on their
head, where it protects the brain from direct heating by the Sun. The upright posture in
turn allowed humans to take breath independently of their steps, a feat that many animals
cannot perform. This ability increased the cooling again, and in turn allowed humans to
develop speech. Speech in turn developed the brain further.
All classifiers are built from smallest classifying units, sometimes large numbers of Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

them. Usually, the smallest units can classify input into only two different groups. The
larger the number of these units, often called ‘neurons’ by analogy to the brain, the more
Ref. 191 sophisticated classifications can be produced by the classifier. Classifiers thus work by ap-
plying more or less sophisticated combinations of ‘same’ and ‘different’. The distinction
by a child of red and blue objects is such a classification; the distinction of compact and
non-compact gauge symmetry groups in quantum theory is a more elaborate classifica-
tion, but relies on the same fundamental ability.
In all classifiers, the smallest classifying units interact with each other. Often these
interactions are channelled via connections, and the set is then called a network. In these
connections, signals are exchanged, via moving objects, such as electrons or photons.
Thus we arrive at the conclusion that the ability of the brain to classify the physical world,
for example to distinguish moving objects interacting with each other, is a consequence
 206 7 the story of the brain

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 136 A modern electroencephalogram, taken at a number of positions at the head. The
measured voltages are around 0.1 mV (© Wikimedia).

of the fact that it itself consists of moving objects interacting with each other. Without
a powerful classifier, humans would not have become such a successful animal species.
And only the motion inside our brain allows us to talk about motion in general.
Numerous researchers are identifying the parts of the brain used when different in- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tellectual tasks are performed. Such experiments are possible using magnetic resonance
Vol. V, page 118 imaging and similar imaging techniques. Other researchers are studying how thought
processes can be modelled from the brain structure. Modern neurology is still making
regular progress. In particular, neurologists have destroyed the belief that thinking is
more than a physical process. This false belief results from various personal fears, as you
might want to test by introspection. The fears and the belief will disappear as time goes
Challenge 226 s by. How would you argue that thought is just a physical process?
Evolution developed the brain, with all its capabilities, as a tool that helps every person
to find her way through the challenges that life poses. The human brain is so large because
of two reasons: the sensory input is vast, and the processing is complex. More concretely,
the brain is so large in order to process what we see. The amount of information provided
by the eyes is indeed huge.
 the story of the brain 207

What is information?

“
These thoughts did not come in any verbal
formulation. I rarely think in words at all. A
thought comes, and I may try to express it in

”
words afterward.
Ref. 192 Albert Einstein

We started our adventure by stating that studying physics means to talk about motion.
To talk is to transmit information. Can information be measured? Can we measure the
progress of physics in this way? Is the universe made of information?
Information is the result of classification. A classification is the answer to one or to
several yes–no questions. Such yes–no questions are the simplest classifications possible;
they provide the basic units of classification, from which all others can be built. The sim-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
plest way to measure information is therefore to count the implied yes–no questions, the
bits, leading to it. Some values are givem in Table 19.
Are you able to say how many bits are necessary to define the place where you live?
Obviously, the number of bits depends on the set of questions with which we start; that
could be the names of all streets in a city, the set of all coordinates on the surface of the
Earth, the names of all galaxies in the universe, the set of all letter combinations in the
Challenge 227 s address. What is the most efficient method you can think of? A variation of the com-
bination method is used in computers. For example, the story of the present adventure
required about five thousand million bits of information. But since the amount of infor-
mation in a story depends on the set of questions with which we start, it is impossible to
define a precise measure for information in this way.

TA B L E 19 Some measures of information.

K i n d o f i n f o r m at i o n Amount
Words spoken on an average day by a man c. 5000
Words spoken on an average day by a woman c. 7000
Light sensitive cells per retina (120 million rods and 6 million cones) 126 ⋅ 106
Words spoken during a lifetime (2/3 time awake, 30 words per minute) 3 ⋅ 108
Words heard and read during a lifetime 109
Letters (base pairs) in haploid human DNA 3 ⋅ 109
Pulses exchanged between both brain halves every second 4 ⋅ 109
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Bits in a compact disc 6.1 ⋅ 109

Neurons in the human brain 1010 to 1011
Printed words available in (different) books around the world (c. 100 ⋅ 106 c. 5 ⋅ 1012
books consisting of 50 000 words)
Memory bits in the human brain > 1016
Image pixels seen in a lifetime (3 ⋅ 109 s ⋅ (1/15 ms) ⋅ 2/3 (awake) ⋅106 (nerves 1017
to the brain) Ref. 217
Bits of information processed in a lifetime (the above times 32) 1019

The only way to measure information precisely is to take the largest possible set of
 208 7 the story of the brain

questions that can be asked about a system, and to compare it with what is known about
the system. In this case, the amount of unknown information is called entropy, a concept
Vol. I, page 330 that we have already encountered. With this concept you should able to deduce yourself
Challenge 228 s whether it is really possible to measure the advance of physics.
Since classification or categorization is an activity of the brain and other, similar clas-
sifiers, information as defined here is a concept that applies to the result of activities by
people and by other classifiers. In short, information is produced when talking about the
universe.
Information is the result of classification. This implies that the universe itself is not the
same as information. There is a growing number of publications based on the opposite
of this view; however, this is a conceptual short circuit. Any transmission of information
implies an interaction; physically speaking, this means that any information needs energy
for transmission and matter for storage. Without either of these, there is no information.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In other words, the universe, with its matter and energy, has to exist before transmission
of information is possible. Saying that the universe is made of information, or that it
is information, is as meaningful and as correct as saying that the universe is made of
toothpaste.
The aim of physics is to give a complete classification of all types and examples of
motion, in other words, to know everything about motion. Is this possible? Or are you
Challenge 229 s able to find an argument against this endeavour?

What is memory?

“ ”
The brain is my second favorite organ.
Woody Allen

Memory is the collection of records of perceptions. The production of such records is

the essential aspect of observation. Records can be stored in human memory, i.e., in the
brain, or in machine memory, as in computers, or in object memory, such as notes on
paper. Without memory, there is no science, no life – since life is based on the records
inside the DNA – and especially, no fun, as proven by the sad life of those who lose their
Ref. 186 memory.
Many animals and people have a memory, because a memory helps to move in a way
that maximises reproduction and survival. Memory is found in all mammals, but also in
insects and snails. The well-known sea snail Aplysia californica has memory – is shows
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

conditioning, like Pawlow’s dogs – even though it has only 20 000 neurons. Experiments
confirm that individual memory is stored in the strength of neuron connections, the
synapses. This statement was made already in 1949 by the Canadian psychologist Donald
Hebb. In that year Hebb specified the physical embodiment of the observations of the
psychologists Sigmund Freud and William James from the 1890s, who had already de-
duced that memory is about the strengthening and weakening of connections inside the
brain. In short, observations and learning, everything we call memories, are recorded in
the synapses.*

* The brain has various modes of learning that depends on its hardware. In a traumatic event, the brain
learns within a few seconds to avoid similar situations for the rest of its life. In contrast, learning at school
can take many months for a simple idea. It fact everybody can influence the ease and speed of learning; by
 the story of the brain 209

F I G U R E 137 Photograph of stained pyramidal

neurons in the cerebral cortex of the human
cortex, showing their interconnections
(textcopyright Medlat/Wikimedia).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Obviously every record is an object. But under which conditions does an object qual-
ify as a record? A signature can be the record of the agreement on a commercial transac-
tion. A single small dot of ink is not a record, because it could have appeared by mistake,
for example by an accidental blot. In contrast, it is improbable that ink should fall on
paper exactly in the shape of a signature. (The simple signatures of physicians are obvi-
ously exceptions.) Simply speaking, a record is any object, which, in order to be copied,
has to be forged. More precisely, a record is an object or a situation that cannot arise nor
disappear by mistake or by chance. Our personal memories, be they images or voices,
have the same property; we can usually trust them, because they are so detailed that they
cannot have arisen by chance or by uncontrolled processes in our brain.
Can we estimate the probability for a record to appear or disappear by chance? Yes, we
can. Every record is made of a characteristic number N of small entities, for example the
number of the possible ink dots on paper, the number of iron crystals in a cassette tape,
the electrons in a bit of computer memory, the silver iodide grains in a photographic neg-
ative, etc. The chance disturbances in any memory are due to internal fluctuations, also
called noise. Noise makes the record unreadable; it can be dirt on a signature, thermal
magnetization changes in iron crystals, electromagnetic noise inside a solid state mem-
ory, etc. Noise is found in all classifiers, since it is inherent in all interactions and thus in
all information processing.
It is a general property that internal fluctuations due to noise decrease when the size,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

i.e., the number of components of the record is increased. In fact, the probability pmis for
Challenge 230 ny a misreading or miswriting of a record changes as

pmis ∼ 1/󵀂N , (93)

mentally attaching images, voices, emotions, fantasies or memories to a topic or situation, one can speed
up learning and reduce learning effort considerably.
Ref. 193 Research has shown that in the amygdala, where emotions and memory are combined, the enzyme cal-
cineurin and the gene regulator Zif268 are important for traumatic memory: low calcineurin levels lead to
increased expression of the gene regulator and to longer-lasting traumatic memory, high levels reduce the
traumatic effect.
 210 7 the story of the brain

where N is the number of particles or subsystems used for storing it. This relation appears
because, for large numbers, the so-called normal distribution is a good approximation of
almost any process. In particular, the width of the normal distribution, which determines
the probability of record errors, grows less rapidly than its integral when the number of
entities is increased; for large numbers, such statements become more and more precise.
We conclude that any good record must be made from a large number of entities. The
larger the number, the less sensitive the memory is to fluctuations. Now, a system of large
size with small fluctuations is called a (physical) bath. Only baths make memories possi-
ble. In other words, every record contains a bath. We conclude that any observation of a
system is the interaction of that system with a bath. This connection will be used several
times in the following, in particular in quantum theory. When a record is produced by a
machine, the ‘observation’ is usually called a (generalized) measurement. Are you able to
Challenge 231 s specify the bath in the case of a person looking at a landscape?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
From the preceding discussion we can deduce a powerful conclusion: since we have
such a good memory at our disposition, we can deduce that we are made of many small
parts. And since records exist, the world must also be made of a large number of small
parts. No microscope of any kind is needed to confirm the existence of molecules or
similar small entities; such a tool is only needed to determine the sizes of these particles.
Their existence can be deduced simply from the observation that we have memory. (Of
course, another argument proving that matter is made of small parts is the ubiquity of
Vol. I, page 289 noise.)
A second conclusion was popularized in the late 1920s by Leo Szilard. Writing a mem-
ory does not necessarily produce entropy; it is possible to store information into a mem-
ory without increasing entropy. However, entropy is produced in every case that the
memory is erased. It turns out that the (minimum) entropy created by erasing one bit
Challenge 232 ny is given by
Sper erased bit = k ln 2 , (94)

and the number ln 2 ≈ 0.69 is the natural logarithm of 2. Erasing thus on the one hand
reduces the disorder of the data – the local entropy–, but on the other hand increases the
total entropy. As is well known, energy is needed to reduce the entropy of a local system.
In short, any system that erases memory requires energy. For example, a logical AND gate
effectively erases one bit per operation. Logical thinking thus requires energy.
It is also known that dreaming is connected with the erasing and reorganization of Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

information. Could that be the reason that, when we are very tired, without any energy
Challenge 233 s left, we do not dream as much as usual? In dreams, the brain reorganizes the experiences
made in the past. Dreams tell us what keeps our unconscious busy. Every person must de-
cide by herself what to do with dreams that we recall. In short, dreams have no meaning
– we give them meaning. In any case, dreams are one of the brain’s ways to use memory
efficiently.
Entropy is thus necessarily created when we forget. This is evident when we remind
Ref. 194 ourselves that forgetting is similar to the deterioration of an ancient manuscript. Entropy
increases when the manuscript is not readable any more, since the process is irreversible
and dissipative.* Another way to see this is to recognize that to clear a memory, e.g. a

Ref. 195 * As Wojciech Zurek clearly explains, the entropy created inside the memory is the main reason that even
 the story of the brain 211

magnetic tape, we have to put energy into it, and thus increase its entropy. Conversely,
writing into a memory can often reduce entropy; we remember that signals, the entities
that write memories, carry negative entropy. For example, the writing of magnetic tapes
usually reduces their entropy.

The capacity of the brain

“
Computers are boring. They can give only

”
answers.
(Wrongly) attributed to Pablo Picasso

The human brain is built in such a way that its fluctuations cannot destroy its contents.
The brain is well protected by the skull for exactly this reason. In addition, the brain
literally grows connections, called synapses, between its various neurons, which are the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
cells doing the signal processing. The neuron is the basic processing element of the brain,
performing the basic classification. It can only do two things: to fire and not to fire. (It
is possible that the time at which a neuron fires also carries information; this question is
Ref. 197, Ref. 198 not yet settled.) The neuron fires depending on its input, which comes via the synapses
from hundreds of other neurons. A neuron is thus an element that can distinguish the
inputs it receives into two cases: those leading to firing and those that do not. Neurons
are thus classifiers of the simplest type, able only to distinguish between two situations.
Every time we store something in our long term memory, such as a phone number,
the connection strength of existing synapses is changed or new synapses are grown. The
connections between the neurons are much stronger than the fluctuations in the brain.
Only strong disturbances, such as a blocked blood vessel or a brain lesion, can destroy
neurons and lead to loss of memory.
As a whole, the brain provides an extremely efficient memory. Despite intense efforts,
engineers have not yet been able to build a memory with the capacity of the brain in
the same volume. Let us estimated this memory capacity. By multiplying the number of
neurons, about 1011 ,* by the average number of synapses per neuron, about 100, and also
by the estimated average number of bits stored in every synapse, about 10**, we arrive at
a conservative estimate for the storage capacity of the brain of about

Mrewritable ≈ 1014 bit ≈ 104 GB . (95)

(One byte, abbreviated B, is the usual name for eight bits of information.) Note that evolu-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tion has managed to put as many neurons in the brain as there are stars in the galaxy, and

Maxwell’s demon cannot reduce the entropy of two volumes of gases by opening a door between them
in such a way that fast molecules accumulate on one side and slow molecules accumulate on the other.
(Maxwell had introduced the ‘demon’ in 1871, to clarify the limits posed by nature to the gods.) This is just
another way to rephrase the old result of Leo Szilard, who showed that the measurements by the demon
Ref. 196 create more entropy than they can save. And every measurement apparatus contains a memory.
To play being Maxwell’s demon, click on the www.wolfenet.com/~zeppelin/maxwell.htm website.
* The number of neurons seems to be constant, and fixed at birth. The growth of interconnections is highest
between age one and three, when it is said to reach up to 107 new connections per second.
** This is an average. Some types of synapses in the brain, in the hippocampus, are known to store only one
bit.
 212 7 the story of the brain

that if we add all the synapse lengths, we get a total length of about 1011 m, which cor-
responds to the distance to from the Earth to the Sun. Our brain truly is astronomically
complex.
However, this standard estimate of 1014 bits is not really correct! It assumes that the
only component storing information in the brain is the synapse strength. Therefore it
only measures the erasable storage capacity of the brain. In fact, information is also stored
in the structure of the brain, i.e., in the exact configuration in which every cell is con-
nected to other cells. Most of this structure is fixed at the age of about two years, but it
continues to develop at a lower level for the rest of human life. Assuming that for each
of the N cells with n connections there are f n connection possibilities, this write once
Challenge 234 e capacity of the brain can be estimated as roughly N󵀄 f n f n log f n bits. For N = 1011 ,
n = 102 , f = 6, this gives

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Mwriteonce ≈ 1016 bit ≈ 106 GB . (96)

Ref. 199 Structural brain changes are measurable. Recent measurements confirmed that bilingual
persons, especially early bilinguals, have a higher density of grey mass in the small pari-
etal cortex on the left hemisphere of the brain. This is a region mainly concerned with
language processing. The brain thus makes also use of structural changes for optimized
storage and processing. Structure changes are also known for other populations, such as
autistics, homophiles and hyperactive children. Intense and prolonged experiences dur-
ing pregnancy or childhood seem to induce such structural developments.
Sometimes it is claimed that people use only between 5% or 10% of their brain capac-
ity. This myth, which goes back to the nineteenth century, would imply that it is possible
to measure the actual data stored in the brain and compare it with its available maxi-
mum. Alternatively, the myth implies that the processing capacity can be measured and
compared with an available maximum capacity. The myth also implies that nature would
develop and maintain an organ with 90 % overcapacity, wasting all the energy and mate-
rial to build, repair and maintain it. The myth is wrong. At present, the storage capacity
and the processing capacity of a brain cannot be measured, but only estimated.
The large storage capacity of the brain also shows that human memory is filled by
the environment and is not inborn: one human ovule plus one sperm have a mass of
about 1 mg, which corresponds to about 3 ⋅ 1016 atoms. Obviously, fluctuations make it
impossible to store 1016 bits in these systems. In fact, nature stores only about 6⋅109 DNA
base pairs or 12 ⋅ 109 bits in the genes of a fecundated ovule, using 3 ⋅ 106 atoms per bit.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In contrast, a typical brain has a mass of 1.5 to 2 kg and contains about 5 to 7 ⋅ 1025 atoms,
which makes it as efficient a memory as an ovule. The difference between the number of
bits in human DNA and those in the brain nicely shows that almost all information stored
in the brain is taken from the environment; it cannot be of genetic origin, even allowing
for smart decompression of stored information.
In total, all the tricks used by nature result in the most powerful classifier yet known.*
Are there any limits to the brain’s capacity to memorize and to classify? With the tools that
humans have developed to expand the possibilities of the brain, such as paper, writing

* Also the power consumption of the brain is important: even though it contains only about 2% of the body’s
mass, it uses 25% of the energy taken in by food.
 the story of the brain 213

and printing to support memory, and the numerous tools available to simplify and to
abbreviate classifications explored by mathematicians, brain classification is only limited
Ref. 200 by the time spent practising it. Without tools, there are strict limits, of course. The two-
millimetre thick cerebral cortex of humans has a surface of about four sheets of A4 paper,
a chimpanzee’s yields one sheet and a monkey’s is the size of a postcard. It is estimated
that the total intellectually accessible memory is of the order of

Mintellectual ≈ 1 GB , (97)

though with a large experimental error.

The brain is also unparalleled in its processing capacity. This is most clearly demon-
strated by the most important consequence deriving from memory and classification:
thought and language. Indeed, the many types of thinking or language we use, such as

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
comparing, distinguishing, remembering, recognizing, connecting, describing, deduc-
ing, explaining, imagining, etc., all describe different ways to classify memories or per-
ceptions. In the end, every type of thinking or talking directly or indirectly classifies
observations. But how far are computers from achieving this! The first attempt, in 1966,
was a programming joke by Joseph Weizenbaum: the famous chatterbot program Eliza
(try it at www.manifestation.com/neurotoys/eliza.php3) is a parody of a psychoanalyst.
Even today, over 40 years later, conversation with a computer program, such as Friendbot
(found at www.friendbot.co.uk), is still a disappointing experience. The huge capacity of
the brain is the main reason for this disappointment.
Incidentally, even though the brains of sperm whales and of elephants can be five to
six times as heavy as those of humans, the number of neurons and connections, and thus
the capacity, is lower than for humans. Snails, ants, small fish have neuron numbers of the
order of 10 000; the well-studied nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has only 302, though
other animals have even fewer.

Curiosities about the brain

Teachers should all be brain experts. The brain learns best when it has an aim. Without
an aim, both the lecture preparation and the lecture performance will lose most of its
possible effects. How many teachers state the aim of their class at its beginning?
The brain also leans best when it is motivated. Different students need different mo-
tivations: potential applications, curiosity, competition, activation of already acquired
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

knowledge, impressing the opposite sex, or exploring the unknown. And students need
motivations on different levels of difficulty. Which teacher provides this mix?
Finally, brains in students have different ways to create concepts: using words, sounds,
images, emotions, body sensations, etc. Which teacher addresses them all in his lessons?
∗∗
The brain plays strange games on the people that carry it. Modern research has shown
Ref. 201 that school pupils can be distinguished into five separate groups.
1. Smart students
2. Uninterested students
3. Students that overestimate themselves (often, but not always, boys)
 214 7 the story of the brain

4. Students that underestimate themselves (often, but not always, girls)

5. Struggling/weak students
This has to be kept in mind when teaching classes. To which group do/did you belong?
∗∗
Many cognitive activities of the brain are located in specific regions of the cerebral cortex,
also called grey matter (see Figure 134). It is known that all grey matter is built of a large
number of parallel, but largely independent structures, the so-called neocortical columns;
they are similar to microprocessors. Each neocortical column has input and outputs, but
works independently of the others; it is about 2 mm in height, 0.5 mm in diameter, and
contains about 10 00 neurons of various types. The human cortex contains several mil-
lions of these columns, arranged in six layers. At present, researchers are able to simulate
one neocortical column with one supercomputer. For more details, see the bluebrain.epfl.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ch website. In short, your brain corresponds to several million supercomputers. Take
good care of it.
∗∗
The brain has many interesting sides. The technique of neurofeedback is an example. A
few electrodes are attached to the skin of the head, and a feedback loop is created with
help of a visualization on a screen. Such a visualisation helps to put oneself into high-
theta state – corresponding to deep relaxation –, or into the SMR state – corresponding
to rest and concentration –, or into alpha-dominated states – corresponding to relaxation
with closed eyes. Learning to switch rapidly between these states is helping athletes, sur-
geons, dancers, musicians, singers and children with attention deficit syndrome. After a
few sessions, the effects keeps for over a year. For attention deficit syndrome, the results
Ref. 202 are as good as with medication.
∗∗
One interesting side of the human brain is the wide range of passions it produces. For
example, there are people whose passion drives them to dedicate all their life to singing.
There are people whose life-long passion is to invent languages; John Ronald Tolkien is
the most famous example. There are other people whose passion is to help murderers to
find peace of mind. Some people dedicate their life to raising handicapped children un-
wanted by their parents. Other people dedicate their life to implementing rapid solutions Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

for infrastructure problems – water, gas and electricity supplies – in cities under war. The
examples one can find are fascinating.
∗∗
Many functions in the brain are not performed by the programmable part of the brain,
the cortex, but by specialized hardware. The list of known specialized hardware parts of
the brain is still growing, as discoveries are still being made. Researchers have discovered
Ref. 203 dedicated neurons that control the walking process in each leg, dedicated neurons – the
so-called mirror neurons – that re-enact what people we see are feeling or acting, and
dedicated neurons from the eye to the brain that control the day–night cycle. These re-
cent discoveries complement the older ones that there is specialized hardware for every
sense in the neural system, from touch to smell to proprioception. In short, many basic
 the story of the brain 215

functions of the neural system are wired in, and many advanced functions are as well.
The full list of wired-in systems is not known yet. For example, only future research will
help us to understand how much of our subconscious is due to hardware, and how much
is due to the software in the cortex.
∗∗
Cats are smart animals, and everybody who interacts with them knows how elaborate
their behaviour and the spectrum of their activities is. All this is organized by a brain of
the size of a walnut, with about 300 million neurons.
Interestingly, every human has roughly the same number of neurons that are found
in a cat’s brain in a place outside the brain: the belly. This group of neurons is called the
enteric nervous system. This large collection of neurons, over 100 millions of them, con-
trols the behaviour of the gut cells – in particular, the first layer of gut cells that comes

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
in contact with food – and controls the production of many enzymes and neurotrans-
mitters, which in turn influence our mood. The enteric nervous system is the anatomical
basis for our ‘gut feelings’.
∗∗
We learn better if we recall what we learned. Experiments show that remembering
strengthens synapses, and thus strengthens our memory. We learn better if we know
the reasons for the things we are learning. Experiments show that causality strengthens
synapses.
∗∗
We learn while sleeping. The brain stores most things we experience during the day in a
region called the hippocampus. During deep sleep, i.e., in the sleep time without dreams,
the brain selects which of those experiences need to be stored in its long-time memory,
the neocortex. The selection is based on the emotions attached to the memory, especially
excitement, fear or anger. But also the expectation of a reward – such as a present or the
possibility to make good impression when asked about the topic – is extremely effective
in transferring content into the neocortex, as research by Jan Born has shown. If this rule
is followed, sleeping just after learning, and in particular, deep sleep, is the best way to
study. The most effective way to learn a language, to learn a new topic, or to memorize a
presentation is to sleep just after study or training. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Deep sleep helps learning. Deep sleep can be promoted in many ways. Effort, sport,
and even electric stimulation increases deep sleep. The pharmaceutic industry is now try-
ing to develop sleeping pills that increase deep sleep. Alcohol, most sleeping pills, tele-
vision, the internet and traumatic events decrease deep sleep. Jan Born states that most
probably, sleep exists in order to enable us to learn; no other explanation for the loss of
consciousness during deep sleep is convincing.
How do we sleep? When we are awake, all sense input is sent to the thalamus, which
filters it and sends it to the neocortex. During sleep the neocortex effectively switches
off large parts of the thalamus, so that almost no sense input arrives to the neocortex.
Modelling these processes even allows to understand how sleep starts and to reproduce
Ref. 204 the brain waves seen during the beginning of sleep.
 216 7 the story of the brain

∗∗
Many modern research results on animal and human brains can be found at the Brain
Map website, available at www.brain-map.org.
∗∗
Brains and computers differ markedly in the way they work. Brains are analog, computers
are digital. How exactly do computers work? The general answer is: computers are a smart
and organized collection of electrical switches. To make matters as easy as possible, the
calculation engine inside a computer – the so-called central processing unit, the heart of
the computer – calculates using binary numbers. The ‘on’ and ‘off ’ states of a switch are
associated to the digits ‘1’ and ‘0’. Can you devise a simple collection of switches that
allows adding two binary numbers of one digit? Of many digits? And to multiply two
numbers? Try it – it is an interesting exercise.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Computers are called digital because they are based on switches. Indeed, all integrated
circuits inside a pocket calculator or inside a laptop are just collections of electrical
switches; modern specimen can contain several millions of them, each switch with a
specific function.
∗∗
Many switches has three states; one could call them ‘-1’, ‘0’, ‘1’. Thus, building computers
Challenge 235 s based on ‘trits’ intead of ‘bits’ is a realistic option. Why are there no 27-trit computers?

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 Chapter 8

THOUGHT AND L ANGUAGE

“
Reserve your right to think, for even to think

”
wrongly is better than not to think at all.
Hypatia of Alexandria

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
L anguage possibly is the most wonderful gift of human nature. We have all
earned it from somebody who cared about us. Nevertheless, the origins of
anguage are hidden in the distant past of humanity. But we must explore lan-
guage, because we have repeatedly stated that physics is talking about motion. Physics is
a precise language specialized for motion. We will find out in our walk that this is not a
restriction, because everything in the world moves. But our quest for precision demands
that we explore the meaning, the use and the limits of language.

What is language?

“
Ein Satz kann nur sagen, wie ein Ding ist, nicht

”
was es ist.*
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 3.221

Using the ability to produce sounds and to put ink on paper, people attach certain sym-
bols,** also called words or terms in this context, to the many partitions they specify with
the help of their thinking. Such a categorization is then said to define a concept or notion,
and is set in italic typeface in this text. A standard set of concepts forms a language.***
Ref. 205 In other words, we have:

⊳ A (human) language is a standard way of symbolic interaction between

people.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* ‘A proposition can only say how a thing is, not what it is.’
** A symbol is a type of sign, i.e., an entity associated by some convention to the object it refers. Following
Charles Peirce (1839–1914) – see www.peirce.org – the most original philosopher born in the United States,
a symbol differs from an icon (or image) and from an index, which are also attached to objects by convention,
in that it does not resemble the object, as does an icon, and in that it has no contact with the object, as is
the case for an index.
*** The recognition that language is based on a partition of ideas, using the various differences between
them to distinguish them from each other, goes back to the Swiss thinker Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–
1913), who is regarded as the founder of linguistics. His textbook Cours de linguistique générale, Editions
Payot, 1985, has been the reference work of the field for over half a century. Note that Saussure, in contrast
to Peirce, prefers the term ‘sign’ to ‘symbol’, and that his definition of the term ‘sign’ includes also the object
to which it refers.
218 8 thought and language

TA B L E 20 Language basics.

Aspect Va l u e

Human phonemes c. 70
English phonemes 44
German phonemes 40
Italian phonemes 30
Words of the English language (more than most c. 350 000
languages, with the possible exception of
German)
Number of languages on Earth in the year 2000 c. 6000

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
There are human languages based on facial expressions, on gestures, on spoken words, on
whistles, on written words, and more. The use of spoken language is considerably younger
than the human species; it seems that it appeared only about two hundred thousand years
ago. Written language is even younger, namely only about six thousand years old. But the
set of concepts used, the vocabulary, is still expanding. For humans, the understanding of
language begins soon after birth (perhaps even before), the active use begins at around a
year of age, the ability to read can start as early as two, and personal vocabulary continues
to grow as long as curiosity is alive.
Physics being a lazy way to chat about motion, it needs language as an essential tool.
Of the many aspects of language, from literature to poetry, from jokes to military or-
ders, from expressions of encouragement, dreams, love and emotions, physics uses only
a small and rather special segment. This segment is defined by the inherent restriction
to talk about motion. Since motion is an observation, i.e., an interaction with the envi-
ronment that several people experience in the same way, this choice puts a number of
restrictions on the contents – the vocabulary – and on the form – the grammar – of such
discussions.
For example, from the definition that observations are shared by others, we get the
requirement that the statements describing them must be translatable into all languages.
But when can a statement be translated? On this question two extreme points of view are
possible: the first maintains that all statements can be translated, since it follows from the
properties of human languages that each of them can express every possible statement.
In this view, we can say:
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

⊳ Only sign systems that allow one to express the complete spectrum of hu-
man messages form a human language.

This definition of language distinguishes human spoken and sign language from animal
languages, such as the signs used by apes, birds or honey bees, and also from computer
languages, such as Pascal or C. With this meaning of language, all statements can be
translated by definition.
It is more challenging for a discussion to follow the opposing view, namely that pre-
cise translation is possible only for those statements which use terms, word types and
grammatical structures found in all languages. Linguistic research has invested consid-
 thought and language 219

TA B L E 21 The semantic primitives, following Anna Wierzbicka.

I, you, someone, something, people [substantives]

this, the same, one, two, all, much/many [determiners and quantifiers]
know, want, think, feel, say [mental predicates]
do, happen [agent, patient]
good, bad [evaluative]
big, small [descriptors]
very [intensifier]
can, if (would) [modality, irrealis]
because [causation]
no (not) [negation]
when, where, after (before), under (above) [time and place]

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
kind of, part of [taxonomy, partonomy]
like [hedge/prototype]

erable effort in the distillation of phonological, grammatical and semantic universals, as

they are called, from the 6000 or so languages thought to exist today.*
The investigations into the phonological aspect, which showed for example that every
language has at least two consonants and two vowels, does not provide any material for
the discussion of translation.** Studying the grammatical (or syntactic) aspect, one finds
that all languages use smallest elements, called ‘words’, which they group into sentences.
They all have pronouns for the first and second person, ‘I’ and ‘you’, and always contain
nouns and verbs. All languages use subjects and predicates or, as one usually says, the
three entities subject, verb and object, though not always in this order. Just check the
Challenge 236 e languages you know.
On the semantic aspect, the long list of lexical universals, i.e., words that appear in
all languages, such as ‘mother’ or ‘Sun’, has recently been given a structure. The linguist
Anna Wierzbicka performed a search for the building blocks from which all concepts
can be built. She looked for the definition of every concept with the help of simpler ones,
and continued doing so until a fundamental level was reached that cannot be further
reduced. The set of concepts that are left over are the primitives. By repeating this exercise
in many languages, Wierzbicka found that the list is the same in all cases. She thus had
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

discovered universal semantic primitives. In November 1992, the list contained the terms
given in Table 21.

* A professional database by the linguist Merritt Ruhlen with 5700 languages and many details on each
language can be found at ehl.santafe.edu/intro1.htm. A long but unprofessional list with 6 900 languages
(and with 39 000 language and dialect names) can be found on the website www.ethnologue.com. Beware,
it is edited by a fringe religious group that aims to increase the number of languages as much as possible.
It is estimated that 15 000 ± 5 000 languages have existed in the past.
Nevertheless, in today’s world, and surely in the sciences, it is often sufficient to know one’s own language
plus English. Since English is the language with the largest number of words, learning it well is a greater
Ref. 206 challenge than learning most other languages.
** Studies explore topics such as the observation that in many languages the word for ‘little’ contains an ‘i’
(or high pitched ‘e’) sound: petit, piccolo, klein, tiny, pequeño, chiisai; exceptions are: small, parvus.
 220 8 thought and l anguage

Following the life-long research of Anna Wierzbicka and her research school, all these
concepts exist in all languages of the world studied so far.* They have defined the mean-
ing of each primitive in detail, performed consistency checks and eliminated alternative
approaches. They have checked this list in languages from all language groups, in lan-
guages from all continents, thus showing that the result is valid everywhere. In every
Ref. 207 language all other concepts can be defined with the help of the semantic primitives.
Simply stated, learning to speak means learning these basic terms, learning how to
combine them and learning the names of these composites. The definition of language
given above, namely as a means of communication that allows one to express everything
one wants to say, can thus be refined: a human language is any set of concepts that in-
cludes the universal semantic primitives.
For physicists – who aim to talk in as few words as possible – the list of semantic
primitives has three facets. First, the approach is similar to physics’ own aim: the idea of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
primitives gives a structured summary of everything that can be said, just as the atomic
elements structure all objects that can be observed. Second, the list of primitives can be
structured. In fact, the list of primitives can be divided into two groups: one group con-
tains all terms describing motion (do, happen, when, where, feel, small, etc. – probably
a term from the semantic field around light or colour should be added) and the other
group contains all terms necessary to talk about abstract sets and relations (this, all, kind
of, no, if, etc.). Even for linguistics, aspects of motion and logical concepts are the ba-
sic entities of human experience and human thinking. To bring the issue to a point, the
semantic primitives contain the basic elements of physics and the basic elements of math-
ematics. All humans are thus both physicists and mathematicians. The third point is that
the list of primitives is too long. The division of the list into two groups directly suggests
shorter lists; we just have to ask physicists and mathematicians for concise summaries of
their respective fields. To appreciate this aim, try to define what ‘if ’ means, or what an
Challenge 237 d ‘opposite’ is – and explore your own ways of reducing the list.
Reducing the list of primitives is also one of our aims in this adventure. We will explore
the mathematical group of primitives in this chapter the physical group will occupy us in
the rest of our adventure. However, a shorter list of primitives is not sufficient. Our goal
is to arrive at a list consisting of only one basic concept. Reaching this goal is not simple,
though. First, we need to check whether the set of classical physical concepts that we have
discovered so far is complete. Can classical physical concepts describe all observations?
Vol. IV, page 13 The volume on quantum physics of our adventure is devoted to this question. The second Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

task is to reduce the list. This task is not straightforward; we have already discovered that
physics is based on a circular definition: in Galilean physics, space and time are defined
Vol. I, page 369 using matter, and matter is defined using space and time. We will need quite some effort
to overcome this obstacle. The final part of this text tells the precise story. After numerous
adventures we will indeed discover a basic concept on which all other concepts are based.
Vol. VI, page 138

* It is easy to imagine that this research steps on the toes of many people. A list that maintains that ‘true’,
‘good’, ‘creation’, ‘life’, ‘mother’ or ‘god’ are composite will elicit violent reactions, despite the correctness
of the statements. Indeed, some of these terms were added in the 1996 list, which is somewhat longer. In
addition, a list that maintains that we only have about thirty basic concepts in our heads is taken to be
offensive by many small minds.
 thought and language 221

We can summarize all the above-mentioned results of linguistics in the following way.
By constructing a statement made only of subject, verb and object, consisting only of
nouns and verbs, using only concepts built from the semantic primitives, we are sure
that it can be translated into all languages. This explains why physics textbooks are often
so boring: the authors are often too afraid to depart from this basic scheme. On the other
hand, research has shown that such straightforward statements are not restrictive: with
them one can say everything that can be said.

“ ”
Jedes Wort ist ein Vorurteil.
Friedrich Nietzsche*

“ ”
Every word was once a poem.
Ralph Waldo Emerson**

What is a concept?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
“
Concepts are merely the results, rendered
permanent by language, of a previous process of

”
comparison.
William Hamilton

There is a group of people that has taken the strict view on translation and on precision
to the extreme. They build all concepts from an even smaller set of primitives, namely
only two: ‘set’ and ‘relation’, and explore the various possible combinations of these two
concepts, studying their classifications. Step by step, this radical group, commonly called
mathematicians, came to define with full precision concepts such as numbers, points,
curves, equations, symmetry groups and more. The construction of these concepts is
summarized partly in the following and partly in the following volume of this adventure.
Vol. IV, page 195
However, despite the involved precision, in fact precisely because of it, no mathemat-
ical concept talks about nature or about observations.*** Therefore the study of motion
needs other, more useful concepts. What properties must a useful concept have? For ex-
ample, what is ‘passion’ and what is a ‘cotton bud’? Obviously, a useful concept implies
a list of its parts, its aspects and their internal relations, as well as their relation to the
exterior world. Thinkers in various fields, from philosophy to politics, agree that the def-
inition is:

⊳ A concept has
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

1. explicit and fixed content,

* ‘Every word is a prejudice.’ Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher.

** Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), US-American essayist and philosopher.
*** Insofar as one can say that mathematics is based on the concepts of ‘set’ and ‘relation’, which are based
on experience, one can say that mathematics explores a section of reality, and that its concepts are derived
from experience. This and similar views of mathematics are called platonism. More concretely, platonism is
the view that the concepts of mathematics exist independently of people, and that they are discovered, and
not created, by mathematicians.
In short, since mathematics makes use of the brain, which is a physical system, actually mathematics is
applied physics.
However, we will discover that the concept of ‘set’ does not apply to nature; this changes the discussion
Vol. VI, page 99 in completely.
 222 8 thought and l anguage

2. explicit and fixed limits,

3. explicit and fixed domain of application.

The inability to state these properties or to keep them fixed is often the easiest way to
distinguish crackpots from more reliable thinkers. Unclearly defined terms, which thus
do not qualify as concepts, regularly appear in myths, e.g. ‘dragon’ or ‘sphinx’, or in ide-
ologies, e.g. ‘worker’ or ‘soul’. Even physics is not immune. For example, we will discover
Challenge 238 s later that neither ‘universe’ nor ‘creation’ are concepts. Are you able to argue the case?
But the three defining properties of any concept are interesting in their own right.
Explicit content means that concepts are built one onto another. In particular, the most
fundamental concepts appear to be those that have no parts and no external relations,
Challenge 239 s but only internal ones. Can you think of one? Only the last part of this walk will uncover
the final word on the topic.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The requirements of explicit limits and explicit contents also imply that all concepts
describing nature are sets, since sets obey the same requirements. In addition, explicit
domains of application imply that all concepts also are relations.* Since mathematics is
based on the concepts of ‘set’ and of ‘relation’, one follows directly that mathematics can
provide the form for any concept, especially whenever high precision is required, as in
the study of motion. Obviously, the content of the description is only provided by the
study of nature itself; only then do concepts become useful.
In the case of physics, the search for sufficiently precise concepts can be seen as the
single theme structuring the long history of the field. Regularly, new concepts have been
proposed, explored in all their properties, and tested. Finally, concepts are rejected or
adopted, in the same way that children reject or adopt a new toy. Children do this un-
consciously, scientists do it consciously, using language.** For this reason, concepts are
universally intelligible.
Note that the concept ‘concept’ itself is not definable independently of experience; a
concept is something that helps us to act and react to the world in which we live. More-
over, concepts do not live in a world separate from the physical one: every concept re-
quires memory from its user, since the user has to remember the way in which it was
formed; therefore every concept needs a material support for its use and application.
Thus all thinking and all science is fundamentally based on experience.
In conclusion, all concepts are based on the idea that nature is made of related
parts. This idea leads to complementing couples such as ‘noun–verb’ in linguistics, ‘set–
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

relation’ or ‘definition–theorem’ in mathematics, and ‘aspect of nature–pattern of nature’

in physics. These couples constantly guide human thinking, from childhood onwards, as
developmental psychology can testify.

* We see that every physical concept is an example of a (mathematical) category, i.e., a combination of
objects and mappings. For more details about categories, with a precise definition of the term, see page 227.
** Concepts formed unconsciously in our early youth are the most difficult to define precisely, i.e., with
language. Some who were unable to define them, such as the Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724
–1804) used to call them ‘a priori’ concepts (such as ‘space’ and ‘time’) to contrast them with the more clearly
defined ‘a posteriori’ concepts. Today, this distinction has been shown to be unfounded both by the study
of child psychology (see the footnote on page 201) and by physics itself, so that these qualifiers are therefore
not used in our walk.
 thought and language 223

F I G U R E 138 Devices for the definition of sets (left)

and of relations (right).

What are sets? What are relations?

“
Alles, was wir sehen, könnte auch anders sein.
Alles, was wir überhaupt beschreiben können,
könnte auch anders sein. Es gibt keine Ordnung

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
”
der Dinge a priori.*
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 5.634

Defining sets and defining relations are the two fundamental acts of our thinking. This
can be seen most clearly in any book about mathematics; such a book is usually divided
into paragraphs labelled ‘definition’, ‘theorem’, ‘lemma’ and ‘corollary’. The first type of
paragraph defines concepts, i.e., defines sets, and the other three types of paragraphs ex-
press relations, i.e., connections between these sets. Mathematics is thus the exploration
of the possible symbolic concepts and their relations. Mathematics is the science of sym-
bolic necessities.
Sets and relations are tools of classification; that is why they are also the tools of any
bureaucrat. (See Figure 138.) This class of humans is characterized by heavy use of pa-
per clips, files, metal closets, archives – which all define various types of sets – and by
the extensive use of numbers, such as reference numbers, customer numbers, passport
numbers, account numbers, law article numbers – which define various types of relations
between the items, i.e., between the elements of the sets.
Both the concepts of set and of relation express, in different ways, the fact that na-
ture can be described, i.e., that it can be classified into parts that form a whole. The act
of grouping together aspects of experience, i.e., the act of classifying them, is expressed
in formal language by saying that a set is defined. In other words, a set is a collection of
elements of our thinking. Every set distinguishes the elements from each other and from
the set itself. This definition of ‘set’ is called the naive definition. For physics, the defini-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tion is sufficient, but you won’t find many who will admit this. In fact, mathematicians
have refined the definition of the concept ‘set’ several times, because the naive definition
does not work well for infinite sets. A famous example is the story about sets which do
not contain themselves. Obviously, any set is of two sorts: either it contains itself or it
does not. If we take the set of all sets that do not contain themselves, to which sort does
Challenge 240 s it belong?
To avoid problems with the concept of ‘set’, mathematics requires a precise definition.
The first such definition was given by the German mathematician Ernst Zermelo (b. 1871
Berlin, d. 1951 Freiburg i.B.) and the German–Israeli mathematician Adolf/Abraham
* ‘Everything we see could also be otherwise. Everything we describe at all could also be otherwise. There
is no order of things a priori.’
 224 8 thought and language

TA B L E 22 The defining properties of a set – the ZFC axioms

The axioms of Z ermelo–Fraenkel–C set theory

– Two sets are equal if and only if they have the same elements. (Axiom of extensionality)
– The empty set is a set. (Axiom of the null set)
– If x and y are sets, then the unordered pair {x, y} is a set. (Axiom of unordered pairs)
– If x is a set of sets, the union of all its members is a set. (Union or sum set axiom)
– The entity {0, {0}, {{0}}, {{{0}}}, ...} is a set a – in other words, infinite collections, such as the
natural numbers, are sets. (Axiom of infinity)
– An entity defined by all elements having a given property is a set, provided this property is
reasonable; some important technicalities defining ‘reasonable’ are necessary. (Axiom of separa-
tion)
– If the domain of a function is a set, so is its range. (Axiom of replacement)
– The entity y of all subsets of x is also a set, called the power set. (Axiom of the power set)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
– A set is not an element of itself – plus some technicalities. (Axiom of regularity)
– The product of a family of non-empty sets is non-empty. Equivalently, picking elements from
a list of sets allows one to construct a new set – plus technicalities. (Axiom of choice)

a. The more common formulation (though equivalent to the above) is: The entity
{0, {0}, {0, {0}}, {0, {0}, {0, {0}}}, ...} is a set.

Fraenkel (b. 1891 München, d. 1965 Jerusalem). Later, the so-called axiom of choice was
added, in order to make it possible to manipulate a wider class of infinite sets. The result
of these efforts is called the ZFC definition.* From this basic definition we can construct
all mathematical concepts used in physics. From a practical point of view, it is sufficient
to keep in mind that for the whole of physics, the naive definition of a set is equivalent to
the precise ZFC definition, actually even to the simpler ZF definition. Subtleties appear
only for some special types of infinite sets, but these are not used in physics. In short,
from the basic, naive set definition we can construct all concepts used in physics.
Ref. 209 The naive set definition is far from boring. To satisfy two people when dividing a
cake, we follow the rule: I cut, you choose. The method has two properties: it is just, as
everybody thinks that they have the share that they deserve, and it is fully satisfying, as
everybody has the feeling that they have at least as much as the other. What rule is needed
Challenge 242 d for three people? And for four?
Apart from defining sets, every child and every brain creates links between the dif-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ferent aspects of experience. For example, when it hears a voice, it automatically makes
the connection that a human is present. In formal language, connections of this type are

* A global overview of axiomatic set theory is given by Paul J. Cohen & Reuben Hersch, Non-
Cantorian set theory, Scientific American 217, pp. 104–116, 1967. Those were the times when Scientific Amer-
ican was a quality magazine.
For a good introduction to the axiom of choice, see the www.math.vanderbilt.edu/~schectex/ccc/choice.
html website.
Ref. 208 Other types of entities, more general than standard sets, obeying other properties, can also be defined,
and are also subject of (comparatively little) mathematical research. To find an example, see the section
Page 226 on cardinals later on. Such more general entities are called classes whenever they contain at least one set.
Challenge 241 s Can you give an example? In the final part of our mountain ascent we will meet physical concepts that are
described neither by sets nor by classes, containing no set at all. That is where the real fun starts.
 thought and language 225

called relations. Relations connect and differentiate elements along other lines than sets:
the two form a complementing couple. Defining a set unifies many objects and at the
same time divides them into two: those belonging to the set and those that do not; defin-
ing a (binary) relation unifies elements two by two and divides them into many, namely
into the many couples it defines.
Sets and relations are closely interrelated concepts. Indeed, one can define (mathe-
matical) relations with the help of sets. A (binary) relation between two sets X and Y is a
subset of the product set, where the product set or Cartesian product X ×Y is the set of all
ordered pairs (x, y) with x ∈ X and y ∈ Y . An ordered pair (x, y) can easily be defined
Challenge 243 s with the help of sets. Can you find out how? For example, in the case of the relation ‘is
wife of ’, the set X is the set of all women and the set Y that of all men; the relation is given
by the list all the appropriate ordered pairs, which is much smaller than the product set,
i.e., the set of all possible woman–man combinations.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
It should be noted that the definition of relation just given is not really complete, since
every construction of the concept ‘set’ already contains certain relations, such as the re-
lation ‘is element of.’ It does not seem to be possible to reduce either one of the concepts
‘set’ or ‘relation’ completely to the other one. This situation is reflected in the physical
cases of sets and relations, such as space (as a set of points) and distance, which also
seem impossible to separate completely from each other. In other words, even though
mathematics does not pertain to nature, its two basic concepts, sets and relations, are
taken from nature. In addition, the two concepts, like those of space-time and particles,
are each defined with the other.

Infinity
Mathematicians soon discovered that the concept of ‘set’ is only useful if one can also
call collections such as {0, 1, 2, 3...}, i.e., of the number 0 and all its successors, a ‘set’. To
achieve this, one property in the Zermelo–Fraenkel list defining the term ‘set’ explicitly
specifies that this collection can be called a set. (In fact, also the axiom of replacement
states that sets may be infinite.) Infinity is thus put into mathematics and into the tools
of our thought right at the very beginning, in the definition of the term ‘set’. When de-
scribing nature, with or without mathematics, we should never forget this fact. A few
additional points about infinity should be of general knowledge to any expert on mo-
tion.
Only sets can be infinite. And sets have parts, namely their elements. When a thing or
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

a concept is called ‘infinite’ one can always ask and specify what its parts are: for space
the parts are the points, for time the instants, for the set of integers the integers, etc. An
indivisible or a finitely divisible entity cannot be called infinite.*
A set is infinite if there is a function from it into itself that is injective (i.e., different
elements map to different results) but not onto (i.e., some elements do not appear as
images of the map); e.g. the map n 󳨃→ 2n shows that the set of integers is infinite. Infinity
also can be checked in another way: a set is infinite if it remains so also after removing
one element, even repeatedly. We just need to remember that the empty set is finite.

* Therefore, most gods, being concepts and thus sets, are either finite or, in the case where they are infinite,
they are divisible. It seems that only polytheistic world views are not disturbed by this conclusion.
 226 8 thought and l anguage

There are many types of infinities, all of different sizes.* This important result was dis-
covered by the Danish-Russian-German mathematician Georg Cantor (1845–1918). He
showed that from the countable set of natural numbers one can construct other infinite
sets which are not countable. He did this by showing that the power set P(ω), namely the
set of all subsets, of a countably infinite set is infinite, but not countably infinite. Sloppily
speaking, the power set is ‘more infinite’ than the original set. The real numbers ℝ, to be
defined shortly, are an example of an uncountably infinite set; there are many more of
Challenge 244 s them than there are natural numbers. (Can you show this?) However, any type of infinite
set contains at least one subset which is countably infinite.
Even for an infinite set one can define size as the number of its elements. Cantor called
this the cardinality of a set. The cardinality of a finite set is simply given by the number
of its elements. The cardinality of a power set is 2 exponentiated by the cardinality of
the set. The cardinality of the set of integers is called ℵ0 , pronounced ‘aleph zero’, after

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Vol. I, page 376 the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The smallest uncountable cardinal is called ℵ1 .
The next cardinal is called ℵ2 etc. A whole branch of mathematics is concerned with
the manipulation of these infinite ‘numbers’; addition, multiplication, exponentiation are
easily defined. For some of them, even logarithms and other functions make sense.**
The cardinals defined in this way, including ℵn , ℵω , ℵℵℵ are called accessible, be-
cause since Cantor, people have defined even larger types of infinities, called inaccessible.
These numbers (inaccessible cardinals, measurable cardinals, supercompact cardinals,
etc.) need additional set axioms, extending the ZFC system. Like the ordinals and the
cardinals, they form examples of what are called transfinite numbers.
The real numbers have the cardinality of the power set of the integers, namely 2ℵ0 .
Challenge 245 s Can you show this? The result leads to the famous question: Is ℵ1 = 2ℵ0 or not? The
statement that this be so is called the continuum hypothesis and was unproven for several
generations. The surprising answer came in 1963: the usual definition of the concept of
Ref. 210 set is not specific enough to fix the answer. By specifying the concept of set in more detail,
with additional axioms – remember that axioms are defining properties – you can make
the continuum hypothesis come out either right or wrong, as you prefer.
Another result of research into transfinites is important: for every definition of a type
of infinite cardinal, it seems to be possible to find a larger one. In everyday life, the idea
of infinity is often used to stop discussions about size: ‘My big brother is stronger than
yours.’ ‘But mine is infinitely stronger than yours!’ Mathematics has shown that questions
on size do continue afterwards: ‘The strength of my brother is the power set of that of Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Ref. 211 yours!’ Rucker reports that mathematicians conjecture that there is no possible nor any
conceivable end to these discussions.
For physicists, a simple question appears directly. Do infinite quantities exist in na-
ture? Or better, is it necessary to use infinite quantities to describe nature? You might
Challenge 246 e want to clarify your own opinion on the issue. It will be settled during the rest of our
adventure.

* In fact, there is such a huge number of types of infinities that none of these infinities itself actually describes
this number. Technically speaking, there are as many infinities as there are ordinals.
** Many results are summarized in the excellent and delightful paperback by Rudy Rucker, Infinity and
the Mind – the Science and Philosophy of the Infinite, Bantam, Toronto, 1983.
 thought and language 227

Functions and structures

Which relations are useful to describe patterns in nature? A typical example is ‘larger
stones are heavier’. Such a relation is of a specific type: it relates one specific value of an
observable ‘volume’ to one specific value of the observable ‘weight’. Such a one-to-one
relation is called a (mathematical) function or mapping. Functions are the most specific
types of relations; thus they convey a maximum of information. In the same way as num-
bers are used for observables, functions allow easy and precise communication of rela-
tions between observations. All physical rules and ‘laws’ are therefore expressed with the
help of functions and, since physical ‘laws’ are about measurements, functions of num-
bers are their main building blocks.
A function f , or mapping, is a thus binary relation, i.e., a set f = {(x, y)} of ordered
pairs, where for every value of the first element x, called the argument, there is only one
pair (x, y). The second element y is called the value of the function at the argument x.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The set X of all arguments x is called the domain of definition and the set Y of all second
arguments y is called the range of the function. Instead of f = {(x, y)} one writes

f : X →Y and f : x 󳨃→ y or y = f (x) , (98)

where the type of arrow – with initial bar or not – shows whether we are speaking about
sets or about elements.
We note that it is also possible to use the couple ‘set’ and ‘mapping’ to define all math-
ematical concepts; in this case a relation is defined with the help of mappings. A modern
school of mathematical thought formalized this approach by the use of (mathematical)
categories, a concept that includes both sets and mappings on an equal footing in its def-
inition.*
To think and talk more clearly about nature, we need to define more specialized con-
cepts than sets, relations and functions, because these basic terms are too general. The
most important concepts derived from them are operations, algebraic structures and
numbers.
A (binary) operation is a function that maps the Cartesian product of two copies of a
set X into itself. In other words, an operation 󰑤 takes an ordered couple of arguments
x ∈ X and assigns to it a value y ∈ X:

󰑤: X×X →X and 󰑤 : (x, x) 󳨃→ y . (99)

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 247 s Is division of numbers an operation in the sense just defined?

Now we are ready to define the first of three basic concepts of mathematics. An al-
gebraic structure, also called an algebraic system, is (in the most restricted sense) a set
* A category is defined as a collection of objects and a collection of ‘morphisms’, or mappings. Morphisms
can be composed; the composition is associative and there is an identity morphism. The strange world of
category theory, sometimes called the abstraction of all abstractions, is presented in William L aw vere
& Stephen H. S chanuel, Conceptual Mathematics: a First Introduction to Categories, Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1997.
Note that every category contains a set; since it is unclear whether nature contains sets, as we will discuss
Page 263 below,, it is questionable whether categories will be useful in the unification of physics, despite their intense
and abstract charm.
 228 8 thought and language

together with certain operations. The most important algebraic structures appearing in
Vol. V, page 280 physics are groups, vector spaces, and algebras.
In addition to algebraic structures, mathematics is based on order structures and on
topological structures. Order structures are building blocks of numbers and necessary to
define comparisons of any sort. Topological structures are built, via subsets, on the con-
cept of neighbourhood. They are necessary to define continuity, limits, dimensionality,
Vol. V, page 287 topological spaces and manifolds.
Obviously, most mathematical structures are combinations of various examples of
these three basic structure types. For example, the system of real numbers is given by the
set of real numbers with the operations of addition and multiplication, the order relation
‘is larger than’ and a continuity property. They are thus built by combining an algebraic
Ref. 212 structure, an order structure and a topological structure. Let us delve a bit into the details.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Numbers

“
Which numbers are multiplied by six when
their last digit is taken away and transferred to

”
Challenge 248 s the front?

“
Never ask a man how many languages he has
learned, how many countries he has seen, how
much money he has accumulated, or how many
women he has loved. If he can give you a precise

”
Ref. 213 answer, it means it was not enough.
Jacques Mayol

Numbers are the oldest mathematical concept and are found in all cultures. The notion
of number, in Greek ἀριθμός, has been changed several times. Each time the aim was to
include wider classes of objects, but always retaining the general idea that numbers are
entities that can be added, subtracted, multiplied and divided.
The modern way to write numbers, as e.g. in 12 345 679 ⋅ 54 = 666 666 666, is essential
for science.* It can be argued that the lack of a good system for writing down and for
calculating with numbers delayed the progress of science by several centuries. (By the
way, the same can be said for the affordable mass reproduction of written texts.)
The simplest numbers, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ..., are usually seen as being taken directly from
experience. However, they can also be constructed from the notions of ‘relation’ and ‘set’. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 249 s One of the many possible ways to do this (can you find another?) is by identifying a nat-
ural number with the set of its predecessors. With the relation ‘successor of ’, abbreviated
S, this definition can be written as

0 := 0 , 1 := S 0 = {0} = {0} ,
2 := S 1 = {0, 1} = {0, {0}} and n + 1 := S n = {0, ..., n} . (100)

This set, together with the binary operations ‘addition’ and ‘multiplication,’ constitutes
the algebraic system N = (N , +, ⋅, 1) of the natural numbers. For all number systems

* However, there is no need for written numbers for doing mathematics, as shown by Marcia Ascher,
Ethnomathematics – A Multicultural View of Mathematical Ideas, Brooks/Cole, 1991.
 thought and language 229

the algebraic system and the set are often sloppily designated by the same symbol. The
Vol. IV, page 195 algebraic system N is what mathematician call a semi-ring. (Some authors prefer not to
count the number zero as a natural number.) Natural numbers are fairly useful.

TA B L E 23 Some large numbers.

Number E x a m p l e i n n at u r e
Around us
1 number of angels that can be in one place at the same time, following
Thomas Aquinas Ref. 214
8 number of times a newspaper can be folded in alternate perpendicular di-
rections
12 largest number of times a paper strip has been folded in the same direction

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 215
20 number of digits in precision measurements that will probably never be
achieved
21, 34, 55, 89 petals of common types of daisy and sunflower Ref. 216
57 faces of a diamond with brilliant cut
2000 stars visible in the night sky
15 000 average number of objects in a European household
105 leaves of a tree (10 m beech)
6 to 7 ⋅109 humans in the year 2000
1017 ants in the world
c. 1020 number of snowflakes falling on the Earth per year
c. 1024 grains of sand in the Sahara desert
1022 stars in the universe
1025 cells on Earth
1.1 ⋅ 1050 atoms making up the Earth (63703 km3 ⋅ 4 ⋅ 3.14/3 ⋅ 5500 kg/m3 ⋅ 30 mol/kg ⋅
6 ⋅ 1023 /mol)
1081 atoms in the visible universe
1090 photons in the visible universe
10169 number of atoms fitting in the visible universe
10244 number of space-time points inside the visible universe Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Information
51 record number of languages spoken by one person
c. 5000 words spoken on an average day by a man
c. 7000 words spoken on an average day by a woman
c. 2 000 000 number of scientists on Earth around the year 2000
3 ⋅ 108 words spoken during a lifetime (2/3 time awake, 30 words per minute)
109 words heard and read during a lifetime
4 ⋅ 109 pulses exchanged between both brain halves every second
1017 image pixels seen in a lifetime (3 ⋅ 109 s ⋅ (1/15 ms) ⋅ 2/3 (awake) ⋅106 (nerves
to the brain) Ref. 217
1019 bits of information processed in a lifetime (the above times 32)
 230 8 thought and language

Number E x a m p l e i n n at u r e
c. 5 ⋅ 1012 printed words available in (different) books around the world (c. 100 ⋅ 106
books consisting of 50 000 words)
210 ⋅ 37 ⋅ 8! ⋅ 12!
= 4.3 ⋅ 1019 possible positions of the 3 × 3 × 3 Rubik’s Cube Ref. 218
5.8 ⋅ 1078 possible positions of the 4 × 4 × 4 Rubik-like cube
5.6 ⋅ 10117 possible positions of the 5 × 5 × 5 Rubik-like cube
c. 10200 possible games of chess
c. 10800 possible games of go
7
c. 1010 possible states in a personal computer
Parts of us
600 numbers of muscles in the human body, of which about half are in the face

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
150 000 ± 50 000 hairs on a healthy head
900 000 neurons in the brain of a grasshopper
126 ⋅ 106 light sensitive cells per retina (120 million rods and 6 million cones)
1010 to 1011 neurons in the human brain
500 ⋅ 106 blinks of the eye during a lifetime (about once every four seconds when
awake)
300 ⋅ 106 breaths taken during human life
3 ⋅ 109 heart beats during a human life
3 ⋅ 109 letters (base pairs) in haploid human DNA
1015±1 cells in the human body
1016±1 bacteria carried in the human body

The system of integers Z = (..., −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, ..., +, ⋅, 0, 1) is the minimal ring that is an
extension of the natural numbers. The system of rational numbers Q = (Q, +, ⋅, 0, 1)
is the minimal field that is an extension of the ring of the integers. (The terms ‘ring’
Vol. IV, page 195 and ‘field’ are defined in all details in the next volume.) The system of real numbers
R = (R, +, ⋅, 0, 1, >) is the minimal extension of the rationals that is continuous and
totally ordered. (For the definition of continuity, see volume IV, page 196, and volume V,
page 288.) Equivalently, the reals are the minimal extension of the rationals forming a
complete, totally strictly-Archimedean ordered field. This is the historical construction – Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

or definition – of the integer, rational and real numbers from the natural numbers. How-
ever, it is not the only one construction possible. The most beautiful definition of all these
types of numbers is the one discovered in 1969 by John Conway, and popularized by him,
Ref. 219 Donald Knuth and Martin Kruskal.

⊳ A number is a sequence of bits.

The two bits are usually called ‘up’ and ‘down’. Examples of numbers and the way to write
them are given in Figure 139.
The empty sequence is the number zero. A finite sequence of n ups is the integer num-
ber n, and a finite sequence of n downs is the integer −n. Finite sequences of mixed ups
and downs give the dyadic rational numbers. Examples are 1, 2, 3, −7, 19/4, 37/256, etc.
thought and language 231

.
..

ω = simplest infinite 1 1=1

11111 11
1=1111 ... ω2 eω
1111 ω+4 2ω
ω 1 11
π 1111 1 1
111 4 1 1
1 ω/2
111 ω−4 ω/4 1
11 3
1 󵀂ω
11 8/3
2 1 1
1 3/2 1 1 1
1 1
1 1
1
1 2/3 + 2ι/3
3/4 2/3
11
1/2 1
1
1/4 1 1 1111 1
1 1 1 󵀂ι
0 4ι
ι

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
11
1 ι2
–1/4
–1/2 1
11
1 ι = 1/ω = simplest infinitesimal
–1 1 –3/4 –1/3
1
1 11
1 1 1
–3/2
–2 –4/5
11 11 11 1 1 1
–3 11 1 1 11111 11 ...
111 –4 −󵀂2 1
1
smaller 1111 −ω −ω/2
−2ω −ω2
earlier 1=1111
... −eω
11
1
1

F I G U R E 139 The surreal numbers in conventional and in bit notation.

They all have denominators with a power of 2. The other rational numbers are those that
end in an infinitely repeating string of ups and downs, such as the reals, the infinitesi-
mals and simple infinite numbers. Longer countably infinite series give even more crazy
numbers.
The complete class of numbers that is defined by a sequence of bits is called the class
of surreal numbers.*
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

There is a second way to write surreal numbers. The first is the just mentioned se-
quence of bits. But in order to define addition and multiplication, another notation is
usually used, deduced from Figure 139. A surreal α is defined as the earliest number of
all those between two series of earlier surreals, the left and the right series:

α = {a, b, c, ...|A, B, C, ...} with a, b, c, < α < A, B, C . (101)

* The surreal numbers do not form a set since they contain all ordinal numbers, which themselves do not
form a set, even though they of course contain sets. In short, ordinals and surreals are classes which are
larger than sets.
 232 8 thought and language

For example, we have

{0|} = 1 , {0, 1 |} = 2 , {|0} = −1 , {| − 1, 0} = −2 , {0 |1} = 1/2 ,

{0 |1/2, 1/4} = 1 , {0, 1, 3/2, 25/16 | 41/16, 13/8, 7/4, 2} = 1 + 37/64 , (102)

showing that the finite surreals are the dyadic numbers m/2n (n and m being integers).
Given two surreals α = {..., a, ...|..., A, ...} with a < α < A and β = {..., b, ...|..., B, ...} with
b < β < B, addition is defined recursively, using earlier, already defined numbers, as

α + β = {..., a + β, ..., α + b, ...|..., A + β, ..., α + B, ...} . (103)

This definition is used simply because it gives the same results as usual addition for inte-
gers and reals. Can you confirm this? By the way, addition is not always commutative. Are

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 250 s you able to find the exceptions, and to find the definition for subtraction? Multiplication
is also defined recursively, namely by the expression

αβ ={..., aβ + αb − ab, ..., Aβ + αB − AB, ...|

..., aβ + αB − aB, ..., Aβ + αb − Ab, ...} . (104)

These definitions allow one to write ι = 1/ω, and to talk about numbers such as 󵀂ω , the
square root of infinity, about ω + 4, ω − 1, 2ω, eω and about other strange numbers shown
Ref. 219 in Figure 139. However, the surreal numbers are not commonly used. More common is
one of their subsets.
The real numbers are those surreals whose decimal expansion is not larger than in-
finity and in addition, equate numbers such as 0.999999... and 1.000000..., as well as all
similar cases. In other words, the surreals distinguish the number 0.999999... from the
number 1, whereas the reals do not. Indeed, between these two surreal numbers there
Challenge 251 s are infinitely many other surreals. Can you name a few?
Reals are more useful for describing nature than surreals, first because they form a
set – which the surreals do not – and secondly because they allow the definition of in-
tegration. Other numbers defined with the help of reals, e.g. the complex numbers ℂ,
the quaternions ℍand a few more elaborate number systems, are presented in the next
Vol. IV, page 195 volume.
To conclude, in physics it is usual to call numbers the elements of any set that is a
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

semi-ring (e.g. ℕ), a ring (e.g. ℤ) or a field (ℚ, ℝ, ℂ or ℍ). Since numbers allow one
to compare magnitudes and thus to measure, these numbers play a central role in the
description of observations.

“
A series of equal balls is packed in such a way
Ref. 220 that the area of needed wrapping paper is
minimal. For small numbers of balls the linear
package, with all balls in one row, is the most
efficient. For which number of balls is the linear
Challenge 252 s package no longer a minimum?
 thought and language 233

Why use mathematics?

“
Die Forderung der Möglichkeit der einfachen
Zeichen ist die Forderung der Bestimmtheit des

”
Sinnes.*
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 3.23

Several well-known physicists have repeatedly asked why mathematics is so important.

Ref. 221 For example, Niels Bohr is quoted as having said: ‘We do not know why the language
of mathematics has been so effective in formulating those laws in their most succinct
form.’ Eugene Wigner wrote an often cited paper entitled The unreasonable effectiveness
Ref. 222 of mathematics. At the start of science, many centuries earlier, Pythagoras and his con-
temporaries were so overwhelmed by the usefulness of numbers in describing nature,
that Pythagoras was able to organize a sect based on this connection. The members of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the inner circle of this sect were called ‘learned people,’ in Greek ‘mathematicians’, from
the Greek μάθημα ‘teaching’. This sect title then became the name of the modern profes-
sion.
These men forgot that numbers, as well as a large part of mathematics, are concepts
developed precisely with the aim of describing nature. Numbers and mathematical con-
cepts were developed right from the start to provide as succinct a description as possible.
That is one consequence of mathematics being the science of symbolic necessities.
Perhaps we are being too dismissive. Perhaps these thinkers mainly wanted to express
their feeling of wonder when experiencing that language works, that thinking and our
brain works, and that life and nature are so beautiful. This would put the title question
nearer to the well-known statement by Albert Einstein: ‘The most incomprehensible fact
about the universe is that it is comprehensible.’ Comprehension is another word for de-
scription, i.e., for classification. Obviously, any separable system is comprehensible, and
there is nothing strange about it. But is the universe separable? As long as is it described
as being made of particles and vacuum, this is the case.
We will find in the last part of this adventure that the basic assumption made at our
start is built on sand. The assumption that observations in nature can be counted, and
thus that nature is separable, is an approximation. The quoted ‘incomprehensibility’ be-
comes amazement at the precision of this approximation. Nevertheless, Pythagoras’ sect,
which was based on the thought that ‘everything in nature is numbers’, was wrong. Like
so many beliefs, observation will show that it was wrong.

“ ”
Die Physik ist für Physiker viel zu schwer.**
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

David Hilbert

Is mathematics a language?

“
Die Sätze der Mathematik sind Gleichungen,
also Scheinsätze. Der Satz der Mathematik

”
drückt keinen Gedanken aus.***
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 6.2, 6.21

* ‘The requirement that simple signs be possible is the requirement that sense be determinate.’
** ‘Physics is much too difficult for physicists.’
*** ‘The propositions of mathematics are equations, and therefore pseudo-propositions. A proposition of
mathematics does not express a thought.’
 234 8 thought and language

Surely, mathematics is a vocabulary that helps us to talk with precision. Mathematics can
be seen as the exploration of all possible concepts that can be constructed from the two
fundamental bricks ‘set’ and ‘relation’ (or some alternative, but equivalent pair). Math-
ematics is the science of symbolic necessities. Rephrased again, mathematics is the ex-
ploration of all possible types of classifications. This explains its usefulness in all situa-
tions where complex, yet precise classifications of observations are necessary, such as in
physics.
However, mathematics cannot express everything that humans want to communicate,
such as wishes, ideas or feelings. Just try to express the fun of swimming using mathe-
matics. Indeed, mathematics is the science of symbolic necessities; thus mathematics is not
a language, nor does it contain one. Mathematical concepts, being based on abstract sets
and relations, do not pertain to nature. Despite its beauty, mathematics does not allow

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
us to talk about nature or the observation of motion. Mathematics does not tell what to
say about nature; it does tell us how to say it.
In his famous 1900 lecture in Paris, the German mathematician David Hilbert* gave a
list of 23 great challenges facing mathematics. The sixth of Hilbert’s problems was to find
a mathematical treatment of the axioms of physics. Our adventure so far has shown that
physics started with a circular definition that has not yet been eliminated after 2500 years
of investigations: space-time is defined with the help of objects and objects are defined
Vol. I, page 369 with the help of space and time. Being based on a circular definition, physics is thus
not modelled after mathematics, even if many physicists and mathematicians, including
Ref. 223 Hilbert, would like it to be so. Physicists must live with logical problems and must walk
on unsure ground in order to achieve progress. In fact, they have done so for 2500 years.
If physics were an axiomatic system, it would not contain circular definitions; on the
other hand, it would also cease to be a language and would cease to describe nature. We
Vol. VI, page 102 will return to this issue in the last part of our adventure.

Curiosities and fun challenges about mathematics

Challenge 253 s What is the largest number that can be written with four digits of 2 and no other sign?
And with four 4s?
∗∗
Pythagorean triplets are integers that obey a2 + b2 = c 2 . Give at least ten examples. Then
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 254 e show the following three properties: at least one number in a triplet is a multiple of 3;

* David Hilbert (1862 Königsberg–1943 Göttingen) was professor of mathematics in Göttingen and the
greatest mathematician of his time. He was a central figure to many parts of mathematics, and also played an
important role both in the birth of general relativity and of quantum theory. His textbooks are still in print.
His famous personal credo was: ‘Wir müssen wissen, wir werden wissen.’ (We must know, we will know.)
His famous Paris lecture is published e.g. in Die Hilbertschen Probleme, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft
Geest & Portig, 1983. The lecture galvanized all of mathematics. (Despite efforts and promises of similar
fame, nobody in the world had a similar overview of mathematics that allowed him or her to repeat the
feat in the year 2000.) In his last decade he suffered the persecution of the Nazi regime; the persecution
eliminated Göttingen from the list of important science universities, without recovering its place up to this
day.
 thought and language 235

at least one number in a triplet is a multiple of 4; at least one number in a triplet is a

multiple of 5.
∗∗
A mother is 21 years older than her child, and in 6 years the child will be 5 times younger
Challenge 255 s than the mother. Where is the father? This is the young mother puzzle.
∗∗
The number 1/n, when written in decimal notation, has a periodic sequence of digits.
The period is at most n − 1 digits long, as for 1/7 = 0.142857 142857 1428.... Which other
Challenge 256 d numbers 1/n have periods of length n − 1?
∗∗

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Felix Klein was a famous professor of mathematics at Göttingen University. There were
two types of mathematicians in his department: those who did research on whatever they
wanted and those for which Klein provided the topic of research. To which type did Klein
Challenge 257 s belong?
Obviously, this is a variation of another famous puzzle. A barber shaves all those
Challenge 258 s people who do not shave themselves. Does the barber shave himself?
∗∗
Everybody knows what a magic square is: a square array of numbers, in the simplest case
from 1 to 9, that are distributed in such a way that the sum of all rows, columns (and
possibly all diagonals) give the same sum. Can you write down the simplest 3 × 3 × 3
Challenge 259 s magic cube?
∗∗
The digits 0 to 9 are found on keyboards in two different ways. Calculators and keyboards
have the 7 at the top left, whereas telephones and automatic teller machines have the digit
1 at the top left. The two standards, respectively by the International Standards Organi-
zation (ISO) and by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU, formerly CCITT),
Ref. 224 evolved separately and have never managed to merge.
∗∗ Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Leonhard Euler in his notebooks sometimes wrote down equations like

1
1 + 22 + 24 + 26 + 28 + ... = − . (105)
3

Challenge 260 d Can this make sense?

∗∗
In the history of recreational mathematics, several people have independently found
the well-known magic hexagon shown in Figure 140. The first discoverer was, in 1887,
Ernst von Hasselberg. The hexagon is called magic because all lines add up to the same
number, 38. Hasselberg also proved the almost incredible result that no other magic
 236 8 thought and language

15
14 13
9 8 10
6 4
11 5 12
1 2
18 7 16
17 19
3 F I G U R E 140 The only magic hexagon starting with the number 1 (up to
reflections and rotations).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 141 Fibonacci numbers and spirals
from washers (© Donald Simanek).

Challenge 261 d hexagon exists. Can you confirm this?

∗∗
In many flowers, numbers from the Fibonacci series!nonsense about 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21
Page
Ref. 216
211 etc., appear. Figure 153 gives a few examples. It is often suggested that this is a result of
some deep sense of beauty in nature. This is not the case, as Figure 141 shows. Mark a
spot on a surface, and put washers around it in by hand in a spiral manner; you will
find the same spirals that you find in many flowers, and thus, at their border, the same
Fibonacci numbers. This argument by Donald Simanek shows that there is nothing deep,
complicated or even mysterious in the appearance of Fibonacci numbers in plants.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

∗∗
Prime numbers are a favourite playground for mathematicians. A famous result on all
prime numbers pi states
∞
1 6
󵠉(1 − 2 ) = 2 (106)
i=1 pi π

Challenge 262 s Can you imagine how this result is proven?

∗∗
Digits owe their name to the latin word ‘digitum’ or finger. In times when writing on pa-
 thought and language 237

per was expensive, it was already possible to count up to 9999 using the two hands, with
a system developed by Beda Venerabilis and popularized, for example, by Luca Pacioli.
Challenge 263 e Can you develop a similar system?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Chapter 9

CONC EPT S, LIES AND PAT TERNS OF

NATUR E

“
Die Grenzen meiner Sprache bedeuten die

”
Grenzen meiner Welt.*
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 5.6

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
“
Der Satz ist ein Bild der Wirklichkeit. Der Satz
ist ein Modell der Wirklichkeit, so wie wir sie

”
uns denken.**
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 4.01

I
Ref. 225 n contrast to mathematics, physics does aim at being a language. But
t is ambitious: it aims to express everything, with complete precision, and,
n particular, all examples and possibilities of change.*** Like any language, physics
consists of concepts and sentences. In order to be able to express everything, it must
aim to use few words for a lot of facts.**** Physicists are essentially lazy people: they
try to minimize the effort in everything they do. The concepts in use today have been
optimized by the combined effort of many people to be as practical, i.e., as powerful as
possible. A concept is called powerful when it allows one to express in a compact way
a large amount of information, meaning that it can rapidly convey a large number of
details about observations.
General statements about many examples of motion are called rules or patterns. In the
past, it was often said that ‘laws govern nature’, using an old and inappropriate ideology.
A physical ‘law’ is only a way of saying as much as possible with as few words as possible.

* ‘The limits of my language are the limits of my world.’

** ‘A proposition is a picture of reality. A proposition is a model of reality as we imagine it.’
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

*** All observations are about change. The various types of change are studied by the various sciences; they
are usually grouped in the three categories of human sciences, formal sciences and natural sciences. Among
the latter, the oldest are astronomy and metallurgy. Then, with the increase of curiosity in early antiquity,
came the natural science concerned with the topic of motion: physics. In the course of our walk it will
become clear that the unusual definition of physics as the study of change indeed covers the whole set of
topics studied in physics. In particular it includes the more common definition of physics as the study of
matter, its properties, its components and their interactions.
**** A particular, specific observation, i.e., a specific example of input shared by others, is called a fact, or
in other contexts, an event. A striking and regularly observed fact is called a phenomenon, and a general
observation made in many different situations is called a (physical) principle. (Often, when a concept is in-
troduced that is used with other meaning in other fields, in this walk it is preceded by the qualifier ‘physical’
or ‘mathematical’ in parentheses.) Actions performed towards the aim of collecting observations are called
experiments. The concept of experiment became established in the sixteenth century; in the evolution of a
child, it can best be compared to that activity that has the same aim of collecting experiences: play.
 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature 239

When saying ‘laws govern nature’ we actually mean to say ‘being lazy, we describe obser-
vations with patterns’. Laws are the epitome of laziness. Formulating laws is pure sloth.
In fact, the correct expression is patterns describe nature.
Physicists have defined the laziness necessary for their field in much detail. In order
to become a master of laziness, we need to distinguish lazy patterns from those which
are not, such as lies, beliefs, statements that are not about observations, and statements
Page 242 that are not about motion. We do this below.
The principle of extreme laziness is the origin, among others, of the use of numbers in
physics. Observables are often best described with the help of numbers, because numbers
allow easy and precise communication and classification. Length, velocity, angles, tem-
perature, voltage or field strength are of this type. The notion of ‘number’, used in every
measurement, is constructed, often unconsciously, from the notions of ‘set’ and ‘relation’,
as shown above. Apart from the notion of number, other concepts are regularly defined

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
to allow fast and compact communication of the ‘laws’ of nature; all are ‘abbreviation
tools.’ In this sense, the statement ‘the level of the Kac–Moody algebra of the Lagrangian
of the heterotic superstring model is equal to one’ contains precise information, explain-
able to everybody; however, it would take dozens of pages to express it using only the
terms ‘set’ and ‘relation.’ In short, the precision common in physics results from its quest
for laziness.

“
Es ist besser, daß die Leute nicht wissen, wie
Gesetze und Wurst zustande kommen. Sonst

”
könnten sie nachts nicht ruhig schlafen.*
Otto von Bismarck

Are physical concepts discovered or created?

“
Das logische Bild der Tatsachen ist der

”
Gedanke.**
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 3

The title question is often rephrased as: are physical concepts free of beliefs, taste or per-
sonal choices? The question has been discussed so much that it even appears in Hol-
lywood films. We give a short summary that can help you to distinguish honest from
dishonest teachers.
Creation of concepts, in contrast to their discovery, would imply free choice between
many alternative possibilities. The chosen alternative would then be due to the beliefs or
tastes used. In physics (in obvious contrast to other, more ideological fields of enquiry),
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

we know that different physical descriptions of observations are either equivalent or, in
the opposite case, imprecise or even wrong. A description of observations is thus essen-
tially unique: any choices of concepts are only apparent. There is no real freedom in the
definition of physical concepts. In this property, physics is in strong contrast to artistic
activity.
If two different concepts can be used to describe the same aspect of observations, they
must be equivalent, even if the relation that leads to the equivalence is not immediately
clear. In fact, the requirement that people with different standpoints and observing the
* ‘It is better that people do not know how laws and sausages are made. Otherwise they would not sleep well
at night.’ Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), Prussian Chancellor.
** ‘A logical picture of facts is a thought.’
 240 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

same event deduce equivalent descriptions lies at the very basis of physics. It expresses
the requirement that observations are observer independent. In short, the strong require-
ment of viewpoint independence makes the free choice of concepts a logical impossibil-
ity.
The conclusion that concepts describing observations are discovered rather than cre-
ated is also reached independently in the field of linguistics by the above-mentioned
research on semantic primitives,* in the field of psychology by the observations on the
formation of the concepts in the development of young children, and in the field of ethol-
ogy by the observations of animal development, especially in the case of mammals. In
all three fields detailed observations have been made of how the interactions between an
individual and its environment lead to concepts, of which the most basic ones, such as
space, time, object or interaction, are common across the sexes, cultures, races and across
many animal species populating the world. Curiosity and the way that nature works leads

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
to the same concepts for all people and even the animals; the world offers only one pos-
sibility, without room for imagination. Imagining that physical concepts can be created
at your leisure is a belief – or a useful exercise, but never successful.
Physical concepts are classifications of observations. The activity of classification itself
follows the patterns of nature; it is a mechanical process that machines can also perform.
This means that any distinction, i.e., any statement that A is different from B, is a theory-
free statement. No belief system is necessary to distinguish different entities in nature.
Cats and pigs can also do so. Physicists can be replaced by animals, even by machines.
Our mountain ascent will repeatedly confirm this point.
As already mentioned, the most popular physical concepts allow us to describe ob-
servations as succinctly and as accurately as possible. They are formed with the aim of
having the largest possible amount of understanding with the smallest possible amount
of effort. Both Occam’s razor – the requirement not to introduce unnecessary concepts –
Vol. VI, page 120 and the drive for unification automatically reduce the number and the type of concepts
used in physics. In other words, the progress of physical science was and is based on a
programme that reduces the possible choice of concepts as drastically as possible.
In summary, we found that physical concepts are the same for everybody and are
free of beliefs and personal choices: they are first of all boring. Moreover, as they could
stem from machines instead of people, they are born of laziness. Despite these human
analogies – not meant to be taken too seriously – physical concepts are not created; they
are discovered. If a teacher tells you the opposite, he is lying. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Having handled the case of physical concepts, let us now turn to physical statements.
The situation is somewhat similar: physical statements must be lazy, arrogant and boring.
Let us see why.

“
Wo der Glaube anfängt, hört die Wissenschaft

”
auf.**
Ernst Haeckel, Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte,
1879.

* Anna Wierzbicka concludes that her research clearly indicates that semantic primitives are discovered, in
Ref. 207 particular that they are deduced from the fundamentals of human experience, and not invented.
** Where belief starts, science ends.
concepts, lies and pat terns of nature 241

TA B L E 24 The ‘scientific method’.

Normal description Lobbyist description

Curiosity Scientific method
1. look around a lot 1. interact with the world
2. don’t believe anything told 2. forget unproven statements
3. choose something interesting and explore it 3. observe
yourself
4. make up your own mind and describe precisely 4. use reason, build hypothesis
what you saw
5. check if you can also describe similar situations in 5. analyse hypothesis
the same way
6. increase the precision of observation until the 6. perform experiments to check

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
checks either fail or are complete hypothesis
7. depending on the case, continue with step 4 or 1 7. ask authority for more money

How do we find physical patterns and rules?

“
Grau, theurer Freund, ist alle Theorie,

”
Und grün des Lebens goldner Baum.*
J.W. v. Goethe, Faust.

“
Physics is usually presented as an objective
science, but I notice that physics changes and
the world stays the same, so there must be

”
something subjective about physics.
Richard Bandler

Progressing through the study of motion reflects a young child’s attitude towards life. The
progress follows the simple programme on the left of Table 24.
Adult scientists do not have much more to add, except the more fashionable terms
on the right, plus several specialized professions to make money from them. The experts
of step 7 are variously called lobbyists or fund raisers; instead of calling this program
‘curiosity’, they call it the ‘scientific method.’ They mostly talk. Physics being the talk
about motion,** and motion being a vast topic, many people specialize in this step.
The experts of step 6 are called experimental physicists or simply experimentalists, a
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

term derived from the Latin ‘experiri’, meaning ‘to try out’. Most of them are part of the
category ‘graduate students’. The experts of steps 5 and 4 are called theoretical physicists

* ‘Grey, dear friend, is all theory, and green the golden tree of life.’ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832),
the influential German poet.
** Several sciences have the term ‘talk’ as part of their name, namely all those whose name finishes in ‘-logy’,
such as e.g. biology. The ending stems from ancient Greek and is deduced from λήγηιν meaning ‘to say, to
talk’. Physics as the science of motion could thus be called ‘kinesiology’ from κίνησις, meaning ‘motion’; but
for historical reasons this term has a different meaning, namely the study of human muscular activity. The
term ‘physics’ is either derived from the Greek φύσικη (τέχνη is understood) meaning ‘(the art of) nature’,
or from the title of Aristotle’ works τά φυσικά meaning ‘natural things’. Both expressions are derived from
φύσις, meaning ‘nature’.
 242 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

or simply theoreticians.* This is a rather modern term; for example, the first professors of
theoretical physics were appointed around the start of the twentieth century. The term is
derived from the Greek θεωρία meaning ‘observation, contemplation’. Finally, there are
the people who focus on steps 1 to 3, and who induce others to work on steps 4 to 6; they
are called geniuses.
Obviously an important point is hidden in step 6: how do all these people know
whether their checks fail? How do they recognize truth?

“ ”
All professions are conspiracies against laymen.
George Bernard Shaw

What is a lie?

“
Get your facts straight, and then you can distort

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
”
them at your leisure.
Mark Twain

“ ”
The pure truth is always a lie.
Bert Hellinger

Lies are useful statements, as everybody learns during their youth. One reason that lies
are useful is because we can draw any imaginable conclusion from them. A well-known
discussion between two Cambridge professors early in the twentieth century makes the
point. McTaggart asked: ‘If 2 + 2 = 5, how can you prove that I am the pope?’ Godfrey
Hardy: ‘If 2 + 2 = 5, then 4 = 5; subtract 3; then 1 = 2; but McTaggart and the pope
are two; therefore McTaggart and the pope are one.’ As noted long ago, ex falso quodlibet;
from what is wrong, anything imaginable can be deduced. It is true that in our mountain
ascent we need to build on previously deduced results and that our trip could not be
completed if we had a false statement somewhere in our chain of arguments. But lying
is such an important activity that one should learn to perform it well.
There are various stages in the art of lying. Many animals have been shown to de-
Ref. 180 ceive their kin. Children start lying just before their third birthday, by hiding experiences.
Pysochological research has even shown that children who lack the ability to lie cannot
complete their personal development towards a healthy human being. For adults, the sit-
uation is different. Many adults cheat on taxes. Others lie to cover up their wrongdoings.
The worst examples of liars are those people – often intellectuals, politicians or otherwise
violent contemporaries – who claim that truth “does not exist”.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

In fact, in most countries, everybody must know what ‘truth’ is, since in a law court for
example, telling an untruth can lead to a prison sentence. The courts are full of experts
in lie detection.** If you lie in court, you better do it well; experience shows that you
might get away with many criminal activities. In court, a lie is a statement that knowingly

* If you like theoretical physics, have a look at the refreshingly candid web page by Nobel Prize winner
Gerard ‘t Hooft with the title How to become a good theoretical physicist. It can be found at www.phys.uu.
nl/~thooft/theorist.html.
** There are also scholars who have spent most of their research career on lies and lying. A well-known
example is Paul Ekman, whose fascinating website at www.paulekman.com tells how to spot lies from the
behaviour of the person telling it.
 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature 243

contrasts with observations.* The truth of a statement is thus checked by observation.

The check itself is sometimes called the proof of the statement. For law courts, and for
physics, we have

⊳ Truth is the correspondence with facts.

⊳ Facts are observations shared with
other people or machines.

Therefore, a lie is a statement in contrast with facts.

What is a good lie?

Since a lie is a statement in contrast with facts – or shared observations – a good lie is a
lie whose contrast with facts is hard to discover. Let us explore the art of good lies.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The first way of lying is to put an emphasis on the sharedness only. Populists and
polemics do this regularly. (‘Every foreigner is a danger for the values of our country.’)
Since almost any imaginable opinion, however weird, is held by some group – and thus
shared – one can always claim it as true.** Unfortunately, it is no secret that ideas also get
shared because they are fashionable, imposed or opposed to somebody who is generally
disliked. Often a sibling in a family has this role – remember Cassandra.*** For a good
lie we thus need more than sharedness, more than intersubjectivity alone.
A good lie should be, like a true statement, really independent of the listener and the
observer and, in particular, independent of their age, their sex, their education, their civ-
ilization or the group to which they belong. For example, it is especially hard – but not
impossible – to lie with mathematics. The reason is that the basic concepts of mathemat-
ics, be they ‘set’, ‘relation’ or ‘number’, are taken from observation and are intersubjective,
so that statements about them are easily checked. Therefore, good lies avoid mathemat-
ics.****
Thirdly, a ‘good’ lie should avoid statements about observations and use interpreta-
tions instead. For example, some people like to talk about other universes, which implies
talking about fantasies, not about observations. However, a really good lie has to avoid
to make statements which are meaningless; the most destructive comment that can be
made about a statement is the one used by the great Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli:
Vol. IV, page 90 ‘That is not even wrong.’
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* Statements not yet checked are variously called speculations, conjectures, hypotheses, or – wrongly – simply
theses. Statements that are in correspondence with observations are called correct or true; statements that
contrast with observations are called wrong or false.
** The work of the French sociologist Gabriel Tarde (1843–1903), especially his concepts of imitation and
group mind, already connects to this fact.
*** The implications of birth order on creativity in science and on acceptance of new ideas has been studied
in the fascinating book by Frank J. Sulloway, Born to Rebel – Birth Order, Family Dynamics and Cre-
ative Lives, Panthon Books, 1996. This exceptional book tells the result of a life-long study correlating the
personal situations in the families of thousands of people and their receptivity to about twenty revolutions
in the recent history. The book also includes a test in which the reader can deduce their own propensity to
rebel, on a scale from 0 to 100 %. Darwin scores 96 % on this scale.
**** In mathematics, ‘true’ is usually specified as ‘deducible’ or ‘provable’; this is in fact a special case of the
usual definition of truth, namely ‘correspondence with facts’, if one remembers that mathematics studies
the properties of classifications.
 244 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

Fourthly, a good lie avoids talking about observations, but focuses on imagination.
Only truth needs to be empirical; speculative statements differ from truth by not caring
about observations. If you want to lie ‘well’ even with empirical statements, you need to
pay attention. There are two types of empirical statements: specific statements and univer-
sal statements. For example, ‘On the 31st of August 1960 I saw a green swan swimming on
the northern shore of the lake of Varese’ is specific, whereas ‘All ravens are black’ is uni-
versal, since it contains the term ‘all’. There is a well-known difference between the two,
which is important for lying well: specific statements cannot be falsified, they are only
Ref. 226 verifiable, and universal statements cannot be verified, they are only falsifiable. Why is
this so?
Universal statements, such as ‘the speed of light is constant’, cannot be tested for all
possible cases. (Note that if they could, they would not be universal statements, but just
a list of specific ones.) However, they can be reversed by a counter-example. Another

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
example of the universal type is: ‘Apples fall upwards.’ Since it is falsified by an observa-
tion conducted by Newton several centuries ago, or by everyday experience, it qualifies
as an (easily detectable) lie. In general therefore, lying by stating the opposite of a theory
is usually unsuccessful. If somebody insists on doing so, the lie becomes a superstition,
a belief, a prejudice or a doctrine. These are the low points in the art of lying. A famous
case of insistence on a lie is that of the colleagues of Galileo, who are said to have refused
to look through his telescope to be convinced that Jupiter has moons, an observation
that would have shaken their belief that everything turns around the Earth. Obviously
these astronomers were amateurs in the art of lying. A good universal lie is one whose
counter-example is not so easily spotted.
There should be no insistence on lies in physics. Unfortunately, classical physics is full
of lies. We will dispel them during the rest of our walk.
Lying by giving specific instead of universal statements is much easier. (‘I can’t re-
member.’) Even a specific statement such as ‘yesterday the Moon was green, cubic and
smelled of cheese’ can never be completely falsified: there is no way to show with abso-
lute certainty that this is wrong. The only thing that we can do is to check whether the
statement is compatible with other observations, such as whether the different shape af-
fected the tides as expected, whether the smell can be found in air collected that day, etc.
A good specific lie is thus not in evident contrast with other observations.*
Incidentally, universal and specific statements are connected: the opposite of a univer-
sal statement is always a specific statement, and vice versa. For example, the opposite of Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* It is often difficult or tedious to verify statements concerning the past, and the difficulty increases with
the distance in time. That is why people can insist on the occurrence of events which are supposed to be
exceptions to the patterns of nature (‘miracles’). Since the advent of rapid means of communication these
checks are becoming increasingly easy, and no miracles are left over. This can be seen in Lourdes in France,
where even though today the number of visitors is much higher than in the past, no miracles have been seen
in decades. (In fact there is one exception that has with several witnesses. In 1998, a man in a wheelchair
was pushed into the holy water. When he came out again, miracolously, his wheelchair had new tires.)
In fact, all modern so-called ‘miracles’ are kept alive only by consciously eschewing checks, such as the
supposed yearly liquefaction of blood in Napoli, the milk supposedly drunk by statues in temples, the sup-
Ref. 227 posed healers in television evangelism, etc. Most miracles only remain because many organizations make
money out of the difficulty of falsifying specific statements. For example, when the British princess Diana
died in a car crash in 1997, even though the events were investigated in extreme detail, the scandal press
could go on almost without end about the ‘mysteries’ of the accident.
concepts, lies and pat terns of nature 245

the general statement ‘apples fall upwards’, namely ‘some apples fall downwards’, is spe-
cific. Similarly, the specific statement ‘the Moon is made of green cheese’ is in opposition
to the universal statement ‘the Moon is solid for millions of years and has almost no smell
or atmosphere.’
In other words, law courts and philosophers disagree. Law courts have no problem
with calling theories true, and specific statements lies. Many philosophers avoid this. For
example, the statement ‘ill-tempered gaseous vertebrates do not exist’ is a statement of
the universal type. If a universal statement is in agreement with observations, and if it
is falsifiable, law courts call it true. The opposite, namely the statement: ‘ill-tempered
gaseous vertebrates do exist’, is of the specific type, since it means ‘Person X has observed
an ill-tempered gaseous vertebrate in some place Y at some time Z’. To verify this, we
need a record of the event. If such a record, for example a photographs or testimony
does not exist, and if the statement can be falsified by other observations, law courts

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
call the specific statement a lie. Even though these are the rules for everyday life and for
the law, there is no agreement among philosophers and scientists that this is acceptable.
Why? Intellectuals are a careful lot, because many of them have lost their lives as a result
of exposing lies too openly.
In short, specific lies, like all specific statements, can never be falsified with certainty.
This is what makes them so popular. Children learn specific lies first. (‘I haven’t eaten
the jam.’) General lies, like all general statements, can always be corroborated by exam-
ples. This is the reason for the success of ideologies. But the criteria for recognizing lies,
even general lies, have become so commonplace that beliefs and lies try to keep up with
them. It became fashionable to use expressions such as ‘scientific fact’ – there are no non-
scientific facts –, or ‘scientifically proven’ – observations cannot be proven otherwise –
and similar empty phrases. These are not ‘good’ lies; whenever we encounter a sentence
beginning with ‘science says ...’ or ‘science and religion do ...’ we just need to replace ‘sci-
ence’ by ‘knowledge’ or ‘experience’ to check whether such a sentence are to be taken
seriously or not.*
Lies differ from true statements in their emotional aspect. Specific statements are usu-
ally boring and fragile, whereas specific lies are often sensational and violent. In contrast,
general statements are often daring and fragile whereas general lies are usually boring
and violent. The truth is fragile. True statements require the author to stick his neck out
to criticism. Researchers know that if one doesn’t stick the neck out, it can’t be an obser-
vation or a theory. (A theory is another name for one or several connected, not yet falsi- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

fied universal statements about observations.)** Telling the truth does make vulnerable.
For this reason, theories are often daring, arrogant or provoking; at the same time they
* To clarify the vocabulary usage of this text: religion!definition is spirituality plus a varying degree of beliefs
and power abuse. The mixture depends on each person’s history, background and environment. Spirituality
is the open participation in the whole of nature. Most, maybe all, people with a passion for physics are
spiritual. Most are not religious.
** In other words, a set of not yet falsified patterns of observations on the same topic is called a (physical)
theory. The term ‘theory’ will always be used in this sense in this walk, i.e., with the meaning ‘set of correct
general statements’. This use results from its Greek origin: ‘theoria’ means ‘observation’; its original meaning,
‘passionate and emphatic contemplation’, summarizes the whole of physics in a single word. (‘Theory’, like
‘theatre’, is formed from the root θέ, meaning ‘the act of contemplating’.) Sometimes, however, the term
‘theory’ is used – being confused with ‘hypothesis’ – with the meaning of ‘conjecture’, as in ‘your theory
is wrong’, sometimes with the meaning of ‘model’, as in ‘Chern–Simons’ theory and sometimes with the
246 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

have to be fragile and vulnerable. For men, theories thus resemble what they think about
women. Darwin’s The origin of the species, which developed daring theories, illustrates
the stark contrast between the numerous boring and solid facts that Darwin collected
and the daring theory that he deduced. Boredom of facts is a sign of truth.
In contrast, the witch-hunters propagating ‘creationism’ or so-called ‘intelligent de-
sign’ are examples of liars. The specific lies they propagate, such as ‘the world was cre-
ated in October 4004 bce’, are sensational, whereas the general lies they propagate, such
as ‘there have not been big changes in the past’, are boring. This is in full contrast with
common sense. Moreover, lies, in contrast to true statements, make people violent. The
worse the lie, the more violent the people. This connection can be observed regularly in
the news. In other words, ‘creationism’ and ‘intelligent design’ are not only lies, they are
bad lies. A ‘good’ general lie, like a good physical theory, seems crazy and seems vulner-
able, such as ‘people have free will’. A ‘good’ specific lie is boring, such as ‘this looks like

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
bread, but for the next ten minutes it is not’. Good lies do not induce violence. Feelings
can thus be a criterion to judge the quality of lies, if we pay careful attention to the type
of statement. A number of common lies are discussed later in this chapter.
An important aspect of any ‘good’ lie is to make as few public statements as possible, so
that critics can check as little as possible. (For anybody sending corrections of mistakes
in this text, I provide a small reward.) To detect lies, public scrutiny is important, though
not always reliable. Sometimes, even scientists make statements which are not based on
observations. However, a ‘good’ lie is always well prepared and told on purpose; acciden-
tal lies are frowned upon by experts. Examples of good lies in science are ‘aether’, ‘UFOs’,
‘creation science’, or ‘cold fusion’. Sometimes it took many decades to detect the lies in
these domains.
To sum up, the central point of the art of lying without being caught is simple: do
not divulge details. Be vague. All the methods used to verify a statement ask for details,
for precision. For any statement, its degree of precision allows one to gauge the degree
to which the author is sticking his neck out. The more precision that is demanded, the
weaker a statement becomes, and the more likely a fault will be found, if there is one. This
is the main reason that we chose an increase in precision as a guide for our mountain
ascent: we want to avoid lies completely. By the way, the same method is used in criminal
trials. To discover the truth, investigators typically ask all the witnesses a large number
of questions, allowing as many details as possible come to light. When sufficient details
are collected, and the precision is high enough, the situation becomes clear. Telling ‘good’ Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

lies is much more difficult than telling the truth; it requires an excellent imagination.

“ ”
Truth is an abyss.
Democritus

“
To teach superstitions as truth is a most terrible

”
thing.
Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 355–415)

meaning of ‘standard procedure’, as in ‘perturbation theory’. These incorrect uses are avoided here. To bring
the issue to a point: the theory of evolution is not a conjecture, but a set of correct statements based on
observation.
 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature 247

[Absolute truth:] It is what scientists say it is

Ref. 229

Is this statement true? – A bit about nonsense

“ when they come to the end of their labors.
Charles Peirce
”
“
There are three types of people: those who
believe in Father Christmas, those who do not
believe in Father Christmas, and those who are

”
Father Christmas.
Anonymous

“ ”
Truth is a rhetorical concept.
Paul Feyerabend

Not all statements can be categorized as true or false. There is a third option: statements

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
can simply make no sense. There are even such statements in mathematics, where they
are called undecidable. However, ‘undecidable’ and ‘nonsense’ is really the same thing! An
example is the continuum hypothesis. This hypothesis is undecidable because it makes
a statement that depends on the precise meaning of the term ‘set’; in standard mathe-
matical usage the term is not defined sufficiently precisely so that a truth value can be
assigned to the continuum hypothesis. In short, statements can be undecidable because
the concepts contained in them are not sharply defined.
Statements can also be undecidable for other reasons. Phrases such as ‘This statement
is not true’ illustrate the situation. Kurt Gödel* has even devised a general way of con-
structing such statements in the domain of logic and mathematics. The different varia-
tions of these self-referential statements, especially popular both in the field of logic and
computer science, have captured a large public.** Similarly undecidable statements can
Ref. 230 be constructed with terms such as ‘calculable’, ‘provable’ and ‘deducible’.
In fact, self-referential statements are undecidable because they are meaningless. If
the usual definition of ‘true’, namely corresponding to facts, is substituted into the sen-
tence ‘This statement is not true’, we quickly see that it has no meaningful content. The
most famous meaningless sentence of them all was constructed by the linguist Noam
Chomsky:
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Ref. 187 It is often used as an example for the language processing properties of the brain, but
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

nobody sensible elevates it to the status of a paradox and writes philosophical discussions
about it. To do that with the title of this section is a similar waste of energy.
The main reason for the popular success of self-reference is the difficulty in perceiving
the lack of meaning.*** A good example is the statement:

* Kurt Gödel (b. 1906 Brünn, d. 1978 Princeton), famous Austrian logician.
** A general introduction is given in the beautiful books by R aymond Smullyan: Satan, Cantor and
Infinity and Other Mind-boggling Puzzles, Knopf, 1992; What is the Name of This Book? The Riddle of Dracula
and Other Logical Puzzles, Touchstone, 1986, and The Lady or the Tiger? And Other Puzzles, Times Books,
1982. Also definitions can have no content, such as David Hilbert’s ‘smallest number that has not been
mentioned this century’ or ‘the smallest sequence of numbers that is described by more signs than this
sentence’.
*** A well-known victim of this difficulty is Paulus of Tarsus. The paradox of the Cretan poet Epimenedes
 248 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

This statement is false or you are an angel.

Challenge 265 s We can actually deduce from it that ‘you are an angel.’ Can you see how? If you want,
you can change the second half and get even more interesting statements. Such examples
show that statements referring to themselves have to be treated with great care when
under investigation. In short, whenever you meet somebody who tries to use the self-
referential construction by Kurt Gödel to deduce another statement, take a step back, or
better, a few more. Self-reference, especially the type defined by Gödel, is a hard but com-
mon path – especially amongst wannabe-intellectuals – to think, tell and write nonsense.
Nothing useful can be deduced from nonsense. Well, not entirely; it does help to meet
psychiatrists on a regular basis.
In physics, in the other natural sciences, and in legal trials these problems do not
emerge, because self-referential statements are not used.* In fact, the work of logicians

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
confirms, often rather spectacularly, that there is no way to extend the term ‘truth’ beyond
the definition of ‘correspondence with facts.’

“
Ein Satz kann unmöglich von sich selbst

”
aussagen, daß er wahr ist.**
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 4.442

Curiosities and fun challenges about lies and nonsense

“
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he
wishes to be true he generally believes to be

”
true.
Ref. 232 Demosthenes, 349 bce.

“
Quator vero sunt maxima comprehendendae
veritatis offendicula, quae omnem
quemcumque sapientem impediunt, et vix
aliquem permittunt ad verum titulum
sapientiae pervenire: videlicet fragilis et
indignae auctoritatis exemplum, consuetudinis
diurnitatis, vulgi sensus imperiti, et propriae
ignorantiae occultatio cum ostentatione

”
sapientiae apparentis.***
Roger Bacon, Opus majus, 1267. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

(6th century bce) who said ‘All Cretans lie’ is too difficult for the notoriously humour-impaired Paulus, who
in his letter to Titus (chapter 1, verses 12 and 13, in the christian bible) calls Epimenedes a ‘prophet’, adds
Ref. 231 some racist comments, and states that this ‘testimony’ is true. But wait! There is a final twist to this story.
The statement ‘All Cretans lie’ is not a paradox at all; a truth value can actually be ascribed to it, because
Challenge 264 s the statement is not really self-referential. Can you confirm this? The only genuine paradox is ‘I am lying’,
to which it is indeed impossible to ascribe a truth value.
Challenge 266 s * Why are circular statements, like those of Galilean physics, not self-referential?
** ‘It is quite impossible for a proposition to state that it itself is true.’
*** ‘There are four stumbling blocks to truth and knowledge: weak and unworthy authority, custom, popular
prejudice, and the concealment of ignorance with apparent knowledge.’
 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature 249

“
Es ist ja nicht alles, was ich den Bürgern sage,

”
gelogen.*
Konrad Adenauer, 1962, West German
Chancellor.

Some lies are entertaining and funny – and are better called jokes –, some are signs of
psychic disturbance, and some are made with criminal intent. Some statements are not
lies, but simply nonsense. Have fun distinguishing them.
∗∗
Challenge 267 e ‘Yesterday I drowned.’ Is this a good or a bad lie?
∗∗
During a church sermon, a man fell asleep. He dreamt about the French revolution: he

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
was being brought to the guillotine. At that moment, his wife noticed that he was sleeping.
In the same moment in which the man dreamt that the knife was hitting him, his wife
gave him a tap on his neck with her fan. The shock instantly killed the man. – Is this story
Challenge 268 e true or false?
∗∗
Starting in the 1990s, so-called crop circles were produced by people walking with stilts,
a piece of wood and some rope into fields of crops. Nevertheless, many pretended and
even more believed that these circles were made by extraterrestrial beings. Is this a good
Challenge 269 s or a bad lie? Can you find some reasons why this is impossible?
∗∗
Often one hears or reads statements like: ‘mind (or spirit or soul) is stronger than matter.’
Beware of anybody who says this; he wants something from you. Can you show that these
Challenge 270 e statements are all and always wrong?
∗∗
In certain countries, two lies were particularly frequent in the early twenty-first century.
The first: global warming does not exist. The second: global warming is not due to human
Challenge 271 s causes. Are these good or bad lies?
∗∗
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Sometimes it is heard that a person whose skin is completely covered with finest metal
powder will die, due to the impossibility of the skin to breathe. Can you show from you
Challenge 272 s own observation that this is wrong?
∗∗
A famous mixture of hoax and belief premises that the Earth was created about six thou-
sand years ago. (Some believers even use this lie as justification for violence against non-
Challenge 273 s believers.) Can you explain why the number is wrong?

* ‘Indeed, not everything that I tell the people is a lie.’

 250 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

∗∗
A famous provocation: the world has been created last Saturday. Can you decide whether
Challenge 274 s this is wrong?
∗∗
Hundreds of hoaxes are found on the www.museumofhoaxes.com website. It gives an
excellent introduction into the art of lying; of course it exposes only those who have been
caught. Enjoy the science stories, especially those about archaeology. (Several other sites
with similar content can be found on the internet.)
∗∗
In the 1990s, many so-called ‘healers’ in the Philippines earned large amounts of money
by suggesting patients that they were able to extract objects from their bodies without

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 275 e operating. Why is this not possible? (For more information on health lies, see the www.
quackwatch.com website.)
∗∗
Since the 1980s, people have claimed that it is possible to acquire knowledge simply from
somebody 1000 km away, without any communication between the two people. However,
Challenge 276 e the assumed ‘morphogenetic fields’ cannot exist. Why not?
∗∗
It is claimed that a Fire Brigade building in a city in the US hosts a light bulb that has
been burning without interruption since 1901 (at least this was the case in 2005). Can
Challenge 277 s this be true? Hundreds of such stories, often called ‘urban legends,’ can be found on the
www.snopes.com website. However, some of the stories are not urban legends, but true,
as the site shows.
∗∗
‘This statement has been translated from French into English.’ Is the statement true, false
or neither?
∗∗
Aeroplanes have no seat row 13. Many tall hotels have no floor 13. What is the lie behind Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 278 s this habit? What is the truth behind it?

∗∗
For about a thousand years, certain people pretend that they have been stigmatized, i.e.,
that they have ‘miraculously’ suffered wounds that are similar to those of Jesus’s cruci-
fixion. How can one prove by a one-second observation that all of these people, without
Challenge 279 s exception, produced the wounds by themselves?
∗∗
‘In the middle age and in antiquity, people believed in the flat Earth.’ This is a famous lie
that is rarely questioned. The historian Reinhard Krüger has shown that the lie is most
of all due to the writers Thomas Paine (1794) and Washington Irving (1928). Fact is that
 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature 251

since Aristotle, everybody believed in a spherical Earth.

∗∗
Challenge 280 s Is the term ‘multiverse’, a claimed opposite to ‘universe’, a lie or a belief?
∗∗
The following is not a lie. A good way to suppress curiosity in children is used in many
environments: let the child watch television whenever it wants. Do it for a few weeks and
you will not recognize the child any more. Do it for a few years, and the curiosity will
not come back at all.
∗∗
Challenge 281 e How would you show that ‘Earth rays’ are a lie?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
∗∗
How would you show that the statement ‘the laws of nature could change any time’ is a
Challenge 282 s lie?
∗∗
Challenge 283 e ‘I can generate energy from the vacuum.’ Show that this is a lie.
∗∗
Challenge 284 e ‘Not everything that exists can be measured.’ Show that this is a lie.
∗∗
‘Not everything is known.’ This statement is quite interesting: modern physics indeed
claims the opposite in many domains. For example, all forms of energy are known; so
are all forms of moving entities. In short, even though this statement is correct – indeed,
not everything is known – it is often used by liars. Be careful when you hear it.
∗∗
Here is a lie that uses mathematics, from a journalist: ‘Your university exams treat women
applicants worse than men; your statistics show that only 41 % of all female, but 57% of
all male applicants are admitted.’ The university is small and has only two faculties; so it Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

checks its numbers.

Faculty 1 admitted 60% of all males (60 of 100 applicants) and 65% of all applicant
females (13 of 20 applicants). Faculty 2 admitted 30% of all males (3 of 10 applicants) and
32% of all females (16 of 50 applicants).
In total, the university thus admitted 63 of 110 male applicants (or 57%) and 29 of 70
female applicants (or 41%). In other words, even though in each faculties the percentage
of admitted females was higher, the total admission percentage for females was lower.
Challenge 285 e Why? In fact, this is a true story; in this version, the numbers are simplified, to make the
situation as clear as possible. But a large university once got in trouble with journalists
in this way, despite preferring women in each of its departments. Some journalists are
excellent liars.
 252 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

∗∗
A domain in which lies are common is the food industry. It is now possible to buy arti-
ficial eggs, artificial tomato, or artificial shrimps. Many bread products contain cysteine;
for many decades, cysteine was extracted from human hair!
∗∗
The British Broadcasting Corporation is famous for its April 1st pranks. One of the best
Challenge 286 e ever is its documentary on flying penguins. Search for it on the internet.

observations

“
Knowledge is a sophisticated statement of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
”
ignorance.
Attributed to Karl Popper

The collection of a large number of true statements about a type of observations, i.e.,
of a large number of facts, is called knowledge. Where the domain of observations is
Ref. 233 sufficiently extended, one speaks of a science. A scientist is thus somebody who collects
knowledge.* We found above that an observation is classified input into the memory of
several people. Since there is motion all around, to describe all these observations is a
mammoth task. As for every large task, to a large extent the use of appropriate tools de-
termines the degree of success that can be achieved. These tools, in physics and in all
other sciences, fall in three groups: tools for the collection of observations, tools to com-
municate observations and tools to communicate relations between observations. The
latter group has been already discussed in the section on language and on mathematics.
We just touch on the other two.

Have enough observations been recorded?

“
Every generation is inclined to define ‘the end
of physics’ as coincident with the end of their

”
scientific contributions.
Julian Schwinger**

Physics is an experimental science; it rests on the collection of observations. To realize

this task effectively, all sorts of instruments, i.e., tools that facilitate observations, have
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* The term ‘scientist’ is a misnomer peculiar to the English language. Properly speaking, a ‘scientist’ is a
follower of scientism, an extremist philosophical school that tried to resolve all problems through science.
For this reason, some religious sects have the term in their name. Since the English language did not have a
shorter term to designate ‘scientific persons’, as they used to be called, the term ‘scientist’ started to appear in
the United States, from the eighteenth century onwards. Nowadays the term is used in all English-speaking
countries – but not outside them, fortunately.
** Julian Seymour Schwinger (1918–1994), US-American infant prodigy. He was famous for his clear think-
ing and his excellent lectures. He worked on waveguides and synchroton radiation, made contributions to
nuclear physics and developed quantum electrodynamics. For the latter he received the 1965 Nobel Prize
in Physics together with Tomonaga and Feynman. He was a thesis advisor to many famous physicists and
Ref. 234 wrote several excellent and influential textbooks. Nevertheless, at the end of his life, he became strangely
interested in a hoax turned sour: cold fusion.
 observations 253

been developed and built. Microscopes, telescopes, oscilloscopes, as well as thermome-

ters, hygrometers, manometers, pyrometers, spectrometers amongst others are familiar
examples. The precision of many of these tools is being continuously improved even to-
day; their production is a sizeable part of modern industrial activity, examples being
electrical measuring apparatus and diagnostic tools for medicine, chemistry and biology.
Instruments can be as small as a tip of a few tungsten atoms to produce an electron beam
of a few volts, and as large as 27 km in circumference, producing an electron beam with
more than 100 GV effective accelerating voltage. Instruments have been built that con-
tain and measure the coldest known matter in the universe. Other instruments can mea-
sure length variations of much less than a proton diameter over kilometre long distances.
Instruments have been put deep inside the Earth, on the Moon, on several planets, and
have been sent outside the solar system.
In this walk, instruments are not described; many good textbooks on this topic are

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 235, Ref. 236 available. Most observations collected by instruments are not mentioned here. The most
important results in physics are recorded in standard publications, such as the Landolt–
Ref. 237 Börnstein series and the physics journals (Appendix E gives a general overview of infor-
mation sources).
Will there be significant new future observations in the domain of the fundamen-
tals of motion? At present, in this specific domain, even though the number of physicists
and publications is at an all-time high, the number of new experimental discoveries has
been steadily diminishing for many years and is now fairly small. The sophistication and
investment necessary to obtain new results has become extremely high. In many cases,
measuring instruments have reached the limits of technology, of budgets or even those
of nature. The number of new experiments that produce results showing no deviation
from theoretical predictions is increasing steadily. The number of historical papers that
try to enliven dull or stalled fields of enquiry are increasing. Claims of new effects which
turn out to be false, due to measurement errors, self-deceit or even fraud have become
so frequent that scepticism has become a common response. Although in many domains
of science, including physics, discoveries are still expected, on the fundamentals of mo-
tion the arguments just presented seem to show that new observations are only a remote
possibility. The task of collecting observations on the foundations of motion (though not
on other topics of physics) seems to be complete. Indeed, most observations described
here were obtained before the end of the twentieth century. We are not too early with
our walk. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

“
Measure what is measurable; make measurable

”
what is not.
Ref. 238 Wrongly attributed to Galileo.

Are all physical observables known?

“
Scientists have odious manners, except when
you prop up their theory; then you can borrow

”
money from them.
Mark Twain

The most practical way to communicate observations was developed a long time ago:
by measurements. A measurement allows effective communication of an observation to
254 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

other times and places. This is not always as trivial as it sounds; for example, in the Mid-
dle Ages people were unable to compare precisely the ‘coldness’ of the winters of two
different years! The invention of the thermometer provided a reliable solution to this re-
quirement. A measurement is thus the classification of an observation into a standard set
of observations; to put it simply, a measurement is a comparison with a standard. This
definition of a measurement is precise and practical, and has therefore been universally
adopted. For example, when the length of a house is measured, this aspect of the house
is classified into a certain set of standard lengths, namely the set of lengths defined by
multiples of a unit. A unit is the abstract name of the standard for a certain observable.
Numbers and units allow the most precise and most effective communication of mea-
surement results.
For all measurable quantities, practical standard units and measurement methods
have been defined; the main ones are listed and defined in Appendix A. All units are

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
derived from a few fundamental ones; this is ultimately due to our limited number of
senses: length, time and mass are related to sight, hearing and touch. Our limited num-
ber of senses is, in turn, due to the small number of observables of nature.
We call observables the different measurable aspects of a system. Most observables,
such as size, speed, position, etc. can be described by numbers, and in this case they are
quantities, i.e., multiples of some standard unit. Observables are usually abbreviated by
(mathematical) symbols, usually letters from some alphabet. For example, the symbol c
commonly specifies the velocity of light. For most observables, standard symbols have
been defined by international bodies.* The symbols for the observables that describe the
state of an object are also called variables. Variables on which other observables depend
are often called parameters. (Remember: a parameter is a variable constant.) For exam-
ple, the speed of light is a constant, the position a variable, the temperature is often a
parameter, on which the length of an object, for example, can depend. Note that not all
observables are quantities; in particular, parities are not multiples of any unit.
Today the task of defining tools for the communication of observations can be con-
sidered complete. (For quantities, this is surely correct; for parity-type observables there
could be a few examples to be discovered.) This is a simple and strong statement. Even
the BIPM, the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, has stopped adding new units.**
As a note, the greatness of a physicist can be ranked by the number of observables he
has introduced. Even a great scientist such as Einstein, who discovered many ‘laws’ of na-
ture, only introduced one new observable, namely the metric tensor for the description Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

of gravity. Following this criterion – as well as several others – Maxwell is the most impor-
tant physicist, having introduced electric and magnetic fields, the vector potential, and
several other material dependent observables. For Heisenberg, Dirac and Schrödinger,
the wave function describing electron motion could be counted as half an observable (as
it is a quantity necessary to calculate measurement results, but not itself an observable).

* All mathematical symbols used in this walk, together with the alphabets from which they are taken, are
listed in Appendix A on notation. They follow international standards whenever they are defined. The stan-
dard symbols of the physical quantities, as defined by the International Standards Organization (ISO), the
International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and the International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry (IUPAC), can be found for example in the bible, i.e., the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics,
CRC Press, 1992.
** The last, the katal or mol/s, was introduced in 1999. Physical units are presented in Appendix A.
observations 255

Incidentally, even the introduction of any term that is taken up by others is a rare event;
‘gas’, ‘entropy’ and only a few others are such examples. It has always been much more
difficult to discover an observable than to discover a ‘law’; usually, observables are devel-
oped by many people cooperating together. Indeed, many ‘laws’ bear people’s names, but
almost no observables.
If the list of observables necessary to describe nature is complete, does this mean that
all the patterns or rules of nature are known? No; in the history of physics, observables
were usually defined and measured long before the precise rules connecting them were
found. For example, all observables used in the description of motion itself, such as time,
position and its derivatives, momentum, energy and all the thermodynamic quantities,
were defined before or during the nineteenth century, whereas the most precise versions
of the patterns or ‘laws’ of nature connecting them, special relativity and non-equilibrium
thermodynamics, have been found only in the twentieth century. The same is true for all

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
observables connected to electromagnetic interaction. The corresponding patterns of na-
ture, quantum electrodynamics, was discovered long after the corresponding observables.
The observables that were discovered last were the fields of the strong and the weak nu-
clear interactions. Also, in this case, the patterns of nature were formulated much later.*

Do observations take time?

An observation is an interaction with some part of nature leading to the production of
a record, such as a memory in the brain, data on a tape, ink on paper, or any other fixed
pattern applied to a support. The necessary irreversible interaction process is often called
writing the record. Obviously, writing takes a certain amount of time; zero interaction
time would give no record at all. Therefore any recording device, including our brain,
always records some time average of the observation, however short it may be.
What we call a fixed image, be it a mental image or a photograph, is always the time
average of a moving situation. Without time averaging, we would have no fixed mem-
ories. On the other hand, any time averaging introduces a blur that hides certain details;
and in our quest for precision, at a certain moment, these details are bound to become
important. The discovery of these details will begin in the upcoming part of the walk, the
volume that explores quantum theory. In the final part of our mountain ascent we will
discover that there is a shortest possible averaging time. Observations of that short dura-
tion show so many details that even the distinction between particles and empty space
is lost. In contrast, our concepts of everyday life appear only after relatively long time
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

averages. The search for an average-free description of nature is one of the big challenges
of our adventure.

* Is it possible to talk about observations at all? It is many a philosopher’s hobby to discuss whether there
actually is an example for an ‘Elementarsatz’ – an atomic fact – mentioned by Wittgenstein in his Tractatus.
There seems to be at least one that fits: Differences exist. It is a simple sentence; in the final part of our walk,
it will play a central role.
 256 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

Is induction a problem in physics?

“
Nur gesetzmäßige Zusammenhänge sind

”
denkbar.*
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 6.361

“
There is a tradition of opposition between
adherents of induction and of deduction. In my
view it would be just as sensible for the two

”
ends of a worm to quarrel.
Alfred North Whitehead

Induction is the usual term used for the act of making, from a small and finite number
of experiments, general conclusions about the outcome of all possible experiments per-
formed in other places, or at other times. In a sense, it is the technical term for sticking
out one’s neck, which is necessary in every scientific statement. Induction has been a ma-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
jor topic of discussion for science commentators. Frequently one finds the remark that
knowledge in general, and physics in particular, relies on induction for its statements.
According to some, induction is a type of hidden belief that underlies all sciences but at
the same time contrasts with them.
To avoid wasting energy, we make only a few remarks. The first can be deduced from
a simple experiment. Try to convince a critic of induction to put their hand into a fire.
Nobody who honestly calls induction a belief should conclude from a few unfortunate
experiences in the past that such an act would also be dangerous in the future... In short,
somehow induction works.
A second point is that physical universal statements are always openly stated; they are
never hidden. The refusal to put one’s hand into a fire is a consequence of the invariance
of observations under time and space translations. Indeed, general statements of this
type form the very basis of physics. However, no physical statement is a belief only be-
cause it is universal; it always remains open to experimental checks. Physical induction is
not a hidden method of argumentation, it is an explicit part of experimental statements.
Vol. I, page 243 In fact, the complete list of ‘inductive’ statements used in physics is well known.. These
statements are so important that they have been given a special name: they are called sym-
metries. The list of all known symmetries of nature is the candidate list for all inductive
statements used in physics.
Perhaps the best argument for the use of induction is that there is no way to avoid it
when one is thinking. There is no way to think, to talk or to remember without using
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

concepts, i.e., without assuming that most objects or entities have the same properties
over time. There is also no way to communicate with others without assuming that the
observations made from the other’s viewpoint are similar to one’s own. There is no way
to think without symmetry and induction. Indeed, the concepts related to symmetry and
Page 219 induction, such as space and time, belong to the fundamental concepts of language. The
Ref. 233 only sentences which do not use induction, the sentences of logic, do not have any con-
tent (Tractatus, 6.11). Indeed, without induction, we cannot classify observations at all!
Challenge 287 s Evolution has given us memory and a brain because induction works. To criticize in-
duction is not to criticize natural sciences, it is to criticize the use of thought in general.

* ‘Only connexions that are subject to law are thinkable.’

 the quest for precision and its implications 257

We should never take too seriously people who themselves do what they criticize in oth-
ers; sporadically pointing out the ridicule of this endeavour is just the right amount of
attention they deserve.
The topic could be concluded here, were it not for some interesting developments in
modern physics that put two additional nails in the coffin of arguments against induction.
First, in physics whenever we make statements about all experiments, all times or all
velocities, such statements are actually about a finite number of cases. We know today that
infinities, both in size and in number, do not occur in nature. The infinite number of cases
appearing in statements in classical physics and in quantum mechanics are apparent, not
real, and due to human simplifications and approximations. Statements that a certain
experiment gives the same result ‘everywhere’ or that a given equation is correct for ‘all
times’, always encompass only a finite number of examples. A great deal of otherwise
often instinctive repulsion to such statements is avoided in this way. In the sciences, as

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
well as in this book, ‘all’ never means an infinite number of cases.
Finally, it is well known that extrapolating from a few cases to many is false when the
few cases are independent of each other. However, this conclusion is correct if the cases
are interdependent. From the fact that somebody found a penny on the street on two
subsequent months, cannot follow that he will find one the coming month. Induction
is only correct if we know that all cases have similar behaviour, e.g. because they follow
from the same origin. For example, if a neighbour with a hole in his pocket carries his
salary across that street once a month, and the hole always opens at that point because of
the beginning of stairs, then the conclusion would be correct. It turns out that the results
of modern physics encountered in the final part of our walk show that all situations in na-
ture are indeed interdependent, and thus we prove in detail that what is called ‘induction’
is in fact a logically correct conclusion.

“
In the progress of physics, the exception often

”
turned out to be the general case.

the quest for precision and its implications

“
Der Zweck der Philosophie ist die logische

”
Klärung der Gedanken.*
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 4.112
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

To talk well about motion means to talk precisely. Precision requires avoiding three com-
mon mistakes in the description of nature.
First, concepts should never have a contradiction built into their definition. For exam-
ple, any phenomenon occurring in nature evidently is a ‘natural’ phenomenon; therefore,
to talk about either ‘supernatural’ phenomena or ‘unnatural’ phenomena is a mistake
that nobody interested in motion should let go unchallenged; such terms contain a log-
ical contradiction. Naturally, all observations are natural. Incidentally, there is a reward
Ref. 239 of more than a million dollars for anybody proving the opposite. In over twenty years,
nobody has yet been able to collect it.
* ‘The object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thoughts.’
 258 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

Second, concepts should not have unclear or constantly changing definitions. Their
content and their limits must be kept constant and explicit. The opposite of this is often
Ref. 240 encountered in crackpots or populist politicians; it distinguishes them from more reliable
thinkers. Physicists can also fall into the trap; for example, there is, of course, only one
single (physical) universe, as even the name says. To talk about more than one universe
is an increasingly frequent error.
Third, concepts should not be used outside their domain of application. It is easy to
succumb to the temptation to transfer results from physics to philosophy without check-
ing the content. An example is the question: ‘Why do particles follow the laws of nature?’
The flaw in the question is due to a misunderstanding of the term ‘laws of nature’ and
to a confusion with the laws of the state. If nature were governed by ‘laws’, they could be
changed by parliament. Remembering that ‘laws of nature’ simply means ‘pattern’, ‘prop-
erty’ or ‘description of behaviour’, and rephrasing the question correctly as ‘Why do parti-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
cles behave in the way we describe their behaviour?’ one can recognize its senselessness.
In the course of our walk, we will often be tempted by these three mistakes. A few
such situations follow, with the ways of avoiding them.

“
Consistency is the last refuge of the

”
unimaginative.
Oscar Wilde

What are interactions? – No emergence

“
The whole is always more than the sum of its

”
parts.
Aristotle, Metaphysica, 10f–1045a.

In the physical description of nature, the whole is always more than the sum of its parts.
Actually, the difference between the whole and the sum of its parts is so important that
it has a special name: the interaction between the parts. For example, the energy of the
whole minus the sum of the energies of its parts is called the energy of interaction. In fact,
the study of interactions is the main topic of physics. In other words, physics is concerned
primarily with the difference between the parts and the whole, contrary to what is often
suggested by bad journalists or other sloppy thinkers.
Note that the term ‘interaction’ is based on the general observation that anything that
affects anything else is, in turn, affected by it; interactions are reciprocal. For example, if Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

one body changes the momentum of another, then the second changes the momentum
of the first by the same (negative) amount. The reciprocity of interactions is a result of
conservation ‘laws’. The reciprocity is also the reason that somebody who uses the term
‘interaction’ is considered a heretic by monotheistic religions, as theologians regularly
point out. These belief experts regularly stress that such a reciprocity implicitly denies
Challenge
Ref.288
241s the immutability of the deity. (Are they correct?)
The application of the definition of interaction also settles the frequently heard ques-
tion of whether in nature there are ‘emergent’ properties, i.e., properties of systems that
cannot be deduced from the properties of their parts and interactions. By definition,
there are no emergent properties. ‘Emergent’ properties can only appear if interactions
Vol. I, page 358 are approximated or neglected. The idea of ‘emergent’ properties is a product of minds
with restricted horizons, unable to see or admit the richness of consequences that gen-
 the quest for precision and its implications 259

Ref. 242 eral principles can produce. In defending the idea of emergence, one belittles the impor-
tance of interactions, working, in a seemingly innocuous, maybe unconscious, but in fact
sneaky way, against the use of reason in the study of nature. ‘Emergence’ is a belief.
The simple definition of interaction given above sounds elementary, but it leads to
surprising conclusions. Take the atomic idea of Democritus in its modern form: nature
is made of vacuum and of particles. The first consequence is the paradox of incomplete
description: experiments show that there are interactions between vacuum and particles.
However, interactions are differences between parts and the whole, in this case between
vacuum and particles on the one hand, and the whole on the other. We thus have deduced
that nature is not made of vacuum and particles alone.
The second consequence is the paradox of overcomplete description: experiments also
show that interactions happen through exchange of particles. However, we have counted
particles already as basic building blocks. Does this mean that the description of nature

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 289 s by vacuum and particles is an overdescription, counting things twice?
Vol. VI, page 78 We will resolve both paradoxes in the last part of our mountain ascent.

What is existence?

“
You know what I like most? Rhetorical

”
questions.

Ref. 243 Assume a friend tells you ‘I have seen a grampus today!’ You would naturally ask what it
looks like. What answer do we expect? We expect something like ‘It’s an animal with a
certain number of heads similar to a X, attached to a body like a Y , with wings like a Z, it
make noises like a U and it felt like a V ’ – the letters denoting some other animal or object.
Generally speaking, in the case of an object, this scene from Darwin’s voyage to South
America shows that in order to talk to each other, we first need certain basic, common
concepts (‘animal’, ‘head’, ‘wing’, etc.). In addition, for the definition of a new entity we
need a characterization of its parts (‘size’, ‘colour’), of the way these parts relate to each
other, and of the way that the whole interacts with the outside world (‘feel’, ‘sound’). In
other words, for an object to exist, we must be able to give a list of relations with the
outside world. An object exists if we can interact with it. (Is observation sufficient to
Challenge 290 s determine existence?)
For an abstract concept, such as ‘time’ or ‘superstring’, the definition of existence has to
be refined only marginally: (physical) existence is the effectiveness to describe interactions
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

accurately. This definition applies to trees, time, virtual particles, imaginary numbers,
entropy and so on. It is thus pointless to discuss whether a physical concept ‘exists’ or
whether it is ‘only’ an abstraction used as a tool for descriptions of observations. The two
possibilities coincide. The point of dispute can only be whether the description provided
by a concept is or is not precise.
For mathematical concepts, existence has a somewhat different meaning: a mathemat-
ical concept is said to exist if it has no built-in contradictions. This is a much weaker re-
quirement than physical existence. It is thus incorrect to deduce physical existence from
mathematical existence. This is a frequent error; from Pythagoras’ times onwards it was
often stated that since mathematical concepts exist, they must therefore also exist in na-
ture. Historically, this error occurred in the statements that planet orbits ‘must’ be circles,
 260 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

that planet shapes ‘must’ be spheres or that physical space ‘must’ be Euclidean. Today this
is still happening with the statements that space and time ‘must’ be continuous and that
nature ‘must’ be described by sets. In all these cases, the reasoning is wrong. In fact, the
continuous attempts to deduce physical existence from mathematical existence hide that
the opposite is correct: a short reflection shows that mathematical existence is a special
Challenge 291 s case of physical existence.
We note that there is also a different type of existence, namely psychological existence.
A concept can be said to exist psychologically if it describes human internal experience.
Thus a concept can exist psychologically even if it does not exist physically. It is easy to
Challenge 292 s find examples from the religions or from systems that describe inner experiences. Also
myths, legends and comic strips define concepts that only exist psychologically, not phys-
ically. In our walk, whenever we talk about existence, we mean physical existence only.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Do things exist?

“
Wer Wissenschaft und Kunst besitzt,
Hat auch Religion;
Wer jene beiden nicht besitzt,

”
Der habe Religion.*
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Zahme Xenien,
IX

Using the above definition of existence, the question becomes either trivial or imprecise.
It is trivial in the sense that things necessarily exist if they describe observations, since
they were defined that way. But perhaps the questioner meant to ask: Does reality exist
independently of the observer?
Using the above, this question can be rephrased: ‘Do the things we observe exist in-
dependently of observation?’ After thousands of years of extensive discussion by profes-
sional philosophers, logicians, sophists and amateurs the answer is the same: it is ‘Yes’,
because the world did not change after great-grandmother died. The disappearance of
observers does not seem to change the universe. These experimental findings can be cor-
roborated by inserting the definition of ‘existence’ into the question, which then becomes:
‘Do the things we observe interact with other aspects of nature when they do not interact
with people?’ The answer is evident. Several popular books on quantum mechanics fan-
tasize about the importance of the ‘mind’ of observers – whatever this term may mean;
they provide pretty examples of authors who see themselves as irreplaceable, seemingly
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

having lost the ability to see themselves as part of a larger entity.

Of course there are other opinions about the existence of things. The most famous is
that of the Irishman George Berkeley (1685–1753) who rightly understood that thoughts
based on observation alone, if spread, would undermine the basis of the religious orga-
nization of which he was one of the top managers. To counteract this tendency, in 1710
he published A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, a book denying
the existence of the material world. This reactionary book became widely known in like-
minded circles (it was a time when few books were written) even though it is based on
a fundamentally flawed idea: it assumes that the concept of ‘existence’ and that of ‘world’
Challenge 293 e can be defined independently. (You may be curious to try the feat.)

* He who possesses science and art, also has religion; he who does not possess the two, better have religion.
the quest for precision and its implications 261

Berkeley had two aims when he wrote his book. First, he tried to deny the capacity of
people to arrive at judgements on nature or on any other matter from their own experience.
Second, he also tried to deny the ontological reach of science, i.e., the conclusions one can
draw from experience on the questions about human existence. Even though Berkeley is
generally despised nowadays, he actually achieved his main aim: he was the originator of
the statement that science and religion do not contradict, but complement each other. By
religion, Berkeley did not mean either morality or spirituality; every scientist is a friend
of both of these. By religion, Berkeley meant that the standard set of beliefs for which he
stood is above the deductions of reason. This widely cited statement, itself a belief, is still
held dearly by many even to this day. However, when searching for the origin of motion,
all beliefs stand in the way, including this one. Carrying beliefs is like carrying oversized
baggage: it prevents one from reaching the top of Motion Mountain.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Does the void exist?

“ ”
Natura abhorret vacuum.
Antiquity

“
Teacher: ‘What is found between the nucleus
and the electrons?’

”
Student: ‘Nothing, only air.’

In philosophical discussions ‘void’ is usually defined as ‘non-existence’. It then becomes

a game of words to ask for a yes or no answer to the question ‘Does the void exist?’ The
expression ‘the existence of non-existence’ is either a contradiction of terms or is at least
unclearly defined; the topic would not seem to be of great interest. However, similar ques-
tions do appear in physics, and a physicist should be prepared to notice the difference
of this from the previous one. Does a vacuum exist? Does empty space exist? Or is the
world ‘full’ everywhere, as the more conservative biologist Aristotle maintained? In the
past, people have been killed for giving an answer that was unacceptable to authorities.
It is not obvious, but it is nevertheless important, that the modern physical concepts
of ‘vacuum’ and ‘empty space’ are not the same as the philosophical concept of ‘void’.
‘Vacuum’ is not defined as ‘non-existence’; on the contrary, it is defined as the absence of
matter and radiation. Vacuum is an entity with specific observable properties, such as its
number of dimensions, its electromagnetic constants, its curvature, its vanishing mass, Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

its interaction with matter through curvature and through its influence on decay, etc. (A
table of the properties of a physical vacuum is given on page 118.) Historically, it took a
long time to clarify the distinction between a physical vacuum and a philosophical void.
People confused the two concepts and debated the existence of the vacuum for more
than two thousand years. The first to state that it existed, with the courage to try to look
through the logical contradiction at the underlying physical reality, were Leucippus and
Democritus, the most daring thinkers of antiquity. Their speculations in turn elicited the
reactionary response of Aristotle, who rejected the concept of vacuum. Aristotle and his
disciples propagated the belief about nature’s horror of the vacuum.
The discussion changed completely in the seventeenth century, when the first experi-
 262 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

mental method to realize a vacuum was devised by Torricelli.* Using mercury in a glass
Challenge 294 s tube, he produced the first laboratory vacuum. Can you guess how? Arguments against
the existence of the vacuum again appeared around 1900, when it was argued that light
needed ‘aether’ for its propagation, using almost the same arguments that had been used
two hundred years earlier, but in different words. However, experiments failed to detect
any of the supposed properties of this unclearly defined concept. Experiments in the field
of general relativity showed that a vacuum can move – though in a completely different
way from the way in which the aether was expected to move – that the vacuum can be
bent, but it then tends to return to its shape. Then, in the late twentieth century, quan-
tum field theory again argued against the existence of a true vacuum and in favour of
a space full of virtual particle–antiparticle pairs, culminating in the discussions around
Vol. VI, page 53 the cosmological constant.
The question ‘Does the void exist?’ is settled conclusively only in the last part of this

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Vol. VI, page 80 walk, in a rather surprising way.

Is nature infinite?

“
It is certain and evident to our senses, that in
the world some things are in motion. Now
whatever is moved is moved by another... If that
by which it is moved be itself moved, then this
also needs to be to be moved by another, and
that by another again. But this cannot go on to
infinity, because then there would be no first
mover and consequently, no other mover,
seeing that subsequent movers move only
inasmuch as they are moved by the first mover,
as the staff moves only because it is moved by
the hand. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a
first mover, moved by no other; and this

”
everyone understands to be god.
Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274) Summa
Theologiae, I, q. 2.

Most of the modern discussions about set theory centre on ways to defining the term ‘set’
for various types of infinite collections. For the description of motion this leads to two
questions: Is the universe infinite? Is it a set? We begin with the first one. Illuminating
the question from various viewpoints, we will quickly discover that it is both simple and
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

imprecise.
Do we need infinite quantities to describe nature? Certainly, in classical and quantum
physics we do, e.g. in the case of space-time. Is this necessary? We can say already a few
things.
Any set can be finite in one aspect and infinite in another. For example, it is possible
to proceed along a finite mathematical distance in an infinite amount of time. It is also
possible to travel along any distance whatsoever in a given amount of mathematical time,
making infinite speed an option, even if relativity is taken into account, as was explained

* Evangelista Torricelli (b. 1608 Faenza, d. 1647 Florence), Italian physicist, pupil and successor to Galileo.
The (non-SI) pressure unit ‘torr’ is named after him.
 the quest for precision and its implications 263

Vol. II, page 44 earlier.

Despite the use of infinities, scientists are still limited. We saw above that many types
Page 225 of infinities exist. However, no infinity larger than the cardinality of the real numbers
plays a role in physics. No space of functions or phase space in classical physics and no
Ref. 228 Hilbert space in quantum theory has higher cardinality. Despite the ability of mathemati-
cians to define much larger kinds of infinities, the description of nature does not need
them. Even the most elaborate descriptions of motion use only the infinity of the real
numbers.
But is it possible at all to say of nature or of one of its aspects that it is indeed infi-
Challenge 295 s nite? Can such a statement be compatible with observations? No. It is evident that every
statement that claims that something in nature is infinite is a belief, and is not backed by
observations. We shall patiently eliminate this belief in the following.
The possibility of introducing false infinities make any discussion on whether human-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 229 ity is near the ‘end of science’ rather difficult. The amount of knowledge and the time
required to discover it are unrelated. Depending on the speed with which one advances
through it, the end of science can be near or unreachable. In practice, scientists have
thus the power to make science infinite or not, e.g. by reducing the speed of progress. As
scientists need funding for their work, one can guess the stand that they usually take.
In short, the universe cannot be proven to be infinite. But can it be finite? At first
sight, this would be the only possibility left. (It is not, as we shall see.) But even though
many have tried to describe the universe as finite in all its aspects, no one has yet been
successful. In order to understand the problems that they encountered, we continue with
the other question mentioned above:

Is the universe a set?

A simple observation leads us to question whether the universe is a set. For 2500 years
Ref. 244 it has been said that the universe is made of vacuum and particles. This implies that the
universe is made of a certain number of particles. Perhaps the only person to have taken
this conclusion to the limit was the English astrophysicist Arthur Eddington (1882–1944),
who wrote:

Ref. 245 I believe there are 15,747,724,136,275,002,577,605,653,961,181,555,468,044,

717,914,527,116,709,366,231,425,076,185,631,031,296 protons in the universe Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

and the same number of electrons.

Eddington was ridiculed over and over again for this statement and for his beliefs that
lead up to it. His arguments were indeed based on his personal preferences for certain
pet numbers. However, we should not laugh too loudly. In fact, for 2500 years almost all
scientists have thought along the same line, the only difference being that they have left
the precise number unspecified! In fact, any other number put into the above sentence
would be equally ridiculous. Avoiding specifying it is just a coward’s way of avoiding
looking at this foggy aspect of the particle description of nature.
Is there a particle number at all in nature? If you smiled at Eddington’s statement, or
if you shook your head over it, it may mean that you instinctively believe that nature
is not a set. Is this so? Whenever we define the universe as the totality of events, or as
 264 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

the totality of all space-time points and objects, we imply that space-time points can be
distinguished, that objects can be distinguished and that both can be distinguished from
each other. We thus assume that nature is separable and a set. But is this correct? The
question is important. The ability to distinguish space-time points and particles from
each other is often called locality. Thus the universe is separable or is a set if and only if
our description of it is local.* And in everyday life, locality is observed without exception.
In daily life we also observe that nature is separable and a whole at the same time.
It is a ‘many that can be thought as one’: in daily life nature is a set. Indeed, the basic
characteristic of nature is its diversity. In the world around us we observe changes and
differences; we observe that nature is separable. Furthermore, all aspects of nature belong
together: there are relations between these aspects, often called ‘laws,’ stating that the
different aspects of nature form a whole, usually called the universe.
In other words, the possibility of describing observations with the help of ‘laws’ fol-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
lows from our experience of the separability of nature. The more precisely the separability
is specified, the more precisely the ‘laws’ can be formulated. Indeed, if nature were not
separable or were not a unity, we could not explain why stones fall downwards. Thus we
are led to speculate that we should be able to deduce all ‘laws’ from the fact that nature
is separable.
In addition, only the separability allows us to describe nature at all. A description is a
classification, that is, a mapping between certain aspects of nature and certain concepts.
All concepts are sets and relations. Since the universe is separable, it can be described
with the help of sets and relations. Both are separable entities with distinguishable parts.
A precise description is commonly called an understanding. In short, the universe is
comprehensible only because it is separable.
Moreover, only the separability of the universe makes our brain such a good instru-
ment. The brain is built from a large number of connected components, and only the
brain’s separability allows it to function. In other words, thinking is only possible because
nature is separable.
Finally, only the separability of the universe allows us to distinguish reference frames,
and thus to define all symmetries at the basis of physical descriptions. And in the same
way that separability is thus necessary for covariant descriptions, the unity of nature is
necessary for invariant descriptions. In other words, the so-called ‘laws’ of nature are
based on the experience that nature is both separable and unifiable – that it is a set.
These arguments seem overwhelmingly to prove that the universe is a set. However, Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

these arguments apply only to everyday experience, everyday dimensions and everyday
energies. Is nature a set also outside the domains of daily life? Are objects different at all
energies, even when they are looked at with the highest precision possible? We have three
open issues left: the issue of the number of particles in the universe; the circular defini-
tion of space, time and matter; and the issue as to whether describing nature as made of
particles and void is an overdescription, an underdescription, or neither. These three is-
sues make us doubt whether objects are countable at all energies. We will discover in the
Vol. VI, page 99 final part of our mountain ascent that this is not the case in nature. The consequences will

* In quantum mechanics also other, more detailed definitions of locality are used. We will mention them
Vol. IV, page 131 in the quantum part of this text. The issue mentioned here is a different, more fundamental one, and not
connected with that of quantum theory.
 the quest for precision and its implications 265

be extensive and fascinating. As an example, try to answer the following: if the universe
Challenge 296 s is not a set, what does that mean for space and time?

Does the universe exist?

“
Each progressive spirit is opposed by a

”
thousand men appointed to guard the past.
Maurice Maeterlink

Following the definition above, existence of a concept means its usefulness to describe
interactions. There are two common definitions of the concept of ‘universe’. The first is
the totality of all matter, energy and space-time. But this usage results in a strange con-
sequence: since nothing can interact with this totality, we cannot claim that the universe
exists.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
So let us take the more restricted view, namely that the universe is only the totality of
all matter and energy. But also in this case it is impossible to interact with the universe.
Challenge 297 s Can you give a few arguments to support this?
In short, we arrive at the conclusion that the universe does not exist. We will indeed
Vol. VI, page 103 confirm this result in more detail later on in our walk. In particular, since the universe
does not exist, it does not make sense to even try to answer why it exists. The best answer
Ref. 187 might be: because of furiously sleeping, colourless green ideas.

What is creation?

“
(Gigni) De nihilo nihilum, in nihilum nil posse

”
reverti.*
Ref. 246 Persius, Satira, III, v. 83-84.

“
Anaxagoras, discovering the ancient theory that
nothing comes from nothing, decided to
abolish the concept of creation and introduced
in its place that of discrimination; he did not
hesitate to state, in effect, that all things are
mixed to the others and that discrimination

”
produces their growth.
Ref. 247 Anonymous fragment, Middle Ages.

The term ‘creation’ is often heard when talking about nature. It is used in various contexts
with different meanings.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

One speaks of creation as the characterization of human actions, such as observed

in an artist painting or a secretary typing. Obviously, this is one type of change. In the
classification of change introduced at the beginning of our walk, the changes cited are
movements of objects, such as the electrons in the brain, the molecules in the muscles,
the material of the paint, or the electrons inside the computer. This type of creation is
thus a special case of motion.
One also speaks of creation in the biological or social sense, such as in ‘the creation
of life’, or ‘creation of a business’, or ‘the creation of civilization’. These events are forms of
growth or of self-organization; again, they are special cases of motion.

* Nothing (can appear) from nothing, nothing can disappear into nothing.
 266 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

Physicists one often say that a lamp ‘creates’ light or that a stone falling into a pond
‘creates’ water ripples. Similarly, they talk of ‘pair creation’ of matter and antimatter. It
Vol. IV, page 166 was one of the important discoveries of physics that all these processes are special types
Vol. V, page 77 of motion, namely excitation of fields.
In popular writing on cosmology, ‘creation’ is also a term commonly applied, or bet-
ter misapplied, to the big bang. However, the expansion of the universe is a pure example
of motion, and contrary to a frequent misunderstanding, the description of the big bang
contains only processes that fall into one of the previous three categories, as shown in the
Vol. II, page 226 relevant chapter in general relativity. The big bang is not an example of creation. Quan-
tum cosmology provides more reasons to support the fact that the naive term ‘creation’
Vol. II, page 225 is not applicable to the big bang. First, it turns out that the big bang was not an event.
Second, it was not a beginning. Third, it did not provide a choice from a large set of pos-
sibilities. The big bang does not have any properties attributed to the term ‘creation’.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In summary, we conclude that in all cases, creation is a type of motion. (The same
applies to the notions of ‘disappearance’ and ‘annihilation’.) No other type of creation is
observed in nature. In particular, the naive sense of ‘creation’, namely ‘appearance from
nothing’ – ex nihilo in Latin – is never observed in nature. All observed types of ‘cre-
ation’ require space, time, forces, energy and matter for their realization. Creation re-
quires something to exist already, in order to take place. In addition, precise exploration
shows that no physical process and no example of motion has a beginning. Our walk
will show us that nature does not allow us to pinpoint beginnings. This property alone
is sufficient to show that ‘creation’ is not a concept applicable to what happens in nature.
Worse still, creation is applied only to physical systems; we will discover that nature is
not a system and that systems do not exist.
The opposite of creation is conservation. The central statements of physics are conser-
vation theorems: for energy, mass, linear momentum, angular momentum, charge, etc.
In fact, every conservation ‘law’ is a detailed and accurate rejection of the concept of cre-
ation. The ancient Greek idea of atoms already contains this rejection. Atomists stated
that there is no creation and no disappearance, but only motion of atoms. Every trans-
formation of matter is a motion of atoms. In other words, the idea of the atom was a
direct consequence of the negation of creation. It took humanity over 2000 years before
Vol. I, page 285 it stopped locking people in jail for talking about atoms, as had happened to Galileo.
However, there is one exception in which the naive concept of creation does apply:
it describes what magicians do on stage. When a magician makes a rabbit appear from Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

nowhere, we indeed experience ‘creation’ from nothing. At its best such magic is a form
of entertainment, at its worst, a misuse of gullibility. The idea that the universe results
from either of these two does not seem appealing; on second thought though, maybe
looking at the universe as the ultimate entertainment could open up a fresh and more
productive approach to life.
Voltaire (1694–1778) popularized an argument against creation often used in the past:
we do not know whether creation has taken place or not. Today the situation is different:
we do know that it has not taken place, because creation is a type of motion and, as we
will see in the concluding part of our mountain ascent, motion did not exist near the big
bang.
Have you ever heard the expression ‘creation of the laws of nature’? It is one of the
most common examples of disinformation. First of all, this expression confuses the ‘laws’
 the quest for precision and its implications 267

with nature itself. A description is not the same as the thing itself; everybody knows that
giving their beloved a description of a rose is different from giving an actual rose. Second,
the expression implies that nature is the way it is because it is somehow ‘forced’ to follow
the ‘laws’ – a rather childish and, what is more, incorrect view. And third, the expression
assumes that it is possible to ‘create’ descriptions of nature. But a ‘law’ is a description,
and a description by definition cannot be created: so the expression makes no sense at
all. The expression ‘creation of the laws of nature’ is the epitome of confused thinking.
It may well be that calling a great artist ‘creative’ or ‘divine’, as was common during
the Renaissance, is not blasphemy, but simply an encouragement to the gods to try to
do as well. In fact, whenever one uses the term ‘creation’ to mean anything other than
some form of motion, one is discarding both observations and human reason. It is one
of the last pseudo-concepts of our modern time; no expert on motion should forget this.
It is impossible to escalate Motion Mountain without getting rid of ‘creation’. This is not

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Vol. V, page 243 easy. We will encounter the next attempt to bring back creation in the study of quantum
theory.

“
Every act of creation is first of all an act of

”
destruction.
Pablo Picasso

Is nature designed?

“
In the beginning the universe was created. This
has made a lot of people very angry and has

”
been widely regarded as a bad move.
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of
the Universe.

The tendency to infer the creation of an object from its simple existence is widespread.
Some people jump to this conclusion every time they see a beautiful landscape. This habit
stems from the triple prejudice that a beautiful scene implies a complex description, in
turn implying complex building instructions, and therefore pointing to an underlying
design.
This chain of thought contains several mistakes. First, in general, beauty is not a con-
sequence of complexity. Usually it is the opposite: indeed, the study of chaos and of self-
Ref. 248 organization demonstrates how beautifully complex shapes and patterns can be gener- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vol. I, page 348 ated with extremely simple descriptions. True, for most human artefacts, complex de-
scriptions indeed imply complex building processes; a personal computer is a good ex-
ample of a complex object with a complex production process. But in nature, this connec-
tion does not apply. We have seen above that even the amount of information needed to
construct a human body is about a million times smaller than the information stored in
the brain alone. Similar results have been found for plant architecture and for many other
examples of patterns in nature. The simple descriptions behind the apparent complexi-
ties of nature have been and are still being uncovered by the study of self-organization,
chaos, turbulence and fractal shapes. In nature, complex structures derive from simple
processes. Beware of anyone who says that nature has ‘infinite’ or ‘high complexity’: first
of all, complexity is not a measurable entity, despite many attempts to quantify it. In ad-
dition, all known complex system can be described by (relatively) few parameters and
 268 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

simple equations. Finally, nothing in nature is infinite.

The second mistake in the argument for design is to link a description with an ‘instruc-
tion’, and maybe even to imagine that some unknown ‘intelligence’ is somehow pulling
the strings of the world’s stage. The study of nature has consistently shown that there is
no hidden intelligence and no instruction behind the processes of nature. An instruction
is a list of orders to an executioner. But there are no orders in nature, and no execution-
ers. There are no ‘laws’ of nature, only descriptions of processes. Nobody is building a
tree; the tree is an outcome of the motion of molecules making it up. The genes in the
tree do contain information; but no molecule is given any instructions. What seem to be
instructions to us are just natural movements of molecules and energy, described by the
same patterns taking place in non-living systems. The whole idea of instruction – like
that of ‘law’ of nature – is an ideology, born from an analogy with monarchy or even
tyranny, and a typical anthropomorphism.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
The third mistake in the argument for design is the suggestion that a complex descrip-
tion for a system implies an underlying design. This is not correct. A complex descrip-
tion only implies that the system has a long evolution behind it. The correct deduction is:
something of large complexity exists; therefore it has grown, i.e., it has been transformed
through input of (moderate) energy over time. This deduction applies to flowers, moun-
tains, stars, life, people, watches, books, personal computers and works of art; in fact it
applies to all objects in the universe. The complexity of our environment thus points out
the considerable age of our environment and reminds us of the shortness of our own life.
The lack of basic complexity and the lack of instructions in nature confirm a simple
result: there is not a single observation in nature that implies or requires design or cre-
ation. On the other hand, the variety and intensity of nature’s phenomena fills us with
deep awe. The wild beauty of nature shows us how small a part of nature we actually are,
Vol. V, page 243 both in space and in time.* We shall explore this experience in detail. We shall find that
remaining open to nature’s phenomena in all their overwhelming intensity is central to
the rest of our adventure.

“
There is a separation between state and church,

”
but not yet between state and science.
Paul Feyerabend

What is a description?

“
In theory, there is no difference between theory
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

”
and practice. In practice, there is.

Following standard vocabulary usage, a description of an observation is a list of the de-

Page 259 tails. The above example of the grampus showed this clearly. In other words, a description
of an observation is the act of categorizing it, i.e., of comparing, by identifying or distin-
guishing, the observation with all the other observations already made. A description is
a classification. In short, to describe means to see as an element of a larger set.
A description can be compared to the ‘you are here’ sign on a city tourist map. Out
of a set of possible positions, the ‘you are here’ sign gives the actual one. Similarly, a
* The search for a ‘sense’ in life or in nature is a complicated (and necessary) way to try to face the smallness
of human existence.
the quest for precision and its implications 269

description highlights the given situation in comparison with all other possibilities. For
example, the formula a = GM/r 2 is a description of the observations relating motion
to gravity, because it classifies the observed accelerations a according to distance to the
central body r and to its mass M; indeed such a description sees each specific case as
an example of a general pattern. The habit of generalizing is one reason for the often
disturbing dismissiveness of scientists: when they observe something, their professional
training usually makes them classify it as a special case of a known phenomenon and
thus keeps them from being surprised or from being exited about it.
A description is thus the opposite of a metaphor; the latter is an analogy relating an
observation with another special case; a description relates an observation with a general
case, such as a physical theory.

“
Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
atque metus omnis et inexorabile fatum

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
”
subjecit pedibus strepitumque acherontis avari.
Vergilius*

Reason, purpose and explanation

“
Der ganzen modernen Weltanschauung liegt
die Täuschung zugrunde, daß die sogenannten
Naturgesetze die Erklärungen der

”
Naturerscheinungen seien.**
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 6.371

Compare the following two types of questions and answers:

1. Why are the leaves of most trees green? Because they absorb red and blue light. Why
do they absorb those colours? Because they contain chlorophyll. Why is chlorophyll
green? Because all chlorophyll types contain magnesium between four pyrrole groups,
and this chemical combination gives the green colour, as a result of its quantum me-
chanical energy levels. Why do plants contain chlorophyll? Because this is what land
plants can synthesize. Why only this? Because all land plants originally evolved from
the green algae, who are only able to synthesize this compound, and not the com-
pounds found in the blue or in the red algae, which are also found in the sea.
2. Why do children climb trees, and why do some people climb mountains? Because of
the sensations they experience during their activity: the feelings of achievement, the
symbolic act to go upwards, the wish to get a wider view of the world are part of this
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

type of adventure.
The two types of ‘why’-questions show the general difference between reasons and pur-
poses (although the details of these two terms are not defined in the same way by ev-
erybody). A purpose or intention is a classification applied to the actions of humans or
animals; strictly speaking, it specifies the quest for a feeling, namely for achieving some

* ‘Happy he who can know the causes of things and who, free of all fears, can lay the inexorable fate and
the noise of Acheron to his feet.’ Georgica, book II, verses 490 ss.) Publius Vergilius Maro (70–19 bce), the
great roman poet, is author of the Aeneid. Acheron was the river crossed by those who had just died and
were on their way to the Hades.
** ‘The whole modern conception of the world is founded on the illusion that the so-called laws of nature
are the explanations of natural phenomena.’
 270 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

type of satisfaction after completion of the action. On the other hand, a reason is a spe-
cific relation of a fact with the rest of the universe, usually its past. What we call a reason
always rests outside the observation itself, whereas a purpose is always internal to it.
Reasons and purposes are the two possibilities of explanations, i.e., the two possible
answers to questions starting with ‘why’. Usually, physics is not concerned with purpose
or with people’s feeling, mainly because its original aim, to talk about motion with preci-
sion, does not seem to be achievable in this domain. Therefore, physical explanations of
facts are never purposes, but are always reasons. A physical explanation of an observation
Ref. 249 is always the description of its relation with the rest of nature.*
This means that – contrary to common opinion – a question starting with ‘why’ is ac-
cessible to physical investigation as long as it asks for a reason and not for a purpose. In
particular, questions such as ‘why do stones fall downwards and not upwards?’ or ‘why do
electrons have that value of mass, and why do they have mass at all?’ or ‘why does space

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
have three dimensions and not thirty-six?’ can be answered, as these ask for the connec-
tion between specific observations and more general ones. Of course, not all demands
for explanation have been answered yet, and there are still problems to be solved. Our
present trail only leads from a few answers to some of the more fundamental questions
about motion.
The most general quest for an explanation derives from the question: why is the uni-
verse the way it is? The topic is covered in our mountain ascent using the two usual
approaches, namely:

Unification and demarcation

“
Tout sujet est un; et, quelque vaste qu’il soit, il

”
peut être renfermé dans un seul discours.**
Buffon, Discours sur le style.

Studying the properties of motion, constantly paying attention to increase the accuracy
of description, we find that explanations are generally of two types:***
1. ‘It is like all such cases; also this one is described by ...’ The situation is recognized as
a special case of a general behaviour.
2. ‘If the situation were different, we would have a conclusion in contrast with observa-
tions.’ The situation is recognized as the only possible case.**** Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* It is important to note that purposes are not put aside because they pertain to the future, but because they
are inadmissible anthropomorphisms. In fact, for deterministic systems, we can equally say that the future
is actually a reason for the present and the past, a fact often forgotten.
** Every subject is one and, however vast it is, it can be comprised in a single discourse.
Challenge 298 s *** Are these the only possible ones?
**** These two cases have not to be confused with similar sentences that seem to be explanations, but that
aren’t:

— ‘It is like the case of ...’ A similarity with another single case is not an explanation.
— ‘If it were different, it would contradict the idea that ...’ A contradiction with an idea or with a theory is
not an explanation.
 the quest for precision and its implications 271

In other words, the first approach is to formulate rules or ‘laws’ that describe larger and
larger numbers of observations, and compare the observation with them. This endeav-
our is called the unification of physics – by those who like it; those who don’t like it, call
it ‘reductionism’. For example, the same rule describes the flight of a tennis ball, the mo-
tion of the tides at the sea shore, the timing of ice ages, and the time at which the planet
Venus ceases to be the evening star and starts to be the morning star. These processes
are all consequences of universal gravitation. Similarly, it is not evident that the same
rule describes the origin of the colour of the eyes, the formation of lightning, the diges-
tion of food and the working of the brain. These processes are described by quantum
electrodynamics.
Unification has its most impressive successes when it predicts an observation that
has not been made before. A famous example is the existence of antimatter, predicted
by Dirac when he investigated the solutions of an equation that describes the precise

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
behaviour of common matter.
The second procedure in the search for explanations is the elimination of all other
imaginable alternatives in favour of the actually correct one. This endeavour has no com-
monly accepted name: it could be called the demarcation of the ‘laws’ of physics – by
those who like it; others call it ‘anthropocentrism’, or simply ‘arrogance’.
When we discover that light travels in such a way that it takes the shortest possible
time to its destination, when we describe motion by a principle of least action, or when
we discover that trees are branched in such a way that they achieve the largest effect with
the smallest effort, we are using a demarcation viewpoint.
In summary, unification, answering ‘why’ questions, and demarcation, answering
‘why not’ questions, are typical for the progress throughout the history of physics. We
can say that the dual aspects of unification and demarcation form the composing and
the opposing traits of physics. They stand for the desire to know everything.
However, neither demarcation nor unification can explain the universe. Can you see
Challenge 299 s why? In fact, apart from unification and demarcation, there is a third possibility that
Challenge 300 s merges the two and allows one to say more about the universe. Can you find it? Our
walk will automatically lead to it later.

Pigs, apes and the anthropic principle

“
Das wichtigste Hilfsmittel des Wissenschaftlers

”
ist der Papierkorb.*
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Several authors

The wish to achieve demarcation of the patterns of nature is most interesting when we
follow the consequences of different rules of nature until we find them in contradiction
with the most striking observation: our own human existence. In this special case the pro-
gram of demarcation is often called the anthropic principle – from the Greek ἄνθρωπος,
meaning ‘man’.
For example, if the Sun–Earth distance were different from what it is, the resulting
temperature change on the Earth would have made impossible the appearance of life,
which needs liquid water. Similarly, our brain would not work if the Moon did not circle

* ‘The most important instrument of a scientist is the waste paper basket.’

 272 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

the Earth. It is also well-known that if there were fewer large planets in the solar sys-
tem, the evolution of humans would have been impossible. The large planets divert large
numbers of comets, preventing them from hitting the Earth. The spectacular collision
of comet Shoemaker–Levy-9 with Jupiter, the astronomical event of July 1994, was an
example of this diversion of a comet.*
Also the anthropic principle has its most impressive successes when it predicts un-
known observations. The most famous example stems from the study of stars. Carbon
atoms, like all other atoms except most hydrogen, helium or lithium atoms, are formed in
stars through fusion. While studying the mechanisms of fusion in 1953, the well-known
British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle** found that carbon nuclei could not be formed from
the alpha particles present inside stars at reasonable temperatures, unless they had an ex-
cited state with an increased cross-section. From the fact of our existence, which is based
on carbon, Hoyle thus predicted the existence of a previously unknown excited state of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Ref. 250 the carbon nucleus. And, indeed, the excited state was found a few months later by Willy
Fowler.***
In its serious form, the anthropic principle is therefore the quest to deduce the descrip-
Ref. 251 tion of nature from the experimental fact of our own existence. In the popular literature,
however, the anthropic principle is often changed from a simple experimental method to
deduce the patterns of nature, to its perverted form, a melting pot of absurd metaphysical
ideas in which everybody mixes up their favourite beliefs. Most frequently, the experi-
mental observation of our own existence has been perverted to reintroduce the idea of
‘design’, i.e., that the universe has been constructed with the aim of producing humans;
often it is even suggested that the anthropic principle is an explanation – a gross example
of disinformation.
How can we distinguish between the serious and the perverted form? We start with
an observation. We would get exactly the same rules and patterns of nature if we used
the existence of pigs or monkeys as a starting point. In other words, if we would reach
different conclusions by using the porcine principle or the simian principle, we are using
the perverted form of the anthropic principle, otherwise we are using the serious form.
(The carbon-12 story is thus an example of the serious form.) This test is effective because
there is no known pattern or ‘law’ of nature that is particular to humans but unnecessary
for apes or pigs.****
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

* For a collection of pictures of this event, see e.g. the garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/gifslevy.html website.
** Fred Hoyle (b. 1915 Bingley, d. 2001), important British astronomer and astrophysicist. He was the first
and maybe only physicist who ever made a specific prediction – namely the existence of an excited state of
the carbon nucleus – from the simple fact that humans exist. A permanent maverick, he coined the term ‘big
bang’ even though he did not accept the evidence for it, and proposed another model, the ‘steady state’. His
most important and well-known research was on the formation of atoms inside stars. He also propagated
the belief that life was brought to Earth from extraterrestrial microbes.
*** William A. Fowler (1911–1995) shared the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics with Subramanyan Chandrasekhar
for this and related discoveries.
**** Though apes do not seem to be good physicists, as described in the text by D. J. Povinelli, Folk
Physics for Apes: the Chimpanzee’s Theory of How the World Works, Oxford University Press, 2000.
 the quest for precision and its implications 273

“
Er wunderte sich, daß den Katzen genau an den
Stellen Löcher in den Pelz geschnitten wären,

”
wo sie Augen hätten.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg*

Does one need cause and effect in explanations?

“
There are in nature neither rewards nor

”
punishments – there are only consequences.
Robert Ingersoll

“ ”
The world owes you nothing. It was there first.
Mark Twain

“
No matter how cruel and nasty and evil you
may be, every time you take a breath you make

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
”
a flower happy.
Mort Sahl

Historically, the two terms ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ have played an important role in philosoph-
Ref. 252 ical discussions. In particular, during the birth of modern mechanics, it was important
to point out that every effect has a cause, in order to distinguish precise thought from
thought based on beliefs, such as ‘miracles’, ‘divine surprises’ or ‘evolution from nothing’.
It was equally essential to stress that effects are different from causes; this distinction
avoids pseudo-explanations such as the famous example by Molière where the doctor
explains to his patient in elaborate terms that sleeping pills work because they contain a
dormitive virtue.
But in physics, the concepts of cause and effect are not used at all. That miracles do
not appear is expressed every time we use symmetries and conservation theorems. The
observation that cause and effect differ from each other is inherent in any evolution equa-
tion. Moreover, the concepts of cause and effect are not clearly defined; for example, it is
especially difficult to define what is meant by one cause as opposed to several of them,
and the same for one or several effects. Both terms are impossible to quantify and to mea-
sure. In other words, useful as ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ may be in personal life for distinction
between events that regularly succeed each other, they are not necessary in physics. In
physical explanations, they play no special roles.
Ὰγαθον καὶ ξαξόν ⋅ ἔν καὶ ταὐτό.**

“ Heraclitus
”
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

“
Wenn ein Arzt hinter dem Sarg seines Patienten
geht, so folgt manchmal tatsächlich die Ursache

”
der Wirkung.***
Robert Koch

* ‘He was amazed that cats had holes cut into their fur precisely in those places where they had eyes.’
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799), German physicist and intellectual, professor in Göttingen, still
famous today for his extremely numerous and witty aphorisms and satires. Among others of his time, Licht-
enberg made fun of all those who maintained that the universe was made exactly to the measure of man, a
frequently encountered idea in the foggy world of the anthropic principle.
** ‘Good and bad – one and the same.’
*** ‘When a doctor walks behind the coffin of his patient, indeed the cause sometimes follows the effect.’
 274 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

Is consciousness required?

“ ”
Variatio delectat.*
Cicero

Ref. 253 A lot of mediocre discussions are going on about this topic, and we will skip them here.
What is consciousness? Most simply and concretely, consciousness means the possession
of a small part of oneself that is watching what the rest of oneself is perceiving, feel-
ing, thinking and doing. In short, consciousness is the ability to observe oneself, and in
particular one’s inner mechanisms and motivations. Consciousness is the ability of intro-
spection. For this reason, consciousness is not a prerequisite for studying motion. Indeed,
animals, plants or machines are also able to observe motion. For the same reason, con-
sciousness is not necessary to observe quantum mechanical motion. On the other hand,
both the study of motion and that of oneself have a lot in common: the need to observe

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
carefully, to overcome preconceptions, to overcome fear and the fun of doing so.
For the time being, we have put enough emphasis on the precision of concepts. Talk-
ing about motion is also something to be deeply enjoyed. Let us see why.

“
Precision and clarity obey the indeterminacy

”
relation: their product is constant.
Niels Bohr

Curiosity

“ ”
Precision is the child of curiosity.

Like the history of every person, also the history of mankind charts a long struggle to
avoid the pitfalls of accepting the statements of authorities as truth, without checking the
facts. Indeed, whenever curiosity leads us to formulate a question, there are always two
general ways to proceed. One is to check the facts personally, the other is to ask somebody.
However, the last way is dangerous: it means to give up a part of oneself. Healthy people,
children whose curiosity is still alive, as well as scientists, choose the first way. After all,
science is adult curiosity.
Curiosity, also called the exploratory drive, plays strange games with people. Starting
with the original experience of the world as a big ‘soup’ of interacting parts, curiosity can
drive one to find all the parts and all the interactions. It drives not only people. It has been
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

observed that when rats show curious behaviour, certain brain cells in the hypothalamus
get active and secrete hormones that produce positive feelings and emotions. If a rat has
the possibility, via some implanted electrodes, to excite these same cells by pressing a
Ref. 254 switch, it does so voluntarily: rats get addicted to the feelings connected with curiosity.
Like rats, humans are curious because they enjoy it. They do so in at least four ways:
because they are artists, because they are fond of pleasure, because they are adventurers
and because they are dreamers. Let us see how.
Originally, curiosity stems from the desire to interact in a positive way with the en-
vironment. Young children provide good examples: curiosity is a natural ingredient of
* ‘Change pleases.’ Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 bce), important lawyer, orator and politician at the end
of the Roman republic.
 the quest for precision and its implications 275

their life, in the same way that it is for other mammals and a few bird species; inciden-
tally, the same taxonomic distribution is found for play behaviour. In short, all animals
that play are curious, and vice versa. Curiosity provides the basis for learning, for cre-
ativity and thus for every human activity that leaves a legacy, such as art or science. The
artist and art theoretician Joseph Beuys (1920–1986) had as his own guiding principle
Ref. 255 that every creative act is a form of art. Humans, and especially children, enjoy curiosity
because they feel its importance for creativity, and for growth in general.
Curiosity regularly leads one to exclaim: ‘Oh!’, an experience that leads to the sec-
ond reason to be curious: relishing feelings of wonder and surprise. Epicurus (Epikuros)
(341–271 bce) maintained that this experience, θαυμάζειν, is the origin of philosophy.
These feelings, which nowadays are variously called religious, spiritual, numinous, etc.,
are the same as those to which rats can become addicted. Among these feelings, Rudolf
Otto has introduced the now classical distinction into the fascinating and the frightening.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
He named the corresponding experiences ‘mysterium fascinans’ and ‘mysterium tremen-
dum’.* Within these distinctions, physicists, scientists, children and connoisseurs take a
clear stand: they choose the fascinans as the starting point for their actions and for their
approach to the world. Such feelings of fascination induce some children who look at the
night sky to dream about becoming astronomers, some who look through a microscope
to become biologists or physicists, and so on. (It could also be that genetics plays a role
Ref. 256 in this pleasure of novelty seeking.)
Perhaps the most beautiful moments in the study of physics are those appearing after
new observations have shaken our previously held thinking habits, have forced us to give
up a previously held conviction, and have engendered the feeling of being lost. When, in
this moment of crisis, we finally discover a more adequate and precise description of
the observations, which provide a better insight into the world, we are struck by a feel-
ing usually called illumination. Anyone who has kept alive the memory and the taste
for these magic moments knows that in these situations one is pervaded by a feeling of
union between oneself and the world.** The pleasure of these moments, the adventures
of the change of thought structures connected with them, and the joy of insight follow-
ing them provides the drive for many scientists. Little talk and lots of pleasure is their
common denominator. In this spirit, the great Austrian physicist Victor Weisskopf (1908
–2002) liked to say jokingly: ‘There are two things that make life worth living: Mozart
and quantum mechanics.’
The choice of moving away from the tremendum towards the fascinans stems from Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

an innate desire, most obvious in children, to reduce uncertainty and fear. This drive is
the father of all adventures. It has a well-known parallel in ancient Greece, where the first
men studying observations, such as Epicurus, stated explicitly that their aim was to free
people from unnecessary fear by deepening knowledge and transforming people from

* This distinction is the basis of Rudolf Otto, Das Heilige – Über das Irrationale in der Idee des Göttlichen
und sein Verhältnis zum Rationalen, Beck 1991. This is a new edition of the epoch-making work originally
published at the beginning of the twentieth century. Rudolf Otto (1869–1937) was one of the most important
theologians of his time.
** Several researchers have studied the situations leading to these magic moments in more detail, notably
the Prussian physician and physicist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894) and the French mathematician
Henri Poincaré (1854–1912). They distinguish four stages in the conception of an idea at the basis of such a
Ref. 257 magic moment: saturation, incubation, illumination and verification.
 276 9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

frightened passive victims into fascinated, active and responsible beings. Those ancient
thinkers started to popularize the idea that, like the common events in our life, the rarer
events also follow rules. For example, Epicurus underlined that lightning is a natural
phenomenon caused by interactions between clouds, and stressed that it was a natural
process, i.e., a process that followed rules, in the same way as the falling of a stone or any
other familiar process of everyday life.
Investigating the phenomena around them, philosophers and later scientists suc-
ceeded in freeing people from most of their fears caused by uncertainty and a lack of
knowledge about nature. This liberation played an important role in the history of hu-
man culture and still pervades in the personal history of many scientists. The aim to
arrive at stable, rock-bottom truths has inspired (but also hindered) many of them; Al-
bert Einstein is a well-known example for this, discovering relativity, helping to start up
but then denying quantum mechanics.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Interestingly, in the experience and in the development of every human being, curios-
ity, and therefore the sciences, appears before magic and superstition. Magic needs deceit
to be effective, and superstition needs indoctrination; curiosity doesn’t need either. Con-
flicts of curiosity with superstitions, ideologies, authorities or the rest of society are thus
preprogrammed.
Curiosity is the exploration of limits. For every limit, there are two possibilities: the
limit can turn out to be real or apparent. If the limit is real, the most productive attitude is
that of acceptance. Approaching the limit then gives strength. If the limit is only apparent
and in fact non-existent, the most productive attitude is to re-evaluate the mistaken view,
extract the positive role it performed, and then cross the limit. Distinguishing between
real and apparent limits is only possible when the limit is investigated with great care,
openness and unintentionality. Most of all, exploring limits need courage.

“ ”
Das gelüftete Geheimnis rächt sich.*
Bert Hellinger

Courage

“
Il est dangereux d’avoir raison dans des choses

”
où des hommes accrédités ont tort.**
Voltaire

“
Manche suchen Sicherheit, wo Mut gefragt ist,
und suchen Freiheit, wo das Richtige keine
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

”
Wahl läßt.***
Bert Hellinger

Most of the material in this chapter is necessary in the adventure to get to the top of
Ref. 260 Motion Mountain. But we need more. Like any enterprise, curiosity also requires courage,
and complete curiosity, as aimed for in our quest, requires complete courage. In fact, it is
easy to get discouraged on this trip. The journey is often dismissed by others as useless,

* ‘The unveiled secret takes revenge.’

Ref. 258 ** ‘It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.’
*** ‘Some look for security where courage is required and look for freedom where the right way doesn’t
Ref. 259 leave any choice.’
the quest for precision and its implications 277

uninteresting, childish, confusing, damaging or, most often, evil. For example, between
the death of Socrates in 399 bce and Paul Thierry, Baron d’Holbach, in the eighteenth
century, no book was published with the statement ‘gods do not exist’, because of the
threats to the life of anyone who dared to make the point. Even today, this type of attitude
still abounds, as the newspapers show.
Through the constant elimination of uncertainty, both curiosity and scientific activity
are implicitly opposed to any idea, person or organization that tries to avoid the compar-
ison of statements with observations. These ‘avoiders’ demand to live with superstitions
and beliefs. But superstitions and beliefs produce unnecessary fear. And fear is the basis
of all unjust authorities. One gets into a vicious circle: avoiding comparison with ob-
servation produces fear – fear keeps unjust authority in place – unjust authority avoids
comparison with observation – etc.
As a consequence, curiosity and science are fundamentally opposed to unjust author-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ity, a connection that made life difficult for people such as Anaxagoras (500–428 bce)
in ancient Greece, Hypatia in the Christian Roman empire, Galileo Galilei in the church
state, Antoine Lavoisier in France and Albert Einstein (and many others) in Germany.
In the second half of the twentieth century, victims were Robert Oppenheimer, Melba
Phillips and Chandler Davis in the United States and Andrei Sakharov in the Soviet
Union. Each of them tell a horrible but instructive story, as have, more recently, Fang
Lizhi, Xu Liangying, Liu Gang and Wang Juntao in China, Kim Song-Man in South
Corea, Otanazar Aripov in Uzbekistan, Ramadan al-Hadi al-Hush in Libya, Bo Bo Htun
in Burma, Sami Kilani and Salman Salman in Palestine, Abdus Salam in Pakistan, as well
as many hundreds of others. In many authoritarian societies the antagonism between
curiosity and injustice has hindered or even completely suppressed the development of
physics and other sciences, with extremely negative economic, social and cultural conse-
quences.
When embarking on this ascent, we need to be conscious of what we are doing. In
fact, external obstacles can be avoided or at least largely reduced by keeping the project
to oneself. Other difficulties still remain, this time of personal nature. Many have tried
to embark on this adventure with some hidden or explicit intention, usually of an ide-
ological nature, and then have got entangled by it before reaching the end. Some have
not been prepared to accept the humility required for such an endeavour. Others were
not prepared for the openness required, which can shatter deeply held beliefs. Still oth-
ers were not ready to turn towards the unclear, the dark and the unknown, confronting Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

them at every occasion.

On the other hand, the dangers are worth it. By taking curiosity as a maxim, facing
disinformation and fear with all one’s courage, one achieves freedom from all beliefs. In
exchange, you come to savour the fullest pleasures and the deepest satisfaction that life
has to offer.
We thus continue our hike. At this point, the trail towards the top of Motion Moun-
tain is leading us towards the next adventure: discovering the origin of sizes, shapes and
colours in nature.

“
And the gods said to man: ‘Take what you want,

”
and pay the price.’
Popular saying
 Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
9 concepts, lies and pat terns of nature

” Abraham Lincoln
It is difficult to make a man miserable while he
feels he is worthy of himself.
“
278
 C h a p t e r 10

C L A S SIC A L PH YSIC S I N A N U T SHE L L

C
lassical electrodynamics, with mechanics, thermodynamics and relativity,
ompletes our walk through classical physics. In the structure of physics,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Page 8 lassical physics encompasses four of the eight points that make up all of physics:
mechanics and heat, relativity, gravity and electricity. We have thus covered one half of
our adventure. Let summarize what we have found out about motion – and what we did
not.

What can move?

In nature, three entities can move: objects, radiation and space-time. In all three cases,
motion happens in such a way as to minimize change. Change is also called (physical)
action. In short, all motion minimizes action. And in all three cases of motion, we dis-
tinguish the fixed, intrinsic properties from the varying state. We learned to distinguish
and to characterize the possible intrinsic properties and the possible states.
About objects: when we searched for all their fixed, intrinsic aspects, we found that
all sufficiently small objects or particles are described completely by their mass and their
electric charge. There is no magnetic charge. Mass and electric charge are thus the only
localized intrinsic properties of classical, everyday objects. Both mass and electric charge
are defined by the accelerations they produce around them. Both quantities are con-
served; thus they can be added (with certain precautions). Mass, in contrast to charge, is
always positive. Mass describes the interaction of objects in collisions and in gravitation,
charge the interaction with electromagnetic fields.
All varying aspects of objects, i.e., their state, can be described using momentum and
position, as well as angular momentum and orientation. These four quantities can vary
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

continuously in amount and direction. Therefore the set of all possible states forms a
space, the so-called phase space. The state of extended, shape-changing objects is given by
the states of all its constituent particles. These particles make up all objects and somehow
interact electromagnetically.
The Lagrangian determines the action, or total change, of any motion. Action, or
change, is independent of the observer; the state is not. The states found by different
observers are related: the relations are called the ‘laws’ of motion. For example, for dif-
ferent times they are called evolution equations, for different places and orientations they
are called transformation relations, and for different gauges they are called gauge transfor-
mations. All the behaviour of the motion of objects is contained in the principle of least
action.
280 10 classical physics in a nu tshell

Radiation also moves. Everyday types of radiation, such as light, radio waves and their
related forms, are travelling electromagnetic waves. They are described by same equa-
tions that describe the interaction of charged or magnetic objects. The speed of massless
fields is the maximum possible energy speed in nature and is the same for all observers.
The motion of radiation describes the motion of images. The intrinsic properties of ra-
diation are its dispersion relation and its energy–angular momentum relation. The state
of radiation is described by its electromagnetic field strength, its phase, its polarization
and its coupling to matter. The motion of the electromagnetic field and of radiation min-
imizes action and change.
Space-time is also able to move, by changing its curvature. The intrinsic properties of
space-time are the number of dimensions, its signature and its topology. The state is given
by the metric, which describes distances and curvature, and thus the local warpedness.
The warpedness can oscillate and propagate, so that empty space can move like a wave.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Also the motion of space-time minimizes action and change.
The universe, both its space-time and its matter, shows maximum age and distance
values. The history of the universe is long, about three times as long as the history of the
Earth. On large scales, all matter in the universe moves away from all other matter: the
universe is expanding. The large scale topology of space-time is simple. At this point of
our adventure it is impossible to say what happens at its spatial and temporal limits.

Properties of classical motion

Motion is possible for objects, radiation, and space-time. Classical physics distilled sev-
eral specific properties of classical, or everyday motion.
1. Everyday motion is continuous. Continuous motion allows defining space and time.
All energy moves in the way space-time dictates it, and space moves the way energy
dictates it. This relation describes the motion of the stars, of thrown stones, of light
beams and of the tides. Rest and free fall are the same, and gravity is curved space-
time. Mass breaks conformal symmetry and thus distinguishes space from time.
The continuity of motion is limited: The (local) speed of energy, mass and charge
is bound from above by a universal constant c, and (local) energy change per time
is bound from above by a universal constant c 5 /4G. The speed value c is realized for
the motion of massless particles. It also relates space to time. The power value c 5 /4G
is realized by horizons. Horizons are found around black holes and at the border of
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the universe. The maximum power value also relates space-time curvature to energy
flow and thus describes the elasticity of space-time.
The continuity of motion is limited in a second way: No two objects can be at the
same spot at the same time. This is the first statement that humans encounter about
electromagnetism. It is due to the repulsion of charges of the same sign found in mat-
ter. More detailed investigation shows that electric charge accelerates other charges,
that charge is necessary to define length and time intervals, and that charges are the
source of electromagnetic fields. Also light is such a field. Light travels at the maxi-
mum possible velocity c. In contrast to objects, light and electromagnetic fields can
interpenetrate.
2. Classical motion conserves mass, momentum, energy, angular momentum and elec-
 classical physics in a nu tshell 281

tric charge. Nothing appears out of nothing. Conservation applies to linear and rota-
tional motion, and to motion of matter, radiation or space-time. Energy and momen-
tum are similar to a continuous substances: they are never destroyed, never created,
but always redistributed.
3. Classical motion is relative: motion depends on the observer.
4. Everyday motion is reversible: everyday motion can occur backwards.
5. Everyday motion is mirror-invariant: everyday motion can occur in a mirror-reversed
way. In short, we found that the classical motion of objects, radiation and space-time
is right–left symmetric.
6. Everyday motion is lazy: motion happens in a way that minimizes change, i.e., phys-
ical action.

In summary, classical physics showed us that motion is predictable and limited: nature

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
follows patterns and rules, and there are no surprises in nature.

The future of planet Earth

Maybe nature shows no surprises, but it still provides many adventures. On the 2nd
of March 2009, a small asteroid ‘almost’ hit the Earth. It passed at a distance of only
63 500 km from our planet. On impact, it would have destroyed a region the size of Lon-
don. Such events occur regularly – but rarely.* Several other adventures can be predicted
by classical physics; they are listed in Table 25. Several items are problems facing human-
ity in the distant future, but some, such as volcanic eruptions or asteroid impacts, could
Ref. 261 happen at any time. All are research topics.

TA B L E 25 Examples of disastrous motion of possible future importance.

C r i t i c a l s i t uat i o n Ye a r s f r o m n o w

Giant tsunami from volcanic eruption at Canary islands c. 10-200

End of fundamental physics, with a final proof that nature is not c. 20 (around year 2030)
infinite
Major nuclear material accident or weapon use unknown
Explosion of volcano in Greenland, leading to long darkening of unknown
sky
Explosion of Yellowstone or other giant volcano leading to year- 0 to 100 000
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

long volcanic winter

Earth’s mantle instability leading to massive volcanic activity unknown
Mini ice age due to collapse of gulf stream unknown
Ozone shield reduction c. 100
Rising ocean levels due to greenhouse warming > 100
End of applied physics > 200

* The web pages around cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/Closest.html provide more information on such

events.
282 10 classical physics in a nu tshell

TA B L E 25 (Continued) Examples of disastrous motion of possible future importance.

C r i t i c a l s i t uat i o n Ye a r s f r o m n o w

Several magnetic north and south poles appear, allowing solar c. 800
storms to disturb radio and telecommunications, to interrupt
electricity supplies, to increase animal mutations and to disori-
ent migrating animals such as wales, birds and tortoises
Our interstellar gas cloud detaches from the solar systems, chang- c. 3 000
ing the size of the heliosphere, and thus expose us more to auro-
rae and solar magnetic fields
Reversal of Earth’s magnetic field, implying a time with almost unknown
no magnetic field, with increased cosmic radiation levels and
thus more skin cancers and miscarriages

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Atmospheric oxygen depletion due to forest reduction and exag- > 1000
gerated fuel consumption
Upcoming ice age c. 15 000
Possible collision with interstellar gas cloud assumed to be c. 50 000
crossed by the Earth every 60 million years, maybe causing mass
extinctions
Possible genetic degeneration of homo sapiens due to Y chromo- c. 200 000
some reduction
Africa collides with Europe, transforming the Mediterranean around 3 ⋅ 106
into a lake that starts evaporating
Gamma ray burst from within our own galaxy, causing radiation between 0 and 5 ⋅ 106
damage to many living beings
Asteroid hitting the Earth, generating tsunamis, storms, darken- between 0 and 50 ⋅ 106
ing sunlight, etc.
Neighbouring star approaching, starting comet shower through > 106
destabilization of Oort cloud and thus risk for life on Earth
American continent collides with Asia > 100 ⋅ 106
Molecular cloud engulfs the solar system unknown
Instability of solar system > 100 ⋅ 106
Low atmospheric CO2 content stops photosynthesis > 100 ⋅ 106
Collision of Milky Way with star cluster or other galaxy > 150 ⋅ 106
> 250 ⋅ 106
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Sun ages and gets hotter, evaporating seas

Ocean level increase due to Earth rotation slowing/stopping (if > 109
not evaporated before)
Temperature rise/fall (depending on location) due to Earth rota- > 109
tion stop
Sun runs out of fuel, becomes red giant, engulfs Earth 5.0 ⋅ 109
Sun stops burning, becomes white dwarf 5.2 ⋅ 109
Earth core solidifies, removing magnetic field and thus Earth’s 10.0 ⋅ 109
cosmic radiation shield
Nearby nova (e.g. Betelgeuse) bathes Earth in annihilation radi- unknown
ation
classical physics in a nu tshell 283

TA B L E 25 (Continued) Examples of disastrous motion of possible future importance.

C r i t i c a l s i t uat i o n Ye a r s f r o m n o w

Nearby supernova (e.g. Eta Carinae) blasts over solar system unknown
Galaxy centre destabilizes rest of galaxy unknown
Universe recollapses – if ever (see page 124, volume II) > 20 ⋅ 109
Matter decays into radiation – if ever (see Appendix B in vol. V) > 1033
Problems with naked singularities only in science fiction
Vacuum becomes unstable only in science fiction

Despite the fascination of the predictions (all made in the year 2000), we leave aside these

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
literally tremendous issues and continue on our adventure.

The essence of classical physics – the infinitely small and the

lack of surprises
We can summarize classical physics with two simple statements: First, classical physics is
the description of motion using the concept of the infinitely small. Secondly, nature lacks
surprises.
All concepts used so far, be they for motion, space, time or observables, assume that
the infinitely small exists. Special relativity, despite the speed limit, still allows infinitely
small velocities; general relativity, despite its black hole limit, still allows infinitely small
force and power values. Similarly, in the description of electrodynamics and gravitation,
both integrals and derivatives are abbreviations of mathematical processes that use and
assume infinitely small distances and time intervals. In other words, the classical descrip-
tion of nature introduces and is based on the infinitely small in the description of motion.
Using the infinitely small as a research tool, the classical description of motion dis-
covers that energy, momentum, angular momentum and electric charge are conserved.
They are conserved also for infinitely small dimensions or time intervals. In other words,
there are no surprises in motion.
The detailed study of conservation thus lead us to a strong conclusion: exploring the
infinitely small shows that motion is deterministic. The existence of real surprises would
contradict determinism.*
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Classical physics is the absence of surprises. As reassuring as this result may be, it
leaves us with a doubt. Both special and general relativity have eliminated the existence
of the infinitely large. There is no infinitely large force, power, size, age or speed. Why
should the infinitely small exist, but the infinitely large not? In fact, there are still more
open questions about motion.

* No surprises also imply no miracles. Classical physics is thus in opposition to many religions. Indeed,
many religions argue that infinity is the necessary ingredient to perform miracles. Classical physics shows
that this is not the case.
284 10 classical physics in a nu tshell

Why have we not yet reached the top of the mountain?

“
The more important fundamental laws and facts
of physical science have all been discovered,
and these are now so firmly established that the
possibility of their ever being supplanted in
consequence of new discoveries is exceedingly
remote... Our future discoveries must be looked

”
for in the sixth place of decimals.
Albert Michelson, 1894.*

We might think that we know nature now, as did Albert Michelson at the end of the
nineteenth century. He claimed that electrodynamics and Galilean physics implied that
the major laws of physics were well known. The statement is often quoted as an example
of flawed predictions, since it reflects an incredible mental closure to the world around

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
him. General relativity was still unknown, and so was quantum theory.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the progress in technology due to the use of
electricity, chemistry and vacuum technology had allowed better and better machines
and apparatuses to be built. All were built with classical physics in mind. In the years
between 1890 and 1920, these classical machines completely destroyed the foundations
of classical physics. Experiments with these apparatuses showed that matter is made of
atoms, that electrical charge comes in the smallest amounts and that nature behaves ran-
domly. In short, precise experiments show that nature does produce surprises – through
in a restricted sense, as we will see. Like the an old empire, the reign of classical physics
collapsed. Speaking simply, classical physics does not describe nature correctly at small
scales.
But even without machines, many physicists of the time predicted that important
changes in the description of nature were necessary. Michelson had overlooked two con-
tradiction between electrodynamics and nature for which he had no excuse. First of all,
we found that clocks and metre bars are necessarily made of matter and necessarily based
on electromagnetism. But as we just saw, classical electrodynamics does not explain the
stability of matter. Matter is made of small particles, but the relation between these parti-
cles, electricity and the smallest charges is not clear. If we do not understand matter, we
do not yet understand space and time, since space and time are defined using measure-
ment devices made of matter.
Worse, Michelson overlooked a second simple fact: the classical description of nature
does not allow us to understand life. The abilities of living beings – growing, seeing, hear-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ing, feeling, thinking, being healthy or sick, reproducing and dying – are all unexplained
by classical physics. In fact, all these abilities contradict classical physics. (Nevertheless,
Michelson received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1907.) Understanding matter and its
interactions, including life itself, is therefore the aim of the upcoming part of our ascent
of Motion Mountain. In particular, understanding life implies to understand the shape,
size, colour and material properties of all things. And this understanding will take place
at small scales. To understand nature, we need to study particles. Indeed, the atomic struc-
ture of matter, the existence of a smallest charge and the existence of a smallest entropy

* From his address at the dedication ceremony for the Ryerson Physical Laboratory at the University of
Chicago.
classical physics in a nu tshell 285

makes us question the existence of the infinitely small.

In summary, there is a lot left to explore. And doing so will lead us from wonder to
wonder.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 Appendix A

UNIT S, MEA SUREMENT S AND

C ON STAN T S

M
easurements are comparisons with standards. Standards are based on units.
any different systems of units have been used throughout the world.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ost of these standards confer power to the organization in charge of them.
Such power can be misused; this is the case today, for example in the computer industry,
and was so in the distant past. The solution is the same in both cases: organize an inde-
pendent and global standard. For measurement units, this happened in the eighteenth
century: in order to avoid misuse by authoritarian institutions, to eliminate problems
with differing, changing and irreproducible standards, and – this is not a joke – to
simplify tax collection and to make it more just, a group of scientists, politicians and
economists agreed on a set of units. It is called the Système International d’Unités, abbre-
viated SI, and is defined by an international treaty, the ‘Convention du Mètre’. The units
are maintained by an international organization, the ‘Conférence Générale des Poids et
Mesures’, and its daughter organizations, the ‘Commission Internationale des Poids et
Mesures’ and the ‘Bureau International des Poids et Mesures’ (BIPM). All originated in
Ref. 262 the times just before the French revolution.

SI units
All SI units are built from seven base units, whose official definitions, translated from
French into English, are given below, together with the dates of their formulation:
‘The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding
to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133
atom.’ (1967)* Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

‘The metre is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time inter-
val of 1/299 792 458 of a second.’ (1983)*
‘The kilogram is the unit of mass; it is equal to the mass of the international prototype
of the kilogram.’ (1901)*
‘The ampere is that constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel con-
ductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1 metre apart in
vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2 ⋅ 10−7 newton per
metre of length.’ (1948)*
‘The kelvin, unit of thermodynamic temperature, is the fraction 1/273.16 of the ther-
modynamic temperature of the triple point of water.’ (1967)*
‘The mole is the amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary
entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilogram of carbon 12.’ (1971)*
 a units, measurements and constants 287

‘The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits
monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 ⋅ 1012 hertz and has a radiant intensity in that
direction of (1/683) watt per steradian.’ (1979)*
Note that both time and length units are defined as certain properties of a standard ex-
ample of motion, namely light. In other words, also the Conférence Générale des Poids
et Mesures makes the point that the observation of motion is a prerequisite for the defini-
tion and construction of time and space. Motion is the fundament each observation and
measurements. By the way, the use of light in the definitions had been proposed already
in 1827 by Jacques Babinet.**
From these basic units, all other units are defined by multiplication and division. Thus,
all SI units have the following properties:
SI units form a system with state-of-the-art precision: all units are defined with a pre-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
cision that is higher than the precision of commonly used measurements. Moreover, the
precision of the definitions is regularly being improved. The present relative uncertainty
of the definition of the second is around 10−14 , for the metre about 10−10 , for the kilo-
gram about 10−9 , for the ampere 10−7 , for the mole less than 10−6 , for the kelvin 10−6 and
for the candela 10−3 .
SI units form an absolute system: all units are defined in such a way that they can
be reproduced in every suitably equipped laboratory, independently, and with high pre-
cision. This avoids as much as possible any misuse by the standard-setting organization.
(The kilogram, still defined with the help of an artefact, is the last exception to this re-
quirement; extensive research is under way to eliminate this artefact from the definition
– an international race that will take a few more years. There are two approaches: count-
ing particles, or fixing ħ. The former can be achieved in crystals, the latter using any
formula where ħ appears, such as the formula for the de Broglie wavelength or that of
the Josephson effect.)
SI units form a practical system: the base units are quantities of everyday magni-
tude. Frequently used units have standard names and abbreviations. The complete list
includes the seven base units just given, the supplementary units, the derived units and
the admitted units.
The supplementary SI units are two: the unit for (plane) angle, defined as the ratio
of arc length to radius, is the radian (rad). For solid angle, defined as the ratio of the
subtended area to the square of the radius, the unit is the steradian (sr).
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The derived units with special names, in their official English spelling, i.e., without
capital letters and accents, are:

* The respective symbols are s, m, kg, A, K, mol and cd. The international prototype of the kilogram is
Vol. I, page 92 a platinum–iridium cylinder kept at the BIPM in Sèvres, in France. For more details on the levels of the
Ref. 263 caesium atom, consult a book on atomic physics. The Celsius scale of temperature θ is defined as: θ/°C =
T/K − 273.15; note the small difference with the number appearing in the definition of the kelvin. SI also
states: ‘When the mole is used, the elementary entities must be specified and may be atoms, molecules, ions,
electrons, other particles, or specified groups of such particles.’ In the definition of the mole, it is understood
that the carbon 12 atoms are unbound, at rest and in their ground state. In the definition of the candela, the
frequency of the light corresponds to 555.5 nm, i.e., green colour, around the wavelength to which the eye
is most sensitive.
** Jacques Babinet (1794–1874), French physicist who published important work in optics.
 288 a units, measurements and constants

Name A b b r e v i at i o n Name A b b r e v i at i o n

hertz Hz = 1/s newton N = kg m/s2

pascal Pa = N/m2 = kg/m s2 joule J = Nm = kg m2 /s2
watt W = kg m2 /s3 coulomb C = As
volt V = kg m2 /As3 farad F = As/V = A2 s4 /kg m2
ohm Ω = V/A = kg m2 /A2 s3 siemens S = 1/Ω
weber Wb = Vs = kg m2 /As2 tesla T = Wb/m2 = kg/As2 = kg/Cs
henry H = Vs/A = kg m2 /A2 s2 degree Celsius °C (see definition of kelvin)
lumen lm = cd sr lux lx = lm/m2 = cd sr/m2
becquerel Bq = 1/s gray Gy = J/kg = m2 /s2
sievert Sv = J/kg = m2 /s2 katal kat = mol/s

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
We note that in all definitions of units, the kilogram only appears to the powers of 1,
Challenge 301 s 0 and −1. Can you try to formulate the reason?
The admitted non-SI units are minute, hour, day (for time), degree 1∘ = π/180 rad,
minute 1󳰀 = π/10 800 rad, second 1󳰀󳰀 = π/648 000 rad (for angles), litre and tonne. All
other units are to be avoided.
All SI units are made more practical by the introduction of standard names and ab-
breviations for the powers of ten, the so-called prefixes:*

Power Name Power Name Power Name Power Name

101 deca da 10−1 deci d 1018 Exa E 10−18 atto a
102 hecto h 10−2 centi c 1021 Zetta Z 10−21 zepto z
103 kilo k 10−3 milli m 1024 Yotta Y 10−24 yocto y
106 Mega M 10−6 micro μ unofficial: Ref. 264
109 Giga G 10−9 nano n 1027 Xenta X 10−27 xenno x
1012 Tera T 10−12 pico p 1030 Wekta W 10−30 weko w
1015 Peta P 10−15 femto f 1033 Vendekta V 10−33 vendeko v
1036 Udekta U 10−36 udeko u

SI units form a complete system: they cover in a systematic way the full set of ob-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

servables of physics. Moreover, they fix the units of measurement for all other sciences
as well.

* Some of these names are invented (yocto to sound similar to Latin octo ‘eight’, zepto to sound similar
to Latin septem, yotta and zetta to resemble them, exa and peta to sound like the Greek words ἑξάκις and
πεντάκις for ‘six times’ and ‘five times’, the unofficial ones to sound similar to the Greek words for nine,
ten, eleven and twelve); some are from Danish/Norwegian (atto from atten ‘eighteen’, femto from femten
‘fifteen’); some are from Latin (from mille ‘thousand’, from centum ‘hundred’, from decem ‘ten’, from nanus
‘dwarf ’); some are from Italian (from piccolo ‘small’); some are Greek (micro is from μικρός ‘small’, deca/deka
from δέκα ‘ten’, hecto from ἑκατόν ‘hundred’, kilo from χίλιοι ‘thousand’, mega from μέγας ‘large’, giga from
γίγας ‘giant’, tera from τέρας ‘monster’).
Translate: I was caught in such a traffic jam that I needed a microcentury for a picoparsec and that my
Challenge 302 e car’s fuel consumption was two tenths of a square millimetre.
 a units, measurements and constants 289

SI units form a universal system: they can be used in trade, in industry, in commerce,
at home, in education and in research. They could even be used by extraterrestrial civi-
lizations, if they existed.
SI units form a coherent system: the product or quotient of two SI units is also an SI
unit. This means that in principle, the same abbreviation, e.g. ‘SI’, could be used for every
unit.
The SI units are not the only possible set that could fulfil all these requirements, but they
are the only existing system that does so.*

The meaning of measurement

Every measurement is a comparison with a standard. Therefore, any measurement re-
Challenge 303 e quires matter to realize the standard (even for a speed standard), and radiation to achieve

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
the comparison. The concept of measurement thus assumes that matter and radiation ex-
ist and can be clearly separated from each other.
Every measurement is a comparison. Measuring thus implies that space and time exist,
and that they differ from each other.
Every measurement produces a measurement result. Therefore, every measurement
implies the storage of the result. The process of measurement thus implies that the sit-
uation before and after the measurement can be distinguished. In other terms, every
measurement is an irreversible process.
Every measurement is a process. Thus every measurement takes a certain amount of
time and a certain amount of space.
All these properties of measurements are simple but important. Beware of anybody
who denies them.

Precision and accuracy of measurements

Measurements are the basis of physics. Every measurement has an error. Errors are due
to lack of precision or to lack of accuracy. Precision means how well a result is reproduced
when the measurement is repeated; accuracy is the degree to which a measurement cor-
responds to the actual value.
Lack of precision is due to accidental or random errors; they are best measured by the
standard deviation, usually abbreviated σ; it is defined through Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

1 n
σ2 = 󵠈(x − x̄)2 , (107)
n − 1 i=1 i

* Apart from international units, there are also provincial units. Most provincial units still in use are of
Roman origin. The mile comes from milia passum, which used to be one thousand (double) strides of about
1480 mm each; today a nautical mile, once defined as minute of arc on the Earth’s surface, is exactly 1852 m).
The inch comes from uncia/onzia (a twelfth – now of a foot). The pound (from pondere ‘to weigh’) is used
as a translation of libra – balance – which is the origin of its abbreviation lb. Even the habit of counting
in dozens instead of tens is Roman in origin. These and all other similarly funny units – like the system
in which all units start with ‘f ’, and which uses furlong/fortnight as its unit of velocity – are now officially
defined as multiples of SI units.
 290 a units, measurements and constants

N
number of measurements

standard deviation

full width at half maximum

(FWHM)

limit curve for a large number

of measurements: the
Gaussian distribution

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
x x
average value measured values

F I G U R E 142 A precision experiment and its measurement distribution.

where x̄ is the average of the measurements xi . (Can you imagine why n − 1 is used in
Challenge 304 s the formula instead of n?)
For most experiments, the distribution of measurement values tends towards a nor-
mal distribution, also called Gaussian distribution, whenever the number of measure-
ments is increased. The distribution, shown in Figure 142, is described by the expression

(󰑥−󰑥̄)2
N(x) ≈ e− 2󰜎 2 . (108)

The square σ 2 of the standard deviation is also called the variance. For a Gaussian distri-
Challenge 305 e bution of measurement values, 2.35σ is the full width at half maximum.
Lack of accuracy is due to systematic errors; usually these can only be estimated. This
estimate is often added to the random errors to produce a total experimental error, some-
Ref. 265 times also called total uncertainty. The relative error or uncertainty is the ratio between
the error and the measured value.
For example, a professional measurement will give a result such as 0.312(6) m. The
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

number between the parentheses is the standard deviation σ, in units of the last digits.
As above, a Gaussian distribution for the measurement results is assumed. Therefore, a
Challenge 306 e value of 0.312(6) m implies that the actual value is expected to lie
— within 1σ with 68.3% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.006 m;
— within 2σ with 95.4% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.012 m;
— within 3σ with 99.73% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.018 m;
— within 4σ with 99.9937% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.024 m;
— within 5σ with 99.999 943% probability, thus in this example within 0.312 ± 0.030 m;
— within 6σ with 99.999 999 80% probability, thus within 0.312 ± 0.036 m;
— within 7σ with 99.999 999 999 74% probability, thus within 0.312 ± 0.041 m.
Challenge 307 s (Do the latter numbers make sense?)
 a units, measurements and constants 291

Note that standard deviations have one digit; you must be a world expert to use two,
and a fool to use more. If no standard deviation is given, a (1) is assumed. As a result,
among professionals, 1 km and 1000 m are not the same length!
What happens to the errors, if two measured values A and B are added or subtracted?
If the all measurements are independent – or uncorrelated – the standard deviation of
the sum and that of difference is given by σ = 󵀆σA2 + σB2 . For both the product or ratio
of two measured and uncorrelated values C and D, the result is ρ = 󵀆 ρC2 + ρ2D , where
the ρ terms are the relative standard deviations.
Assume you measure that an object moves 1.0 m in 3.0 s: what is the measured speed
Challenge 308 s value?

Limits to precision

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
What are the limits to accuracy and precision? There is no way, even in principle, to
measure a length x to a precision higher than about 61 digits, because in nature, the ratio
between the largest and the smallest measurable length is Δx/x > lPl /dhorizon = 10−61 .
Challenge 309 e (Is this ratio valid also for force or for volume?) In the final volume of our text, studies
Vol. VI, page 87 of clocks and metre bars strengthen this theoretical limit.
But it is not difficult to deduce more stringent practical limits. No imaginable machine
can measure quantities with a higher precision than measuring the diameter of the Earth
within the smallest length ever measured, about 10−19 m; that is about 26 digits of preci-
sion. Using a more realistic limit of a 1000 m sized machine implies a limit of 22 digits.
If, as predicted above, time measurements really achieve 17 digits of precision, then they
are nearing the practical limit, because apart from size, there is an additional practical
restriction: cost. Indeed, an additional digit in measurement precision often means an
additional digit in equipment cost.

Physical constants
In physics, general observations are deduced from more fundamental ones. As a conse-
quence, many measurements can be deduced from more fundamental ones. The most
fundamental measurements are those of the physical constants.
The following tables give the world’s best values of the most important physical con-
stants and particle properties – in SI units and in a few other common units – as pub-
Ref. 266 lished in the standard references. The values are the world averages of the best measure- Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ments made up to the present. As usual, experimental errors, including both random
and estimated systematic errors, are expressed by giving the standard deviation in the
last digits. In fact, behind each of the numbers in the following tables there is a long
Ref. 267 story which is worth telling, but for which there is not enough room here.
Ref. 266 In principle, all quantitative properties of matter can be calculated with quantum the-
ory and the values of certain physical constants. For example, colour, density and elastic
properties can be predicted using the equations of the standard model of high-energy
Vol. V, page 193 physics and the values of the following basic constants.
 292 a units, measurements and constants

TA B L E 27 Basic physical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e i n S I u n i t s U n c e r t. a

Number of space-time dimensions 3+1 0b

Vacuum speed of lightc c 299 792 458 m/s 0
−7
Vacuum permeability c
μ0 4π ⋅ 10 H/m 0
= 1.256 637 061 435 ... μH/m0
Vacuum permittivityc ε0 = 1/μ0 c 2 8.854 187 817 620 ... pF/m 0
Original Planck constant h 6.626 069 57(52) ⋅ 10−34 Js 4.4 ⋅ 10−8
Reduced Planck constant ħ 1.054 571 726(47) ⋅ 10 Js 4.4 ⋅ 10−8
−34

Positron charge e 0.160 217 656 5(35) aC 2.2 ⋅ 10−8

Boltzmann constant k 1.380 6488(13) ⋅ 10 J/K 9.1 ⋅ 10−7
−23

6.673 84(80) ⋅ 10−11 Nm2 /kg2 1.2 ⋅ 10−4

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Gravitational constant G
Gravitational coupling constantκ = 8πG/c 4 2.076 50(25) ⋅ 10−43 s2 /kg m 1.2 ⋅ 10−4
2
Fine structure constant, d α = 4πεe ħc 1/137.035 999 074(44) 3.2 ⋅ 10−10
0

e.m. coupling constant = дem (me2 c 2 ) = 0.007 297 352 5698(24) 3.2 ⋅ 10−10
Fermi coupling constant, d GF /(ħc)3 1.166 364(5) ⋅ 10−5 GeV−2 4.3 ⋅ 10−6
weak coupling constant αw (MZ ) = дw2 /4π 1/30.1(3) 1 ⋅ 10−2
Weak mixing angle sin2 θW (MS) 0.231 24(24) 1.0 ⋅ 10−3
sin2 θW (on shell) 0.2224(19) 8.7 ⋅ 10−3
= 1 − (mW /mZ )2
Strong coupling constant d αs (MZ ) = дs2 /4π 0.118(3) 25 ⋅ 10−3
Electron mass me 9.109 382 91(40) ⋅ 10−31 kg 4.4 ⋅ 10−8
5.485 799 0946(22) ⋅ 10−4 u 4.0 ⋅ 10−10
0.510 998 928(11) MeV 2.2 ⋅ 10−8
Muon mass mμ 1.883 531 475(96) ⋅ 10−28 kg 5.1 ⋅ 10−8
0.113 428 9267(29) u 2.5 ⋅ 10−8
105, 658 3715(35) MeV 3.4 ⋅ 10−8
Proton mass mp 1, 672 621 777(74) ⋅ 10−27 kg 4.4 ⋅ 10−8
1.007 276 466 812(90) u 8.9 ⋅ 10−11
938, 272 046(21) MeV 2.2 ⋅ 10−8
Neutron mass mn 1, 674 927 351(74) ⋅ 10−27 kg 4.4 ⋅ 10−8
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

1.008 664 916 00(43) u 4.2 ⋅ 10−10

939, 565 379(21) MeV 2.2 ⋅ 10−8
Atomic mass unit mu = m( C)/12 = 1 u1.660 538 921(73) yg
12
4.4 ⋅ 10−8

a. Uncertainty: standard deviation of measurement errors.

b. Only down to 10−19 m and up to 1026 m.
c. Defining constant.
d. All coupling constants depend on the 4-momentum transfer, as explained in the section on
Page 88 renormalization. Fine structure constant is the traditional name for the electromagnetic coupling con-
stant дem in the case of a 4-momentum transfer of Q 2 = me2 c 2 , which is the smallest one possible. At higher
momentum transfers it has larger values, e.g. дem (Q 2 = MW 2 2
c ) ≈ 1/128. In contrast, the strong coupling
 a units, measurements and constants 293

constant has lover values at higher momentum transfers; e.g., αs (34 GeV) = 0.14(2).

Why do all these constants have the values they have? For any constant with a dimen-
sion, such as the quantum of action ħ, the numerical value has only historical meaning.
It is 1.054 ⋅ 10−34 Js because of the SI definition of the joule and the second. The question
why the value of a dimensional constant is not larger or smaller therefore always requires
one to understand the origin of some dimensionless number giving the ratio between the
constant and the corresponding natural unit that is defined with c, G, ħ and α. More de-
Vol. IV, page 181 tails and the values of the natural units are given later. Understanding the sizes of atoms,
people, trees and stars, the duration of molecular and atomic processes, or the mass of
nuclei and mountains, implies understanding the ratios between these values and the
corresponding natural units. The key to understanding nature is thus the understanding
of all ratios, and thus of all dimensionless constants. The quest of understanding all ra-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
tios, including the fine structure constant α itself, is completed only in the final volume
of our adventure.
The basic constants yield the following useful high-precision observations.

TA B L E 28 Derived physical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e i n S I u n i t s U n c e r t.

Vacuum wave resistance Z0 = 󵀄μ0 /ε0 376.730 313 461 77... Ω 0

Avogadro’s number NA 6.022 141 29(27) ⋅ 1023 4.4 ⋅ 10−8
Loschmidt’s number NL 2.686 7805(24) ⋅ 1023 9.1 ⋅ 10−7
at 273.15 K and 101 325 Pa
Faraday’s constant F = NA e 96 485.3365(21) C/mol 2.2 ⋅ 10−8
Universal gas constant R = NA k 8.314 4621(75) J/mol K 9.1 ⋅ 10−7
Molar volume of an ideal gas V = RT /p 22.413 968(20) l/mol 9.1 ⋅ 10−7
at 273.15 K and 101 325 Pa
Rydberg constant a R∞ = me cα 2 /2h 10 973 731.568 539(55) m−1 5 ⋅ 10−12
Conductance quantum G0 = 2e 2 /h 77.480 917 346(25) μS 3.2 ⋅ 10−10
Magnetic flux quantum φ0 = h/2e 2.067 833 758(46) pWb 2.2 ⋅ 10−8
Josephson frequency ratio 2e/h 483.597 870(11) THz/V 2.2 ⋅ 10−8
Von Klitzing constant h/e 2 = μ0 c/2α 25 812.807 4434(84) Ω 3.2 ⋅ 10−10
Bohr magneton μB = eħ/2me 9.274 009 68(20) yJ/T 2.2 ⋅ 10−8
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Classical electron radius re = e 2 /4πε0 me c 2 2.817 940 3267(27) fm 9.7 ⋅ 10−10

Compton wavelength λC = h/me c 2.426 310 2389(16) pm 6.5 ⋅ 10−10
of the electron λc = ħ/me c = re /α 0.386 159 268 00(25) pm 6.5 ⋅ 10−10
Bohr radius a a∞ = re /α 2 52.917 721 092(17) pm 3.2 ⋅ 10−10
Quantum of circulation h/2me 3.636 947 5520(24) ⋅ 10−4 m2 /s 6.5 ⋅ 10−10
Specific positron charge e/me 1.758 820 088(39) ⋅ 1011 C/kg 2.2 ⋅ 10−8
Cyclotron frequency fc /B = e/2πme 27.992 491 10(62) GHz/T 2.2 ⋅ 10−8
of the electron
Electron magnetic moment μe −9.284 764 30(21) ⋅ 10−24 J/T 2.2 ⋅ 10−8
μe /μB −1.001 159 652 180 76(27) 2.6 ⋅ 10−13
294 a units, measurements and constants

TA B L E 28 (Continued) Derived physical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e i n S I u n i t s U n c e r t.

μe /μN −1.838 281 970 90(75) ⋅ 103 4.1 ⋅ 10−10

Electron g-factor дe −2.002 319 304 361 53(53) 2.6 ⋅ 10−13
Muon–electron mass ratio mμ /me 206.768 2843(52) 2.5 ⋅ 10−8
Muon magnetic moment μμ −4.490 448 07(15) ⋅ 10−26 J/T 3.4 ⋅ 10−8
muon g-factor дμ −2.002 331 8418(13) 6.3 ⋅ 10−10
Proton–electron mass ratio mp /me 1 836.152 672 45(75) 4.1 ⋅ 10−10
Specific proton charge e/mp 9, 578 833 58(21) ⋅ 107 C/kg 2.2 ⋅ 10−8
Proton Compton wavelength λC,p = h/mp c 1.321 409 856 23(94) fm 7.1 ⋅ 10−10
Nuclear magneton μN = eħ/2mp 5.050 783 53(11) ⋅ 10−27 J/T 2.2 ⋅ 10−8

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Proton magnetic moment μp 1.410 606 743(33) ⋅ 10−26 J/T 2.4 ⋅ 10−8
μp /μB 1.521 032 210(12) ⋅ 10−3 8.1 ⋅ 10−9
μp /μN 2.792 847 356(23) 8.2 ⋅ 10−9
Proton gyromagnetic ratio γp = 2μ p /ħ 2.675 222 005(63) ⋅ 108 Hz/T 2.4 ⋅ 10−8
Proton g factor дp 5.585 694 713(46) 8.2 ⋅ 10−9
Neutron–electron mass ratio mn /me 1 838.683 6605(11) 5.8 ⋅ 10−10
Neutron–proton mass ratio mn /mp 1.001 378 419 17(45) 4.5 ⋅ 10−10
Neutron Compton wavelength λC,n = h/mn c 1.319 590 9068(11) fm 8.2 ⋅ 10−10
Neutron magnetic moment μn −0.966 236 47(23) ⋅ 10−26 J/T 2.4 ⋅ 10−7
μn /μB −1.041 875 63(25) ⋅ 10−3 2.4 ⋅ 10−7
μn /μN −1.913 042 72(45) 2.4 ⋅ 10−7
Stefan–Boltzmann constant σ = π2 k 4 /60ħ3 c 2 56.703 73(21) nW/m2 K4 3.6 ⋅ 10−6
Wien’s displacement constant b = λmax T 2.897 7721(26) mmK 9.1 ⋅ 10−7
58.789 254(53) GHz/K 9.1 ⋅ 10−7
Electron volt eV 1.602 176 565(35) ⋅ 10−19 J 2.2 ⋅ 10−8
Bits to entropy conversion const. k ln 2 1023 bit = 0.956 994 5(9) J/K 9.1 ⋅ 10−7
TNT energy content 3.7 to 4.0 MJ/kg 4 ⋅ 10−2

a. For infinite mass of the nucleus. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Some useful properties of our local environment are given in the following table.

TA B L E 29 Astronomical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Tropical year 1900 a a 31 556 925.974 7 s

Tropical year 1994 a 31 556 925.2 s
Mean sidereal day d 23h 56󳰀 4.090 53󳰀󳰀
Astronomical unit b AU 149 597 870.691(30) km
Light year al 9.460 528 173 ... Pm
Parsec pc 30.856 775 806 Pm = 3.261 634 al
a units, measurements and constants 295

TA B L E 29 (Continued) Astronomical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Earth’s mass M♁ 5.973(1) ⋅ 1024 kg

Geocentric gravitational constant GM 3.986 004 418(8) ⋅ 1014 m3 /s2
Earth’s gravitational length l♁ = 2GM/c 2 8.870 056 078(16) mm
Earth’s equatorial radius c R♁eq 6378.1366(1) km
Earth’s polar radius c R♁p 6356.752(1) km
c
Equator–pole distance 10 001.966 km (average)
Earth’s flattening c e♁ 1/298.25642(1)
Earth’s av. density ρ♁ 5.5 Mg/m3
Earth’s age T♁ 4.50(4) Ga = 142(2) Ps

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Earth’s normal gravity д 9.806 65 m/s2
Earth’s standard atmospheric pressure p0 101 325 Pa
Moon’s radius Rv 1738 km in direction of Earth
Moon’s radius Rh 1737.4 km in other two directions
Moon’s mass M 7.35 ⋅ 1022 kg
d
Moon’s mean distance d 384 401 km
Moon’s distance at perigee d typically 363 Mm, historical minimum
359 861 km
Moon’s distance at apogee d typically 404 Mm, historical maximum
406 720 km
Moon’s angular size e average 0.5181∘ = 31.08󳰀 , minimum 0.49∘ ,
maximum - shortens line 0.55∘
Moon’s average density ρ 3.3 Mg/m3
Moon’s surface gravity д 1.62 m/s2
Moons’s atmospheric pressure p from 10−10 Pa (night) to 10−7 Pa (day)
Jupiter’s mass M 1.90 ⋅ 1027 kg
Jupiter’s radius, equatorial R 71.398 Mm
Jupiter’s radius, polar R 67.1(1) Mm
Jupiter’s average distance from Sun D 778 412 020 km
Jupiter’s surface gravity д 24.9 m/s2
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Jupiter’s atmospheric pressure p from 20 kPa to 200 kPa

Sun’s mass M⊙ 1.988 43(3) ⋅ 1030 kg
Sun’s gravitational length l⊙ = 2GM⊙ /c 2 2.953 250 08 km
Sun’s luminosity L⊙ 384.6 YW
Solar equatorial radius R⊙ 695.98(7) Mm
Sun’s angular size 0.53∘ average; minimum on fourth of July
(aphelion) 1888󳰀󳰀 , maximum on fourth of
January (perihelion) 1952󳰀󳰀
Sun’s average density ρ⊙ 1.4 Mg/m3
Sun’s average distance AU 149 597 870.691(30) km
Sun’s age T⊙ 4.6 Ga
 296 a units, measurements and constants

TA B L E 29 (Continued) Astronomical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Solar velocity 󰑣⊙g 220(20) km/s

around centre of galaxy
Solar velocity 󰑣⊙b 370.6(5) km/s
against cosmic background
Sun’s surface gravity д⊙ 274 m/s2
Sun’s lower photospheric pressure p⊙ 15 kPa
Distance to Milky Way’s centre 8.0(5) kpc = 26.1(1.6) kal
Milky Way’s age 13.6 Ga
Milky Way’s size c. 1021 m or 100 kal

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Milky Way’s mass 1012 solar masses, c. 2 ⋅ 1042 kg
Most distant galaxy cluster known SXDF-XCLJ 9.6 ⋅ 109 al
0218-0510

a. Defining constant, from vernal equinox to vernal equinox; it was once used to define the second. (Remem-
ber: π seconds is about a nanocentury.) The value for 1990 is about 0.7 s less, corresponding to a slowdown
Challenge 310 s of roughly 0.2 ms/a. (Watch out: why?) There is even an empirical formula for the change of the length of
Ref. 268 the year over time.
b. Average distance Earth–Sun. The truly amazing precision of 30 m results from time averages of signals
sent from Viking orbiters and Mars landers taken over a period of over twenty years.
c. The shape of the Earth is described most precisely with the World Geodetic System. The last edition dates
from 1984. For an extensive presentation of its background and its details, see the www.wgs84.com website.
The International Geodesic Union refined the data in 2000. The radii and the flattening given here are those
for the ‘mean tide system’. They differ from those of the ‘zero tide system’ and other systems by about 0.7 m.
The details constitute a science in itself.
d. Measured centre to centre. To find the precise position of the Moon at a given date, see the www.
fourmilab.ch/earthview/moon_ap_per.html page. For the planets, see the page www.fourmilab.ch/solar/
solar.html and the other pages on the same site.
e. Angles are defined as follows: 1 degree = 1∘ = π/180 rad, 1 (first) minute = 1󳰀 = 1∘ /60, 1 second (minute)
= 1󳰀󳰀 = 1󳰀 /60. The ancient units ‘third minute’ and ‘fourth minute’, each 1/60th of the preceding, are not in
use any more. (‘Minute’ originally means ‘very small’, as it still does in modern English.)

Some properties of nature at large are listed in the following table. (If you want a chal-
lenge, can you determine whether any property of the universe itself is listed?)
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 311 s

TA B L E 30 Astrophysical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Cosmological constant Λ c. 1 ⋅ 10−52 m−2

Age of the universe a t0 4.333(53) ⋅ 1017 s = 13.73(0.17) ⋅ 109 a
(determined from space-time, via expansion, using general relativity)
Age of the universe a t0 over 3.5(4) ⋅ 1017 s = 11.5(1.5) ⋅ 109 a
(determined from matter, via galaxies and stars, using quantum theory)
Hubble parameter a H0 2.3(2) ⋅ 10−18 s−1 = 0.73(4) ⋅ 10−10 a−1
= h0 ⋅ 100 km/s Mpc = h0 ⋅ 1.0227 ⋅ 10−10 a−1
 a units, measurements and constants 297

TA B L E 30 (Continued) Astrophysical constants.

Q ua n t i t y Symbol Va l u e

Reduced Hubble parameter a h0 0.71(4)

Deceleration parameter a q0 = −(̈
a/a)0 /H02 −0.66(10)
Universe’s horizon distance a d0 = 3ct0 40.0(6) ⋅ 1026 m = 13.0(2) Gpc
Universe’s topology trivial up to 1026 m
Number of space dimensions 3, for distances up to 1026 m
Critical density ρc = 3H0 /8πG
2
h02 ⋅ 1.878 82(24) ⋅ 10−26 kg/m3
of the universe = 0.95(12) ⋅ 10−26 kg/m3
(Total) density parameter a Ω0 = ρ0 /ρc 1.02(2)
Baryon density parameter a ΩB0 = ρB0 /ρc 0.044(4)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Cold dark matter density parameter a ΩCDM0 = ρCDM0 /ρc 0.23(4)
Neutrino density parameter a Ω󰜈0 = ρ󰜈0 /ρc 0.001 to 0.05
Dark energy density parameter a ΩX0 = ρX0 /ρc 0.73(4)
Dark energy state parameter 󰑤 = pX /ρX −1.0(2)
Baryon mass mb 1.67 ⋅ 10−27 kg
Baryon number density 0.25(1) /m3
Luminous matter density 3.8(2) ⋅ 10−28 kg/m3
Stars in the universe ns 1022±1
Baryons in the universe nb 1081±1
Microwave background temperature b T0 2.725(1) K
Photons in the universe nγ 1089
Photon energy density ργ = π k /15T0
2 4 4
4.6 ⋅ 10−31 kg/m3
Photon number density 410.89 /cm3 or 400 /cm3 (T0 /2.7 K)3
Density perturbation amplitude 󵀂S 5.6(1.5) ⋅ 10−6
Gravity wave amplitude 󵀂T < 0.71󵀂S
Mass fluctuations on 8 Mpc σ8 0.84(4)
Scalar index n 0.93(3)
Running of scalar index dn/d ln k -0.03(2)
Planck length lPl = 󵀆 ħG/c 3 1.62 ⋅ 10−35 m
Planck time tPl = 󵀆 ħG/c 5 5.39 ⋅ 10−44 s
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Planck mass mPl = 󵀄 ħc/G 21.8 μg

Instants in history a t0 /tPl 8.7(2.8) ⋅ 1060
Space-time points N0 = (R0 /lPl )3 ⋅ 10244±1
inside the horizon a (t0 /tPl )
Mass inside horizon M 1054±1 kg

a. The index 0 indicates present-day values.

b. The radiation originated when the universe was 380 000 years old and had a temperature of about 3000 K;
Vol. II, page 211 the fluctuations ΔT0 which led to galaxy formation are today about 16 ± 4 μK = 6(2) ⋅ 10−6 T0 .
 298 a units, measurements and constants

Useful numbers

π 3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 375105
e 2.71828 18284 59045 23536 02874 71352 66249 77572 47093 699959
γ 0.57721 56649 01532 86060 65120 90082 40243 10421 59335 939923
Ref. 269
ln 2 0.69314 71805 59945 30941 72321 21458 17656 80755 00134 360255
ln 10 2.30258 50929 94045 68401 79914 54684 36420 76011 01488 628772
󵀂10 3.16227 76601 68379 33199 88935 44432 71853 37195 55139 325216

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
 CHALLENGE HINT S AND SOLUTIONS

Challenge 1, page 9: Do not hesitate to be demanding and strict. The next edition of the text will
benefit from it.
Challenge 4, page 18: The liquid drops have to detach from the flow exactly inside the metal

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
counter-electrodes. There is always a tiny charge somewhere on the metal structures (due to cos-
mic rays, rubbing, previous charging, etc.). In Figure 143, this initial charge is the positive charge
drawn on the lower left and upper right metal structure. When the water droplets form, they
get a charge that is opposite to that of the metal surrounding the region where they form. The
negative droplets fall into the other metal structure. Through the negative charge accumulating
there, the positive charge in the first structure increases. When the charge on the metal structure
increases, the charge separation in the droplets is more efficient. In other words, water droplet
formation inside the metal structures amplifies any initial charge. After a while, the charge value
and the associated voltage are so high that it leads to a loud bang (if everything is dry, including
the air.) Then the process starts again. In fact, a vaguely similar charge separation mechanism
leads to cloud charging and to lightning. If you want to build a Kelvin generator at home, have
a look at the de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin-Generator web page, or search for other internet site
on the topic.
To avoid the sparks in the fuel tanks of its cars, Opel simply earthed the metal tube at the tank
inlet; they had forgotten to ensure electric contact between the tube and the rest of the car.
The explosion of fuel can also occur if you pour fuel into your car from a metal container.
Several times, fuel thieves were ‘punished’ by an explosion triggered by static electricity when
they tried to pour stolen fuel into their own car.
On every airport you can see how the problem is avoided: before even attaching the fuel tube
to an aeroplane, the worker attaches a conducting cable to connect the truck (or the tank) to the
aeroplane.
Challenge 5, page 19: We look at the two spark through a rapidly rotating mirror. In this way,
small timing differences lead to position differences of the two sparks. In the 19th century, the
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

speed values measured in this way varied between 6000 km/s and way over 100 000 km/s, because
the speed depends on the effective capacitance and inductance of wire and set-up. Only if these
effects can be neglected is the measured speed the same as that of light in vacuum, namely around
Page 29 300 000 km/s. In modern cables, the speed is often around a third of this value.
Challenge 6, page 20: A lot of noise appeared while the metal pendulum banged wildly between
the two fixed bells.
Challenge 8, page 23: No.
Challenge 9, page 24: The field at a distance of 1 m from an electron is 1.4 nV/m.
Challenge 10, page 24: A simple geometrical effect: anything flowing out homogeneously from
a sphere diminishes with the square of the distance.
Challenge 11, page 26: One has F = αħcNA2 /4R2 = 3 ⋅ 1012 N, an enormous force, correspond-
ing to the weight of 300 million tons. It shows the enormous forces that keep matter together.
300 challenge hints and solu tions

water
nylon ropes pipe nylon ropes

metal cylinders + __ __ +
_ _ + _ _ +
_ _ + +
+ +
bang!

metal wires
+
+ +
+

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
+
+ + metal cans F I G U R E 143 The key process in the Kelvin generator:
++ + _ _ _
charge separation during droplet formation.

Obviously, there is no way to keep 1 g of positive charge together, as the repulsive forces among
the charges would be even larger.
Challenge 12, page 26: To show the full equivalence of Coulomb’s and Gauss’s ‘laws’, first show
that it holds for a single point charge. Then expand the result for more than one point charge.
That gives Gauss’s ‘law’ in integral form, as given just before this challenge.
To deduce the integral form of Gauss’s ‘law’ for a single point charge, one has to integrate
over the closed surface. The essential point here is to note that the integration can be carried out
for an inverse square dependence only. This dependence allows transforming the scalar product
between the local field and the area element into a normal product between the charge and the
solid angle Ω:
qdA cos θ qdΩ
E dA = = . (109)
4πε0 r 2 4πε0
In case that the surface is closed the integration is then straightforward.
To deduce the differential form of (the static) Gauss’s ‘law’, namely
ρ
∇E = , (110)
ε0 Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

make use of the definition of the charge density ρ and of the purely mathematical relation

󵐔 E dA = 󵐐 ∇E dV , (111)
closed surface enclosed volume

This mathematical relation, valid for any vector field E, is called Gauss’s theorem. It simply states
that the flux is the volume integral of the divergence.
To deduce the full form of Gauss’s law, including the time-derivative of the magnetic field,
include relativistic effects by changing viewpoint to a moving observer.
Challenge 14, page 26: Uncharged bodies can attract each other if they are made of charged con-
stituents neutralizing each other, and if the charges are constrained in their mobility. The charge
fluctuations then lead to attraction. Most molecules interact among each other in this way; such
forces are also at the basis of surface tension in liquids and thus of droplet formation.
 challenge hints and solu tions 301

Challenge 15, page 26: No; batteries only separate charges and pump them around.
Challenge 17, page 29: The ratio q/m of electrons and that of the free charges inside metals is
not exactly the same.
Challenge 19, page 31: Find out a way to test the issue, perform the experiment, and publish it!
Challenge 20, page 37: If you can, publish the result. Researchers have tried to put people on the
ocean during clouded days, have tried experiments in dark rooms, but nothing has been found
so far. The experiences of people in magnetic resonance imaging equipment is inconclusive so
far.
Challenge 22, page 42: No.
Challenge 24, page 43: The correct version of Ampère’s ‘law’ is

1 ∂E
∇×B− = μ0 j (112)
c 2 ∂t

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
whereas the expression mentioned in the text misses the term ∂E
∂t
.
For another way to state the difference, see R ichard P. Feynman, Robert B. L eighton
& Mat thew Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, volume II, Addison Wesley, p. 21-1,
1977.
Challenge 25, page 44: Only boosts with relativistic speeds mix magnetic and electric fields to
an appreciable amount.
Challenge 27, page 45: The dual field ∗F is defined on page 70.
Challenge 28, page 45: Scalar products of four vectors are always, by construction, Lorentz in-
variant quantities.
Challenge 29, page 46: X-rays production needs high concentration of energy; such levels are
impossible in biological systems.
Challenge 30, page 46: Electric waves of low frequency are produced in nervous systems, and
in brains in particular. As mentioned above, various fish communicate via time-varying electric
Ref. 14 dipole fields. But no communication via radio waves has ever been found. In fact, there is little
hope that such systems exist. Why? (Hint: ponder the involved frequencies, their generation, and
the physical properties of water and air.)
Challenge 33, page 47: Almost all neutral particles are made of charged ones. So the argument
holds for them as well. There is only one exception: neutrinos. For them, the argument is not
valid. However, even neutrinos have charged virtual particles around them, so that the maximum
speed also applies to them.
Challenge 34, page 47: As explained earlier on, for an observer who flies along the wire, the en-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Page 47
trance and exit events for charges at the two ends events do not occur simultaneously any more;
the wire is charged for a moving observer. Thus there is a magnetic field around a wire for any
moving observer.
Challenge 35, page 49: The illumination of the sun changes the ionization in the upper atmo-
sphere and provokes convection in the ionosphere. The tides move the ions in the ocean and in
Page 55 the atmosphere. These currents lead to magnetic fields which can be seen in sensitive compass
needles.
Challenge 36, page 49: If you find such an effect and are able to demonstrate it, publish it in a
didactic journal.
Challenge 37, page 49: Usually, the cables of high voltage lines are too warm to be comfortable.
Challenge 38, page 50: Move them to form a T shape.
302 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 39, page 50: Hint: a shining bulb is hot.

Challenge 40, page 50: For three and more switches, on uses inverters; an inverter is a switch
with two inputs and two outputs which in one position, connects first and second input to first
and second output respectively, and in the other position connects the first input to the second
output and vice versa. (There are other possibilities, though; wires can be saved using electromag-
netic relay switches.)
Challenge 42, page 51: Blond children tend to have the thinnest hair, thus giving the greatest
effect. Dry weather is needed to avoid that the moisture in the air discharges the head thus pre-
venting the hair to raise at all.
Challenge 43, page 51: It is possible; however, the systems so far are not small and are dangerous
for human health. The idea to collect solar power in deep space and then beam it to the Earth as
microwaves has often been aired. Finances and dangers have blocked it so far.
Challenge 45, page 52: Glue two mirrors together at a right angle. Or watch yourself on TV us-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ing a video camera.
Challenge 46, page 52: This is again an example of combined triboluminescence and triboelec-
tricity. See also the websites scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/Triboluminescence.html and
www.geocities.com/RainForest/9911/tribo.htm.
Challenge 49, page 53: Pepper is lighter than salt, and thus reacts to the spoon before the salt
does.
Challenge 50, page 56: For a wavelength of 546.1 nm (standard green), that is a bit over 18 wave-
lengths.
Challenge 51, page 57: The angular size of the Sun is too large; diffraction plays no role here.
Challenge 52, page 57: Just use a high speed camera.
Challenge 53, page 57: The current flows perpendicularly to the magnetic field and is thus de-
flected. It pulls the whole magnet with it.
Challenge 54, page 58: The most simple equivalent to a coil is a rotating mass being put into
rotation by the flowing water. A transformer would then be made of two such masses connected
through their axis.
Challenge 55, page 59: Light makes seven turns of the Earth in one second.
Challenge 59, page 59: There are no permanent magnets in nature that fit in a floor and that are
strong enough to achieve a floating height of 50 to 80 cm. (Note that in one image the floating
height is so large that the legs of the woman do not touch the floor.) And anybody who has tried
this with an electromagnet knows that such a device would be larger than a complete room.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Looking carefully at the images, you will also note that they are not photographs: there are
errors with the shadow and with the reflected image of the woman. And most of all, nobody
would cut half the bed out of an image with a woman on the bed. Finally, nobody has ever seen
the floating bed shown in the images.
Challenge 62, page 62: The charged layer has the effect that almost only ions of one charge pass
the channels. As a result, charges are separated on the two sides of the liquid, and a current is
generated.
Challenge 63, page 62: Leakage currents change the picture. The long term voltage ratio is given
by the leakage resistance ratio V1 /V2 = R1 /R2 , as can be easily verified in experiments.
Challenge 68, page 64: The model does not work in three dimensions. An attempt to correct this
is F. De Flaviis, M. Noro & N. G. Alexopoulos, Diaz-Fitzgerald time domain (D-FTD)
method applied to dielectric and lossy materials, preprint available online.
 challenge hints and solu tions 303

cable,
forward Poynting vector

Resistance
-free
cable

cable,
backward

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Poynting vector

Loss-free
transformer

F I G U R E 144 The Poynting vector field for a cable without electrical resistance and the situation a long
transformer without losses.

Challenge 73, page 73: Some momentum, usually a very small part, is carried away by the elec-
tromagnetic field. Given that the electromagnetic momentum is given by the vector potential, are
you able to check whether everything comes out right?
Challenge 74, page 74: Field lines and equipotential surfaces are always orthogonal to each
other. Thus a field line cannot cross an equipotential surface twice. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 82, page 78: See Figure 144. If the cable is resistance-free, most of the energy flows just
outside the two conductors and parallel to them. If the cable does have resistence, the Poynting
vectors point somewhat towards the conductors. For the case of a transformer, which can be
deduced from the case of the cable via the analogy sketched in the picture, see the beautiful
paper by F. Herrmann & G. B. S chmid, The Ponyting vector field and the energy flow within
a transformer, American Journal of Physics 54, pp. 528–531, 1986.
Challenge 87, page 81: The argument is the same as for the increase in entropy: reverse processes
are possible, but the probability is so low that they do not appear in practice. The extremely low
probability is due to the fluctuations induced by the environment.
Challenge 88, page 81: Just draw a current through a coil with its magnetic field, then draw the
mirror image of the current and redraw the magnetic field.
Challenge 89, page 82: Other asymmetries in nature include the helicity of the DNA molecules
 304 challenge hints and solu tions

making up the chromosomes and many other molecules in living systems, the right hand prefer-
ence of most humans, the asymmetry of fish species which usually stay flat on the bottom of the
seas.
Challenge 90, page 82: This is not possible at all using gravitational or electromagnetic systems
or effects. The only way is to use the weak nuclear interaction, as shown in the chapter on the
Vol. V, page 178 nucleus.
Challenge 91, page 82: The Lagrangian does not change if one of the three coordinates is
changed by its negative value.
Challenge 92, page 82: The image flips up: a 90 degree rotation turns the image by 180 degrees.
Challenge 93, page 83: Imagine E and B as the unite vectors of two axes in complex space. Then
any rotation of these axes is also a generalized duality symmetry.
Challenge 94, page 86: The angular momentum was put into the system when it was formed. If
we bring a point charge from infinity along a straight line to its final position close to a mag-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
netic dipole, the magnetic force acting on the charge is not directed along the line of motion.
It therefore creates a non-vanishing torque about the origin. See J. M. Aguirregabiria &
A. Hernandez, The Feynman paradox revisited, European Journal of Physics 2, pp. 168–170,
1981.
Challenge 95, page 86: Show that even though the radial magnetic field of a spherical wave is
vanishing by definition, Maxwell’s equations would require it to be different from zero. Since
electromagnetic waves are transversal, it is also sufficient to show that it is impossible to comb a
hairy sphere without having a (double) vortex or two simple vortices. Despite these statements,
quantum theory changes the picture somewhat: the emission probability of a photon from an
excited atom in a degenerate state is spherically symmetric exactly.
Challenge 96, page 86: If the conservation of linear and angular momentum are taken into ac-
count, there is no ambiguity of the Poynting vector. See, for example, W. H. Furry, Examples of
momentum distributions in the electromagnetic field and in matter, American Journal of Physics
37, pp. 621–636, 1969.
Challenge 97, page 86: The emitted radiation is strongly suppressed because the size of the
dipole (the plug) is much smaller than the wavelength of the field.
Challenge 98, page 86: No. Neither electromagnetic motors nor coils have been found in any
living system. Muscles, the most powerful actuators in biology, are mainly made of large num-
bers of electrostatic motors. The fundamental reason for this difference is the low efficiency of
microscopic electromagnetic motors, which contrasts with the high efficiency of microscopic elec-
trostatic motors. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 100, page 92: In every case of interference, the energy is redistributed into other di-
rections. This is the general rule; sometimes it is quite tricky to discover this other direction.
Challenge 101, page 92: The author regularly sees about 7 lines; assuming that the distance is
around 20 μm, this makes about 3 μm per line. The wavelength must be smaller than this value
and the frequency thus larger than 100 THz. The actual values for various colours are given in
the table of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Challenge 103, page 93: He noted that when a prism produces a rainbow, a thermometer placed
in the region after the colour red shows a temperature rise.
Challenge 104, page 95: Birefringence appears when the refraction is polarization dependent.
Only two linear independent polarizations are possible, thus there is no trirefringence in nature.
This holds true also for crystals which have three different indices of refraction in three direc-
tions!
challenge hints and solu tions 305

R=cT

E
θ
v0T ct0

F I G U R E 145 Calculating the transverse field of an

accelerated charge.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 105, page 95: Light reflected form a water surface is partly polarized. Mirages are not.
Challenge 108, page 102: Figure 145 shows electrical field lines. We assume that the charge
moves at a initial velocity 󰑣0 that is small compared to c and that it decelerates to zero velocity
during a time t0 . After a time T has elapsed, the radiation pulse has travelled a distance R = cT ,
where T ≫ t0 . The figure shows that at a given kink, drawn in red, the ratio of the transverse
field Et and of the radial field Er is given by the steepness of the of the kink. (Why?) Geometry
then leads to
Et 󰑣0 T sin θ aR sin θ
= = . (113)
Er ct0 c2
Inserting Coulomb’s expression for the radial field we get

1 a sin θ
Et = . (114)
4πε0 c 2 R

The magnitude of the transversal field thus decreases with 1/R. In addition, the field depends on
the angle θ; this is clearly visible both in Figure 145 and in Figure 62 on page 103. In other words,
transmitter antennas have a preferred direction of power emission, namely perpendicularly to
the direction of acceleration.
Challenge 109, page 104: Such an observer would experience a wavy but static field, which can-
not exist, as the equations for the electromagnetic field show.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 110, page 105: You would never die. Could you reach the end of the universe?
Challenge 113, page 105: A surface of 1 m2 perpendicular to the light receives about 1 kW of
radiation. It generates the same pressure as the weight of about 0.3 mg of matter. That generates
3 μPa for black surfaces, and the double for mirrors.
Challenge 115, page 106: The shine side gets twice the momentum transfer as the black side, and
thus should be pushed backwards.
Challenge 118, page 109: A polarizer can do this.
Challenge 121, page 109: The interference patterns change when colours are changed. Rainbows
also appear because different colours are due to different frequencies.
Challenge 123, page 110: The full rainbow is round like a circle. You can produce one with a
garden hose, if you keep the hose in your hand while you stand on a chair, with your back to the
306 challenge hints and solu tions

evening Sun. (Well, one small part is missing; can you imagine which part?) The circle is due to
the spherical shape of droplets. If the droplets were of different shape, and if they were all aligned,
the rainbow would have a different shape than a simple circle.
Challenge 125, page 111: Ternary and quaternary rainbows form a bow around the Sun. To see
them, typically one has to be behind a building or tree that covers the direct view to the Sun. In
2011, there were only a handful of photographs of a ternary rainbow and only a single photograph
of a quaternary rainbow, world-wide.
Challenge 128, page 114: Take a film of a distant supernova explosion, or better, an optical or
gamma ray burst, and check whether it happens at the same time for each colour separately. This
has been done extensively, and no differences have been detected within experimental errors.
Challenge 130, page 117: The first part of the forerunner is a feature with the shortest possible
effective wavelength; thus it is given by taking the limit for infinite frequency.
Challenge 131, page 117: The light is pulsed; thus it is the energy velocity.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 132, page 117: Inside matter, the energy is transferred to atoms, then back to light,
then to the next atoms, etc. That takes time and slows down the propagation.
Challenge 133, page 118: This is true even in general relativity, when the bending of the vacuum
is studied.
Challenge 134, page 118: Almost no light passes; the intensity of the little light that is transmit-
ted depends exponentially on the ratio between wavelength and hole diameter. One also says that
after the hole there is an evanescent wave.
Challenge 135, page 119: The energy density is 1 kW/m2 /c = 3.3 μJ/m3 . Assuming sinusoidal
waves, the (root mean square) electric field is 󵀆3.3 μJ/m3 /ε0 = 610 V/m – quite a high value.
The (root mean square) magnetic field is 610 V/m/c = 2.1 μT – a rather low value.
Challenge 138, page 120: In the left interferometer, light exits in direction B, in the right one,
in direction A. The problem can also be generalized to arbitrary interferometer shapes. The way
to solve it in this case is the use of Berry’s phase. If you are interested, explore this interesting
concept with the help of your favorite library.
Challenge 139, page 125: The average temperature of the Earth is thus 287 K. The energy from
the Sun is proportional to the fourth power of the temperature. The energy is spread (roughly)
over half the Earth’s surface. The same energy, at the Sun’s surface, comes from a much smaller
surface, given by the same angle as the Earth subtends there. We thus have E ∼ 2πREarth 2 4
TEarth =
4 2 2
TSun REarth α , where α is half the angle subtended by the Sun. As a result, the temperature of the
Sun is estimated to be TSun = (TEarth
4
/α 2 )0.25 = 4 kK.
Challenge 143, page 126: Because the maximum of a spectrum in wavelengths and in frequen-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

cies is not the same, thus does not and cannot follow c = f λ.
Challenge 146, page 126: At high temperature, all bodies approach black bodies. The colour is
more important than other colour effects. The oven and the objects have the same temperature.
Thus they cannot be distinguished from each other. To do so nevertheless, illuminate the scene
with powerful light and then take a picture with small sensitivity. Thus one always needs bright
light to take pictures of what happens inside fires.
Challenge 150, page 132: For small mirrors or lenses, like those used in microscopes, mass pro-
duction is easier for lenses. In contrast, large mirrors are much easier and cheaper to fabricate
than large lenses, because mirrors use less glass, are lighter, and allow changing their shape with
actuators.
Challenge 151, page 133: Syrup shows an even more beautiful effect in the following setting.
Take a long transparent tube closed at one end and fill it with syrup. Shine a red helium–neon
challenge hints and solu tions 307

laser into the tube from the bottom. Then introduce a linear polarizer into the beam: the light
seen in the tube will form a spiral. By rotating the polarizer you can make the spiral advance or
retract. This effect, called the optical activity of sugar, is due to the ability of sugar to rotate light
polarization and to a special property of plants: they make only one of the two mirror forms of
sugar.
Challenge 152, page 134: The relation, the so-called ‘law’ of refraction is

c1 sin α1
= . (115)
c2 sin α2

The particular speed ratio between vacuum (or air, which is almost the same) and a material gives
the index of refraction n of that material:
c1 sin α1
n= = (116)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
c0 sin α0

Many incorrectly call the ‘law’ of refraction ‘Snell’s law’, or ‘Descartes’ law’ even though many
others found it before them (and even though the family name is ‘Snel’).
Challenge 153, page 136: The thin lens formula is

1 1 1
+ = . (117)
do di f

It is valid for diverging and converging lenses, as long as their own thickness is negligible. The
strength of a lens can thus be measured with the quantity 1/ f . The unit 1 m−1 is called a diopter; it
is used especially for reading glasses. Converging lenses have positive, diverging lenses negative
values.
However, the thin lens formula is only an approximation, and is never used in lens design. It
is a relic of old textbooks. Modern lens designers always use Gaussian optic for calculations. (See,
for example, Francis A. Jenkins & Harvey E. White, Fundamentals of Optics, McGraw-
Hill, 1957.)
Challenge 155, page 137: A light microscope is basically made of two converging lenses. One
lens – or lens system – produces an enlarged real image and the second one produces an en-
larged virtual image of the previous real image. Figure 146 also shows that microscopes always
turn images upside down. Due to the wavelength of light, light microscopes have a maximum res-
olution of about 1 μm. Note that the magnification of microscopes is unlimited; what is limited
is their resolution. This is exactly the same behaviour shown by digital images. The resolution is
simply the size of the smallest possible pixel that makes sense.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

To learn more about microscopes, read the beautiful text by Elizabeth M. Sl ater &
Henry S. Sl ater, Light and Electron Microscopy, Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Challenge 157, page 138: The dispersion at the lens leads to different apparent image positions,
as shown in Figure 147. For more details on the dispersion in the human eye and the ways of using
it to create three-dimensional effects, see the article by C. Ucke & R. Wolf, Durch Farbe in die
dritte Dimension, Physik in unserer Zeit 30, pp. 50–53, 1999.
Challenge 158, page 141: The 1 mm beam would return 1000 times as wide as the 1 m beam. A
perfect 1 m-wide beam of green light would be 209 m wide on the Moon; can you deduce this
result from the (important) formula that involves distance, wavelength, initial diameter and final
diameter? Try to guess this beautiful formula first, and then deduce it. In reality, the values are a
few times larger than the theoretical minimum thus calculated. See the www.csr.utexas.edu/mlrs
and ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov websites.
308 challenge hints and solu tions

focus

ocular

real intermediate
image
focus

focus

objective

object

virtual image

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
F I G U R E 146 One lens made the oldest commercial microscope, from 1680 (length c. 8 cm, to be held
close to the eye), but two converging lenses make a modern microscope (photo WikiCommons).

Eye lens dispersion

apparent blue position

apparent red position

real position

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

F I G U R E 147 The relation between the colour

depth effect and the lens dispersion of the
human eye.

Challenge 159, page 142: It is often said that evolution tuned the number of cones in the eye to
the maximum resolution with open pupil; the experts on the subject however maintain that there
challenge hints and solu tions 309

are somewhat larger numbers of cones.

Challenge 160, page 142: The answer should lie between one or two dozen kilometres, assuming
ideal atmospheric circumstances.
Challenge 163, page 148: In fact, there is no way that a hologram of a person can walk around
and frighten a real person. A hologram is always transparent; one can always see the background
through the hologram. A hologram thus always gives an impression similar to what moving pic-
tures usually show as ghosts.
Challenge 165, page 153: There is a blind spot in the eye; that is a region in which images are
not perceived. The brain than assumes that the image at that place is the same than at its borders.
If a spot falls exactly inside it, it disappears.
Challenge 167, page 156: The eye and brain surely do not switch the up and the down direction
at a certain age. Besides, where does the idea come from that babies see upside-down?
Challenge 168, page 157: The eye and vision system subtract patterns that are constant in time.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 169, page 158: Not really; a Cat’s-eye uses two reflections at the sides of a cube. A
living cat’s eye has a large number of reflections. The end effect is the same though: light returns
back to the direction it came from.
Challenge 171, page 160: At 10 pc=32.6 al, the Sun would have apparent magnitude 4.7. At
20 pc=65.2 al, it would appear 4 times fainter, thus about 1.5 magnitudes more, therefore with
an apparent visual magnitude of about 6.2. This is near the limit magnitude of the eye. The ac-
tual limiting magnitude of the eye is neither constant nor universal, so the distance of 50 light
years is not a sharp limit. The limiting magnitude, – like the night vision, or scotopic sensitvity
– depends on the partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere the observer is breathing, on the
clarity of the air, on the zenith distance, and, above all, on the degree of dark adaptation. An eye
exposed to the full brightness of the night sky in a very dark location far from light pollution is
still not completely dark-adapted. You can easily see 7th-magnitude stars by blocking off most
of the sky and just looking at a little patch of it. Some observers, under ideal conditions, have
reliably reported seeing stars near 8th magnitude.
Challenge 172, page 160: The green surface seen at a low high angle is larger than when seen
vertically, where the soil is also seen; the soil is covered by the green grass in low angle observa-
tion.
Challenge 173, page 160: It is indeed true. Modern telescopes have a large surface collecting
light (up to 50 m2 ) and have extremely sensitive detectors. The number of photons emitted by
a match lit on the moon into the direction of a large telescope (how many?) is sufficient to trig-
ger the detector.
Challenge 174, page 161: Of course not, as the group velocity is not limited by special relativity.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The energy velocity is limited, but is not changed in this experiments.

Challenge 177, page 162: The Prussian explorer Alexander von Humboldt extensively checked
this myth in the nineteenth century. He visited many mine pits and asked countless mine workers
in Mexico, Peru and Siberia about their experiences. He also asked numerous chimney-sweeps.
Neither him nor anybody else had ever seen the stars during the day.
Challenge 178, page 163: Watch the Sun with closed eyes, and remember the shade of red you
see. Go into a closed room, turn a light bulb on, and watch it with closed eyes. Chose the distance
from the bulb that yields the same shade of red. Then deduce the power of the Sun from the power
of the light bulb and the inverse square dependence.
Challenge 183, page 171: The human body is slightly conducting and changes the shape of the
field and thus effectively short circuits it. Usually, the field cannot be used to generate energy,
as the currents involved are much too small. (Lightning bolts are a different story, of course.
310 challenge hints and solu tions

They are due – very indirectly – to the field of the Earth, but they are too irregular to be used
consistently. Franklin’s lightning rod is such an example.) The fair weather field cannot be used
as a power source because its internal resistance is 3 GΩ/m.
Challenge 184, page 171: The field at the surface of a sphere of radius r is given by E = Q/4πε0 r 2 .
Inserting E = 200 V/m, one gets Q = 0.9 MC.
Challenge 185, page 175: If you find a method that is different from the known estimates, pub-
lish it.
Challenge 191, page 179: All the illusions of the flying act look as if the magician is hanging
on lines, as observed by many, including myself. (Photographic flashes are forbidden, a shim-
mery background is set up to render the observation of the lines difficult, no ring is ever actually
pulled over the magician, the aquarium in which he floats is kept open to let the fishing lines pass
through, always the same partner is ‘randomly’ chosen from the public, etc.) Information from
eyewitnesses who have actually seen the fishing lines used by David Copperfield explains the rea-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
sons for these set-ups. The usenet news group alt.magic.secrets, in particular Tilman Hausherr,
was central in clearing up this issue in all its details, including the name of the company that
made the suspension mechanism.
Challenge 193, page 179: Any new one is worth a publication.
Challenge 194, page 183: Sound energy is also possible, as is mechanical work.
Challenge 195, page 185: Space-time deformation is not related to electricity; at least at everyday
energies. Near Planck energies, this might be different, but nothing has been predicted yet.
Challenge 197, page 187: Ideal absorption is blackness (though it can be redness or whiteness at
higher temperatures).
Challenge 198, page 187: Indeed, the Sun emits about 4 ⋅ 1026 W from its mass of 2 ⋅ 1030 kg,
about 0.2 mW/kg. The adult human body (at rest) emits about 100 W (you can check this in
bed at night), thus about 1.2 W/kg. This is about 6000 times more than the Sun.
Challenge 199, page 187: The charges on a metal box rearrange so that the field inside remains
vanishing. This makes cars and aeroplanes safe against lightning. Of course, if the outside field
varies so quickly that the rearrangement cannot follow, fields can enter the Faraday cage. (By the
way, also fields with long wavelengths penetrate metals; specialized remote controls for opening
security doors regularly use frequencies of 25 kHz to achieve this.) However, one should wait a
bit before stepping out of a car after lightning has hit, as the car is on rubber wheels with low
conduction; waiting gives the charge time to flow into the ground.
For gravity and solid cages, mass rearrangement is not possible, so that there is no gravity
shield.
Challenge 203, page 188: This is a touchy topic. It is not clear whether 50 Hz fields are dangerous
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

to humans. There is a high probability that they are not; but the issue is not settled.
Challenge 204, page 189: The number of photons times the quantum of action ħ.
Challenge 206, page 189: The charging stops because a negatively charged satellite repels elec-
trons and thus stops any electron collecting mechanism. Electrons are captured more frequently
than ions because it is easier for them than for ions to have an inelastic collision with the satellite,
due to their larger speed at a given temperature.
Challenge 207, page 189: Any loss mechanism will explain the loss of energy, such as electrical
resistance or electromagnetic radiation. After a fraction of a second, the energy will be lost. This
little problem is often discussed on the internet.
Challenge 208, page 189: Use the wire as shown in Figure 148. If the oscillation is properly tuned
in frequency, and if the contact detaches properly at the tip, and if you touch the two contacts
with a strong grip, you will get a stronger shock than you can stand.
 challenge hints and solu tions 311

4.5 V

F I G U R E 148 How to get electrical shocks

from a 4.5 V pocket battery.

Challenge 210, page 190: This should be possible in the near future; but both the experiment,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
which will probably measure brain magnetic field details, and the precise check of its seriousness
will not be simple.
Challenge 212, page 193: The maximum electric and magnetic field values are those that exert
Vol. II, page 97 the maximum possible force c 4 /4G on an elementary charge e.
Challenge 214, page 194: See challenge 29.
Challenge 215, page 195: The electrons move slowly, but the speed of electrical signals is not
given by the electron speed, but by the time at which the electrons move. Imagine long queue of
cars (representing electrons) waiting in front of a red traffic light. All drivers look at the light. As
soon as it turns green, everybody starts driving. Even though the driving speed might be only
10 m/s, the speed of traffic flow onset was that of light. It is this latter speed which is the speed
of electrical signals.
Water pipes tell the same story. A long hose provides water almost in the same instant as the
tap is opened, even if the water takes a long time to arrive from the tap to the end of the hose.
The speed with which the water reacts is gives by the speed for pressure waves in water. Also for
water hoses the signal speed, roughly given by the sound speed in water, is much higher than the
speed of the water flow.
Challenge 216, page 195: One can measure smallest charges, showing that they are always mul-
tiples of the same unit. This method was used by Millikan. One can also measure current fluctu-
ations, and show that they follow from shot noise, i.e., from the flow of discrete charges.
Challenge 219, page 196: Earth’s potential would be U = −q/(4πεo R) = 60 MV, where the num-
ber of electrons in water must be taken into account.
Challenge 220, page 196: There is always a measurement error when measuring field values,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

even when measuring a ‘vanishing’ electromagnetic field. In addition, quantum theory leads to
arbitrary small charge density values through the probability density due to wave functions.
Challenge 224, page 200: The issue is: is the ‘universe’ a concept? In the last volume of this ad-
Vol. VI, page 103 venture we will show that it is not.
Challenge 226, page 206: When thinking, physical energy, momentum and angular momentum
are conserved, and thermodynamic entropy is not destroyed. Any experiment showing anything
different would point to unknown processes. However, there is no evidence for such processes.
Challenge 227, page 207: The best method cannot be much shorter than what is needed to de-
scribe 1 in 6000 million, or 33 bits. The Dutch and UK post code systems (including the letters
NL or UK) are not far from this value and thus can claim to be very efficient.
Challenge 228, page 208: For complex systems, when the unknowns are numerous, the advance
is thus simply given by the increase in answers. For the universe as a whole, the number of open
 312 challenge hints and solu tions

Vol. V, page 240 issues is quite low, as shown later on; in this topic there has not been much advance in the past
years. But the advance is clearly measurable in this case as well.
Challenge 229, page 208: Is it possible to use the term ‘complete’ when describing nature? Yes, it
Vol. VI, page 20 is. For a clear-cut answer, see the last volume of our adventure.
Challenge 231, page 210: There are many baths in series: thermal baths in each light-sensitive
cell of the eyes, thermal baths inside the nerves towards the brain and thermal baths inside brain
cells.
Challenge 233, page 210: Yes.
Challenge 235, page 216: Chips based on trits would have to be redesigned from scratch. This
would be a waste of ressources and of previous work.
Challenge 237, page 220: Physicists claim that the properties of objects, of space-time and of
interactions form the smallest list possible. However, this list is longer than the one found by
linguists! The reason is that physicists have found primitives that do not appear in everyday life.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
In a sense, the aim of physicists is limited by list of unexplained questions of nature, given later
Vol. V, page 240 on.
Challenge 238, page 222: Neither has a defined content, clearly stated limits or a domain of
application.
Challenge 239, page 222: Impossible! That would not be a concept, as it has no content. The
Vol. VI, page 138 solution to the issue must be and will be different.
Challenge 240, page 223: To neither. This paradox shows that such a ‘set of all sets’ does not
exist.
Challenge 241, page 224: The most famous is the class of all sets that do not contain themselves.
This is not a set, but a class.
Challenge 242, page 224: Dividing cakes is difficult. A simple method that solves many – but
not all – problems among N persons P1...PN is the following:
— P1 cuts the cake into N pieces.
— P2 to PN choose a piece.
— P1 keeps the last part.
— P2...PN assemble their parts back into one.
— Then P2...PN repeat the algorithm for one person less.
The problem is much more complex if the reassembly is not allowed. A just method (in finite
many steps) for 3 people, using nine steps, was published in 1944 by Steinhaus, and a fully satis-
factory method in the 1960s by John Conway. A fully satisfactory method for four persons was
found only in 1995; it has 20 steps.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 243, page 225: (x, y) := {x, {x, y}}.

Challenge 244, page 226: Hint: show that any countable list of reals misses at least one number.
This was proven for the first time by Cantor. His way was to write the list in decimal expansion
and then find a number that is surely not in the list. Second hint: his world-famous trick is called
the diagonal argument.
Challenge 245, page 226: Hint: all reals are limits of series of rationals.
Challenge 247, page 227: Yes, but only provided division by zero is not allowed, and numbers
are restricted to the rationals and reals.
Challenge 248, page 228: There are infinitely many of them. But the smallest is al-
ready quite large: 1016949152542372881355932203389830508474576271186440677966. If
the number six is changed in the puzzle, one finds that the smallest solution for 1 is
challenge hints and solu tions 313

1, for 4 is 102564, for 5 is 142857, for 8 is 1012658227848, for 2 is 105263157894736842,

for 7 is 1014492753623188405797, for 3 is 1034482758620689655172413793, and for 9 is
10112359550561797752808988764044943820224719. The smallest solution for 6 is the largest
of this list.
Challenge 249, page 228: 0 := 0 , 1 := {0} , 2 := {{0}} etc.
Challenge 250, page 232: Subtraction is easy. Addition is not commutative only for cases when
infinite numbers are involved: ω + 2 ̸= 2 + ω.
Challenge 251, page 232: Examples are 1 − ε or 1 − 4ε 2 − 3ε 3 .
Challenge 252, page 232: The answer is 57; the cited reference gives the details.
22 44
Challenge 253, page 234: 22 and 44 .
Challenge 255, page 235: The child is minus 0.75 years old, or minus 9 months old; the father is
thus very near the mother.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 256, page 235: This is not an easy question. The first non-trivial numbers are 7, 23, 47,
59, 167 and 179. See Robert Mat thews, Maximally periodic reciprocals, Bulletin of the Insti-
tute of Mathematics and its Applications 28, pp. 147–148, 1992. Matthews shows that a number
n for which 1/n generates the maximum of n − 1 decimal digits in the decimal expansion is a
special sort of prime number that can be deduced from the so-called Sophie Germain primes S;
one must have n = 2S + 1, where both S and 2S + 1 must be prime and where S mod 20 must be
3, 9, or 11.
Thus the first numbers n are 7, 23, 47, 59, 167 and 179, corresponding to values for S of 3, 11,
23, 29, 83 and 89. In 1992, the largest known S that meets the criteria was

S = (39051 ⋅ 26002 ) − 1 , (118)

a 1812-digit long Sophie Germain prime number that is 3 mod 20. It was discovered by Wilfred
Keller. This Sophie Germain prime leads to a prime n with a decimal expansion that is around
101812 digits long before it starts repeating itself. Read your favourite book on number theory to
find out more. Interestingly, the solution to this challenge is also connected to that of challenge
248. Can you find out more?
Challenge 257, page 235: Klein did not belong to either group. As a result, some of his nastier
students concluded that he was not a mathematician at all.
Challenge 258, page 235: A barber cannot belong to either group; the definition of the barber is
thus contradictory and has to be rejected.
Challenge 259, page 235: See the members.shaw.ca/hdhcubes/cube_basics.htm web page for
more information on magic cubes.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Challenge 260, page 235: Such an expression is derived with the intermediate result (1 − 22 )−1 .
The handling of divergent series seems absurd, but mathematicians know how to give the expres-
sion a defined content. (See G odfrey H. Hardy, Divergent Series, Oxford University Press,
1949.) Physicists often use similar expressions without thinking about them, in quantum field
theory.
Challenge 262, page 236: The result is related to Riemann’s zeta function. For an introduction,
see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_number.
Challenge 264, page 248: ‘All Cretans lie’ is false, since the opposite, namely ‘some Cretans say
the truth’ is true in the case given. The trap is that the opposite of the original sentence is usually,
but falsely, assumed to be ‘all Cretans say the truth’.
Challenge 265, page 248: The statement cannot be false, due to the first half and the ‘or’ con-
struction. Since it is true, the second half must be true and you are an angel.
 314 challenge hints and solu tions

Challenge 266, page 248: The terms ‘circular’ and ‘self-referential’ describe two different con-
cepts.
Challenge 269, page 249: Extraterrestrials cannot be at the origin of crop circles because, like
Father Christmas or ghosts, they do not exist on Earth.
Challenge 271, page 249: This can be debated; in any case it is definitely known that both state-
Vol. V, page 64 ments are lies, as shown later on..
Challenge 272, page 249: If this false statement were true, swimmers or divers would also die,
as their skin cannot breathe either.
Challenge 273, page 249: It is equally correct to claim that the Earth was created a hundred ago,
and that our environment and our memories were created in our brain to make us believe that the
Earth is older. It is hard to disprove such nonsense, but it is possible. See also the next challenge.
Challenge 274, page 250: It is surprisingly hard to disprove such nonsense, if well thought
through. The reason for the particular date (or for any other date) is not obvious. Neither is

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
obvious what is meant by the term ‘creation’.
Challenge 277, page 250: The light bulb story seems to be correct. The bulb is very weak, so that
the wire is not evaporating.
Challenge 278, page 250: The origin might be the number of people present in the last supper in
the New Testament; or the forgotten 13th sign of the Zodiac. There is no truth in this superstition.
In fact, every superstition is a lie. However, beware of people who are jealous of those who do
not care about superstitions, and who get violent as a reaction.
Challenge 279, page 250: Without exception so far, all those who pretend to have been stigma-
tized have wounds in the palms of their hands. However, in crucifixion, the nails are driven
through the wrist, because nails driven through the palms cannot carry the weight of a human
body: the palms would tear open.
Challenge 280, page 251: The term ‘multiverse’ is both a belief and a lie. First of all, it is pure
Vol. II, page 236 nonsense.
Challenge 282, page 251: In which frame of reference? How? Beware of anybody making that
statement: he is a crook.
Challenge 287, page 256: Only induction allows us to make use of similarities and thus to define
concepts.
Challenge 288, page 258: This depends on the definition (of the concept) of deity used.
Vol. VI, page 99 Challenge 289, page 259: Yes, as we shall find out.
Challenge 290, page 259: Yes, as observation implies interaction.
Challenge 291, page 260: Lack of internal contradictions means that a concept is valid as a think-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ing tool; as we use our thoughts to describe nature, mathematical existence is a specialized ver-
sion of physical existence, as thinking is itself a natural process. Indeed, mathematical concepts
are also useful for the description of the working of computers and the like.
Another way to make the point is to stress that all mathematical concepts are built from sets
and relations, or some suitable generalizations of them. These basic building blocks are taken
from our physical environment. Sometimes the idea is expressed differently; many mathemati-
cians have acknowledged that certain mathematical concepts, such as natural numbers, are taken
directly from experience.
Challenge 292, page 260: Examples are Achilles, Odysseus, Mickey Mouse, the gods of polythe-
ism and spirits.
Challenge 294, page 262: Torricelli made vacuum in a U-shaped glass tube, using mercury, the
same liquid metal used in thermometers. Can you imagine how? A more difficult question: where
 challenge hints and solu tions 315

did he get mercury from?

Challenge 295, page 263: Stating that something is infinite can be allowed, if the statement is
falsifiable. An example is the statement ‘There are infinitely many mosquitoes.’
Other statements are not falsifiable, such as ‘The universe continue without limit behind the
horizon.’ Such a statement is a belief, not a fact.
Challenge 296, page 265: They are not sets either and thus not collections of points.
Challenge 297, page 265: There is still no possibility to interact with all matter and energy, as
this includes oneself.
Challenge 298, page 270: No. There is only a generalization encompassing the two.
Challenge 299, page 271: An explanation of the universe is not possible, as the term explanation
require the possibility to talk about systems outside the one under consideration. The universe
is not part of a larger set.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Challenge 300, page 271: Both can in fact be seen as two sides of the same argument: there is no
other choice;there is only one possibility. The rest of nature shows that it has to be that way, as
everything depends on everything.
Challenge 301, page 288: Mass is a measure of the amount of energy. The ‘square of mass’ makes
no sense.
Challenge 304, page 290: The formula with n − 1 is a better fit. Why?
Challenge 307, page 290: No! They are much too precise to make sense. They are only given as
an illustration for the behaviour of the Gaussian distribution. Real measurement distributions
are not Gaussian to the precision implied in these numbers.
Challenge 308, page 291: About 0.3 m/s. It is not 0.33 m/s, it is not 0.333 m/s and it is not any
longer strings of threes!
Challenge 310, page 296: The slowdown goes quadratically with time, because every new slow-
down adds to the old one!
Challenge 311, page 296: No, only properties of parts of the universe are listed. The universe
Vol. VI, page 103 itself has no properties, as shown in the last volume..
Challenge 312, page 339: This could be solved with a trick similar to those used in the irrational-
ity of each of the two terms of the sum, but nobody has found one.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

BI BLIO GR APHY

“
[...] moi, qui trouve toujours tous les livres trop

”
longs, et surtout les miens [...]
Voltaire, Lettre à M. Cideville.*

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
1 Julian S chwinger, L. L. DeR aad, K. A. Milton & W. Y. Tsai, Classical Electrody-
namics, Perseus, 1998. An excellent text on the topic by one of its greatest masters.
See also the beautiful problem book by André Bu toli & Jean-Marc L év y-
L eblond, La physique en questions – électricité et magnétisme, Vuibert, 1999. Cited on
pages 14 and 74.
2 A pretty book about the history of magnetism and the excitement it generates is
James D. L ivingston, Driving Force – the Natural Magic of Magnets, Harvard Uni-
versity Press, 1996. Cited on page 16.
3 R. Edwards, Filling station fires spark cars’ recall, New Scientist, pp. 4–5, 4 March 1995.
Cited on page 16.
4 S. Desmet, F. Orban & F. Grandjean, On the Kelvin electrostatic generator, European
Journal of Physics 10, pp. 118–122, 1989. You can also find construction plans for it in various
places on the internet. Cited on page 18.
5 For an etching of Franklin’s original ringing rod, see E. P. Krider, Benjamin Franklin and
lightning rods, Physics Today 59, pp. 42–48, 2006. Cited on page 20.
6 W. Rueckner, An improved demonstration of charge conservation, American Journal of
Physics 75, pp. 861–863, 2007. Cited on page 22.
7 For more details on various electromagnetic units, see the standard text by J. D. Jackson,
Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd edition, Wiley, 1998. Cited on pages 24 and 319.
8 See the old but beautiful papers by R ichard C. Tolman & T. Dale Stewart, The elec-
tromotive force produced by the acceleration of metals, Physical Review 8, pp. 97–116, 1916,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

R ichard C. Tolman & T. Dale Stewart, The mass of the electric carrier in copper,
silver and aluminium, Physical Review 9, pp. 164–167, 1917, and the later but much more pre-
cise experiment by C. F. Ket tering & G. G. S cot t, Inertia of the carrier of electricity
in copper and aluminum, Physical Review 66, pp. 257–267, 1944. (Obviously the American
language dropped the ‘i’ from aluminium during that period.) The first of these papers is
also a review of the preceding attempts, and explains the experiment in detail. The last pa-
per shows what had to be taken into consideration to achieve sufficient precision. Cited on
page 28.
9 This effect has first been measured by S. J. Barnet t, A new electron-inertia effect and the
determination of m/e for the free electron in copper, Philosophical Magazine 12, p. 349, 1931.
Cited on page 28.
* ‘[...] me, who always finds all books too long, first of all my own [...]’.
biblio graphy 317

10 See for example C. S chiller, A. A. Ko omans, van Ro oy, C. S chönenberger

& H. B. Elswijk, Decapitation of tungsten field emitter tips during sputter sharpening, Sur-
face Science Letters 339, pp. L925–L930, 1996. Cited on page 28.
11 L. I. S chiff & M. V. Barnhill, Gravitational-induced electric field near a metal, Physi-
cal Review 151, pp. 1067–1071, 1966. F. C. Wit teborn & W. M. Fairbank, Experimen-
tal comparison of the gravitational force on freely falling electrons and metallic electrons, Phys-
ical Review Letters 19, pp. 1049–1052, 1967. Cited on page 29.
12 J. L epak & M. Crescimanno, Speed of light measurement using ping, electronic preprint
available at arxiv.org/abs/physics/0201053. Cited on page 29.
13 This story was printed on its fron page by the Wall Street Journal on 15 December 2006
under the title Firms seek edge through speed as computer trading expands. Cited on page
29.
14 For an excellent review article of this fascinating field, see C. D. Hopkins, Electrical Per-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ception and Communication, Encyclopedia of Neuroscience 3, pp. 813–831, 2009. Hopkin’s
research laboratory can be found at www.nbb.cornell.edu. Cited on pages 31 and 301.
15 See the website of the Particle Data Group, the world’s reference, at pdg.web.cern.ch. See
also H. Jeon & M. Longo, Search for magnetic monopoles trapped in matter, Physical
Review Letters 75, pp. 1443–1447, 1995. See also A. S. G oldhaber & W. P. Trower, Re-
source letter MM-1: magnetic monopoles, American Journal of Physics 58, pp. 429–439, 1990.
Cited on page 33.
16 Pierre de Maricourt, Tractatus de magnete, 1269. Cited on page 31.
17 R. Wiltschko & W. Wiltschko, Magnetic Orientation in Animals, Springer, Berlin,
1995. Cited on page 36.
18 I. A. S olov’yov, K. S chulten & W. Greiner, Nur dem Schnabel nach?, Physik Jour-
nal 9, pp. 23–28, 2010. Cited on page 37.
19 The ratio of angular L to magnetic M moment is
L 2m 1
= ⋅ , (119)
M e д
where e is the electron charge and m its mass. Both L and M are measurable. The first
measurements were published with a д-value of 1, most probably because the authors
expected the value. In later experiments, de Haas found other values. Measurements by
other researchers gave values nearer to 2 than to 1, a fact that was only understood
with the discovery of spin. The original publications are A. Einstein & W. J. de Haas,
Proefondervinderlijk bewijs voor het bestaan der moleculaire stroomen van Ampère, Kon-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ninklijke Akademie der Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, Verslagen 23, p. 1449, 1915, and
A. Einstein & W. J. de Haas, Experimental proof of the existence of Ampère’s molecu-
lar currents, Konninklijke Akademie der Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, Proceedings 18,
p. 696, 1916. Cited on page 39.
20 S. J. Barnet t, Magnetization by rotation, Physical Review 6, pp. 171–172, 1915, and
S. J. Barnet t, Magnetization by rotation, Physical Review 6, pp. 239–270, 1915. Cited
on page 40.
21 See J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd edition, Wiley, 1998, or also
R. F. Harrington, Time Harmonic Electromagnetic Fields, McGraw–Hill, 1961. Cited
on pages 44 and 74.
22 The best book on the brain is Eric R. Kandel, James H. S chwartz &
Thomas M. Jessell, Principles of Neural Science, fifth edition, McGraw-Hill, 2000.
318 biblio graphy

The suhep.phy.syr.edu/courses/modules/MM/brain/brain.html website gives an introduc-

tion into brain physiology. Cited on page 44.
23 N. Salingaros, Invariants of the electromagnetic field and electromagnetic waves, Ameri-
can Journal of Physics 53, pp. 361–363, 1985. Cited on page 45.
24 A. C. de l a Torre, v ⩽ c in 1820?, European Journal of Physics 20, pp. L23–L24, March
1999. Cited on page 46.
25 R. H. Tyler, S. Maus & H. Lühr, Magnetic signal due to ocean tidal flow identified in
satellite observations, Science 299, pp. 239–241, 2003. The films derived from the data can
be found on the www.tu-bs.de/institute/geophysik/spp/publikationen.html website. Cited
on page 54.
26 H. Montgomery, Unipolar induction: a neglected topic in the teaching of electromag-
netism, European Journal of Physics 20, pp. 271–280, 1999. Cited on page 57.
On the geodynamo status, see the article by P. H. Roberts & G. A. Gl atzmaier, Geo-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
27
dynamo theory and simulations, Reviews of Modern Physics 72, pp. 1081–1123, 2000. An
older article is R. Jeanloz & B. Romanowicz, Geophysical dynamics at the center of
the Earth, Physics Today pp. 22–27, August 1997. Cited on pages 57 and 174.
28 A. Yazdani, D. M. Eigler & N. D. L ang, Off-resonance conduction through atomic
wires, Science 272, pp. 1921–1924, 28 June 1996. For aluminium, gold, lead, niobium, as
well as the influence of chemical properties, see Elke S cheer, The signature of chemical
valence in the electric conduction through a single-atom contact, Nature 394, pp. 154–157, 9
July 1998. Cited on page 60.
29 J. Yang, F. Lu, L. W. Kostiuk & D. Y. Kwok, Electrokinetic microchannel battery by
means of electrokinetic and microfluidic phenomena, Journal of Micromechanics and Micro-
engineering 13, pp. 963–970, 2003. Cited on page 61.
30 See L. Kowalski, A myth about capacitors in series, The Physics Teacher 26, pp. 286–287,
1988, and A. P. French, Are the textbook writers wrong about capacitors?, The Physics
Teacher 31, pp. 156–159, 1993. Cited on page 62.
31 A discussion of a different electrical indeterminacy relation, between current and charge,
can be found in Y-Q. L i & B. Chen, Quantum theory for mesoscopic electronic circuits
and its applications, preprint at arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9907171. Cited on page 63.
32 A sober but optimistic evaluation, free of the cheap optimism of tabloid journalism, is
R. W. Keyes, Miniaturization of electronics and its limits, IBM Jounal of Research and De-
velopment 32, pp. 84–88, 1988. In its last figure, it predicted that the lower limit kT for the
energy dissipated by a logical operation would be reached around 2015. Cited on page 65.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

33 G. G. P. van G orkum, Introduction to Zeus displays, Philips Journal of Research

50, pp. 269–280, 1996. See also N. L ambert, E. A. Montie, T. S. Baller,
G. G. P. van G orkum, B. H. W. Hendriks, P. H. F. Trompenaars & S. T. de Zwart,
Transport and extraction in Zeus displays, Philips Journal of Research 50, pp. 295–305, 1996.
Cited on page 66.
34 A. L. Hod gkin & A. F. Huxley, A quantitative description of membrane current and
its application to conduction and excitation in nerve, Journal of Physiology 117, pp. 500–
544, 1952. This famous paper of theoretical biology earned the authors the Nobel Prize in
Medicine in 1963. Cited on page 66.
35 See the excellent overview article by T. Heimburg, Die Physik von Nerven, Physik Jour-
nal 8, pp. 33–39, 2009. See also S. S. L. Andersen, A. D. Jackson & T. Heimburg,
Towards a thermodynamic theory of nerve pule propagation, Progress in Neurobiology 88,
biblio graphy 319

pp. 104–113, 2009, the website membranes.nbi.dk, and the text Thomas Heimburg, Ther-
mal Biophysics of Membranes, Wiley-VCH, 2007. Cited on page 67.
36 J. A. Heras, Can Maxwell’s equations be obtained from the continuity equation?, American
Journal of Physics 75, pp. 652–657, 2007. Cited on pages 68, 72, 83, and 192.
37 A similar summary is the basis of Friedrich W. Hehl & Yuri N. Obukov, Founda-
tions of Classical Electrodynamics – Charge, Flux and Metric, Birkhäuser 2003. Cited on
page 68.
38 Oleg D. Jefimenko, A relativistic paradox seemingly violating conservation of momen-
tum law in electromagnetic systems, European Journal of Physics 20, pp. 39–44, 1999. Cited
on page 73.
39 H. Van Dam & E. P. Wigner, Classical relativistic mechanics of interacting point particles,
Physical Review 136B, pp. 1576–1582, 1965. Cited on page 73.
40 Mark D. Semon & John R. Taylor, Thoughts on the magnetic vector potential, Amer-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
ican Journal of Physics 64, pp. 1361–1369, 1996. Cited on pages 74 and 76.
41 Jean Sivardière, Simple derivation of magnetic vector potentials, European Journal of
Physics 14, pp. 251–254, 1993. Cited on page 75.
42 T. T. Wu & C. N. Yang, 1975, Concept of nonintegrable phase factors and global formula-
tion of gauge fields, Physical Review D 12, pp. 3845–3857, Cited on page 78.
43 See reference Ref. 7 or A. M. Stewart, Angular momentum of the electromagnetic field:
the plane wave paradox explained, European Journal of Physics 26, pp. 635–641, 2005. Cited
on page 78.
44 An electrodynamics text completely written with (mathematical) forms is Kurt Meetz
& Walter L. Engl, Elektromagnetische Felder – mathematische und physikalische Grund-
lagen, Springer, 1980. Cited on page 79.
45 J. Travis, Twirl those organs into place – getting to the heart of how a heart knows left
from right, Science News 156, 21 August, 1999. A good book on asymmetries in nature is
H. Brunner, Rechts oder links, Wiley–Vch, 1999. Cited on page 82.
46 See for example the discussion by M. C. Corballis & I. L. Beale, On telling left from
right, Scientific American 224, pp. 96–104, March 1971. Cited on page 82.
47 In 1977, Claus Montonen and David Olive showed that quantum theory allows duality trans-
formations even with the inclusion of matter, if specific types of magnetic monopoles, the
so-called dyons, exist. The fundamental paper is D. Olive & C. Montonen, Magnetic
monopoles as gauge particles, Physics Letters 72B, pp. 117–120, 1977. Many other papers built
on this one; however, no experimental support for the approach has ever appeared. Cited
on page 83.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

48 Wolf gang R indler, Essential Relativity – Special, General, and Cosmological, re-
vised 2nd edition, Springer Verlag, 1977, page 247. There is also the beautiful paper by
M. L e Bell ac & J. -M. L év y-L eblond, Galilean electrodynamics, Nuovo Cimento B
14, p. 217, 1973, that explains the possibilities but also the problems appearing when trying
to define the theory non-relativistically. Cited on page 84.
49 L. -C. Tu, J. Luo & G. T. Gilles, The mass of the photon, Reports on Progress of Physics
68, pp. 77–130, 2005. Cited on page 84.
50 The system for typing by thought alone is described in many papers, such as
B. Blankertz, F. Losch, M. Krauledat, G. D ornhege, G. Curio & K. -
R. Müller, The Berlin Brain-Computer Interface: accurate performance from first session
in BCI-naïve subjects, IEEE Transactions on biomedial engineering 55, pp. 2452–2462,
2008. See the website www.bbci.de for more information. Cited on page 85.
320 biblio graphy

51 D. Singleton, Electromagnetic angular momentum and quantum mechanics, American

Journal of Physics 66, pp. 697–701, 1998, Cited on page 86.
52 For a captivating account on the history of the ideas on light, see David Park, The Fire
Within the Eye: a Historical Essay on the Nature and Meaning of Light, Princeton University
Press, 1997. For an example of the complex history of optics, see the famous text by Al-
hazen or Ibn al-Haytham, Book of Optics 1021. However, no Arabic website allows reading
the text, and the Arabic Wikipedia articles on the topic are much shorter than the French
or English ones. Indeed, like most ancient Middle-East thinkers, Alhazen is better known
in Europe than in his home region. A Latin translation of the Book of Optics can be read at
the imgbase-scd-ulp.u-strasbg.fr/displayimage.php?album=44&pos=0 website of the Uni-
versité de Strasbourg. Cited on page 88.
53 See the text by R aymond L. L ee & Alistair B. Fraser, The Rainbow Bridge: Rain-
bows in Art, Myth, and Science, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000. A chapter can be
found at the www.nadn.navy.mil/Oceanography/RainbowBridge/Chapter_8.html website.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Cited on page 93.
54 The beautiful slit experiment was published by E. A. Montie, E. C. Cosman,
G. W. ’t Ho oft, van der Mark & C. W. J. Beenakker, Observation of the op-
tical analogue of quantized conductance of a point contact, Nature 350, pp. 594–595, 18
April 1991, and in the longer version E. A. Montie, E. C. Cosman, G. W. ’t Ho oft,
M. B. van der Mark & C. W. J. Beenakker, Observation of the optical analogue of
the quantised conductance of a point contact, Physica B 175, pp. 149–152, 1991. The result
was also publicized in numerous other scientific magazines. Cited on page 93.
55 A recent measurement of the frequency of light is presented in Th. Udem, A. Huber,
B. Gross, J. R eichert, M. Prevedelli, M. Weitz & T. W. Hausch, Phase-
coherent measurement of the hydrogen 1S–2S transition frequency with an optical frequency
interval divider chain, Physical Review Letters 79, pp. 2646–2649, 6 October 1997. Another
is C. S chwob, L. Jozefowski, de Beauvoir, L. Hilico, F. Nez, L. Julien,
F. Biraben, O. Acef & A. Clairon, Optical frequency measurement of the 2S-12D
transitions in hydrogen and deuterium: Rydberg constant and Lamb shift determinations,
Physical Review Letters 82, pp. 4960–4963, 21 June 1999. Cited on page 94.
56 The discoverors of such a method, the frequency comb, Theodor Hänsch and John
Hall were awarded, together with Roy Glauber, the 2005 Nobel Prize for physics. See
John L. Hall & Theod or W. Hänsch, History of optical comb development, in
Jun Ye & Steven T. Cundiff, editors, Femtosecond Optical Frequency Comb: Principle,
Operation, and Applications, Springer, 2004. Cited on page 94.
57 The best introduction to mirages are the web pages by Andrew Young at mintaka.sdsu.edu/
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

GF/mintaka/mirintro.html. He explains the many types that exist: inferior mirages, supe-
rior mirages, mock mirages, Wegener-type mirages, etc., and also gives many references,
clearly showing which ones give correct and which one give incorrect explanations. There is
no modern review article on the topic yet. For a curious aspect, see G. Horváth, J. Gál
& R. Wehner, Why are water-seeking insects not attracted by mirages? The polarization
pattern of mirages, Naturwissenschaften 83, pp. 300–303, 1997. Cited on page 95.
58 W. K. Haidinger, Über das direkte Erkennen des polarisierten Lichts, Poggendorf ’s
Annalen 63, pp. 29–39, 1844, W. K. Haidinger, Beobachtung des Lichtpolarisations-
büschels in geradlinig polarisiertem Lichte, Poggendorf ’s Annalen 68, pp. 73–87, 1846,
W. K. Haidinger, Dauer des Eindrucks der Polarisationsbüschel auf der Netzhaut,
Poggendorf ’s Annalen 93, pp. 318–320, 1854. Cited on page 95.
59 See the chapter on polarization brushes in Marcel G. J. Minnaert, Light and Colour in
biblio graphy 321

the Outdoors, Springer, 1993, or the original book series, Marcel G. J. Minnaert, De
natuurkunde van ‘t vrije veld, Thieme & Cie, 1937. For more details, see G. P. Mission,
Form and behaviour of Haidinger’s brushes, Ophthalmology and Physiological Optics
137, pp. 392–396, 1993, or J. Grebe-Ellis, Zum Haidinger-Büschel, 2002, at didaktik.
physik.hu-berlin.de/forschung/optik/download/veroeffentlichungn/haidinger.pdf. On the
birefringence of the eye, see L. B our, Een eigenaardige speling der natuur, Nederlands ti-
jdschrift voor natuurkunde 67, pp. 362–364, December 2001. In particular, a photograph
of the eye using linear polarized illumination and taken through an analyser shows a black
cross inside the pupil. Cited on page 95.
60 M. Burresi, D. van Osten, T. Kampfrath, H. S choenmaker, R. Heideman,
A. L einse & L. Kuipers, Probing the magnetic field of light at optical frequencies, Science
Express October 2009. Cited on page 98.
61 K. L. Kelly, Color designations for colored lights, Journal of the Optical Society of America

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
33, pp. 627–632, 1943. Cited on page 100.
62 Edward M. Purcell, Electricity and Magnetism – Berkeley Physics Course Volume 2,
McGraw–Hill, 1984. Cited on page 102.
63 This was the book series in twenty volumes by Aaron Bernstein, Naturwis-
senschaftliche Volksbücher, Duncker, 1873-1874. The young Einstein read them, between
1892 and 1894, with ‘breathless attention’, as he wrote later on. Cited on page 104.
64 On the ways to levitate and manipulate small glass beads with lasers, see the article
D. McGloin, Optical tweezers: 20 years on, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 364, pp. 3521–3537, 2006.
The photographs shown on page 106 are from T. L i, S. Kheifets, D. Medellin &
M. G. R aizen, Measurement of the instantaneous velocity of a Brownian particle, Science
328, pp. 1673–1675, 2010, and T. L i, S. Kheifets & M. G. R aizen, Millikelvin cooling of
an optically trapped microsphere in vacuum, Nature Physics 7, pp. 527–530, 2011. Cited on
page 105.
65 The first correct explanation of the light mill was given by Osborne R eynolds, On cer-
tain dimensional properties of matter in the gaseous state, Royal Society Philosophical Trans-
actions Part 2, 1879. The best discussion is the one given on the web by Phil Gibbs, in the
frequently asked question list of the usenet news group sci.physics; it is available at the www.
desy.de/user/projects/Physics/light-mill.html website. Cited on page 106.
66 P. L ebedew, Untersuchungen über die Druckkräfte des Lichtes, Annalen der Physik 6,
pp. 307–458, 1901. Lebedew confirmed Kepler’s result that light pressure is the basis for
the change of direction of the tails of comets when they circle around the Sun. Cited on
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

page 107.
67 P. Galajda & P. Ormos, Applied Physics Letters 78, p. 249, 2001. Cited on page 107.
68 A short overview is given by Miles Pad get t & L es Allen, Optical tweezers and span-
ners, Physics World pp. 35–38, September 1997. The original papers by Ashkin’s group are
A. Ashkin, J. M. Dziedzic, J. E. Bjorkholm & S. Chu, Observation of a gradient
force optical trap for dielectric particles, Optics Letters 11, p. 288, 1986, and A. Askin,
J. M. Dziedzic & T. Yamane, Optical trapping and manipulation of single cells using in-
frared laser beams, Nature 330, p. 769, 1987. A pedagogical explanation on optical span-
ners, together with a way to build one, can be found in D. N. Mo otho o, J. Arlt,
R. S. Conroy, F. Akerbo om, A. Voit & K. Dhol akia, Beth’s experiment using op-
tical tweezers, American Journal of Physics 69, pp. 271–276, 2001, and in S. P. Smith,
S. R. Bhalotra, A. L. Brody, B. L. Brown, E. K. B oyda & M. Prentiss, Inexpen-
 322 biblio graphy

sive optical tweezers for undergraduate laboratories, American Journal of Physics 67, pp. 26–
35, 1999. Cited on page 108.
69 R. A. Beth, Mechanical detection and measurement of the angular momentum of light,
Physical Review 50, p. 115, 1936. For modern measurements, see N. B. Simpson,
K. Dhol akia, L. Allen & M. J. Pad get t, Mechanical equivalence of spin and or-
bital angular momentum of light: an optical spanner, Optics Letters 22, pp. 52–54, 1997,
and M. E. J. Friese, T. A. Nieminen, N. R. Heckenberg & H. Rubinsztein-
D unlop, Optical torque controlled by elliptical polarization, Optics Letters 23, pp. 1–3,
1998. See also J. H. Poynting, The wave motion of a revolving shaft, and a suggestion as
to the angular momentum in a beam of circularly polarised light, Proceedings of the Royal
Society London A 82, pp. 560–567, 1908. Cited on page 108.
70 A. Valenzuel a, G. Haerendel, H. Föppl, F. Melzner, H. Neuss, E. R ieger,
J. Stö cker, O. Bauer, H. Höfner & J. Loidl, The AMPTE artificial comet experi-
ments, Nature 320, pp. 700–703, 1986. Cited on page 109.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
71 See the Latin text by Dietrich von Freiberg, De iride et radialibus impressionibus,
c. 1315. Cited on page 110.
72 J. Walker, Multiple rainbows from single drops of water and other liquids, American Jour-
nal of Physics 44, pp. 421–433, 1976, and his How to create and observe a dozen rainbows
in a single drop of water, Scientific American 237, pp. 138–144, 1977. See also K. Sassen,
Angular scattering and rainbow formation in pendant drops, Journal of the Optical Society
of America 69, pp. 1083–1089, 1979. A beautiful paper with the formulae of the angles of
all rainbows is E. Willerding, Zur Theorie von Regenbögen, Glorien und Halos, 2003,
preprint on the internet. It also provides sources for programs that allow to simulate rain-
bows on a personal computer. Cited on page 111.
73 The resulting colouring of the Sun’s rim is shown clearly on Andrew Young’s web page
mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/explain/simulations/std/rims.html. His website mintaka.sdsu.edu/
GF offers the best explanation of the green flash, including the various types that exist (ex-
plained at mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/papers/Zenit/glance.html), how to observe it, and the nu-
merous physical effects involved. Detailed simulations and extensive material is available.
See also his paper A. T. Young, Sunset science – III. Visual adaptation and green flashes,
Journal of the Optical Society of America A 17, pp. 2129–2139, 2000. Cited on page 111.
74 There are also other ways to see the green ray, for longer times, namely when a mirage
appears at sunset. An explanation with colour photograph is contained in M. Vollmer,
Gespiegelt in besonderen Düften ...– Oasen, Seeungeheuer und weitere Spielereien der Fata
Morgana, Physikalische Blätter 54, pp. 903–909, 1998. Cited on page 111.
75 See the wonderful website by Les Cowley on atmospheric optics, www.atoptics.co.uk. Or
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the book David K. Lynch & William L ivingston, Color and Light in Nature, sec-
ond edition, Cambridge University Press, 2001. They updated and expanded the fascina-
tion for colours in nature – such as, for example, the halos around the Moon and the
Sun, or the colour of shadows – that was started by the beautiful and classic book by al-
Vol. I, page 90 ready mentioned earlier on: Marcel G. J. Minnaert, Light and Colour in the Outdoors,
Springer, 1993, an updated version based on the wonderful original book series Mar-
cel G. J. Minnaert, De natuurkunde van ‘t vrije veld, Thieme & Cie, 1937. Cited on
page 111.
76 This famous discovery is by Brent Berlin & Paul Kay, Basic Color Terms: Their Uni-
versality and Evolution, University of California Press, 1969. Their ongoing world colour
survey is eagerly awaited. Of course there are also ongoing studies to find possible excep-
tions; the basic structure is solid, as shown in the conference proceedings C. L. Hardin
biblio graphy 323

& Luisa Maffi, Colour Categories in Thought and Language, Cambridge University Press,
1997. Cited on page 112.
77 For a thorough discussion of the various velocities connected to wave trains, see the classic
text by Louis Brillouin, Wave Propagation and Group Velocity, Academic Press, New
York, 1960. It expands in detail the theme discussed by Arnold S ommerfeld, Über
die Fortpflanzung des Lichtes in dispergierenden Medien, Annalen der Physik, 4th series, 44,
pp. 177–202, 1914. See also Arnold S ommerfeld, Optik, Dietrichssche Verlagsbuchand-
lung, Wiesbaden 1950, section 22. An English translation Arnold S ommerfeld, Lec-
tures on Theoretical Physics: Optics, 1954, is also available. Cited on pages 114 and 116.
78 Changing the group velocity in fibres is now even possible on demand, as shown by
M. G onzález-Herráez, K. -Y. S ong & L. Thévenaz, Optically controlled slow and
fast light in optical fibers using stimulated Brillouin scattering, Applied Physics Letters 87,
p. 081113, 2005. They demonstrate group velocities from 0.24c to plus infinity and beyond,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
to negative values.
Another experiment was carried out by S. Chu & S. Wong, Linear pulse propagation
in an absorbing medium, Physical Review Letters 48, pp. 738–741, 1982. See also S. Chu &
D. St yer, Answer to question #52. Group velocity and energy propagation, American Jour-
nal of Physics 66, pp. 659–661, 1998. Another example was described in 1993 by the group
of Raymond Chiao for the case of certain nonlinear materials in R. Chiao, P. G. Kwait
& A. M. Steinberg, Faster than light?, Scientific American 269, p. 52, August 1993, and
R. Y. Chiao, A. E. Kozhekin & G. Kurizki, Tachyonlike excitations in inverted two-
level media, Physical Review Letters 77, pp. 1254–1257, 1996. On still another experimen-
tal set-up using anomalous dispersion in caesium gas, see L. J. Wang, A. Kuzmich &
A. D o garin, Gain-assisted superluminal light propagation, Nature 406, pp. 277–279, 20
July 2000. Cited on page 116.
79 Y. P. Terletskii, Paradoxes in the Theory of Relativity, Plenum Press, 1968. Cited on page
116.
80 See the excellent explanation by Kirk T. McD onald, Negative group velocity, American
Journal of Physics 69, pp. 607–614, 2001. Cited on page 116.
81 G. Nimtz, A. Enders & H. Spieker, Journal de Physique I (Paris) 4, p. 565, 1994. Un-
fortunately, Nimtz himself seems to believe that he transported energy or signals faster than
light; he is aided by the often badly prepared critics of his quite sophisticated experiments.
See A. Enders & G. Nimtz, Physikalische Blätter 49, p. 1119, Dezember 1993, and the
weak replies in Physikalische Blätter 50, p. 313, April 1994. See also A. M. Steinberg, Jour-
nal de Physique I (Paris) 4, p. 1813, 1994, A. M. Steinberg, P. G. Kwiat & R. Y. Chiao,
Physical Review Letters 71, pp. 708–711, 1993, and A. R anfagni, P. Fabeni, G. P. Pazzi
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

& D. Mugnai, Physical Review E 48, p. 1453, 1993. Cited on page 117.
82 A summary of all evidence about the motion of the aether is given by R. S. Shankland,
S. W. McCuskey, F. C. L eone & G. Kuerti, New analysis of the interferometer obser-
vations of Dayton C. Miller, Review of Modern Physics 27, pp. 167–178, 1955. An older text
is H. Wit te, Annalen der Physik 26, p. 235, 1908. Cited on page 118.
83 The history of the concept of vacuum can be found in the book by E. Grant, Much Ado
About Nothing, Cambridge University Press, 1981, and in the extensive reference text by Ed-
mund T. Whit taker, A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity, Volume 1: The
Classical Theories, Volume 2: The Modern Theories, Tomash Publishers, American Institute
of Physics 1951, 1987.
The various aether models – gears, tubes, vortices – proposed in the nineteenth century
were dropped for various reasons. Since many models used to explain electric and magnetic
324 biblio graphy

fields as motion of some entities, it was concluded that the speed of light would depend
on electric or magnetic fields. One type of field was usually described by linear motion of
the entities, the other by rotatory or twisting motion; both assignments are possible. As
a consequence, aether must be a somewhat strange fluid that flows perfectly, but that re-
sists rotation of volume elements, as McCullogh deduced in 1839. However, experiments
show that the speed of light in vacuum does not depend on electromagnetic field intensity.
Vortices were dropped because real world vortices were found out to be unstable. All mod-
els received their final blow when they failed to meet the requirements of special relativity.
Cited on page 118.
84 von L aue, Zur Thermodynamik der Interferenzerscheinungen, Annalen der Physik 20,
pp. 365–378, 1906. Cited on page 119.
85 See, for example, the review by L. C. Tu, J. Luo & G. T. Gillies, The mass of the photon,
Reports on Progress in Physics 68, pp. 77–130, 2005. Cited on page 119.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
86 Stephen G. L ipson, David S. Tannhauser & Henry S. L ipson, Optical Physics,
Cambridge University Press, 1995. Cited on page 119.
87 There are many good introductions to optics in every library. A good introduction that
explains the fundamental concepts step by step is the relevant chapter in the physics book
by Eric Mazur, available on the internet; one day it will be published by Prentice Hall.
Cited on page 122.
88 A good overview of the invention and the life of Frits Zernike is given by
Menno van Dijk, Ken uw klassieken: hoe Frits Zernike fasecontrast ontdekte, Neder-
lands tijdschrift voor natuurkunde 71, pp. 194–196, June 2005. Cited on page 122.
89 See its www.cie.co.at/cie website. Cited on page 125.
90 P. D. Jones, M. New, D. E. Parker, S. Martin & I. G. R igor, Surface air tempera-
ture and its changes over the past 150 years, Reviews of Geophysics 37, pp. 173–199, May
1999. Cited on page 125.
91 He recalls this episode from 1933 in M. Planck, Mein Besuch bei Adolf Hitler, Physikalis-
che Blätter p. 143, 1947. Cited on page 125.
92 Pictures of objects in a red hot oven and at room temperature are also shown in
C. H. Bennet t, Demons, engines and the second law, Scientific American 255, pp. 108–
117, November 1987. Cited on page 126.
93 If you want to read more on the topic, have a look at the classic text by Warren J. Smith,
Modern Optical Engineering : the Design of Optical Systems, 3rd edition, McGraw-Hill, 2000.
The main historic reference is R. Clausius, Über die Concentration von Wärme und Licht-
strahlen und die Gränzen ihrer Wirkung, Poggendorff ’s Annalen der Physik 121, pp. 1–44,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

1864. Cited on pages 128 and 165.

94 Measured values and ranges for physical quantities are collected in Horst Völz & Pe-
ter Ackermann, Die Welt in Zahlen, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, 1996. Cited on
page 130.
95 See e.g. K. Codling & L. J. Frasinski, Coulomb explosion of simple molecules in intense
laser fields, Contemporary Physics 35, pp. 243–255, 1994. Cited on page 130.
96 The standard reference on the propagation of light is Max B orn & Emil Wolf, Princi-
ples of Optics – Electromagnetic Theory of Propagation, Interference and Diffraction of Light,
Pergamon Press, 6th edition, 1998. Cited on page 133.
97 E. D. Palik, Handbook of optical constants of solids, Academic Publishing, 1998. Cited on
page 135.
biblio graphy 325

98 More mirage photographs, even mirage films, can be found on www.polarimage.fi/mirages/

mirages.htm and virtual.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=25722.
Cited on page 135.
99 E. J. J. Kirchner, De uitvinding van het telescoop in 1608: gewoon twee lenzen, Neder-
lands tijdschrift voor natuurkunde 74, pp. 356–361, 2008. Cited on page 136.
100 A fascinating overview about what people have achieved in this domain up to now is given
in the classic reference text by Rolf R iehker, Fernrohre und ihre Meister, VEB Verlag
Technik, second edition, 1990. See also by Peter Manly, Unusual Telescopes, Cambridge
University Press, 1991, and Henry C. King, The History of the Telescope, Dover, 2003.
Cited on page 136.
101 An introduction to the topic of the 22° halo, the 46° halo, Sun dogs, and the many other
arcs and bows that can be seen around the Sun, see the beautifully illustrated paper
by R. Greenler, Lichterscheinungen, Eiskristalle und Himmelsarchäologie, Physikalische

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Blätter 54, pp. 133–139, 1998, or the book Robert Greenler, Rainbows, Halos, and Glo-
ries, Cambridge University Press, 1980. Cited on page 138.
102 K. Franz & al., Müller cells are living optical fibers in the vertebrate retina, Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences 104, pp. 8287–8292, 2007. Cited on page 139.
103 A complete list of data and arguments showing that the hair of polar bears have no fibre
function is found on the pages it.stlawu.edu/~koon/mar-ref.html and it.stlawu.edu/~koon/
polar.html. Cited on page 139.
104 The prediction of negative refraction is due to V. G. Vesel ago, The electrodynamics of
substances with simultaneously negative values of ε and μ, Soviet Physics Uspekhi 10, p. 509,
1968. (The original paper in Russian is from 1967.) The explanation with different refraction
directions was published by P. M. Val anju, R. M. Walser & A. P. Val anju, Wave
refraction in negative-index media: always positive and very inhomogeneous, Physical Re-
view Letters 88, p. 187401, 8 May 2002. Also Fermat’s principle is corrected, as explained
in V. G. Vesel ago, About the wording of Fermat’s principle for light propagation in media
with negative refraction index, arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0203451. Cited on page 139.
105 The first example of material system with a negative refraction index were presented by
David Smith and his team. R. A. S chelby, D. R. Smith & S. S chultz, Experimental
verification of a negative index of refraction, Science 292, p. 77-79, 2001. More recent ex-
amples are A. A. Houck, J. B. Bro ck & I. L. Chuang, Experimental observations of
a left-handed material that obeys Snell’s law, Physical Review Letters 90, p. 137401, 2003,
C. G. Parazzoli, R. B. Greegor, K. L i, B. E. C. Koltenbah & M. Tanielian,
Experimental verification and simulation of negative index of refraction using Snell’s law,
Physical Review Letters 90, p. 107401, 2003. S. Foteinopoulou, E. N. Economou &
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

C. M. S oukoulis, Refraction in media with a negative refractive index, Physical Review

Letters 90, p. 107402, 2003. Cited on page 140.
106 S. A. R amakrishna, Physics of negative refractive index materials, Reorts on Progress of
Physics 68, pp. 449–521, 2005. Cited on page 140.
107 J. Pendry, Negegative refraction makes a perfect lens, Physical Review Letters 85, p. 3966,
2000. See also J. B. Pendry, D. S churig & D. R. Smith, Controlling electromagnetic
fields, Science 312, pp. 1780–1782, 2006, and D. S churig, J. J. Mo ck, B. J. Justice,
S. A. Cummer, J. B. Pendry, A. F. Starr & D. R. Smith, Metamaterial electromag-
netic cloak at microwave frequencies, Science 314, pp. 977–980, 2006. Cited on page 140.
108 On metamaterials, see A. L ai, C. Caloz & T. Itoh, Composite rightleft-handed trans-
mission metamaterials, IEEE Microwave Magazine 5, pp. 34–50, September 2004. Cited on
page 140.
326 biblio graphy

109 M. Z edler & P. Russer, Investigation on the Dispersion Relation of a 3D LC-based Meta-
material with an Omnidirectional Left-Handed Frequency Band, 2006 International Mi-
crowave Symposium Digest, San Francisco pp. 1477–1479, 2006. M. Z edler, C. Caloz
& P. Russer, A 3D Isotropic left-handed metamaterial based on the rotated transmission
line matrix (TLM) scheme, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 55,
pp. 2930–2941, 2007. Cited on page 140.
110 Read Grimaldi’s text online at fermi.imss.fi.it/rd/bdv?/bdviewer/bid=000000300682. Cited
on page 141.
111 James E. Faller & Joseph Wampler, The lunar laser reflector, Scientific American
pp. 38–49, March 1970. Cited on page 141.
112 Neil Armstrong of Apollo 11, Jim Lovell of Apollo 8 and Apollo 13, and Jim Irwin of Apollo
15 extensively searched for it and then made negative statements, as told in Science News
p. 423, 24 & 31 December 1994. From the space shuttle however, which circles only a few

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
hundred kilometres above the Earth, the wall can be seen when the Sun is low enough such
that the wall appears wider through its own shadow, as explained in Science News 149,
p. 301, 1996. Cited on page 142.
113 S. W. Hell, Strategy for far-field optical imaging and writing without diffraction limit,
Physics Letters A 326, pp. 140–145, 2004, see also V. Westphal & S. W. Hell, Nanoscale
resolution in the focal plane of an optical microscope, Physical Review Letters 94, p. 143903,
2005, and V. Westphal, J. Seeger, T. Saldit t & S. W. Hell, Stimulated emission de-
pletion microscopy on lithographic microstructures, Journal of Physics B 38, pp. S695–S705,
2005. Cited on page 144.
114 M. Shih, M. Segev & G. Sal amo, Physical Review Letters 78, pp. 2551–2554, 1997.
See also the more readable paper by Mordechai Segev & George Stegeman, Self-
trapping of optical beams: spatial solitons, Physics Today 51, pp. 42–48, August 1998. Cited
on page 145.
115 W. H. Ehrenstein & B. L ingelbach, Das Hermann–Gitter, Physik in unserer Zeit 6,
pp. 263–268, 2002. The journal also shows a colour variation of these lattices. Cited on page
154.
116 To enjoy many other flowers under UV illumination, go to the extensive collection at www.
naturfotograf.com/index2. Cited on page 155.
117 The eye sensitivity myth is debunked in detail by B. H. S offer & D. K. Lynch, Some
paradoxes, errors, and resolutions concerning the spectral optimization of human vision,
American Journal of Physics 67, pp. 946–953, 1999. Cited on page 155. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

118 David R. Williams, Supernormal Vision, Science News 152, pp. 312–313, 15 Novem-
ber 1997. See also www.cvs.rochester.edu/people/d_williams/d_williams.html as well as the
photographs at www.cvs.rochester.edu/people/~aroorda/ao_research.html of the interior
of living human eyes. Their last publication is A. Ro orda, A. Metha, P. L ennie &
D. R. Williams, Packing arrangement of the three cone classes in the primate retina, Vi-
sion Research 41, pp. 1291–1306, 2001. Cited on page 156.
119 This happened to Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430–1516) the great Venetian Renaissance painter,
who even put this experience into writing, thus producing one of the greatest ‘gaffes’ ever.
If you take a photograph of the effect with a remotely controlled camera, you can prove that
your camera is holy as well. Cited on page 158.
120 S. R. Wilk, How retroreflectors really work, Optics & Photonics News, pp. 6–7, December
1993. Cited on page 158.
biblio graphy 327

121 Among the many papers on pit vipers, see the excellent summary by B. S chwarzschild,
Neural-network model may explain the surprisingly good infrared vision of snakes, Physics
Today pp. 18–20, September 2006; it is based on the fascinating results by A. B. Sichert,
P. Friedel & J. L. van Hemmen, Snake’s perspective on heat: reconstruction of input us-
ing an imperfect detection system, Physical Review Letters 97, p. 068105, 2006. Cited on
page 158.
122 A. Brückner, J. D uparré, F. Wippermann, R. L eitel, P. Dannberg &
A. Bräuer, Ultra-compact close-up microoptical imaging system, Proceedings of the
SPIE, 7786, p. 77860A, 2010. Cited on page 158.
123 This problem was suggested by Vladimir Surdin. Cited on page 160.
124 For deviations from the geometric ‘law’ of reflection see M. Merano, A. Aiello,
M. P. van Exter & J. P. Woerdman, Observing angular deviations in the specular re-
flection of a light beam, Nature Photonics 3, pp. 337 – 340, 2009. See also M. Merano,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
A. Aiello, G. W. ’t Ho oft, M. P. van Exter, E. R. Eliel & J. P. Woerdman, Ob-
servation of Goos-Hänchen shifts in metallic reflection, Optics Express 15, pp. 15928–15934,
2007. This beautiful research field is in need of a good review article. For a measurement
of the time delay in total reflection, around 28 fs, see D. Chauvat & al., Timing the total
reflection of light, Physics Letters A 336, pp. 271–273, 2005. Cited on page 160.
125 Such a claim was implicitly made by D. Mugnai, A. R anfagni & R. Ruggieri,
Observation of superluminal behaviors in wave propagation, Physical Review Letters 84,
p. 4830, 2000. An excellent explanation and rebuttal was given by W. A. Rodrigues,
D. S. Thober & A. L. X avier, Causal explanation for observed superluminal behavior
of microwave propagation in free space, preprint at arxiv.org/abs/physics/0012032. Cited on
page 161.
126 If you want to see more on how the world looks for the different types of colour blind, have a
look at the webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/2.html or the www.vischeck.com/examples web
pages. Cited on page 162.
127 H. Kobayashi & S. Kohshima, Unique morphology of the human eye, Nature 387,
pp. 767–768, 1997. They explored 88 primate species. Cited on page 163.
128 Most of the world’s experts in lightning are Russian. Two good books are
Vl adimir A. R akov & Martin A. Uman, Lightning: Physics and Effects, Cambridge
University Press, 2003, and Eduard M. Bazelyon & Yuri P. R aizer, Lightning
Physics and Lightning Protection, Institute of Physics Publishing, 2000. For a simple intro-
duction, see also the lightning section of the webiste www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca. Cited on
page 168. Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

129 About the life-long passion that drove Luke Howard, see the book by R ichard Hamblyn,
The Invention of Clouds, Macmillan 2001. Cited on page 168.
130 J. L atham, The electrification of thunderstorms, Quartely Journal of the Royal
Meteorological Society 107, pp. 277–289, 1981. For a more recent and wider re-
view, see E arle R. Williams, The tripole structure of thunderstorms, Journal
of Geophysical Research 94, pp. 13151–13167, 1989. See also the book by the Na-
tional R esearch Council Staff, The Earth’s Electrical Environment, Studies in
Geophysics, National Academy Press, 1986. Cited on page 168.
131 See, for example, the overview at enviromom.us/lightning/lightningformation.html. Cited
on page 168.
132 A. V. Gurevich & K. P. Zybin, Runaway breakdown and the mysteries of lightning,
Physics Today 58, pp. 37–43, May 2005. Cited on page 168.
328 biblio graphy

133 To learn more about atmospheric currents, you may want to have a look at the populariz-
ing review of the US work by E. A. Bering, A. A. Few & J. R. Benbro ok, The global
electric circuit, Physics Today 51, pp. 24–30, October 1998, or the more technical overview
by E. Bering, Reviews of Geophysics (supplement) 33, p. 845, 1995. Cited on page 171.
134 The use of Schumann resonances in the Earth–ionosphere capacitor for this research field
is explained in K. S chlegel & M. Füllerkrug, Weltweite Ortung von Blitzen, Physik
in unserer Zeit 33, pp. 257–261, 2002. Cited on page 171.
135 J. R. Dw yer, M. A. Uman, H. K. R assoul, M. Al-Dayeh, E. L. Caraway,
J. Jerauld, V. A. R akov, D. M. Jordan, K. J. R ambo, V. Corbin & B. Wright,
Energetic radiation produced by rocket-triggered lightning, Science 299, pp. 694–697, 2003.
Cited on page 172.
136 J. R. Dw yer, A fundamental limit on electric fields in air, Geophysical Research Letters 30,
p. 2055, 2003. Cited on page 172.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
137 B. M. Smirnov, Physics of ball lightning, Physics Reports 224, pp. 151–236, 1993. See also
D. Finkelstein & J. Rubinstein, Ball lightning, Physical Review 135, pp. 390–396,
1964. For more folklore on the topic, just search the world wide web. Cited on page 172.
138 G. D. Shabanov, The optical properties of long-lived luminous formations, Technical
Physics Letters 28, pp. 164–166, 2002, A. I. Egorov & S. I. Stepanov, Long-lived plas-
moids produced in humid air as analogues of ball lightning, Technical Physics 47, pp. 1584–
1586, 2002, A. E. Egorov, S. I. Stepanov & G. D. Shabanov, Physics Uspekhi Lab-
oratory demonstration of ball lightning, 47, pp. 99–101, 2004, and G. D. Shabanov &
B. Yu. S okolovskii, Macroscopic separation of charges in a pulsed electric discharge,
Plasma Physics Reports 31, pp. 512–518, 2005. (All these are English translations of earl-
ier Russian papers.) See the websites biod.pnpi.spb.ru/pages_ru/Stepanov/index.html
stealthtank.narod.ru, balllightning.narod.ru/hvewd.html and www.ipp.mpg.de/ippcms/
eng/presse/pi/05_06_pi.html, for more details and more spectacular films. Cited on page
172.
139 G. Silva Paiva, A. C. Pavão, E. Alpes de Vasconcelos, O. Mendes &
E. F. da Silva, Production of ball-lightning-like luminous balls by electrical discharges
in silicon, Physics Review Letters 98, p. 048501, 2007. Cited on page 173.
140 For a recent summary, see S. Parrot t, arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9711027. See also
T. A. Abbot t & D. J. Griffiths, Acceleration without radiation, American Journal
of Physics 53, pp. 1203–1211, 1985. See also A. Kovetz & G. E. Tauber, Radiation from
an accelerated charge and the principle of equivalence, American Journal of Physics 37,
pp. 382–385, 1969. Cited on page 173.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

141 C. de Almeida & A. Saa, The radiation of a uniformly accelerated charge is beyond the
horizon: a simple derivation, American Journal of Physics 74, pp. 154–158, 2006. Cited on
page 174.
142 J. Z hang, X. D. S ong, Y. C. L i, P. G. R ichards, X. L. Sun & F. Waldhauser, In-
ner core differential motion confirmed by earthquake doublet waveform doublets, Science 309,
pp. 1357–1360, 2005. Cited on page 175.
143 An excellent review is E. H. Brandt, Levitation in Physics, Science 243, pp. 349–355, 1989.
Cited on pages 175, 178, and 179.
144 See the article by R. Tuckermann, S. Bauerecker & B. Neidhart, Levitation in
Ultraschallfeldern – Schwebende Tröpfchen, Physik in unserer Zeit 32, pp. 69–75, February
2001. Liquid drops up to 1 g have been levitated in this way. Cited on page 175.
biblio graphy 329

145 F. C. Mo on & P. Z. Chang, Superconducting Levitation – Applications to Bearings and

Magnetic Transportation, Wiley & Sons, 1994. Cited on pages 175 and 178.
146 W. T. S cot t, Who was Earnshaw?, American Journal of Physics 27, pp. 418–419, 1959.
Cited on page 176.
147 The trick is to show that div E = 0, curl E = 0, thus E∇2 E = 0 and, from this, ∇2 E 2 ⩾ 0;
there are thus no local electric field maxima in the absence of free charges. The same proof
works for the magnetic field. However, bodies with dielectric constants lower than their
environment can be levitated in static electric fields. An example is gas bubbles in liquids, as
shown by T. B. Jones & G. W. Bliss, Bubble dielectrophoresis, Journal of Applied Physics
48, pp. 1412–1417, 1977. Cited on page 176.
148 B. S charl au, V. Nordmeier & H. J. S chlichting, Magnetische Levitation, in
Deu tsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, (editor) Didaktik der Physik, Lehmanns,
2003. Cited on page 177.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
149 See A. K. Geim, M. D. Simon, M. I. B oamfa & L. O. Heflinger, Magnet levitation
at your fingertips, Nature 400, pp. 323–324, 1999. Cited on page 177.
150 The first photographs of a single ion were in W. Neuhauser, M. Hohenstat t,
P. E. Toschek & H. Dehmelt, Localized visible Ba+ mono-ion oscillator, Physical Re-
view A 22, pp. 1137–1140, 1980. See also D. J. Winel and & W. M. Itano, Physics Letters
A 82, p. 75, 1981, as well as F. Dietrich & H. Walter, Physical Review Letters 58,
p. 203, 1987.
For single atoms, see photographs in Z. Hu & H. J. Kimble, Optics Letters 1, p. 1888,
1994, F. Ruschewitz, D. Bet termann, J. L. Peng & W. Ertmer, Europhysics Let-
ters 34, p. 651, 1996, D. Haubrich, H. S chadwinkel, F. Strauch, B. Ueberholz,
R. Wynands & D. Meschede, Europhysics Letters 34, p. 663, 1996. Cited on page 177.
151 See for example Mark Buchanan, And God said...let there be levitating strawberries,
flying frogs and humans that hover over Seattle, New Scientist pp. 42–43, 26 July 1997,
or C. Wu, Floating frogs, Science News 152, pp. 632–363, 6 December 1997, and C. Wu,
Molecular magnetism takes off, Physics World April 1997, page 28. The experiments by
Andre Geim, Jan Kees Maan, Humberto Carmona and Peter Main were made public
by P. Rod gers, Physics World 10, p. 28, 1997. Some of the results can be found in
M. V. Berry & A. K. Geim, Of flying frogs and levitrons, European Journal of Physics
18, pp. 307–313, 1997. See also their www.hfml.science.ru.nl/levitate.html website. Cited
on page 178.
152 The well-known toy allows levitation without the use of any energy source and is called
the ‘Levitron’. It was not invented by Bill Hones of Fascination Toys & Gifts in Seattle, as
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

the www.levitron.com website explains. The toy is discussed by Ron Ed ge, Levitation us-
ing only permanent magnets, Physics Teacher 33, p. 252, April 1995. It is also discussed
in M. V. Berry, The LevitronTM : an adiabatic trap for spins, Proceedings of the Royal
Society A 452, pp. 1207–1220, 1996, (of Berry’s phase fame) as well as by M. D. Simon,
L. O. Heflinger & S. L. R id geway, Spin stabilized magnetic levitation, American Jour-
nal of Physics 65, pp. 286–92, 1997, and by T. B. Jones, M. Washizu & R. Gans, Simple
theory for the Levitron, Journal of Applied Physics 82, pp. 883–889, 1997. Cited on page 179.
153 The drill trick and the building of a Levitron are described in the beautiful lecture script by
Josef Zweck, Physik im Alltag, Skript zur Vorlesung im WS 1999/2000 der Universität
Regensburg. Cited on page 179.
154 The prediction about quantized levitation is by Stephen B. Haley, Length quan-
tization in levitation of magnetic microparticles by a mesoscopic superconducting ring,
330 biblio graphy

Physical Review Letters 74, pp. 3261–3264, 1995. The topic is discussed in more detail
in Stephen B. Haley, Magnetic levitation, suspension, and superconductivity: macro-
scopic and mesoscopic, Physical Review B 53, p. 3506, 1996, reversed in order with
Stephen B. Haley, Quantized levitation of superconducting multiple-ring systems, Phys-
ical Review B 53, p. 3497, 1996, as well as Stephen B. Haley, Quantized levitation by
multiply-connected superconductors, LT-21 Proceedings, in Czechoslovak Journal of Physics
46, p. 2331, 1996. In 1998, there was not yet an experimental confirmation (Stephen Haley,
private communication). Cited on page 179.
155 Detailed descriptions of many of these effects can be found in the excellent overview edited
by Manfred von Ardenne, Gerhard Musiol & Siegfried R eball, Effekte der
Physik und ihre Anwendungen, Harri Deutsch, 2004. Cited on page 179.
156 R. Buddakian, K. Weninger, R. A. Hiller & Seth J. Pu t terman, Picosecond
discharges and stick–slip friction at a moving meniscus of mercury in glass, Nature 391,
pp. 266–268, 15 January 1998. See also Science News 153, p. 53, 24 January 1998. Cited

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
on page 180.
157 Henk Swagten & R einder Coeho orn, Magnetische tunneljuncties, Nederlands tijd-
schrift voor natuurkunde 64, pp. 279–283, November 1998. Cited on page 180.
158 H. Ohno, D. Chiba, F. Matsukura, T. Omiya, E. Abe, T. Dietl, Y. Ohno &
K. Ohtani, Electric-field control of ferromagnetism, Nature 408, pp. 944–946, 21-28 De-
cember 2000. Cited on page 180.
159 This effect was discovered by G. R ikken, B. van Tiggelen & A. Sparenberg,
Lichtverstrooiing in een magneetveld, Nederlands tijdschrift voor natuurkunde 63, pp. 67–
70, maart 1998. Cited on page 182.
160 Vitalij Pecharsky & Karl A. Gschneidner, Giant magnetocaloric effect in
Gd5(Si2Ge2), Physical Review Letters 78, pp. 4494–4497, 1995, and, from the same au-
thors, Tunable magnetic regenerator alloys with a giant magnetocaloric effect for magnetic
refrigeration from ∼20 to ∼2990 K, Applied Physics Letters 70, p. 3299, 1997. Cited on page
182.
161 J. Weissmüller, R. N. Viswanath, D. Kramer, P. Z immer, R. Würschum &
H. Gleiter, Charge-induced reversible strain in a metal, Science 300, pp. 312–315, 11 April
2003. Cited on page 183.
162 A. Ajdari, Electro-osmosis on inhomogeneously charged surfaces, Physical Review Letters
75, pp. 755–758, 1995. Cited on page 183.
163 M. J. Aitken, Thermoluminescence Dating, Academic Press, 1985. The precision of the
method is far worse that C14 dating, however, as shown by H. Huppertz, Thermolumi-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

neszenzdatierung: eine methodologische Analyse aufgrund gesicherter Befunde, Peter Lang

Verlag, 2000. Cited on page 184.
164 This effect was discovered by J. N. Huiberts, R. Griessen, J. H. R ector,
R. J. Wijngarden, J. P. Dekker, D. G. de Gro ot & N. J. Koeman, Yttrium and
lanthanum hydride films with switchable optical properties, Nature 380, pp. 231–234, 1996.
A good introduction is R. Griessen, Schaltbare Spiegel aus Metallhydriden, Physikalische
Blätter 53, pp. 1207–1209, 1997. Cited on page 185.
165 See any book on thermostatics, such as L inda R eichl, A Modern Course in Statistical
Physics, Wiley, 2nd edition, 1998. Cited on page 186.
166 The Sun emits about 4 ⋅ 1026 W from its mass of 2 ⋅ 1030 kg, about 0.2 mW/kg; a person with
an average mass of 75 kg emits about 100 W (you can check this in bed at night), i.e., about
500 times more. Cited on page 187.
biblio graphy 331

167 See for example, J. M. Aguirregabiria, A. Hernandez & M. R ivas, Velocity fields
inside a conducting sphere near a slowly moving charge, American Journal of Physics 62,
pp. 462–466, 1994. Cited on page 187.
168 See U. Fantz & A. Lot ter, Blitze zum Anfassen, Physik in unserer Zeit 33, pp. 16–19,
2002. More information is available on www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/epp. Cited on page
52.
169 Philip Cohen, Open wide, this won’t hurt a bit, New Scientist p. 5, 3 February 1996. Cited
on page 187.
170 J. E. Avron, E. Berg, D. G oldsmith & A. G ord on, Is the number of photons a clas-
sical invariant?, European Journal of Physics 20, pp. 153–159, 1999. Cited on page 188.
171 This is deduced from the д − 2 measurements, as explained in his Nobel Prize talk by
Hans Dehmelt, Experiments with an isolated subatomic particle at rest, Reviews of Mod-
ern Physics 62, pp. 525–530, 1990, and in Hans Dehmelt, Is the electron a composite

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
particle?, Hyperfine Interactions 81, pp. 1–3, 1993. Cited on page 189.
172 A good and short introduction is the paper F. Rohrlich, The self-force and radiation re-
action, American Journal of Physics 68, pp. 1109–1112, 2000. Cited on page 190.
173 Distinguishing between the thought ‘yes’ and ‘no’ is already possible with a simple electroen-
cephalogram. For a video demonstration of the differentaiation of concepts using brain
imaging techniques, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVLu5_hvr8s. Cited on page 190.
174 C. G. Tsagas, Magnetic tension and the geometry of the universe, Physical Review Letters
86, pp. 5421–5424, 2001. An overview of the topic is C. G. Tsagas, Geometrical aspects of
cosmic magnetic fields, arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0112077. Cited on page 193.
175 A. D. Erlykin & A. W. Wolfendale, The origin of cosmic rays, European Journal of
Physics 20, pp. 409–418, 1999, Cited on page 195.
176 See for example the beautiful textbook by Stephen C. Stearns & Rolf F. Hoekstra,
Evolution: An Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000. For fascinating story of evolu-
tion for non-specialists, see R ichard Fortey, Life – An Unauthorized Biography, Harper
Collins, 1997, or also Menno S chilthuizen, Frogs, Flies & Dandelions – the Making of
Species, Oxford University Press/ 2001. See also Stephen J. G ould, The Panda’s thumb,
W.W. Norton & Co., 1980, one of the several interesting and informative books on evolu-
tionary biology by the best writer in the field. An informative overview over the results of
evolution, with the many-branched family tree that it produced, is given on the phylogeny.
arizona.edu/tree website. About the results of evolution for human beings, see the infor-
mative text by K. Kusch & S. Kusch, Der Mensch in Zahlen, Spektrum Akademischer
Verlag, 2nd edn., 2000. The epochal work by Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

can be found on the web, e.g. on the entisoft.earthlink.net/origspec.htm and on the www.
darwin-online.org.uk websites. Cited on page 199.
177 A simple description is Malcolm Ross Macd onald, The Origin of Johnny, Jonathan
Cape, 1976. See also Bas Haring, Kaas en de evolutietheorie, Houtekiet, 2001. Cited on
page 199.
178 R ichard Bandler, Using Your Brain for a Change, Real People Press, p. 18, 1985. Cited
on page 199.
179 There is disagreement among experts about the precise timing of this experience. Some
say that only birth itself is that moment. However, there are several standard methods
to recall memories of early life, even of the time before birth; one is described and used
by J. K. Stet tbacher, Making Sense of Suffering, Penguin, New York, 1991, translated
from the German original. Even more impressive examples are given by N. J. Mayer, Der
332 biblio graphy

Kainkomplex – neue Wege der systemischen Familientherapie, Integral Verlag, 1998. Cited
on page 199.
180 Sanjida O’Connell, Mindreading – How We Learn to Love and Lie, Arrow, 1998. This
interesting book describes the importance of lying in the development of a human being,
and explains the troubles those people have who cannot read other minds and thus cannot
lie, such as autists. Cited on pages 201 and 242.
181 The approach to describe observations as related parts is called structuralism; the starting
point for this movement was de Saussure’s Cours de linguistique générale (see the footnote
on page 217). A number of thinkers have tried to use the same approach in philosophy,
mythology and literature theory, though with little success. An overview of the (modest)
success of structuralism in linguistics and its failure in other fields is given by L. Jackson,
The Poverty of Structuralism: Literature and Structuralist Theory, Longman, 1991. The author
argues that when one reduces systems to interactions, one neglects the specific content and

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
properties of the elements of the system, and this approach prevents a full understanding
of the system under discussion. Cited on page 201.
182 For a view of the mental abilities different from that of Piaget (described on page 201),
a presently much discussed author is the Soviet experimental psychologist Lev Vigotsky,
whose path-breaking ideas and complicated life are described, e.g., in L ev Vigotsky,
Mind in Society, Harvard University Press, 1978, or in R ené van der Veer &
Jaan Valsiner, Understanding Vigotsky: a Quest for Synthesis, Blackwell Publishers, 1994.
More extensive material can be found in the extensive work by R ené van der Veer &
Jaan Valsinger, The Vigotsky Reader, Blackwell, 1994. Cited on page 202.
183 A somewhat unconventional source for more details is the beautiful text by
Bruno Bet telheim, The Uses of Enchantment: the Meaning and Importance of Fairy
Tales, Knopf, 1976. Cited on page 202.
184 A simple introduction is Manfred Spitzer, Lernen – Gehirnforschung und Schule des
Lebens, Elsevier, 2007. Cited on page 202.
185 Quoted in V. Harlen, R. R appmann & P. S chata, Soziale Plastik – Materialien zu
Joseph Beuys, Achberger Verlag, 1984, p. 61. Cited on page 202.
186 The problems appearing when one loses the ability to classify or to memorise are told in
the beautiful book by the neurologist Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for
a Hat, Picador, 1985, which collects many case studies he encountered in his work. More
astonishing cases are collected in his equally impressive text An Anthropologist on Mars, Pi-
cador, 1995.
See also the beautiful text D onald D. Hoffman, Visual Intelligence – How We Cre-
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

ate What We See, W.W. Norton & Co., 1998, and the www.cogsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff website
associated to it. Cited on pages 204 and 208.
187 For a passionate introduction to the connections between language and the brain from a
Chomskian perspective, see the bestselling book by Steven Pinker, The Language In-
stinct – How the Mind Creates Language, Harper Perennial, 1994. The green idea sentence
is discussed in a chapter of the book. Cited on pages 204, 247, and 265.
188 An introduction to neurology is Joseph L ed oux, Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become
Who We Are, Viking Press, 2002. Cited on page 204.
189 Another good introduction into the study of classifiers is James A. Anderson, An Intro-
duction to Neural Networks, MIT Press, 1995. An introduction to computer science is given
in Glenn Bro okshear, Computer Science, An Overview, 6th edition, Addison Wesley,
2000, or in R ick Decker & Stuart Hirshfield, The Analytical Engine: An Introduc-
biblio graphy 333

tion to Computer Science Using the Internet, Brooks/Cole Publishers, 1998. Cited on page
204.
190 An overview of the status of the research into the origin of bipedalism is given by B. Wo od,
Four legs good, two legs better, Nature 363, pp. 587–588, 17 June 1983. Cited on page 204.
191 A good introduction to neural nets is J. Hertz, A. Kro gh & R. Palmer, Introduction
to the Theory of Neural Computation, Addison Wesley, 1991. Cited on page 205.
192 Quoted from H. Eves, Mathematical Circles Squared, Prindle, Weber and Schmidt, 1972.
Cited on page 207.
193 K. Baumgärtel, D. Genoux, H. Welzl, R. Y. Tweedie-Cullen, K. Koshibu,
M. L ivingstone-Z atchej, C. Mamie & I. M. Mansuy, Control of the establishment
of aversive memory by calcineurin and Zif268, Nature Neuroscience 11, pp. 572–578, 2008.
Cited on page 209.
194 More about the connection between entropy and computers can be found in the classic pa-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
per by R. L andauer, Irreversibility and heat generation in the computing process, IBM
Journal of Research and Development 5, pp. 183–191, 1961, and in C. H. Bennet t &
R. L andauer, The fundamental physical limits of computation, Scientific American 253,
pp. 48–56, 1985. Cited on page 210.
195 W. H. Zurek, Thermodynamic cost of computation, algorithmic complexity and the infor-
mation metric, Nature 341, pp. 119–124, 14 August 1989. Cited on page 210.
196 L. Szil ard, Über die Entropieverminderung in einem thermodynamischen System bei Ein-
griffen intelligenter Wesen, Zeitschrift für Physik 53, p. 840, 1929. This classic paper can also
be found in English translation in the collected works by Leo Szilard. Cited on page 211.
197 J.J. Hopfield/ Nature 376, pp. 33–36, 1995. This paper by one of the fathers of the field
presents one possibility by which the timing of nerve signals, instead of the usually assumed
firing frequency, could also carry information. Cited on page 211.
198 The details of the properties of the firing patterns of neurons are nicely described in the ar-
ticle by M. Mahowald & R. D ougl as, A silicon neuron, Nature 354, pp. 515–518, 19/26
December 1991, in which they show how to simulate a neuron’s electrical behaviour using
a silicon circuit. Cited on page 211.
199 A. Mechelli, J. T. Crinion, U. Noppeney, J. O’D obert y, J. Ashburner,
R. S. Frackowiak & C. J. Price, Neurolinguistics: structural plasticity in the bilingual
brain, Nature 431, p. 757, 2004. Cited on page 212.
200 The discussion whether the brain is or is not superior to a computer is nicely summarised by
G. Vollmer, Algorithmen, Gehirne, Computer – Was sie können und was sie nicht können,
Teil I und Teil II, Naturwissenschaften 78, p. 481, 1991, and 78, pp. 533–542, 1991. Cited on
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

page 213.
201 T. Seidel, The role of student characteristics in studying micro teaching-leaning environ-
ments, Learning Environments Research 9, pp. 253–257, 2006. Cited on page 213.
202 The results with children are due to Niels Birbaumer, those for stage performers to Boris
Kleber, both at the Universität Tübingen. More information is found on www.dgbfb.de and
on applied-neuroscienc.org. Cited on page 214.
203 J. T. Choi & A. J. Bastian, Adaptation reveals independent control networks for human
walking, Nature Neuroscience 10, pp. 1055–1062, 2007. Cited on page 214.
204 On this aspect of sleep research, see J. Mayer, H. G. S chuster, J. Ch. Cl aussen &
M. Mölle, Corticothalamic projections control synchronization in locally coupled bistable
thalamic oscillators, Physical Review Letters 99, p. 068102, 2007. Cited on page 215.
 334 biblio graphy

205 For slightly different definitions and a wealth of other interesting information about lan-
guage, see the beautiful book by David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Lan-
guage, Cambridge University Press, 1987. Cited on page 217.
206 However, the language with the largest available dictionary is Dutch, with the 40 volumes
of the Wordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, which appeared between 1864 and 1998. It has
almost 400 000 entries. Cited on page 219.
207 The list and the remark on discovery on concepts is due to a personal communication from
Anna Wierzbicka. A longer list is published in her book Semantics, Primes and Universals,
Oxford University Press, 1996. Cited on pages 220 and 240.
208 W. S. Hatcher, Foundations of Mathematics, W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, 1968.
There is also the article by P. J. Cohen & R. Hersch, Non-Cantorian set theory, Scien-
tific American 217, pp. 104–116, 1967. Cohen was the mathematician who in 1963 proved
that the negation of the continuum hypothesis could be added to the axioms of set theory

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
and still produce a consistent theory; he calls such sets non-Cantorian. Cited on page 224.
209 See the beautiful article by I. Stewart, Fair shares for all, New Scientist, pp. 42–46, 17
June 1995. Cited on page 224.
210 The proof of the independence of the continuum hypothesis came in two parts. First, Kurt
Gödel proved in 1940 that an axiom can be consistently added to ZFC set theory so that the
continuum hypothesis is correct. Then, in 1963, Paul Cohen proved that an axiom can be
consistently added to ZFC set theory so that the continuum hypothesis is false. Cited on
page 226.
211 Rudy Rucker, Infinity and the Mind – the Science and Philosophy of the Infinite, Bantam,
Toronto, 1983. Cited on page 226.
212 This general division of mathematics is nicely explained in the text by Pierre Basieux,
Die Architektur der Mathematik – Denken in Strukturen, Rororo, 2000. Cited on page 228.
213 Umberto Pelizzari, L’Homme et la mer, Flammarion, 1994. Cited on page 228.
214 The issue is treated in Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, in question 52 of the first
part. The complete text, several thousand pages, can be found on the www.newadvent.org
website. We come back to it in the part on quantum theory, in the section on the Pauli ex-
Vol. IV, page 117 clusion principle. It seems that the whole question goes back to Peter (the) Lombard,
Liber Sententiarum c. 1150. Cited on page 229.
215 B. C. Gallivan, How to fold paper in half twelve times: an “impossible challenge” solved
and explained, Histrical Society of Pomona Valley, 2002, also found at www.osb.net/
Pomona/12times.htm. See also www.sciencenews.org/20040124/mathtrek.asp. Cited on
page 229.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

216 I. Stewart, Daisy, daisy, give me your answer, do, Scientific American, pp. 76–79, Jan-
uary 1995. This pedagogical article explains how the growth of plants usually leads to flow-
ers whose number of petals is from the Fibonacci series 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89,
144, etc. (The figure on page 211 gives a few examples.) Deviations from this ideal case
are also explained. The original work are two articles by S. D ouady & Y. Couder, La
physique des spirales végétales, La Recherche 24, pp. 26–36, 1993, and Phyllotaxis as a self-
organized growth process, in Growth Patterns in Physical Sciences and Biology, edited by J.M.
Garcia-Ruiz & al., Plenum Press, 1993. Despite this and many other publications on the
Fibonacci series, the argument on page 236 shows that most of these papers are based on
sand. Cited on pages 229 and 236.
217 H. Davson, The Eye, Academic Press, 1962. Cited on pages 207 and 229.
218 See the akbar.marlboro.edu/~mahoney/cube/NxN.txt website. Cited on page 230.
biblio graphy 335

219 An introduction to the surreal numbers is given by the article by Polly Shulman, Infin-
ity plus one, and other surreal numbers, Discover, pp. 99–105, December 1995. There is also
the text by D. Knu th, Surreal Numbers: How two ex-Students Turned on to Pure Mathe-
matics and Found Total Happiness, Addison Wesley, 1974, or www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/
~knuth/sn.html. The usually quoted references on the topic include John H. Conway,
On Numbers and Games, Academic Press, 1976, E. R. Berlekamp, J. H. Conway &
R. K. Guy, Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays, Volume I: Games in General, Aca-
demic Press, 1982, and H. G onshor, An Introduction to Surreal Numbers, Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1986. Cited on pages 230 and 232.
220 This beautiful problem is discussed by Ian Stewart, A bundling fool beats the wrap, Sci-
entific American, pp. 109–111, June 1993. In four dimensions, the answer is known to lie
somewhere between 50 000 and 100 000, whereas the five-dimensional answer is conjec-
tured to be ‘never’. Cited on page 232.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
221 A. Pais, Niels Bohr’s Times: in Physics, Philosophy and Polity, Oxford University Press, 1991,
page 176. Cited on page 233.
222 Eugene Wigner, Symmetries and Reflections, Indiana University Press, 1962. Cited on
page 233.
223 Alfred Tarski, Introduction to Modern Logic, Dover, 1946. See also the famous chil-
dren’s book by the mathematician and photographer L ewis Carroll, Alice in Wonder-
land. Cited on page 234.
224 Gˆran Wikell, The layout of digits on pushbutton telephones – a review of the literature,
Tele 34, pp. 34–42, 1982. Cited on page 235.
225 A clear overview of philosophy of science, often called epistemology, without unnecessary
detail, is given by Robert Bl anché, L’Epistémologie, Presses Universitaires de France,
1972. Cited on page 238.
226 About the different aspects of falsifiability of general statements it is commonplace to cite
the work by the epitemologist Karl Popper (1902–1994), especially his long and boring book
Logik der Forschung, first published in 1934. The reason for this boredom is that Popper’s
work is simply a warming-up of Pierre Duhem’s ideas. Cited on page 244.
227 For a good way of making blood that liquefies, see L. Garl aschelli, F. R amaccini
& S. Dell a S cal a, Working bloody miracles, Nature 353, p. 507, 1991. The Grand dic-
tionnaire universel du XIXe siècle, by Pierre L arousse, also contains a recipe; it was
again shown to the public in the 1980s by Henri Broch. A wonderful and classic text is
Harry Houdini, Miracle Mongers and their Methods, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, 1981.
The original, written in 1920, by the world famous magician named ‘The Great Houdini’, is
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

also available on the etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/HouMirM.html website. The

milk drinking Indian statues were common around the world in 1994 and 1995. About heal-
ers, see James R andi, Flim-flam!, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York, 1987, and the
exquisite book by Hans Conrad Z ander, Warum ich Jesus nicht leiden kann, Rowohlt,
1994. Cited on page 244.
228 Ro ger Penrose, The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe,
Jonathan Cape, 2004, page 378. Cited on page 263.
229 John Horgan, The End of Science – Facing the Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight of the
Scientific Age, Broadway Books, 1997, pp. 31–32, and chapter 2, note 2. Cited on pages 247
and 263.
230 For an opinion completely contrary to the one described here, see the book by Gre-
gory J. Chaitin, The Limits of Mathematics, Springer Verlag, 1997, which can also be
336 biblio graphy

found on the author’s website at www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/CDMTCS/chaitin/lm.html, along

with his other works. Chaitin has devoted most of his life to the questions discussed in the
section, especially on computability. Cited on page 247.
231 See the book by J. Barwise & J. Etchemendy, The Liar, Oxford University Press, New
York, 1987. Cited on page 248.
232 Demosthenes, Third Olynthiac, section 19. Cited on page 248.
233 This definition (statement 4.11) and many other statements about science are in the beau-
tiful and rightly famous text by Ludwig Wit tgenstein, Tractatus logico-philosophicus,
Edition Suhrkamp, 1963. It gives a condensed summary of the basis of science, thought and
language in a collection of highly structured and numbered sentences. Cited on pages 252
and 256.
234 See M. Dresden, The Klopsteg memorial lecture, American Journal of Physics 66, pp. 468–
482, 1998. Cited on page 252.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
235 Well-known books are e.g. Friedrich Kohlrausch, Praktische Physik, Teubner, 24.
Auflage, 1996. Cited on page 253.
236 Results are described e.g. in L. Bergmann & C. S chäfer, Lehrbuch der Experimental-
physik, Band I, II, III und IV, W. de Gruyter. Cited on page 253.
237 L and olt-B örnstein, edited by K. -H. Hellwege & O. Madelung, Zahlenwerte
und Funktionen aus Naturwissenschaften und Technik, Neue Serie, Springer Verlag, Berlin,
1984. This series of more than one hundred volumes contains all important observations in
the domain of physics. Cited on page 253.
238 The origin of this incorrect attribution is the book by Gerhard Szczesny, Brecht, Leben
des Galilei – Dichtung und Wirklichkeit, Ullstein, Berlin 1966, p. 6. The statement has never
been made by Galilei; this issue has been discussed at length in specialist circles, e.g. by
F. Kleinert, "Messen was meßbar ist" - Über ein angebliches Galilei-Zitat, Berichte zur
Wissenschaftgeschichte 11, p. 221, 1988, or on the internet by Peter Jaencke. Cited on page
253.
239 The strange and sometimes dangerous consequences of beliefs can be found e.g. in Mar-
tin Gardner, Fads and Fallacies, Dover, 1957, and in James R andi, Faith Healers,
Prometheus Books, 1989. The million dollar prize for showing any paranormal or super-
normal effect is available from his www.randi.org website. Cited on page 257.
240 See the nice collection of cranks on the www.crank.net website. Cited on page 258.
241 It is interesting to observe that most modern theologians, in the age of the internet, avoid
to repeat these old and incorrect beliefs and to put them online. Cited on page 258.
242 The opposite view on the emergence of properties is strongly defended in the book by
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Robert L aughlin, A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Botton Down Ba-
sic Books, 2005, or by P. Jensen, Particle physics and our everyday world, Physics Today
pp. 58–59, July 1998. Cited on page 259.
243 See page 133 of the bibliography by John B owlby, Charles Darwin, Pimlico, 1991. Cited
on page 259.
244 A beautiful introduction to Greek philosophy is Eduard Z eller, Outlines of the History
of Greek Philosophy, Dover, 1980, a reprint of a book published in 1928. Among others, it
gives a clear exposition of the philosophy of Democritus and the other presocratics. Cited
on page 263.
245 The famous quote is found at the beginning of chapter XI, ‘The Physical Universe’, in
Arthur Eddington, The Philosophy of Physical Science, Cambridge, 1939. Cited on
page 263.
biblio graphy 337

246 Giuseppe Fumagalli, Chi l’ha detto?, Hoepli, Milano, 1983. Cited on page 265.
247 See Jean-Paul D umont, Les écoles présocratiques, Folio Essais, Gallimard, p. 653, 1991.
Cited on page 265.
248 For a beautiful text on fractals, see Heinz-Ot to Peitgen, Hartmu t Jürgens & Di-
etmar Saupe, Fractals for the Classroom, Springer Verlag, 1992, pp. 232–245. It is also
available in several other languages. Cited on page 267.
249 As has been pointed out by René Descartes. Cited on page 270.
12
250 The famous carbon C resonance was found by Willy Fowler, as described in Mar-
garet Burbrid ge, G. R. Burbrid ge, W. A. Fowler & F. Hoyle, Synthesis of the
elements in stars, Reviews of Modern Physics 29, pp. 547–560, 1957. Cited on page 272.
251 An extensive overview of the topic is given in the thick book by John D. Barrow &
Frank J. Tipler, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, Oxford University Press, 1986.
The term itself is due to Brandon Carter, who coined it in 1973 and presented it in a sym-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
posium devoted to the 500th anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus. For more literature, see
Yuri I. Bal ashov, Resource Letter AP-1: the anthropic principle, American Journal of
Physics 59, pp. 1069–1076, 1991. Cited on page 272.
252 Voltaire, Candide ou l’optimisme, 1759. See also the footnote on page 220 in volume I.
The book is so good that it was still being seized by the US customs in 1930, and the US
post office refused to transport it as late as 1944. For more details, search for ‘banned books
online’ on the world-wide web. Cited on page 273.
253 The number of books on consciousness is large and the contents not always interesting, and
often not based on fact, as shown by Karl R. Popper & John Eccles, The Self and its
Brain – an Argument for Interactionism, Rutledge, 1993. Cited on page 274.
254 See e.g. the Encyclopedia Britannica, Macropaedia, in the entry on animal behaviour. Cited
on page 274.
255 A straight and informative introduction to the work and ideas of Joseph Beuys (in German)
is by R enate Georgi, Joseph Beuys, RAAbits Kunst, Raabe Fachverlag, September 1996.
Cited on page 275.
256 Two studies, one by R.P. Ebstein & al., Dopamine D4 receptor (D4DR) exon III polymor-
phism associated with human personality trait of novelty seeking, Nature Genetics 12, pp. 78–
80, January 1996, and another study by J. Benjamin & al., Population and familial associa-
tion between the D4 dopamine receptor gene and measures of novelty seeking, Nature Genetics
12, pp. 81–84, January 1996, found that people with a special form of the D4 dopamine re-
ceptor gene, or D4DR, are more prone to novelty seeking than people with the usual form.
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

The D4DR gene regulates the formation of dopamine receptors, a chemical messenger in
the brain that has been a candidate for some time for a substance involved in the propensity
for novelty seeking. Cited on page 275.
257 See Jacques Hadamard, The Mathematician’s Mind – The Psychology of Invention in
the Mathematical Field, Princeton Science Library, 1996. For a modern perspective, see
Pierre de Gennes, Fragile Objects: Soft Matter, Hard Science, and the Thrill of Discovery,
Springer, 1996. where de Gennes criticizes certain educational systems that put too much
stress on mathematics, thus destroying creativity. Cited on page 275.
258 Voltaire writes this in his Catalogue pour la plupart des écrivains français qui ont paru dans
Le Siècle de Louis XIV, pour servir à l’histoire littéraire de ce temps (1752). Cited on page 276.
259 This is from the beautiful booklet by Bert Hellinger, Verdichtetes, Carl-Auer Systeme
Verlag, 1996. Cited on page 276.
338 biblio graphy

260 For example, one needs the courage to face envy. About this topic see the classic text by
Helmu t S choeck, Der Neid, 1966, published in English as Envy: A Theory of Social Be-
havior, 1969. It is the standard work in the field. Cited on page 276.
261 Bill McGuire, A Guide to the End of the World: Everything You Never Wanted to Know,
Oxford University Press, 2002. On past disasters, see introduction by Tony Hall am,
Catastrophes and Lesser Calamities – the Causes of Mass Extinctions, Oxford University
Press, 2004. Cited on page 281.
262 Le Système International d’Unités, Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, Pavillon de
Breteuil, Parc de Saint Cloud, 92310 Sèvres, France. All new developments concerning SI
units are published in the journal Metrologia, edited by the same body. Showing the slow
pace of an old institution, the BIPM launched a website only in 1998; it is now reachable at
www.bipm.fr. See also the www.utc.fr/~tthomass/Themes/Unites/index.html website; this
includes the biographies of people who gave their names to various units. The site of its
British equivalent, www.npl.co.uk/npl/reference, is much better; it provides many details

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
as well as the English-language version of the SI unit definitions. Cited on page 286.
263 The bible in the field of time measurement is the two-volume work by J. Vanier &
C. Aud oin, The Quantum Physics of Atomic Frequency Standards, Adam Hilge, 1989. A
popular account is Tony Jones, Splitting the Second, Institute of Physics Publishing, 2000.
The site opdaf1.obspm.fr/www/lexique.html gives a glossary of terms used in the field.
For precision length measurements, the tools of choice are special lasers, such as mode-
locked lasers and frequency combs. There is a huge literature on these topics. Equally large
is the literature on precision electric current measurements; there is a race going on for the
best way to do this: counting charges or measuring magnetic forces. The issue is still open.
On mass and atomic mass measurements, see Volume II, page 65. On high-precision tem-
perature measurements, see Volume I, page 466. Cited on page 287.
264 The unofficial prefixes were first proposed in the 1990s by Jeff K. Aronson of the University
of Oxford, and might come into general usage in the future. Cited on page 288.
265 The various concepts are even the topic of a separate international standard, ISO 5725, with
the title Accuracy and precision of measurement methods and results. A good introduction is
John R. Taylor, An Introduction to Error Analysis: the Study of Uncertainties in Physical
Measurements, 2nd edition, University Science Books, Sausalito, 1997. Cited on page 290.
266 P. J. Mohr & B. N. Taylor, CODATA recommended values of the fundamental physical
constants: 1998, Reviews of Modern Physics 59, p. 351, 2000. This is the set of constants re-
sulting from an international adjustment and recommended for international use by the
Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), a body in the International
Council of Scientific Unions, which brings together the International Union of Pure and
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Applied Physics (IUPAP), the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
and other organizations. The website of IUPAC is www.iupac.org. Cited on page 291.
267 Some of the stories can be found in the text by N. W. Wise, The Values of Precision,
Princeton University Press, 1994. The field of high-precision measurements, from which
the results on these pages stem, is a world on its own. A beautiful introduction to it
is J. D. Fairbanks, B. S. Deaver, C. W. Everit t & P. F. Michaelson, eds., Near
Zero: Frontiers of Physics, Freeman, 1988. Cited on page 291.
268 The details are given in the well-known astronomical reference, Kenneth Seidelmann,
Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac, 1992. Cited on page 296.
269 For information about the number π, and about some other mathematical constants, the
website oldweb.cecm.sfu.ca/pi/pi.html provides the most extensive information and refer-
ences. It also has a link to the many other sites on the topic, including the overview at
 biblio graphy 339

mathworld.wolfram.com/Pi.html. Simple formulae for π are

∞
n 2n
π+3= 󵠈 (120)
n=1 󶀡 n 󶀱
2n

or the beautiful formula discovered in 1996 by Bailey, Borwein and Plouffe

∞
1 4 2 1 1
π=󵠈 󶀤 − − − 󶀴 . (121)
n=0 16
n 8n + 1 8n + 4 8n + 5 8n + 6

The mentioned site also explains the newly discovered methods for calculating specific bi-
nary digits of π without having to calculate all the preceding ones. The known digits of π
pass all tests of randomness, as the mathworld.wolfram.com/PiDigits.html website explains.
However, this property, called normality, has never been proven; it is the biggest open ques-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
tion about π. It is possible that the theory of chaotic dynamics will lead to a solution of this
puzzle in the coming years.
Another method to calculate π and other constants was discovered and published by
D. V. Chudnovsky & G. V. Chudnovsky, The computation of classical constants, Pro-
ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 86, pp. 8178–8182, 1989. The Chud-
nowsky brothers have built a supercomputer in Gregory’s apartment for about 70 000 euros,
and for many years held the record for calculating the largest number of digits of π. They
have battled for decades with Kanada Yasumasa, who held the record in 2000, calculated on
an industrial supercomputer. However, the record number of (consecutive) digits in 2010
was calculated in 123 days on a simple desktop PC by Fabrice Bellard, using a Chudnovsky
formula. Bellard calculated over 2.7 million million digits, as told on bellard.org. New for-
mulae to calculate π are still occasionally discovered.
For the calculation of Euler’s constant γ see also D. W. DeTemple, A quicker conver-
gence to Euler’s constant, The Mathematical Intelligencer, pp. 468–470, May 1993.
Note that little is known about the basic properties of some numbers; for example, it is
Challenge 312 r still not known whether π + e is a rational number or not! (It is believed that it is not.) Cited
on page 298.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

C R E DI T S

Acknowledgements
Many people who have kept their gift of curiosity alive have helped to make this project come
true. Most of all, Saverio Pascazio has been – present or not – a constant reference for this project.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Fernand Mayné, Anna Koolen, Ata Masafumi, Roberto Crespi, Serge Pahaut, Luca Bombelli, Her-
man Elswijk, Marcel Krijn, Marc de Jong, Martin van der Mark, Kim Jalink, my parents Peter
and Isabella Schiller, Mike van Wijk, Renate Georgi, Paul Tegelaar, Barbara and Edgar Augel, M.
Jamil, Ron Murdock, Carol Pritchard, Richard Hoffman, Stephan Schiller and, most of all, my
wife Britta have all provided valuable advice and encouragement.
Many people have helped with the project and the collection of material. Most useful was the
help of Mikael Johansson, Bruno Barberi Gnecco, Lothar Beyer, the numerous improvements
by Bert Sierra, the detailed suggestions by Claudio Farinati, the many improvements by Eric
Sheldon, the detailed suggestions by Andrew Young – see also his large, informative and no-frills
website mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF – the continuous help and advice of Jonatan Kelu, the corrections
of Elmar Bartel, and in particular the extensive, passionate and conscientious help of Adrian
Kubala.
Important material was provided by Bert Peeters, Anna Wierzbicka, William Beaty, Jim Carr,
John Merrit, John Baez, Frank DiFilippo, Jonathan Scott, Jon Thaler, Luca Bombelli, Douglas
Singleton, George McQuarry, Tilman Hausherr, Brian Oberquell, Peer Zalm, Martin van der
Mark, Vladimir Surdin, Julia Simon, Antonio Fermani, Don Page, Stephen Haley, Peter Mayr,
Allan Hayes, Norbert Dragon, Igor Ivanov, Doug Renselle, Wim de Muynck, Steve Carlip, Tom
Bruce, Ryan Budney, Gary Ruben, Chris Hillman, Olivier Glassey, Jochen Greiner, squark, Mar-
tin Hardcastle, Mark Biggar, Pavel Kuzin, Douglas Brebner, Luciano Lombardi, Franco Bagnoli,
Lukas Fabian Moser, Dejan Corovic, Paul Vannoni, John Haber, Saverio Pascazio, Klaus Finken-
zeller, Leo Volin, Jeff Aronson, Roggie Boone, Lawrence Tuppen, Quentin David Jones, Arnaldo
Uguzzoni, Frans van Nieuwpoort, Alan Mahoney, Britta Schiller, Petr Danecek, Ingo Thies, Vi-
taliy Solomatin, Carl Offner, Nuno Proença, Elena Colazingari, Paula Henderson, Daniel Darre,
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Wolfgang Rankl, John Heumann, Joseph Kiss, Martha Weiss, Antonio González, Antonio Mar-
tos, André Slabber, Ferdinand Bautista, Zoltán Gácsi, Pat Furrie, Michael Reppisch, Enrico Pasi,
Thomas Köppe, Martin Rivas, Herman Beeksma, Tom Helmond, John Brandes, Vlad Tarko, Na-
dia Murillo, Ciprian Dobra, Romano Perini, Harald van Lintel, Andrea Conti, François Belfort,
Dirk Van de Moortel, Heinrich Neumaier, Jarosław Królikowski, John Dahlman, Fathi Namouni,
Paul Townsend, Sergei Emelin, Freeman Dyson, S.R. Madhu Rao, David Parks, Jürgen Janek,
Daniel Huber, Alfons Buchmann, William Purves, Pietro Redondi, Damoon Saghian, plus a num-
ber of people who wanted to remain unnamed.
The software tools were refined with extensive help on fonts and typesetting by Michael Zedler
and Achim Blumensath and with the repeated and valuable support of Donald Arseneau; help
came also from Ulrike Fischer, Piet van Oostrum, Gerben Wierda, Klaus Böhncke, Craig Upright,
Herbert Voss, Andrew Trevorrow, Danie Els, Heiko Oberdiek, Sebastian Rahtz, Don Story, Vin-
credits 341

cent Darley, Johan Linde, Joseph Hertzlinger, Rick Zaccone, John Warkentin, Ulrich Diez, Uwe
Siart, Will Robertson, Joseph Wright, Enrico Gregorio, Rolf Niepraschk and Alexander Grahn.
I also thank the lawmakers and the taxpayers in Germany, who, in contrast to most other
countries in the world, allow residents to use the local university libraries.
All illustrations and animations in the text were made available by the copyright holders. A
warm thank you to all of them. They are mentioned in the image and film credit sections. In
particular, Lucas Barbosa and José Antonio Díaz Navas produced special animations for this text
and Luca Gastaldi, Antonio Martos and Ulrich Kolberg produced special images for this text. The
typesetting and book design is due to the professional consulting of Ulrich Dirr. The typography
was improved with the help of Johannes Küster. The design of the book and its website owe also
much to the suggestions and support of my wife Britta.
Since May 2007, the electronic edition and distribution of the Motion Mountain text is gener-
ously supported by the Klaus Tschira Foundation.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Film credits
The animations of a plane electromagnetic wave on page 90 are copyright and courtesy by
Thomas Weiland and taken from on his website www.temf.de at the Technische Universität
Darmstadt. The animation of the electromagnetic field emitted by an oscillating charge on
page 103 is copyright and courtesy by Daniel Schroeder. He will post it on his website physics.
weber.edu/schroeder/mrr/MRRtalk.html one day. The animation of the electromagnetic field
emitted by an oscillating dipole on page 104 is copyright and courtesy by Daniel Weiskopf and
can be found on his website www.vis.uni-stuttgart.de/~weiskopf.

Image credits
The photograph of a peak in the Himalaya on the front cover is courtesy and copyright by Dave
Thompson and used to be on his website www.daveontrek.co.uk. The photograph of a circular
rainbow on page 13 is copyright and courtesy of Oat Vaiyaboon, and taken from his flickr col-
lection; his website is hangingpixels.com. The photographs of electric field lines on page 17 are
copyright and courtesy of Eli Sidman, from the Technical Service Group of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, and found on the group website on tsgphysics.mit.edu. The photograph
of a rubbed comb’s effect on water on page 15 is copyright and courtesy of Robert Fritzius and
found on his website www.datasync.com/~rsf1/fun/bend-w.htm. The ground-breaking graphics
of electric fields on page 17 are copyright and courtesy of the TEAL group at MIT, and found
on their website web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations/guidedtour/Tour.htm. The
photograph of lightning on page 18 is copyright Steven Horsburgh (see www.horsburgh.com)
and used with his permission. The photograph of the Kelvin generator on page 19 is courtesy
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

and copyright of Harald Chmela and taken from his website www.hcrs.at. The photograph of a
white shark on page 21 is copyright and courtesy of Klaus Jost and found on his beautiful website
at www.jostimages.com. The pictures of the charge conservation experiment on page 20 and of
a red hot oven on page 127 are copyright and courtesy of Wolfgang Rueckner. The photograph
of M. bavaricum on page 37 is copyright by Marianne Hanzlik and is courtesy of Nicolai Pe-
tersen. The pictures of the Tesla coil on page 49 are courtesy and copyright of Robert Billon,
and found on his website f3wm.free.fr. The photograph of the electrified hair on the playground,
on page 51, is courtesy and copyright of Evan Keller and found on his website www.flickr.com/
photos/evanrkeller. The photograph of a lifter on page 55 is courtesy and copyright of Jean-Louis
Naudin; more information can be found on his website www.jlnlabs.org. The ocean figure on
page 55 is courtesy of Stefan Maus, and taken from his www.gfz-potsdam.de/pb2/pb23/SatMag/
ocean_tides.html website. The simple motor photograph on page 57 is courtesy and copyright of
342 credits

Stefan Kluge. The comic on page 63 is copyright and courtesy of Randall Munroe, and found on
his website xkcd.com. The Gauss rifle on page page 51 is courtesy and copyright Simon Quellen
Field and found on his website www.sci-toys.com. The photograph of the floating bed model on
page 60 and the computer graphics of the imagined full-size floating bed are courtesy and copy-
right Janjaap Ruissenaars at www.UniverseArchitecture.com. The prism photograph on pages 89
and on 110 is by Susan Schwartzenberg and courtesy and copyright of the Exploratorium, found
at www.exploratorium.edu. The picture of the rainbow on page 81 is from the NOAA website. The
photographs of the beautifully simple remote control shown on page 92 are copyright and cour-
tesy of Guido Pegna, and found on his website www.pegna.com. The secondary rainbow picture
on page 93 is courtesy and copyright of Antonio Martos. The supernumerary rainbow picture
on page 93 is courtesy and copyright of Wolfgang Hinz and from his website www.meteoros.de.
The interference figure on page 94 is copyright and courtesy of Rüdiger Paschotta and found on
his free laser encyclopedia at www.rp-photonics.com. The combined infrared and visible rain-
bow picture on page 95 is courtesy and copyright of Stefan Zeiger collection at www.photo.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
net/photodb/member-photos?include=all&user_id=439012. The photographs of birefringence
on page 96 are copyright and courtesy of Roger Weller, from his website skywalker.cochise.edu/
wellerr/mineral/calcite/calcite1.htm, Brad Amos, from his website homepage.ntlworld.com/w.
amos2/BradAmos’sWebsite, and Martin Pietralla, from his lecture material. The images formed
by lenses on page 137 are copyright and courtesy of Eric Kirchner and found in his paper cited in
the text. The photo of Poisson’s spot on page 142 is courtesy and copyright of Christopher Jones,
and taken from his website www.union.edu/PUBLIC/PHYDEPT/jonesc/scientific_photos.htm.
The photograph of a superior mirage on page 135 is courtesy and copyright by Thomas Hogan
and found on his website home.centurytel.net/Arkcite/looming.htm. The photograph of an in-
ferior mirage on page 135 is courtesy and copyright by Andy Barson and found on his website
www.andybarson.co.uk. The solar furnace photograph on page 127 is courtesy and copyright of
Gerhard Weinrebe. The photographs of levitated glass beads shown on page 106 are courtesy and
copyright by Mark Raizen and Tongcang Li. The photo of comet McNaught on page 107 is cour-
tesy and copyright of Flagstaffotos. The photograph of the solar green flash on page 111 is copy-
right and courtesy of Andrew Young and part of his extensive and fascinating website at mintaka.
sdsu.edu/GF; the lunar green flash photograph is copyright and courtesy of Laurent Laveder and
taken from his beautiful site at www.PixHeaven.net. The picture of milky water on page 112 was
made for this text and is copyright by Antonio Martos. The fogbow photograph on page 113 is
courtesy and copyright of Michel Tournay, and can be found on his website www.spacew.com/
gallery/Micheltournay. The photograph of a split rainbow on page 113 is courtesy and copyright
of Eva Seidenfaden, and can be found on her website www.paraselene.de. The photograph of
the sixfold rainbow on page 113 is courtesy and copyright of Terje Nordvik, and can be found
on antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070912.html. The photograph of the red rainbow on page 113 is
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

courtesy and copyright of Zhu XiaoJin, and can be found on his collection at www.cs.cmu.edu/
~zhuxj/astro/. The photograph of the moon rainbow on page 113 is courtesy and copyright of
Laurent Laveder, and can be found on his collection at www.pixheaven.net. The photograph of
parhelia on page 114 is courtesy and copyright of Phil Appleton and found on the website www.
astronet.ru/db/xware/msg/1174325/solsticehalo_appleton.jpg.html. The infrared photograph on
page 155 is copyright and courtesy of Serge Augustin. The X-ray tomographs on page 152 are
copyright and courtesy of Manuel Dierick and his research group at the University of Ghent and
found on his website at www.ugct.ugent.be. The photograph of the sunflower on page 156 is copy-
right and courtesy of Andrew Davidhazy and found on his website www.rit.edu/~andpph. The
pictures of retinas on page 157 are courtesy and copyright of Austin Roorda. The microscope pic-
ture on page 143 is copyright and courtesy of Stefan Hell. The euro hologram on page 147 is cour-
tesy and copyright of Hans-Ulrich Pötsch and found on his website at www.hupoetsch.de/Makro.
credits 343

htm. The colour hologram on page 147 is courtesy and copyright of Robert Norwood and found
on his website at www.optics.arizona.edu/ranorwood/photorefractive-polymer-3d-display.html.
The pictures showing colour blindness on page 162 are courtesy and copyright of Michael Douma,
from his splendid website at webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/2.html. The photographs of Ames
rooms on page 163 are courtesy and copyright of Sergio Davini, taken from his website www.
flickr.com/photos/mosso, and courtesy and copyright of David Darling, taken from his encyclo-
pedic website www.daviddarling.info. The photograph on page page 164 is courtesy and copy-
right Nick Veasey; his wonderful collection of stunning X-ray images can be found at http://
www.untitled.co.uk. The spectacular photograph of a lightning stroke on page 170 is copyright
and courtesy of Niklas Montonen. The cloud photographs on page 169 are courtesy of NASA.
The pictures of laboratory plasma clouds that resemble ball lightning on page 173 are courtesy
and copyright by Sergei Emelin and Alexei Pirozerski and taken from their website balllightning.
narod.ru. The drawings of the interior of the Earth on page 174 are copyright and courtesy of
MPI-Chemie, Mainz/GEO and can be found in the brochure at www.mpch-mainz.mpg.de/mpg/

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
deutsch/Panels_B.pdf. They were kindly provided by Mirjana Kotowski. The photographs of dia-
magnetic levitation on page page 177 are copyright and courtesy of Joachim Schlichting and can
be found on his website www.uni-muenster.de/Physik/DP. The photographs of the levitation of
a rotating sphere on page page 178 are copyright and courtesy of Kay Kublenz and can be found
on his website www.schwebemagnet.de. The photograph of Fibonacci washers on page page 236
is copyright and courtesy of Donald Simanek and can be found on his website www.lhup.edu/
~dsimanek. The historical portraits of physicists in the text do not have copyright, except where
mentioned. The photograph on the back cover, of a basilisk running over water, is courtesy and
copyright by the Belgian group TERRA vzw and found on their website www.terra.vzw.org. All
drawings are copyright by Christoph Schiller. If you suspect that your copyright is not correctly
given or obtained, this has not done on purpose; please contact me in this case.

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

 NAME I NDEX

A A Arlt, J. 321 Bauer, O. 322

Abbott, T.A. 328 Armstrong, Neil 326 Bauerecker, S. 328

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Abbott
Abe, E. 330 Aronson, Jeff K. 338, 340 Baumgärtel, K. 333
Acef, O. 320 Arseneau, Donald 340 Bautista, Ferdinand 340
Ackermann, Peter 324 Ascher, Marcia 228 BBC 252
Adams, Douglas 267 Ashburner, J. 333 Beale, I.L. 319
Adenauer, Konrad 249 Ashcroft, Neil 186 Beaty, William 340
Advantest 21 Ashkin, A. 321 Beda Venerabilis 237
Aguirregabiria, J.M. 304, 331 Ashkin, Arthur 108 Beeksma, Herman 340
Aiello, A. 327 Askin, A. 321 Beenakker, C.W.J. 320
Aitken, M.J. 330 astronomy, radio 130 Belfort, François 340
Ajdari, A. 330 Ata Masafumi 340 Bellac, M. Le 319
Akerboom, F. 321 Audoin, C. 338 Bellard, Fabrice 339
Al-Dayeh, M. 328 Augel, Barbara 340 Bellini, Giovanni 326
al-Farisi, Kamal al-Din 110 Augel, Edgar 340 Benbrook, J.R. 328
al-Hadi al-Hush, Ramadan Augustin, Serge 155, 342 Benjamin, J. 337
277 Augustine of Hippo 48 Bennett, C.H. 324, 333
Albert Einstein, teenager 104 Avron, J.E. 331 Berg, E. 331
Alexopoulos, N.G. 302 Ayiomamitis, Anthony 32 Berger, Hans 202
Alhazen 320 Bergmann, L. 336
Allen, L. 322 B Bering, E. 328
Allen, Les 321 Babinet, Jacques Bering, E.A. 328
Almeida, C. de 328 life 287 Berkeley, George 260
Amos, Brad 96, 342 Bacon, Roger 248 Berlekamp, E.R. 335
Ampère, André-Marie 47 Baez, John 340 Berlin, Brent 322
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

life 39 Bagnoli, Franco 340 Bernstein, Aaron 104, 321

Anaxagoras 265, 277 Baller, T.S. 318 Berry, M.V. 329
Andersen, S.S.L. 318 Bandler, Richard 199, 241, 331 Beth, R.A. 322
Anonymous 147 Barberi Gnecco, Bruno 340 Bettelheim, Bruno 332
Antonio Díaz Navas, José 97 Barbosa, Lucas 341 Bettermann, D. 329
Appleton, Phil 114, 342 Barnett, S.J. 316, 317 Beuys, Joseph 202, 275, 337
Aquinas, Thomas 262, 334 Barnhill, M.V. 317 Beyer, Lothar 340
Arago, Dominique-François Barson, Andy 135, 342 Bhalotra, S.R. 321
142 Bartel, Elmar 340 Biggar, Mark 340
life 37 Barwise, J. 336 Billon, Robert 49, 341
Aripov, Otanazar 277 Basieux, Pierre 334 Biraben, F. 320
Aristotle 258, 261 Bastian, A.J. 333 Birbaumer, Niels 333
 name index 345

Bjorkholm, J.E. 321 Subramanyan 272 Curio, G. 319

Blanché, Robert 335 Chang, P.Z. 329
Blankertz, B. 319 Chaplin, Charlie 82 D
Bliss, G.W. 329 Chauvat, D. 327 Dahlman, John 340
Blumensath, Achim 340 Chen, B. 318 Dalton, John
Boamfa, M.I. 329 Chiao, R. 323 life 161
Bohr, Niels 233, 274 Chiao, R.Y. 323 Danecek, Petr 340
Bombelli, Luca 340 Chiba, D. 330 Dannberg, P. 327
Boone, Roggie 340 Chmela, Harald 19, 21, 341 Darley, Vincent 341
Born, Jan 215 Choi, J.T. 333 Darling, David 163, 343
Born, Max 324 Chomsky, Noam 247 Darre, Daniel 340
B Bour, L. 321
Bowlby, John 336
Christian Oersted, Hans 38
Chu, S. 321, 323
Darwin 243, 246, 259
Darwin, Charles 331
Boyda, E.K. 321 Chuang, I.L. 325 Davidhazy, Andrew 156, 342

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Bjorkholm Brandes, John 340 Chudnovsky, D.V. 339 Davini, Sergio 163, 343
Brandt, E.H. 328 Chudnovsky, G.V. 339 Davis, Chandler 277
Brebner, Douglas 340 Cicero, Marcus Tullius 274 Davson, H. 334
Brecher, Kenneth 166 Clairon, A. 320 Davy, Humphry 38
Brillouin, Louis 323 Clausius, R. 324 de Coulomb,
Broch, Henri 335 Claussen, J.Ch. 333 Charles-Augustin
Brock, J.B. 325 Clerk Maxwell, James life 23
Brody, A.L. 321 life 69 de Maricourt, Pierre 31
Brown, B.L. 321 Codling, K. 324 Deaver, B.S. 338
Bruce, Tom 340 Coehoorn, Reinder 330 Decker, Rick 332
Brunner, H. 319 Cohen, P.J. 334 Dehmelt, H. 329
Bräuer, A. 327 Cohen, Paul 334 Dehmelt, Hans 331
Brückner, A. 327 Cohen, Philip 331 Dekker, J.P. 330
Buchanan, Mark 329 Colazingari, Elena 340 Democritus 246, 259, 261, 336
Buchmann, Alfons 340 Conroy, R.S. 321 Demosthenes 248, 336
Buddakian, R. 330 Conti, Andrea 340 DeRaad, L.L. 316
Budney, Ryan 340 Conway, J.H. 335 Descartes, René 200, 337
Burbridge, G.R. 337 Conway, John 230, 312 Desmet, S. 316
Burresi, M. 321 Copernicus, Nicolaus 337 DeTemple, D.W. 339
Butler, Samuel 199 Copperfield, David 179, 310 Dholakia, K. 321, 322
Butoli, André 316 Corballis, M.C. 319 Diana, princess of Wales 244
Böhncke, Klaus 340 Corbin, V. 328 Dierick, Manuel 152, 342
Corovic, Dejan 340 Dietl, T. 330
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

C Cosman, E.C. 320 Dietrich, F. 329

Caloz, C. 325, 326 Cotton, Aimé 190 Dietrich von Freiberg 322
Cantor, Georg Couder, Y. 334 Dieu, Félix 120
life 226 Cowley, Les 322 Diez, Ulrich 341
Caraway, E.L. 328 Crescimanno, M. 317 DiFilippo, Frank 340
Carl Zeiss 150 Crespi, Roberto 340 Dijk, Menno van 324
Carlip, Steve 340 Crinion, J.T. 333 Dirac 254, 271
Carmona, Humberto 329 Crookes, William Dirr, Ulrich 341
Carr, Jim 340 life 105 Dobra, Ciprian 340
Carroll, Lewis 335 Crystal, David 334 Dogarin, A. 323
Carter, Brandon 337 Cummer, S.A. 325 Dornhege, G. 319
Chandrasekhar, Cundiff, Steven T. 320 Douady, S. 334
 346 name index

Douglas, R. 333 F G
Douma, Michael 162, 343 Fabeni, P. 323 Gabor, Dennis 148
Dragon, Norbert 340 Fairbank, W.M. 317 Galajda, P. 321
Dresden, M. 336 Fairbanks, J.D. 338 Galilei, Galileo 136, 262, 266,
Drgnu23 123 Fang Lizhi 277 277
Drude, Paul Fantz, U. 331 Gallivan, B.C. 334
life 196 Faraday, Michael 16, 43, 46, 55, Galvani, Luigi 66
Duhem, Pierre 335 57 life 30
Dumont, Jean-Paul 337 life 38 Gans, R. 329
Duparré, J. 327 Farinati, Claudio 340 Garcia-Ruiz, J.M. 334
Dwyer, J.R. 328 Fermani, Antonio 340 Gardner, Martin 336
D Dyson, Freeman 340
Dziedzic, J.M. 321
Few, A.A. 328
Feyerabend, Paul 247, 268
Garlaschelli, L. 335
Gastaldi, Luca 341
Díaz Navas, José Antonio 341 Feynman, Richard 86 Gauß, Carl-Friedrich

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Douglas Feynman, Richard P. 252 life 26
E Field, Simon Quellen 342 Geim, A.K. 329
Ebstein, R.P. 337 Finkelstein, D. 328 Geim, Andre 329
Eccles, John 337 Finkenzeller, Klaus 340 Genoux, D. 333
Economou, E.N. 325 Fischer, Ulrike 340 GEO 174, 343
Eddington, Arthur 263, 336 Flagstaffotos 107, 342 Georgi, Renate 337, 340
Edge, Ron 329 Flavell, J.H. 201 Gesellschaft, Deutsche
Edwards, R. 316 Flaviis, F. De 302 Physikalische 329
Egorov, A.E. 328 Fortey, Richard 331 Gibbs, Phil 321
Egorov, A.I. 328 Foteinopoulou, S. 325 Gilbert, William
Egorov, Anton 172 Fowler, W.A. 337 life 16
Ehrenstein, W.H. 326 Fowler, Willy 337 Gilles, G.T. 319
Eigler, D.M. 318 life 272 Gillies, G.T. 324
Einstein, A. 317 Frackowiak, R.S. 333 Glassey, Olivier 340
Einstein, Albert 82, 207, 233, Fraenkel, Adolf/Abraham 223 Glatzmaier, G.A. 318
254, 277 Frank, Tamara 132 Glauber, Roy 320
Ekman, Paul 242 Franklin, Benjamin 20 Gleiter, H. 330
Eliel, E.R. 327 life 18 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
Els, Danie 340 Franz, K. 325 von 241, 260
Elswijk, H.B. 317 Frasinski, L.J. 324 Goldhaber, A.S. 317
Elswijk, Herman B. 340 Fraunhofer FIRST 85 Goldsmith, D. 331
Emelin, Sergei 173, 340, 343 Fraunhofer, Joseph 93 Gonshor, H. 335
Emerson, Ralph Waldo 221 French, A.P. 318 González, Antonio 340
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Enders, A. 323 Fresnel, Augustin Jean 93 González-Herráez, M. 323

Epicurus 275 Freud, Sigmund 208 Goos, Fritz 160
Epikuros 275 Friedel, P. 327 Gordon, A. 331
Erlykin, A.D. 331 Friese, M.E.J. 322 Gordon, Andrew 20
Ertmer, W. 329 Fritzius, Robert 15, 341 Gorkum, G.G.P. van 318
Etchemendy, J. 336 Fumagalli, Giuseppe 337 Graham, George 49
Euler, Leonhard 235 Furrie, Pat 340 Grahn, Alexander 341
Evans, Philip 54 Furry, W.H. 304 Grandjean, F. 316
Everitt, C.W. 338 Föppl, H. 322 Grant, E. 323
Eves, H. 333 Füllerkrug, M. 328 Grebe-Ellis, J. 321
Exploratorium 89, 110, 342 Greegor, R.B. 325
Exter, M.P. van 327 Greenler, R. 325
 name index 347

Greenler, Robert 325 Heckenberg, N.R. 322 Hooft, G.W. ’t 320

Gregorio, Enrico 341 Heflinger, L.O. 329 Hooft, G.W. ’t 327
Greiner, Jochen 340 Heidelberg Engineering 150 Hopkins, C.D. 317
Greiner, W. 317 Heideman, R. 321 Horgan, John 335
Griessen, R. 330 Heimburg, T. 318 Horsburgh, Steven 16, 18, 341
Griffiths, D.J. 328 Heimburg, Thomas 67, 68, 319 Horváth, G. 320
Grimaldi, Francesco 141 Heisenberg 254 Houck, A.A. 325
Groot, D.G. de 330 Heisenberg, Werner 137 Houdini, Harry 335
Gross, B. 320 Hell, S.W. 326 Howard, Luke 168
Gueymard, Chris 124 Hell, Stefan 143, 144, 342 Hoyle, F. 337
Guglielmo Marconi, Hellinger, Bert 242, 276, 337 Hoyle, Fred 272
G Fondazione 91
Gurevich, A.V. 327
Hellwege, K.-H. 336
Helmholtz 93
life 272
Htun, Bo Bo 277
Guy, R.K. 335 Helmholtz, Hermann von 155 Hu, Z. 329

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Greenler Gácsi, Zoltán 340 life 155 Huber, A. 320
Gál, J. 320 Helmholtz, Hermann von 275 Huber, Daniel 340
Gödel, Kurt 247, 248, 334 Helmond, Tom 340 Huiberts, J.N. 330
Hemmen, J.L. van 327 Humboldt, Alexander von
H Henderson, Paula 340 309
Haas, W.J. de 317 Hendriks, B.H.W. 318 Huppertz, H. 330
Haber, John 340 Henry Poynting, John 78 Huxley, A.F. 66, 318
Hadamard, Jacques 337 Hentig, Hartmut von 7 Huygens, Christiaan
Haeckel, Ernst 240 Heras, J.A. 319 life 92
Haerendel, G. 322 Hermann, Ludimar 154 Hypatia 217, 246, 277
Haidinger, W.K. 320 Hernandez, A. 304, 331 Hänchen, Hilda 160
Haidinger, Wilhelm 95 Herrmann, F. 303 Hänsch, Theodor 320
Haley, Stephen 179, 340 Hersch, R. 334 Hänsch, Theodor W. 320
Hall, John 320 Hersch, Reuben 224 Höfner, H. 322
Hall, John L. 320 Herschel, William 93
Hallam, Tony 338 Hertz 69 I
Hamamatsu Photonics 159 Hertz, Heinrich 88, 91 Ibn al-Haytham 320
Hamblyn, Richard 327 Hertz, J. 333 IEEE 141
Hamilton, William 221 Hertzlinger, Joseph 341 Ingersoll, Robert 273
Hanzlik, Marianne 37, 341 Heumann, John 340 Ings, Simon 160
Hardcastle, Martin 340 Hilbert, David 233, 247 Irving, Washington 250
Hardin, C.L. 322 life 234 Irwin, Jim 326
Hardy, Godfrey H. 242 Hilico, L. 320 ISVR, University of
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Haring, Bas 331 Hiller, R.A. 330 Southhampton 115, 134

Harlen, V. 332 Hillman, Chris 340 Itano, W.M. 329
Harrington, R.F. 317 Hinz, Wolfgang 93, 342 Itoh, T. 325
Hasselberg, Ernst von 235 Hirshfield, Stuart 332 Ivanov, Igor 340
Hatcher, W.S. 334 Hirst, Paul 133
Haubrich, D. 329 Hitler, Adolf 125 J
Hausch, T.W. 320 Hodgkin, A.L. 66, 318 Jackson, A.D. 318
Hausherr, Tilman 310, 340 Hogan, Thomas 135, 342 Jackson, J.D. 316, 317
Hayes, Allan 340 Hohenstatt, M. 329 Jackson, L. 332
Heaviside 69 Honda 38 Jaencke, Peter 336
Heaviside, Oliver 88 Hones, Bill 329 Jalink, Kim 340
Hebb, Donald 208 Hooft, Gerard ’t 242 James, William 208
 348 name index

Jamil, M. 340 Kitaoka Akiyoshi 164 L

Janek, Jürgen 340 Klaus Tschira Foundation 341 Lai, A. 325
Jean Fresnel, Augustin Kleber, Boris 333 Lambert, N. 318
life 142 Klein, Felix 235 Landauer, R. 333
Jeanloz, R. 318 Kleinert, F. 336 Landolt-Börnstein 336
Jeff Sherman 143 Kluge, Stefan 57, 342 Lang, N.D. 318
Jenoptik 143 Knuth, D. 335 Larousse, Pierre 335
Jensen, P. 336 Knuth, Donald 230 Latham, J. 327
Jeon, H. 317 Kobayashi, H. 327 Laue, Max von 119
Jerauld, J. 328 Koch, Robert 273 Laughlin, Robert 336
Johannes de Haas, Wander Koeman, N.J. 330 Laveder, Laurent 111, 113, 342
J life 39
Johansson, Mikael 340
Kohlrausch, Friedrich 336
Kohshima, S. 327
Lavoisier, Antoine 277
Lebedew, P. 321
Jones, Christopher 142, 342 Kolberg, Ulrich 341 Lebedew, Pyotr 106

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Jamil Jones, P.D. 324 Koltenbah, B.E.C. 325 Ledoux, Joseph 332
Jones, Quentin David 340 Koolen, Anna 340 Leinse, A. 321
Jones, T.B. 329 Koomans, A.A. 317 Leitel, R. 327
Jones, Tony 338 Koshibu, K. 333 Lenin 37
Jong, Marc de 340 Kostiuk, L.W. 318 Lennie, P. 326
Jordan, D.M. 328 Kostiuk, Larry 61 Leone, F.C. 323
Jost, Klaus 21, 341 Kotowski, Mirjana 343 Lepak, J. 317
Jozefowski, L. 320 Kovetz, A. 328 Leucippus 261
Julien, L. 320 Kowalski, L. 318 Li, K. 325
Justice, B.J. 325 Kozhekin, A.E. 323 Li, T. 321
Jürgens, Hartmut 337 Kramer, D. 330 Li, Tongcang 106, 342
Krampf, Robert 52, 53 Li, Y-Q. 318
K Krauledat, M. 319 Li, Y.C. 328
Köppe, Thomas 340 Krider, E.P. 316 Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph
Kampfrath, T. 321 Krijn, Marcel 340 life 273
Kanada Yasumasa 339 Krogh, A. 333 Lincoln, Abraham 278
Kant, Immanuel 163, 222 Kruskal, Martin 230 Linde, Johan 341
Kay, Paul 322 Królikowski, Jarosław 340 Lingelbach, B. 326
Keller, Evan 51, 341 Krüger, Reinhard 250 Lingelbach, Elke 154
Keller, Wilfred 313 Kubala, Adrian 340 Lintel, Harald van 340
Kelly, K.L. 321 Kublenz, Kay 178, 343 Lipperhey, Johannes
Kelu, Jonatan 340 Kuerti, G. 323 life 136
Kepler, Johannes 105 Kuipers, Kobus 98 Lipson, Henry S. 324
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Kerr, John Kuipers, L. 321 Lipson, Stephen G. 324

life 98 Kurizki, G. 323 Liu Gang 277
Kettering, C.F. 316 Kusch, K. 331 Livingston, William 322
Keyes, R.W. 318 Kusch, S. 331 Livingstone-Zatchej, M. 333
Kheifets, S. 321 Kuzin, Pavel 340 Loidl, J. 322
Kim Song-Man 277 Kuzmich, A. 323 Lombardi, Luciano 340
Kimble, H.J. 329 Kwait, P.G. 323 Longo, M. 317
King, Henry C. 325 Kwiat, P.G. 323 Lorentz, Hendrik A.
Kirchhoff, Gustav 88, 101 Kwok, D.Y. 318 life 42
Kirchner, E.J.J. 325 Küster, Johannes 341 Losch, F. 319
Kirchner, Eric 137, 342 Lotter, A. 331
Kiss, Joseph 340 Lovell, Jim 326
 name index 349

Lu, F. 318 Mermin, David 117, 186 Nikon 150

Luo, J. 319, 324 Merrit, John 340 Nimtz, G. 323
Lynch, D.K. 326 Meschede, D. 329 Nimtz, Günter 117
Lévy-Leblond, J.-M. 319 Metha, A. 326 NOAA 81, 170
Lévy-Leblond, Jean-Marc 316 Michaelson, P.F. 338 Noppeney, U. 333
Lühr, H. 318 Michelson, Albert 284 nordique 170
Millikan 311 Nordmeier, V. 329
M Milton, K.A. 316 Nordvik, Terje 113, 342
Maan, Jan Kees 329 Minnaert, Marcel G.J. 322 Noro, M. 302
Macdonald, Malcolm Ross 331 Mission, G.P. 321 Norwood, Robert 147, 343
Madelung, O. 336 MIT 17, 341
L Maeterlink, Maurice 265
Maffi, Luisa 323
Mock, J.J. 325
Mohr, P.J. 338
O
O’Connell, Sanjida 332
Mahoney, Alan 340 Molière 273 O’Doberty, J. 333

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Lu Mahowald, M. 333 Montgomery, H. 318 Oberdiek, Heiko 340
Main, Peter 329 Montie, E.A. 318, 320 Oberquell, Brian 340
Malus, Louis 95 Montonen, C. 319 Odysseus 314
Mamie, C. 333 Montonen, Claus 319 Offner, Carl 340
Manly, Peter 325 Montonen, Niklas 169, 343 Ohno, H. 330
Mansuy, I.M. 333 Moon, F.C. 328 Ohno, Y. 330
Mark, Martin van der 340 Moortel, Dirk Van de 340 Ohtani, K. 330
Martin, S. 324 Moothoo, D.N. 321 Olive, D. 319
Martos, Antonio 93, 112, Moser, Lukas Fabian 340 Olive, David 319
340–342 Mozart 275 Omiya, T. 330
Matsukura, F. 330 MPI-Chemie, Mainz 174, 343 Oostrum, Piet van 340
Matthews, Robert 313 Mugnai, D. 323, 327 Oppenheimer, Robert 277
Mauritz, Kenneth 64 Munroe, Randall 63, 342 Orban, F. 316
Maus, S. 318 Murdock, Ron 340 Ormos, P. 321
Maus, Stefan 55, 341 Murillo, Nadia 340 Osowiecki, Gaël 120
Maxwell 254 Musiol, Gerhard 330 Osten, D. van 321
Mayer, J. 333 Muynck, Wim de 340 Osterle, Fletcher 61
Mayer, N.J. 331 Mölle, M. 333 Otto von Bismarck 239
Mayné, Fernand 340 Müller, K.-R. 319 Otto, Rudolf 275
Mayol, Jacques 228 life 275
Mayr, Peter 340 N
Mazur, Eric 324 Namouni, Fathi 340 P
McCullogh 324 NASA 32, 56, 170 Pacioli, Luca 237
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

McCuskey, S.W. 323 Naudin, Jean-Louis 55, 341 Padgett, M.J. 322
McGloin, D. 321 Neidhart, B. 328 Padgett, Miles 321
McGuire, Bill 338 Neuhauser, W. 329 Page, Don 340
McQuarry, George 340 Neumaier, Heinrich 340 Pahaut, Serge 340
McTaggart 242 Neuss, H. 322 Paine, Thomas 250
Mechelli, A. 333 New, M. 324 Pais, A. 335
Medellin, D. 321 Nez, F. 320 Paiva, G. Silva 328
Medlat 209 Nieminen, T.A. 322 Palik, E.D. 324
Meetz, Kurt 319 Niepraschk, Rolf 341 Palmer, R. 333
Melzner, F. 322 Nierer, Jennifer 133 Parazzoli, C.G. 325
Mendes, O. 328 Nietzsche, Friedrich 221 Park, David 320
Merano, M. 327 Nieuwpoort, Frans van 340 Parker, D.E. 324
 350 name index

Parks, David 340 Proença, Nuno 340 Roorda, Austin 156, 157, 159,
Parrott, S. 328 Purcell, Edward M. 321 342
Pascazio, Saverio 340 Purves, William 340 Ruben, Gary 340
Paschotta, Rüdiger 94, 342 Pythagoras 233 Rubinstein, J. 328
Pasi, Enrico 340 Pötsch, Hans-Ulrich 147, 342 Rubinsztein-Dunlop, H. 322
Pauli, Wolfgang 243 Rucker, Rudy 226, 334
Paulus of Tarsus 247 Q Rudolf Hertz, Heinrich
Pavão, A.C. 328 Q-Cells 27 life 90
Pazzi, G.P. 323 Quellen Field, Simon 51 Rueckner, W. 316
Pecharsky, Vitalij 330 Rueckner, Wolfgang 20, 127,
Peeters, Bert 340 R 341
P Pegna, Guido 92, 342
Peirce, Charles 247
Rahtz, Sebastian 340
Raizen, M.G. 321
Ruggieri, R. 327
Ruhlen, Merritt 219
life 217 Raizen, Mark 106, 342 Ruissenaars, Janjaap 60, 342

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Parks Peitgen, Heinz-Otto 337 Rakov, V.A. 328 Ruschewitz, F. 329
Pelizzari, Umberto 334 Ramaccini, F. 335 Russer, P. 326
Pendry, J. 325 Ramakrishna, S.A. 325
Pendry, J.B. 325 Rambo, K.J. 328 S
Pendry, John 139, 140 Randi, James 335, 336 S.R. Madhu Rao 340
Peng, J.L. 329 Ranfagni, A. 323, 327 Saa, A. 328
Penrose, Roger 335 Rankl, Wolfgang 340 Sacks, Oliver 332
Perini, Romano 340 Rappmann, R. 332 Saghian, Damoon 340
Persius 265 Rassoul, H.K. 328 Sahl, Mort 273
Petersen, Nicolai 341 Reball, Siegfried 330 Sakharov, Andrei 277
Philips 15 Rector, J.H. 330 Salam, Abdus 277
Phillips, Melba 277 Redondi, Pietro 340 Salamo, G. 326
Piaget, J. 201 Reichert, J. 320 Salditt, T. 326
Piaget, Jean 201 Reichl, Linda 330 Salingaros, N. 318
life 201 Renselle, Doug 340 Salman Salman 277
Picasso, Pablo 82, 211, 267 Reppisch, Michael 340 Sami Kilani 277
Pietralla, Martin 96, 342 Reynolds, Osborne 321 Sands, Matthew 301
Pinker, Steven 332 Richards, P.G. 328 Sassen, K. 322
Pirozerski, Alexei 173, 343 Ridgeway, S.L. 329 Saupe, Dietmar 337
PixHeaven.net 111 Rieger, E. 322 Saussure, Ferdinand de
Planck, M. 324 Riehker, Rolf 325 life 217
Planck, Max 125 Riemann, Bernhard 101 Schadwinkel, H. 329
life 125 life 88 Scharlau, B. 329
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Poincaré, Henri 275 Rigor, I.G. 324 Schata, P. 332

Poisson, Denis Rikken, G. 330 Scheer, Elke 318
life 142 Rindler, Wolfgang 319 Schelby, R.A. 325
Popper, Karl 252, 335 Rivas, M. 331 Schiff, L.I. 317
Porta, Giambattista della 136 Rivas, Martin 340 Schiller, Britta 340, 341
Povinelli, D.J. 272 Roberts, P.H. 318 Schiller, C. 317
Powis, Mike 162 Robertson, Will 341 Schiller, Christoph 343
Poynting, J.H. 322 Rodgers, P. 329 Schiller, Isabella 340
Prentiss, M. 321 Rodrigues, W.A. 327 Schiller, Peter 340
Prevedelli, M. 320 Rohrlich, F. 331 Schiller, Stephan 340
Price, C.J. 333 Romanowicz, B. 318 Schilthuizen, Menno 331
Pritchard, Carol 340 Roorda, A. 326 Schlegel, K. 328
 name index 351

Schlichting, H.J. 329 Singleton, Douglas 340 T

Schlichting, Joachim 177, 343 Sivardière, Jean 319 Tanielian, M. 325
Schmid, G.B. 303 Slabber, André 340 Tannhauser, David S. 324
Schoeck, Helmut 338 Smirnov, B.M. 328 Tarde, Gabriel
Schoenmaker, H. 321 Smith, D.R. 325 life 243
Schott 139 Smith, David 325 Tarko, Vlad 340
Schroeder, Daniel 103, 341 Smith, S.P. 321 Tarski, Alfred 335
Schrödinger 116, 254 Smith, Warren J. 324 Tauber, G.E. 328
Schulten, K. 317 Smullyan, Raymond 247 Taylor, B.N. 338
Schultz, S. 325 Soffer, B.H. 326 Tegelaar, Paul 340
Schurig, D. 325 Sokolovskii, B.Yu. 328 Terletskii, Y.P. 323
S Schuster, H.G. 333
Schwartzenberg, Susan 89,
Solomatin, Vitaliy 340
Solov’yov, I.A. 317
Tesla, Nikola
life 48
110, 342 Sommerfeld, Arnold 323 Thaler, Jon 340

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Schlichting Schwarzschild, B. 327 life 116 Thales of Miletus 15
Schwinger, Julian 316 Song, K.-Y. 323 Theodoricus Teutonicus de
life 252 Song, X.D. 328 Vriberg 110
Schwob, C. 320 Soukoulis, C.M. 325 Thidé, Bo 74
Schäfer, C. 336 Sparenberg, A. 330 Thierry, Paul 277
Schönenberger, C. 317 SPECS 131 Thies, Ingo 340
Scott, G.G. 316 Spieker, H. 323 Thober, D.S. 327
Scott, Jonathan 340 Spitzer, Manfred 332 Thomas Aquinas 229
Scott, W.T. 329 Staff, National Research Thompson, Dave 341
Seeger, J. 326 Council 327 Thomson (Kelvin), William
Segev 145 Starr, A.F. 325 life 18
Segev, M. 326 Stegeman, George 326 Thomson, Joseph John 29
Segev, Mordechai 326 Steinberg, A.M. 323 Thévenaz, L. 323
Seidel, T. 333 Steinhaus 312 Tiggelen, B. van 330
Seidenfaden, Eva 113, 342 Stepanov, S. I. 328 Time-Bandwidth 131
Shabanov, G.D. 328 Stepanov, S.I. 328 Tolkien, John Ronald 214
Shabanov, Gennady 172 steppers, wafer 65 Tomonaga 252
Shambhavi 32 Stettbacher, J.K. 331 Torricelli, Evangelista
Shankland, R.S. 323 Stewart, A.M. 319 life 262
Shaw, George Bernard 242 Stewart, I. 334 Toschek, P.E. 329
Sheldon, Eric 340 Stewart, Ian 335 Tournay, Michel 113, 342
Shih, M. 326 Stewart, T. Dale 316 Townsend, Paul 340
Shulman, Polly 335 Stoney, George Travis, J. 319
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Siart, Uwe 341 life 29 Trevorrow, Andrew 340

Sichert, A.B. 327 Story, Don 340 Trompenaars, P.H.F. 318
Sidman, Eli 17, 341 Strauch, F. 329 Trower, W.P. 317
Sierra, Bert 340 Styer, D. 323 Tsagas, C.G. 331
Silva, E.F. da 328 Stöcker, J. 322 Tsai, W.Y. 316
Simanek, Donald 236, 343 Sun, X.L. 328 Tschira, Klaus 341
Simon Ohm, Georg Surdin, Vladimir 327, 340 Tu, L.-C. 319
life 60 Swagten, Henk 330 Tu, L.C. 324
Simon, Julia 340 Szczesny, Gerhard 336 Tuckermann, R. 328
Simon, M.D. 329 Szilard, L. 333 Tuppen, Lawrence 340
Simpson, N.B. 322 Szilard, Leo 210, 211 Twain, Mark 242, 253, 273
Singleton, D. 320 Tweedie-Cullen, R.Y. 333
 352 name index

Tyler, R.H. 318 Warkentin, John 341 Wittgenstein, Ludwig 198, 217,
Washizu, M. 329 223, 233, 238, 239, 248, 256,
U Wehner, R. 320 257, 269, 336
Ucke, C. 307 Weiland, Thomas 90, 341 Woerdman, J.P. 327
Udem, Th. 320 Weinrebe, Gerhard 127, 342 Wolf, Emil 324
Ueberholz, B. 329 Weiskopf, Daniel 104, 341 Wolf, R. 307
Uguzzoni, Arnaldo 340 Weiss, Martha 340 Wolfendale, A.W. 331
Uman, M.A. 328 Weisskopf, Victor Wong, S. 323
Upright, Craig 340 life 275 Wood, B. 333
USC Stevens Institute for Weissmüller, J. 330 Wright, B. 328
Innovation 149 Weitz, M. 320 Wright, Joseph 341
T Ustinov, Peter 82 Weizenbaum, Joseph 213
Weller, Roger 96, 342
Wu, C. 329
Wu, T.T. 319
V Welzl, H. 333 Wynands, R. 329

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Tyler Vaiyaboon, Oat 14, 341 Weninger, K. 330 Würschum, R. 330
Valanju, A.P. 325 Westhoff, Guido 159
Valanju, P.M. 325 Westphal, V. 326 X
Valenzuela, A. 322 Wheatstone, Charles 29 Xavier, A.L. 327
Valsiner, Jaan 332 Whewell, William 55 Xu Liangying 277
Valsinger, Jaan 332 Whitehead, Alfred North 256
van der Pauw, J.L. 61 Wiechert, Johann Emil 29 Y
van Hemmen, Leo 159 Wien, Wilhelm Yamane, T. 321
van Leeuwenhoek, Antoni life 126 Yang, C.N. 319
life 137 Wierda, Gerben 340 Yang, J. 318
Vanier, J. 338 Wierzbicka, Anna 219, 220, Yazdani, A. 318
Vannoni, Paul 340 240, 334, 340 Ye, Jun 320
Vasconcelos, E. Alpes de 328 Wigner, E.P. 319 Young, A.T. 322
Veasey, Nick 164, 165, 343 Wigner, Eugene 233, 335 Young, Andrew 111, 320, 322,
Vergilius 269 Wijk, Mike van 340 340, 342
Verne, Jules 111 Wijngarden, R.J. 330 Young, Thomas
Veselago, V.G. 325 Wikell, Gˆran 335 life 93
Veselago, Victor 139 WikiCommons 204, 308
Vigotsky, Lev 202, 332 Wikimedia 27, 32, 38, 53, 64, Z
Viswanath, R.N. 330 123, 128, 143, 148, 151, 159, Zaccone, Rick 341
Voit, A. 321 166, 206, 209 Zalm, Peer 340
Volin, Leo 340 Wilde, Oscar 202, 258 Zedler, M. 326
Vollmer, G. 333 Wiley-VCH 68 Zedler, Michael 340
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

Vollmer, M. 322 Wilhelm Ritter, Johann 93 Zeiger, Stefan 95, 342

Volta, Alessandro Wilk, S.R. 326 Zeiss 151
life 50 Willerding, E. 322 Zeller, Eduard 336
Voltaire 266, 276, 316, 337 Williams, D.R. 326 Zermelo, Ernst
Voss, Herbert 340 Williams, David 156 life 223
Völz, Horst 324 Wiltschko, R. 317 Zernike, Frits 122
Wiltschko, W. 317 Zhang, J. 328
W Wineland, D.J. 329 Zhu XiaoJin 113, 342
Waldhauser, F. 328 Wippermann, F. 327 Zimmer, P. 330
Walker, J. 322 Wippermann, Frank 160 Zurek, W.H. 333
Walser, R.M. 325 Wise, N.W. 338 Zurek, Wojciech 210
Walter, H. 329 Witte, H. 323 Zwart, S.T. de 318
Wang Juntao 277 Witteborn, F.C. 317 Zweck, Josef 329
Wang, L.J. 323 Zybin, K.P. 327
 Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012
353
name index

Zybin
Z
SUBJECT I NDEX

Symbols active denial system 131 angel 229

4-force 80 adaptive optics 156 are you one? 248

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
4-potential 77 additivity 22, 25, 41 angular frequency 89
adventures, future 281 angular momentum 40, 108
A Aeneid 269 of light 108
a posteriori 222 aether 324 animism 202
a priori 222 as lie 246 annihilation 180
a priori concepts 201 none 117–118 anode 55, 56
aberration properties 118 antenna
lens 109, 138 vacuum and 117–118, 262 and metamaterials 141
absorption aether models 323 as weapon 130
black body and 187 Africa collides with Europe danger of 172
colour and 183 282 GSM 24
cyclotron resonance and AgBr 183 metal in 102
182 AgCl 93, 184 polarization and 94
group velocity and 115 AgI 183 simplest 102
metal 82 air 180 transmitter 104
of light 183 airbag sensors 31 antennas 305
of radio waves 182 Al 181 anthropic principle 271
of sound waves 182 albedo 105 anti-gravity devices 179
phase velocity and 114 algebraic structure 227 anti-theft stickers 181
saturable 185 algebraic system 227 apes and sunglasses 163
solar spectrum and 124 Allen, Woody 208 aphelion 295
abstraction alpha waves 202 Aplysia californica 208
of all abstractions 227 aluminium 316 apogee 295
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

accumulability of charge 22 amber 15 Apollo 141

accuracy 289 Ames room 163 apple
limits to 291 aminoacids 184 as battery 50
acne light 162 ampere 60 fall of 244, 245
acousto-electric effect 180 definition 286 Ar 180
acousto-magnetic effect 181 amplitude 89 arcs 19
acousto-optic Ampullae of Lorenzini 21, 31 argument 227
deflector 145 Ampère’s ‘law’ 43 artefact 267, 287
effect 185 amygdala 209 aspects of nature 201
modulator 142 AND gate, logical 210 asteroid hitting the Earth 282
action, quantum of, ħ andalusite 184 atmospheric pressure 295
physics and 8 anesthetics 67 atomic mass unit 292
 subject index 355

atto 288 Bi 182 brain, best book about 317

Au 181 bible 248, 254 breaths 230
Auger effect 185 big brother 226 bremsstrahlung 184
aureole 158 bioluminescence 184 bright-field microscopy 122
autism 201, 212, 332 BIPM 254, 286, 287 brightness 129
autists 332 birds 49, 95 brilliant 229
average 255 birefringence 95, 184 bull 157
Avogadro’s number 293 BiSb 182 Bureau International des
awe 268 BiSeTe 180 Poids et Mesures 286
axiom bit 216 byte 211
of choice 224 Bi2 Te3 180
A axioms
additional, of set theory
bits 207 C
bits to entropy conversion 294 C14 dating 330
226 black body 124, 187 cable, eliminating power 51

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
atto of physics 234 and Sun 125 CaCO3 95
of set theory 224 as light source 124 Caenorhabditis elegans 213
ZFC of set theory 224 definition 124 CaF2 184
radiation 186, 187 calcineurin 209
B radiation constant 186 calcite 95, 96, 184
bags as antigravity devices 179 blackness 183 camera
ball lightning 172 blasphemies 267 pill-sized 166
BaO2 180 blinks 230 camera, holy 326
barber paradox 235 blue 100 Canary islands 281
Barlow’s wheel 57 Bohr magneton 293 candela 128
Barnett effect 40 Bohr radius 293 definition 287
barometer light 180 Boltzmann constant 292 candle 129, 172
Barret effect 181 Boltzmann constant k capacitor 189
baryon number density 297 physics and 8 and metamaterials 140
base units 286 Boltzmann’s constant 125 charge ‘law’ 50
bath, physical 210 bone, human 187 charge puzzle 189
BaTiO3 182 boredom as sign of truth 246 indeterminacy relation 63
battery 26, 50 boring physics 221 serial circuit 62
and electric shock 189 boundary conditions 79 capacity
and motor 57 Bragg reflection 185 indeterminacy of 63
in a thundercloud 171 brain 190, 198, 207, 229 cardinality 226
long lasting 56 capacity 211–213 cardinals, inaccessible 226
beam, tractor 119 cooling 204 cars, polarizers in 119
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

bear, polar 139 energy consumption 205 Cartesian product 225

becquerel 288 motion control with 202 Casimir effect 186
bed, floating 59 reason for size 206 Cassandra 243
beer 185 similar to computer 202 cat 158, 215
Belgium 142 speech and 205 catastrophes 281
beliefs storage capacity 211 category 222, 227
against facts 244 brain and Moon 272 cathode 55, 56
in physical concepts 239 brain hardware 214 cathode rays 28
Benham’s wheel 166 brain properties 203 cause and effect 273
Berry’s phase 306 brain waves 202 Cd 181
beta waves 202 brain’s energy consumption CD drive 166
Betelgeuse 282 212 CdS 180, 185
 356 subject index

CeB6 181 class 224 digital 216

CeF3 182 classical electron radius 293 similar to brain 202
celeritas 88 classical physics working of 216
cell, primary 50 essence of 283 computer scientists 198
cell, secondary 50 summary of 279 concept 217, 221, 222
cell, voltaic 50 classification 201 conductance quantum 293
cells 229 classifiers 204 conductivity 180
centi 288 cloak, invisibility 141 cones in retina 207, 230
central processing unit 216 clothes, seeing through 100 Conférence Générale des
cerebral cortex 214 clouds, floating plasma 172 Poids et Mesures 286
Čerenkov effect 185 CMOS 190 confocal laser scanning
C challenge classification 9
challenge, toughest of science
CO2 282
Co 181
microscopy 123
conformal invariance 118
85 coal 183 conformal symmetry 81

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
CeB 6 channel proteins 66 cobalt 15 Conférence Générale des
charge CODATA 338 Poids et Mesures 287
amount of 20 coherer 91 conjectures 243
elementary e, physics and coil guns 52 conscious 84
8 cold fusion consciousness 274
no magnetic 47 as lie 246 conservation 22, 266
positron or electron, value colour 94, 183 continuity
of 292 colour blindness 162 of charge 22
radiation due to colour displacement, Wien’s continuum 25, 41
acceleration 173 126 continuum hypothesis 226
radiation due to gravity 173 colour, world survey 322 Convention du Mètre 286
charge pump 26 colours in nature 322 converging lenses 135
chatterbot 213 comb copper 20, 180, 195, 196
cheese and the speed of light frequency 320 core of the Earth 175
91 comet 105 cornea 95, 184
chemoluminescence 184 comet shower 282 correctness 243
child psychology 198 comet tails 109 cosmic radiation 195
children comet, artificial 109 cosmic rays 168, 171, 195, 282
as physicists 199 comets 321 cosmological constant 296
chime, electric 20 Commission Internationale cosmonauts 141, 142
chiral 52 des Poids et Mesures 286 cosmos 200
chirality 52 communication, faster than Cotton–Mouton effect 181
chlorophyll 269 light 117 coulomb 21, 288
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

chocolate and the speed of communism 37 Coulomb force 24

light 91 compact disc 207 Coulomb’s and Gauss’s ‘laws’,
choice, lack of, at big bang comparison with a standard equivalence of 26
266 254 countability 226
chromatic aberrations 109 completeness 22 covariant 264
chromosome 282 complex numbers 232 Cr 181
chromosome X and colour complexity, ‘infinite’ 267 crackpots 222, 258
blindness 162 comprehensibility of universe creation is a type of motion
circular dichroism 190 264 266
circularly polarized waves 97 Compton effect 184 creation science
cirrus 168 Compton wavelength 293 as lie 246
Clarendon Dry Cell 56 computer creationism 246
 subject index 357

critical magnetic field 34 diagonal argument 312 duality

crop circles 249 diamagnetic materials 33, 176 electromagnetic 83
crust of the Earth 175 diamagnetism 35, 181 duality transformation 71
cryptochromes 37 diamond 134, 180, 183 dust 185
Cs 183 dichroism 181, 184 Dutch telescope 136
CsNO3 183 dielectric mirrors 132 DVD drive 166
Cu 180 dielectricity 182 dwarfs 163
cube, magic 235, 313 dielectrics 20 dyadic numbers 232
cucumber 119 differential interference dyadic rational numbers 230
cumulonimbus 168 contrast microscopy 122 dynamo 26, 39
cumulus 168 diffraction 141–144 dynamos 43
C curiosity 274
curl 74
diffraction limit 141, 143
digital computer 216
dyons 319

curl, visualization of 75 dimensionality 25, 41 E

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
critical current dimensionality, spatial 118 ε0 23
electric 20 dimensionless 293 Earnshaw’s theorem 176
indeterminacy 63 diopter 307 Earth
cyclotron frequency 293 dipole strength 57 age 295
cyclotron resonance 182 direction 25, 41 average density 295
cysteine 252 disappointment of the charge of 22
television industry 65 equatorial radius 295
D disasters, future 281 flattening 295
D4DR gene 337 discovery of physical concepts gravitational length 295
daisy 229 240 mass 295
daltonic 162 dispersion 134 normal gravity 295
dark-field microscopy 122 dispersion relation 89 Earth core solidification 282
day, sidereal 294 dispersion, anomalous 323 Earth rays 251
day, time unit 288 distinguishability 22, 25, 41 Earth rotation slowing 282
de Broglie wavelength 287 distribution, Gaussian 290 Earth’s mantle instability 281
de Haas–van Alphen effect 40 distribution, normal 210, 290 Earth’s radius 295
dead alone are legal 126 divergent lenses 135 effect and cause 273
deca 288 divine surprises 273 effect, sleeping beauty 104
deci 288 DNA 101 EHF, extremely high
deep sea fish 184 DNA 207, 208, 212, 230 frequency 99
deflector doctrine 244 Einstein–de Haas effect 39
acousto-optic 145 Dolichopteryx longipes 132 electrets 16
electro-optic 145 domain of definition 227 electric charge 18
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

degree Celsius 288 donate electric charges are discrete

degree, angle unit 288 for this free pdf 9 193
deity 258 dopamine 337 electric field 16, 23
delta waves 202 Doppler effect, reversed 140 electric field lines 17
demarcation 271 dragging of vector potential electric polarizability 62
demon, Maxwell’s 211 by currents 75 electric potential 76
description 268 dream electric signal speed 194
design 267 riddle 249 electrical resistance 60
design, intelligent 268 dreams 201 Electricity 27
details 246 energy and 210 electrification 180
details of nature 201 drift speed 195 electro-optic
deutan 162 dual field tensor 71 deflector 145
 358 subject index

electro-optic materials 145 electrostatic machines 52 Eta Carinae 283

electro-optical activity 183 electrostatic unit system 24 Ettinghausen effect 182
electro-osmosis 183 electrostatics. 24 Ettinghausen–Nernst effect
electrochromicity 185 electrostriction 183 182
electrode 55 electrowetting 183 Euclidean vector space 25, 41
electrodynamics, failure of 193 element of set 22, 25, 41, 223 Euplectella aspergillum 139
electrokinetic effect 183 elementary charge 194 EUV 101
electroluminescence 184 elephants 213 event 238
electrolyte 55 Eliza 213 evolution 199, 211
electrolytes 193 elves 171 evolution equations 279
electrolytic activity 183 ELW, extremely long waves 99 evolutionary biologists 198
E electromagnetic
weapons 131
emergence 258, 336
emergence of properties 258
ex nihilo 266
Exa 288
electromagnetic effects 46 emissivity 183, 186 existence of mathematical

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
electro-optic electromagnetic field 16, 43, definition 124 concepts 259
44, 77, 192 empirical 244 existence of the universe 265
action of 45 Encyclopédie 39 existence, physical 259
invariants of 44 end of applied physics 281 existence, psychological 260
Lagrangian of 45 end of fundamental physics experience 201, 202
tensor 44 281 experimental physicists 241
electromagnetic field, end of science 263 experimentalists 241
linearity 89 endoscope 160 experiments 238
electromagnetic smog 187 endoscopes 144 explanation 272
electromagnetic unit system energy 18 exploratory drive 274
24 solar 128 explosion of volcano 281
electromagnetic wave energy conservation 155 explosion of Yellowstone 281
generation 102 energy flux 78, 129 eye 156
electromagnetic waves 102 energy velocity 116 human 95
electromagnetism 43 energy–momentum tensor of eye glasses 163
limits 63 the electromagnetic field eye sensitivity 155
electromagnetism as proof of 80 eye, human 139, 321
special relativity 102 English language 219 eye, insect 139
electrometers 21 English language, size of 218 eyes of birds 157
electromotive field 72 enteric nervous system 215 eyes, measuring with closed
electron entities 201 163
g-factor 294 entropy 208 eyes, white in 163
electron hopping 65 environment 127, 200
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

electron magnetic moment epistemology 335 F

293 equipotential lines 74 fact 238, 243
electron mass 292 erasable 212 false 243
electron speed 195 erasing memory 210 fame, way to reach 191
electron volt error farad 288
value 294 relative 290 Faraday cage 187
electronics and water flow 58 systematic 290 Faraday effect 181
electronics, polymer 202 total 290 inverse 181
electrons 29, 195 errors Faraday rotation 181
Electrophorus electricus 30 in measurements 289 Faraday’s constant 293
electroscope essence of classical physics Fe 181, 185
capacitor 50 283 feelings and lies 246
 subject index 359

feldspar 184 frog 178 glow-worm 184

Felis silvestris catus 215 frog legs 30 gods 211, 225, 245, 258, 260,
femto 288 front velocity 116 262, 267, 277, 283
Fermi coupling constant 292 fuel, pouring 299 goggles, night 130
ferroelectricity 182 full width at half maximum gold 134, 183
ferromagnetic materials 34 290 Goos-Hänchen shift 160
ferromagnetism 181 function 227 grammatical 219
Fibonacci series 334 function, mathematical 227 grampus 259, 268
nonsense about 236 future and present 270 graphite 177, 180, 181, 183
field emission 182 gratings, diffraction 140
field evaporation 183 G gravitational constant 292
F field ionization 183
field lines 73
γ-rays 101
GaAs 184, 185
gravitational constant G
physics and 8
field lines, magnetic 71 gadolinium 182 gravitational coupling

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
feldspar field theory 73 Galilean telescope 136 constant 292
field, physical 16 gallium arsenide 180 gravitoluminescence 185
fields gamma ray bursts 282 gravity Faraday cages 187
morphogenetic 250 gas constant, universal 293 gravity waves 109
final theory of motion 198 gas lighter 91 gray 288
fine structure constant 116, gases 185 Great Wall 142
292 gate, logical AND 210 Great Wall in China 326
fingers 92 gauge field 77 green 100, 156
fingers prove the wave gauge invariance 76 green flash 111, 322
properties of light 92 gauge symmetry 76 green ideas 247
finite 225, 263 gauge transformation 77 green ray 322
finite number 257 gauge transformations 279 green star 126
fire 180 Gauss rifle 51 grey matter 214
fish, weakly-electric 31 Gauss’s ‘law’ 26 group mind 243
flame 180 Gauss’s theorem 300 group velocity 114
floating bed 59 Gaussian distribution 290 group velocity can be infinite
fluorescence 184 Gaussian unit system 24 115
fluorescence microscopy 122 Gd 181 Grus canadensis 36
flux 300 GdFeCo 181
flux, electric 26 GdSiGe 182 H
fogbow 112 gene, D4DR 337 Haidinger’s brush 95, 163
food industry 252 General Motors 16 hair whirl 82
foraminiferan 152 genius 242 hairs 230
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

forerunner velocity 117 Geocentric gravitational Hall effect 181

forest, what glows in a 163 constant 295 halo 138, 158, 322, 325
forgery 209 geodynamo 174 halobacteria 50
forgetting and entropy 210 Germany, illegality of life 126 handedness 81
form, mathematical 79 ghosts 309 Hanle effect 182
formal sciences 238 giant tsunami from Canary hardware
Fourier components 188 islands 281 brain 214
Freederichsz effect 183 Giga 288 harmonic functions 176
frequency glass 180, 181, 183 harmonic generation 185
comb 320 global warming 249 harmonic wave 89, 90
frequency mixing 185 glory 325 He–Ne 185
Friendbot 213 glow of eyes of a cat 158 healers, Philippine 250
 360 subject index

heart beats 230 illuminance 129 intelligent design 246, 268

heat radiation 179 illumination 275 intention 269
Heaviside formula 73 image 217 interaction 200, 258
Heaviside–Lorentz unit and focussing devices 135 interaction, reciprocity of 258
system 24 pixel 139 interference 89, 92, 93
hecto 288 real 135 interferogram 148
Heiligenschein 158 touching an 105 internal photoelectric effect
helicopter 172 virtual 135 183
helium 179, 183, 272 images 200 International Geodesic Union
henry 288 imagination 201 296
Hering lattices 154 imaging interstellar gas cloud 282
H Hermann lattice 154
hertz 288
through scanning 149
ultrasound 165
intersubjectivity 243
invariance 22
hexagon, magic 235 imaging with mirrors 132 invariant 264

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
heart Hg 182 Imbert–Fedorov shift 160 invariants
Hilbert problems 234 imitation 243 of the electromagnetic
Hilversum 172 impenetrability 186 field 44
hippocampus 215 InAs:Mn 180 inverted commas 201
Hollywood films 239 incandescence 179, 186 invisibility cloak 141
hologram 146–149 incubation 275 ion 55
moving 148 independently 221 ionization 180, 182
reflection 148 indeterminacy relation ionosphere 59, 188, 189
transmission 148 for capacitors 63 as radio mirror 86
holograms 148 for current 63 ions 29, 66, 194, 195
holography 123, 146–149 index 217 IRA or near infrared 100
honey 75 index finger 92 IRB or medium infrared 100
honey bees 95 index of refraction 307 IRC or far infrared 100
hopping electrons 65 index, negative refraction 139 iron 15, 180
hops 81 indigo 100 irradiance 129
horror vacui 261 infinite 263 ISO 254
hot air balloons 99, 172 infinitesimals 231 italic typeface 217
hour 288 infinities 257 IUPAC 254, 338
Hubble parameter 296 infinity 25, 41, 225 IUPAP 254, 338
human body, light emission information
of 130 definition 207 J
human eye 95, 139 Infrared 99 jets 171
human language 218, 220 infrared light 93 Josephson effect 180, 287
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

human sciences 238 initial conditions 79 Josephson frequency ratio 293

hydrogen 183 injective 225 joule 288
hypotheses 243 InP 185 Joule effect 181
InSb 180, 181 Jupiter’s atmospheric pressure
I insect eye 139 295
ice age 281, 282 insects 95 Jupiter’s mass 295
ice ages 271 instability of solar system 282 Jupiter’s surface gravity 295
icon 217 instruments 252
ideas, green 247 insulation 180 K
if 220 insulators 20 katal 254
ill-tempered gaseous integers 230 kelvin 286
vertebrates 245 integrated circuits 58 Kelvin generator 18, 26, 299
 subject index 361

Kerr effect 183 focus 165 lines, high voltage 49

ketchup motion 195 spherical 165 linguists 199
kilo 288 sspherical 165 liquid crstals 145
kilogram thin, formula 165 liquid crystal 183
definition 286 lensmaker liquid crystal effect 183
kinesiology 241 formula 165 liquids 185
Kirlian effect 59 Lenz’s rule 72 lithium 272
Klitzing, von – constant 293 levitation 105, 175, 182 litre 288
knowledge 252 laser 105 lobbyists 241
KPO4 184 optical 105 locality 264
levitation, human 178 localization (weak, Anderson)
K L
LaH 185
Levitron 329
lexical universals 219
180
logicians 199
Landolt–Börnstein series 253 liar’s paradox 248 Lorentz acceleration 41

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
Kerr language 199 library 117 Lorentz gauge 45
language, human 217 lie Lorentz relation 44
language, spoken 218 definition 243 Loschmidt’s number 293
language, written 218 lies 242–246, 249 Lourdes 244
languages spoken by one lies, general 246 Lower frequency limit 98
person 229 lies, specific 246 lumen 288
Laplace acceleration 42 life, sense of 268 luminescence 184
Larmor formula 104 lifters 53 luminous density 130
laser 130, 148 light 100 luminous intensity 128
and glass beads 105 angular momentum of 108 luminous pressure 185
as weapon 131 massive 119 Lunokhod 141
deuterium fluoride 131 light beams, twisting 145 lux 129, 288
pulsed impulse kill 131 light bulbs 119 LW, long waves 99
laser activity 185 light is electromagnetic 98 lx 129
laser and Moon 141 light microscope 307
laser beam 109 light mill 106 M
laser beam, tubular 162 light polarization 94 μ0 43
laser levitation 105 light pressure 105 macula lutea 95
laser scanners 145 light speed observer is magic 266
lateralization 82 impossible 104 magic cubes and squares 235
law 256 light year 294 magic hexagon 235
law of nature, first 200 light, constant speed in magic moment 200
laws and sausages 239 electromagnetism 101 magic moments 275
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

laws are laziness 239 light, detection of oscillations magnet 57

laws of nature 200, 266 94 magnetar 34, 59
laziness of physics 238 lightning 16, 22, 129, 168–173 magnetic charge
learning 204 lightning emits X-rays 172 no such 47
without markers 8 lightning rod 20 magnetic circular dichroism
learning, best method for 8 lightning, zigzag shape of 168 181
left-handed material 140 limit on resolution 141 magnetic field 16, 41, 42
left-handers 82 limits mirror behaviour 40
legends, urban 250 to precision 291 magnetic fields, feeling 36
lemon as battery 50 LiNbO3 184, 185 magnetic flux 71
lens 135, 165 linearity of electromagnetic magnetic flux density 42
focal distance 165 field 89 magnetic flux quantum 293
 362 subject index

magnetic induction 42 Maxwell’s field equations of temperature 297

magnetic monopole 82 electrodynamics 45 microwave oven 172
no such 47 measurability 25, 41 Microwaves 99
magnetic polarization 33 of charge 22 midwives 156
magnetic pole measurement 254 Mie scattering 185
in a mirror 81 baths and 210 mile 289
magnetic resonance 182 comparison 289 milk 112, 244, 335
magnetic vector potential 74 definition 286, 289 Milky Way 282
magnetism irreversibility 289 Milky Way’s age 296
as relativistic effect 46–48 meaning 289 Milky Way’s mass 296
magneto–Seebeck effect 182 process 289 Milky Way’s size 296
M magneto-optical activity 181
magnetoacoustic effect 182
measurement error
definition 289
milli 288
million dollars 257
Magnetobacterium bavaricum Mega 288 mimetic discretizations 59

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
magnetic 37 Meissner effect 182 mind-reading 190
magnetocaloric effect 182 memories 208, 255 minimum electrical charge
magnetoelastic effect 181 memory 201 194
magnetoencephalography 85 definition 208 minute 288, 296
magneton, nuclear 294 not imborn 212 miracles 244, 273, 283
magnetoreception 36 synapses and 208 mirage 135, 320
magnetoresistance 180 memory erasing 210 mirror 81
magnetorheologic effect 182 memory, write once 212 and magnetic field 40
magnetosomes 37 mercury 180, 183 biological 132
magnetostriction 181 mesons 29 concave 82
magnets 16, 34, 178 metal alloys 181 definition 81
magnifying glass 135 metal multilayers 180, 181 dielectric 132
Majorana effect 181 metallic shine 183 emissivity 125
mammals 157 metals 186 fields for solar energy 127
Manhattan as copper mine 20 metamaterials 140 for imaging 132
mantle of the Earth 175 metaphor 269 in telescope 122
many types 226 metre landscape 81
mapping 227 definition 286 magnetic poles and 81
marker, bad for learning 8 metricity 22, 25, 41 no image 104
marriage 198 Mg 181 phase conjugated 186
maser 108 micro 288 puzzle 52
mass ratio micronystagmus 156 rotating, for 3d imaging
muon–electron 294 microscope 137 148
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

neutron–electron 294 light 307 switchable 185

neutron–proton 294 near field scanning 144 mirror neurons 214
proton–electron 294 scanning microscope 149 mirror symmetry 82
mass, negative 176 microscopy 122 mixture of light 109
material, left-handed 140 confocal laser scanning Mn 181
mathematicians 199, 221, 233 149 Mo 180
mathematics 221, 234 fluorescence 144, 149 mobile phone 16
mathematics is applied multiphoton 149 modulator
physics 221 scanning 149 acousto-optic 142
matter transformation 266 stimulated emission molar volume 293
Matteucci effect 181 depletion 144 mole
Maxwell’s demon 211 microwave background definition 286
 subject index 363

molecular cloud 282 muon magnetic moment 294 Ni 181

moment, magic 275 muon mass 292 nickel 15
momentum density 78 muon tomography 153 night goggles 130
monochromatic 109 muons 29 niobium 180
monopole muscles 230 Nit 130
no magnetic 47 MW, middle waves 99 NOAA 342
monopole, magnetic 84 mysteries 244 node 82
monopoles 71 Mößbauer effect 185 noise 209
Moon non-Cantorian 334
angular size 295 N non-stationary 175
as radio mirror 86 n-Ge 180 nonsense 248
M density 295
distance 295
n-Si 180
NaCl 181
normality 339
north pole 33
mass 295 Nagaoka-Honds effect 181 north poles 39, 282

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
molecular radius 295 nano 288 notion 217
Moon and brain 272 NASA 109 nova 282
Moon and laser 141 natural numbers 228 novelty seeking 275
Moon’s mean distance 295 natural sciences 238 nuclear magneton 294
Moon’s surface gravity 295 natural unit 293 nuclear material accident or
Moons’s atmospheric pressure nature 200 weapon use 281
295 nature, sense of 268 number 230
Moore’s ‘law’ 65 Nb-Oxide-Nb 180 number of particle 263
motion Ne 180 numbers 232
entities that show 279 near field 144 numbers, transfinite 226
predictavility of 281 near-field scanning optical
summary of properties microscopy 123 O
280–281 necessities, science of object 219
motion and measurement symbolic 234 object, levitation 176
units 287 negative 19 objects 200
motion control negative group velocity 116 oblique microscopy 122
with brain 202 neocortex 215 observables 254
motion inversion 80 neocortical column 214 observation 210, 255
motion is fundamental 287 Nernst effect 182 observations 201
Motion Mountain nerve signals 333 Occam’s razor 240
aims of book series 7 nerves 66, 195 ocean levels 281, 282
supporting the project 9 nervous system ohm 60, 288
motion of images 280 enteric 215 Ohm’s ‘law’ 60, 196
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

motivation network 205 oil 183

of students 213 neural networks 204 oil tankers 53
motor neurologists 198 onset 311
electric and relativity neurons 205, 211, 230 onto 225
46–48 neutral bodies 20 ontological reach 261
motor, unipolar 57 definition 22 Oort cloud 282
move, entities that 279 neutron Opel 16
MP3 player 14 Compton wavelength 294 operation, (binary) 227
mu-metal 187 magnetic moment 294 ophthalmology 152
multiverse 243, 251 neutron mass 292 opposite 220, 244
muon neutron star 34 optical activity 184, 307
g-factor 294 newton 288 optical fibres 139
 364 subject index

optical Kerr effect 185 PbSe 180 185

optical nonlinear effects 185 PbTe 180 photostriction 183
optically induced anisotropy Peltier effect 180 physical concepts, discovery
184 penguins, flying 252 of 240
optics Penning effect 180 physical explanation 270
summary 167 Penning traps 178 physicists
opto-acoustic tomography 153 perceptions 201 children 199
optoacoustic affect 185 perigee 295 physics 238, 241
optogalvanic effect 185 perihelion 295 as basic science 198
orange 100 periodic decimal expansion boring 221
order 22 235 etymology of 241
O order structures 228
ordered pair 225
permeability 118
permeability, vacuum 43, 292
map of 8
papers joke 117
ordinal numbers 231 permittivity 118 slow progress of 101

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
optical oven 126 permittivity of free space 23 solid state 186
overdescription 77 permittivity, vacuum 292 physics papers 117
oxygen depletion 282 person 330 physiologists 198
ozone shield reduction 281 perverted 272 pico 288
Peta 288 piezoelectricity 182
P phase 89 pile 50
π = 3.141592... 338 phase conjugated mirror pinch effect 180
p-Ge 183 activity 186 ping command
paint, heat and 161 phase factor 78 to measure light speed 29
pair creation 185 phase space 279 pink 162
paradox of incomplete phase velocity 89, 114 pit viper 158
description 259 phase-contrast microscopy pixel systems 139, 159
paradox of overcomplete 122 Planck constant
description 259 phenomena, supernatural 257 value of 292
paradox, liar’s 248 phenomena, unnatural 257 Planck electric current 30
paraelectricity 182 phenomenon 238 Planck electric field 24
paramagnetic 34 philosophers of science 199 Planck fields 193
paramagnetism 35, 181 phosphorescence 184 Planck limit 101
parameter 254 phot 129 Planck magnetic field 34
parametric amplification 185 photoacoustic effect 185 Planck voltage 48
parhelia 113 photoconductivity 185 Planck’s constant 125
parity invariance 82 photoeffect 183 plant sensors for electric and
parsec 294 photoelectricity 183 magnetic fields 86
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

particle number 263 photoelectromagnetic effect plasma clouds, floating 172

parts, sum of 258 181 plasma globe 52, 54
pascal 288 photography 122, 183 plasmas 180, 185, 194
Paschen–Back effect 181 photoluminescence 184 plasmoids 172
passions 214 photon plates 175
patterns 238 mass 119 platonism 221
patterns of nature 200 number density 297 platypus 31
Paul traps 178 photon drag effect 183 play 238
Pauli exclusion principle 334 photon, mass of 84 Pockels effect 183
Pauw, method of Van der 61 photonic Hall effect 182 point contacts 62
Pb 185 photons 194 Poisson’s spot 142
PbLaZrTi 183 photorefractive materials 145, polar bear 139
 subject index 365

polarizability 182 primes, Sophie Germain 313 radio transmitter

polarization 94, 184 principle of least action 45 simplest possible 91
polarization brush 95 principle, physical 238 radio transmitters 130
polarization detection with printed words 230 radio waves 91, 99
the unaided human eye 95 prism 134 radio waves, 1/r dependence
polarization, electrical 22 Proca Lagrangian 84 102
polarizers in car lights and product set 225 radiometer 106
windscreens 119 properties of nature 200 radiometer effect 185
polders 142 properties, emergent 258 rail guns 52
pole, magnetic protan 162 rainbow 93, 138
in a mirror 81 proton explanation 110
P poles 31
pollen 151
Compton wavelength 294
g factor 294
supernumerary 93
rainbow polarization 112
polymath 93 gyromagnetic ratio 294 rainbow width 112

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
polarizability polymer 184, 185 magnetic moment 294 rainbow, irregular 112
polymer electronics 202 specific charge 294 rainbow, twinned 112
porcine principle 272 proton mass 292 Raleigh scattering 185
Portia (Salticidae) 136 pseudovector 40 Raman effect 185
positive 19 psychological existence 260 random errors 289
positive or negative 22 public 246 range 227
positron charge pupils rational numbers 230, 231
value of 292 kinds of 213 real numbers 230, 232
positron charge, specific 293 pure truth 242 reality 201
potassium 66 purpose 269 reals 231
potato as battery 50 pyroelectricity 183 reason 270
potential recoil 28
electric Q recombination 180
indeterminacy 63 quantities 254 record
potential energy 52 quantum dots 62 definition 209
power 129 quantum of action 125 red 100, 156
power lines 49 quantum of circulation 293 reductionism 271
power set 224, 226 quartz 182–184 reflectivity 105, 183
power supply noise 188 quasistatic fields 99 refraction 132–141, 158, 181, 184
power, electric 61 quaternions 232 refraction index, negative 139
Poynting vector 78, 80, 86 quotation marks 201 refraction, ‘law’ of 307
field 78 refractive index 133
precision 246, 289 R relation 222
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

limits to 291 radian 287 relation, binary 225

predicates 219 radiation 91, 280 relations 201, 225
predictability of motion 281 black body 186 religion
prefixes 288, 338 particle 194 definition 245
prefixes, SI 288 thermal 186 remote control
prejudice 244 weapons 131 simplest possible 91
presocratics 336 radiation, observer repression 84
pressure of light 105 dependence of 173 resin 15
primary blue 100 radiator, colour and 161 resinous 19
primary green 100 radio control resistance of single atoms 60
primary red 100 simplest possible 91 resistivity, Joule effect 180
primates 157 radio field 16 resolution 307
 366 subject index

retina 156 second harmonic generation skin 100, 109

retroreflecting paint 158 184 skin effect 180
reversal of Earth’s magnetic Seebeck effect 180 sky 185
field 282 seeing 126, 145 sleep
Richardson effect 180 self-referential 247 learning and 215
Righi–Leduc effect 182 semi-ring 229 why we 215
right hand rule 70 semiconductivity 180 sleeping beauty effect 104
right-handers 82 semiconductors 182 sloth 239
rods in retina 157, 207, 230 sensations 201 Smekal–Raman effect 185
rose 267 sense Snell’s law 307
rotation 75 brain and 214 snowflakes 229
R Rubik’s Cube 230
ruby 183, 185
sense of life 268
sense of nature 268
sodium 66
sodium vanadate 96
rules 238 separability 22 soft gamma repeater 34

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
retina rules of nature 200 separability of the universe solar cells 26, 183
runaway breakdown 168 264 solar energy 128
rutile 96 sequence 22 solar sail effect 185
Rydberg constant 293 serious 272 solar storms 188
set 222, 223 solar wind 34, 55, 57, 109, 185
S sets, useful to describe the solid state physics 186
Sahara 229 universe? 263 in society 186
50 Hz signal in middle of seven sages 15 solidity 179, 186
188 shadow of Great Wall in sonography 153
salamander 31 China 142, 326 sonoluminescence 185
salt 183 shadow with halo or aureole sound 141
sand 229 158 south pole 33
Sasaki–Shibuya effect 180 shadow with hole 142 south poles 39, 282
satellite phone and light speed shadows of cables 57 soviets 37
91 shadows, colour of 322 spanners, optical 108
saturable absorption 185 sharks 31 spark 16
saturation 275 SHF, super high frequency 99 sparks 24
scanning for imaging 123 Shubnikov–de Haas effect 39, spectrometers 109
Scarabeus 95 182 speculations 243
scattering 111, 145, 185 SI 128 speed
Schadt–Helfrichs effect 183 Si 183 electron drift 59
Schottky effect 182 SI system 24 limit 121
Schumann resonances 328 SI units 286, 291 of light c
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

science 252 definition 286 physics and 8

science of symbolic SI units, supplementary 287 speed of light 194
necessities 223, 233, 234 siemens 288 speed of light and chocolate
science, end of 263 sievert 288 91
scientific method 241 sign 217 speed of the tip of a lightning
scientism 252 signal 117 bolt 57
scientist 252 signal, physical 114 sphere, hairy 304
Scotch tape 52 silicon 180, 181 spider
scotopic sensitvity 309 silver 20 jumping 136
Se 185 simian principle 272 spiders 95, 136
second 288, 296 single atom 60 spin 40
definition 286 singularity, naked 283 electron 40
 subject index 367

spin 1 particles 109 Sun’s age 295 tankers, sinking 53

spin 2 particles 109 Sun’s heat emission 310, 330 tax collection 286
spin valve effect 181 Sun’s lower photospheric TbCl3 184
spirals 236 pressure 296 TbDyFe 181
spirituality Sun’s luminosity 295, 310, 330 teachers 213
definition 245 Sun’s mass 295 teeth 187
sponsor Sun’s power 163 teeth growth 188
this free pdf 9 Sun’s surface gravity 296 telecommunication 126
spookfish 132 sundogs 113 telescope 136
sprites 171 sunflower 229 telescopes in nature 136
square, magic 235 sunglasses and apes 163 telescopy 122
S squark 340
squinting 141
sunny day 129
sunset 112
television tube 15, 28, 44, 48,
66, 184, 194
SrAlO4 184 supercomputer 214 temple viper 158

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
spin standard deviation 289 superconductivity 180 tensor 43
star approach 282 superconductors 182 tensor, antisymmetric 41
star, green 126 superluminal 117 tensor, energy–momentum 80
Stark effect 183 supermarkets 162 Tera 288
stars 229 supernatural phenomena 257 terahertz waves 100, 187
statements 199 supernovae 283 terms 217
empirical 244 supernumerary rainbows 93 tesla 42, 288
speculative 244 superposition 89 Tesla coil 48, 52
undecidable 247 superradiation 185 test 272
without sense 247 superstition 244 test charge 23, 42, 194
statements, boring 246 support thallium 105
stationary 175 this free pdf 9 theoretical physicists 241
steel 34 suprises, divine 273 theoreticians 242
Stefan–Boltzmann black body surprises in nature 281 theory 245
radiation constant 186 surreal 231 theory of everything 198
Stefan–Boltzmann constant surreal numbers 335 theory of evolution 246
294 SW, short waves 99 theory of motion
steppers switch, electrical 50 final 198
wafer 166 switch, inverter 302 theory, physical 245
steradian 287 switchable magnetism 180 thermal emission 180
stigmata 250 switchable mirror 185 thermal equilibrium 127
stilts 249 symbol, mathematical 254 thermal radiation 126, 179, 186
stock exchange 29 symbolic necessities, science thermoelectric effects 180
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

stones 14, 227, 266, 270, 276 of 234 thermoelectric element 26

stratus 168 symbols 217 thermoluminescence 184
strike with a field 73 symmetries 256 thermomagnetic effects 182
strong coupling constant 292 synapses 208, 211 theses 243
stun gun 48 syntactic 219 theta waves 202
subjects 219 syrup 307 thin lens formula 135, 165
sugar 133, 184, 307 Système International Thomson effect 180
sulphuric acid 183 d’Unités (SI) 286 thought reading 85
sum of parts 258 thunderclouds are batteries
Sun 310, 330 T 171
aging of 282 table as antigravity device 179 thunderstorms 168
Sun dogs 325 tachymeter 64 time inversion 80
 368 subject index

TNT energy content 294 tungsten 119 vacuum permeability 292

TOE 198 tv 184 vacuum permittivity 292
tomography 123, 152–153 tweezers, optical 108 vacuum wave resistance 293
cryo-electron 153 vacuum, unstable 283
electrical resistivity 153 U value 227
magnetic induction 153 udeko 288 vampire 104
muon 153 Udekta 288 variable 254
optical coherence 152 UFOs as lie 246 variance 290
opto-acoustic 153 UHF, ultra high frequency 99 vector potential, dragging by
positron emission 153 ultrasound 175 charges 75
X-ray 153 ultrasound imaging 165 vector potential, magnetic 74
T tonne, or ton 288
tooth decay 187
Ultraviolet 100
ultraviolet light 93
velocity of an electron 116
vendeko 288
toothpaste 208 unboundedness 25, 41 Vendekta 288

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
TNT toothpick 172 uncertainty verb 219
topological structures 228 relative 290 verification 275
topology 118 total 290 VHF, very high frequency 99
torque 40 unconscious 84 Villari effect 181
tourmaline 183 uncountability 226 violet 100, 162
trace 45 unification 271 viper 158
tractor beam 119 unit 254 virtual image 135
transfinite numbers 226 astronomical 294 vitreous 19
transformation of matter 266 unit systems 24 vocabulary 218, 234
transformation relations 279 units 286 void 261
transformer non-SI 289 Voigt effect 181
Maxwell equation and 70, provincial 289 volcano, giant 281
72 units, SI volt 60, 288
Poynting vector field of 78 definition 286 voltage
solar storm and 188 universal semantic primitives indeterminacy 63
water correspondence 58 219 voltaic cell 26
transistor 58 universals 219 vortex lines 74
transition radiation 185 universe 200
transmitter is not information 208 W
simplest possible 91 universe is comprehensible W 180, 183
transparency 183 264 wafer steppers 166
transporter of energy 117 universe recollapse 283 walking 204, 333
transsubstantiation 246 universe, existence of 265 walking on two legs 204
Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

tree 229 universe, is it a set? 263 warming, global 249

trees and electricity 15 universe, only one 258 water 181, 185
triboelectricity 180 universes, other 243 water flow and electronics 58
triboluminescence 184 UNIX 29 watt 288
trirefringence 95 unnatural phenomena 257 wave 89
trit 216 urban legends 142, 250 angular momentum 109
tritan 162 UVA 101 evanescent 140, 160, 306
tropical year 294 UVB 101 terahertz 100
true 245 UVC 101 wave equation 88
true velocity of light 117 wave impedance/resistance
truth 243 V 118
tubular laser beam 162 vacuum 118 wave vector 89
 subject index 369

wave, electromagnetic 89 Wien’s colour displacement laser 190

wave, harmonic 89 126 telescope 123
wavelength 93 Wien’s displacement constant tomography 153
waves, circularly polarized 97 294 X-rays 101
waves, electromagnetic 89, wire hard 101
102 and relativity 46–48 soft 101
waves, spherical wires and nerves 66 xenno 288
electromagnetic 86 wolframates 185 Xenta 288
waves, terahertz 187 words 217
weak mixing angle 292 heard 207 Y
weapons printed 207 yellow 100, 162
W electromagnetic 130
with light 130
spoken 207
words heard 229
yocto 288
Yotta 288
weber 288 words spoken 229 young mother puzzle 235

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net
wave Weigert effect 184 world 200
weko 288 world colour survey 322 Z
Wekta 288 World Geodetic System 296 Zeeman effect 181
whale brain 213 world, chaos or system 200 Zener effect 183
whales 213 writing 255 zepto 288
whirl, hair 82 wrong 243 zero 229
white 125 Zetta 288
white dwarf 34 X ZFC 224
white, pure 125 X-ray ZFC axioms. 224
whole, the 200 and arts 165 ZnS 184
Wiedemann effect 181 emission by lightning 172 ZnSb 180
image of hand 123

Copyright © Christoph Schiller November 1997–March 2012

MOTION MOUNTAIN
The Adventure of Physics – Vol. III
Light, Charges and Brains

Why do change and motion exist?

How does a rainbow form?
What is the most fantastic voyage possible?
Is ‘empty space’ really empty?
How can one levitate things?
At what distance between two points does it become
impossible to find room for a third one in between?
What does ‘quantum’ mean?
Which problems in physics are unsolved?

Answering these and other questions on motion,

this series gives an entertaining and mind-twisting
introduction into modern physics – one that is
surprising and challenging on every page.
Starting from everyday life, the adventure provides
an overview of the recent results in mechanics,
thermodynamics, electrodynamics, relativity,
quantum theory, quantum gravity and unification.
It is written for undergraduate students and for
anybody interested in physics.

Christoph Schiller, PhD Université Libre de Bruxelles,

is a physicist with more than 25 years of experience
in the presentation of physical topics.

Pdf file available free of charge at

www.motionmountain.net
Christoph Schiller

MOTION MOUNTAIN
the adventure of physics – vol.iv
the quantum of change

www.motionmountain.net
 Christoph Schiller

Motion Mountain

The Adventure of Physics

Volume IV

The Quantum of Change

Edition 25.20, available as free pdf at

www.motionmountain.net
Editio vicesima quinta.

Proprietas scriptoris © Chrestophori Schiller

primo anno Olympiadis trigesimae.

Omnia proprietatis iura reservantur et vindicantur.

Imitatio prohibita sine auctoris permissione.
Non licet pecuniam expetere pro aliqua, quae
partem horum verborum continet; liber
pro omnibus semper gratuitus erat et manet.

Twenty-fifth edition.

Copyright © 2012 by Christoph Schiller,

the first year of the 30th Olympiad.

This pdf file is licensed under the Creative Commons

Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Germany
Licence, whose full text can be found on the website
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/de,
with the additional restriction that reproduction, distribution and use,
in whole or in part, in any product or service, be it
commercial or not, is not allowed without the written consent of
the copyright owner. The pdf file was and remains free for everybody
to read, store and print for personal use, and to distribute
electronically, but only in unmodified form and at no charge.
To Britta, Esther and Justus Aaron

τῷ ἐμοὶ δαὶμονι
Die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären.
PR EFAC E

“ ”
Primum movere, deinde docere.*
Antiquity

This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Have you ever

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
asked: Why do people, animals, things, images and space move? The answer leads to
many adventures; this volume presents those due to the discovery that there is a smallest
change value in nature. This smallest change value, the quantum of action, leads to what is
called quantum physics. In the structure of modern physics, shown in Figure 1, quantum
physics covers three points; this volume covers the introduction to the point in the lower
right: the foundations of quantum theory.
The present introduction to quantum physics arose from a threefold aim I have pur-
sued since 1990: to present the basics of motion in a way that is simple, up to date and
captivating.
In order to be simple, the text focuses on concepts, while keeping mathematics to the
necessary minimum. Understanding the concepts of physics is given precedence over
using formulae in calculations. The whole text is within the reach of an undergraduate.
In order to be up to date, the text is enriched by the many gems – both theoretical and
empirical – that are scattered throughout the scientific literature.
In order to be captivating, the text tries to startle the reader as much as possible. Read-
ing a book on general physics should be like going to a magic show. We watch, we are
astonished, we do not believe our eyes, we think, and finally we understand the trick.
When we look at nature, we often have the same experience. Indeed, every page presents
at least one surprise or provocation for the reader to think about. Numerous interesting
challenges are proposed.
The motto of the text, die Menschen stärken, die Sachen klären, a famous statement by
Hartmut von Hentig on pedagogy, translates as: ‘To fortify people, to clarify things.’ Clar-
ifying things – and adhering only to the truth – requires courage, as changing the habits
of thought produces fear, often hidden by anger. But by overcoming our fears we grow
in strength. And we experience intense and beautiful emotions. All great adventures in
life allow this, and exploring motion is one of them. Enjoy it!

Munich, 11 August 2012.

* ‘First move, then teach.’ In modern languages, the mentioned type of moving (the heart) is called motivat-
ing; both terms go back to the same Latin root.
8 preface

PHYSICS: Final, unified description of Why does motion

Describing motion motion occur? What are
with the least action principle. Adventures: understanding space, time and
motion, intense joy with quantum particles?
thinking, calculating
couplings and
masses, catching
a glimpse
of bliss
(vol. VI).
Quantum
General relativity theory with gravity Quantum field theory
Adventures: the Adventures: bouncing Adventures: building
night sky, measu- neutrons, under- accelerators, under-
ring curved space, standing tree standing quarks, stars,
exploring black growth (vol. V). bombs and the basis of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
holes and the life, matter, radiation
universe, space (vol. V).
and time (vol. II). How do small
things move?
What are things?
How do
Classical gravity everyday, Special relativity Quantum theory
Adventures: fast and large Adventures: light, Adventures: death,
climbing, skiing, things move? magnetism, length reproduction, biology,
space travel, contraction, time chemistry, evolution,
the wonders of dilation and enjoying colours and
astronomy and E0 = mc2 (vol. II). art, all high-tech
geology (vol. I). business, medicine
G c h, e, k (vol. IV and V).

Galilean physics, heat and electricity

Adventures: sport, music, sailing, cooking,
describing beauty and understanding its origin
(vol. I), using electricity, light and computers,
understanding the brain and people (vol. III).

F I G U R E 1 A complete map of physics: the connections are defined by the speed of light c, the
gravitational constant G, the Planck constant h, the Boltzmann constant k and the elementary charge e.

Advice for learners

In my experience as a teacher, there was one learning method that never failed to trans-
form unsuccessful pupils into successful ones: if you read a book for study, summarize
every section you read, in your own images and words, aloud. If you are unable to do
so, read the section again. Repeat this until you can clearly summarize what you read in
your own images and words, aloud. You can do this alone in a room, or with friends, or
while walking. If you do this with everything you read, you will reduce your learning and
reading time significantly.
The most inefficient learning method is to use a marker or to underline text: it wastes
time, provides false comfort and makes the text unreadable. Nobody marking text is an
 preface 9

efficient learner. Instead, by repeating every section in your own images and words, aloud,
you will save time and money, enjoy learning from good texts much more and hate bad
texts much less. Masters of the method can use it even while listening to a lecture, in a
low voice, thus avoiding to ever take notes.

Using this book

Text in green, as found in many marginal notes, marks a link that can be clicked in a pdf
reader. Such green links are either bibliographic references, footnotes, cross references
to other pages, challenge solutions, or pointers to websites.
Solutions and hints for challenges are given in the appendix. Challenges are classified
as research level (r), difficult (d), standard student level (s) and easy (e). Challenges of
type r, d or s for which no solution has yet been included in the book are marked (ny).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Feedback and support

This text is and will remain free to download from the internet. I would be delighted to
receive an email from you at [email protected], especially on the following issues:
Challenge 1 s — What was unclear and should be improved?
— What story, topic, riddle, picture or movie did you miss?
— What should be corrected?
In order to simplify annotations, the pdf file allows adding yellow sticker notes in
Adobe Reader. Alternatively, you can provide feedback on www.motionmountain.net/
wiki. Help on the specific points listed on the www.motionmountain.net/help.html web
page would be particularly welcome. All feedback will be used to improve the next edi-
tion. On behalf of all readers, thank you in advance for your input. For a particularly
useful contribution you will be mentioned – if you want – in the acknowledgements,
receive a reward, or both.
Your donation to the charitable, tax-exempt non-profit organisation that produces,
translates and publishes this book series is welcome! For details, see the web page www.
motionmountain.net/donation.html. If you want, your name will be included in the
sponsor list. Thank you in advance for your help, on behalf of all readers across the world.
A paper edition of this book, printed on demand and delivered by mail to any ad-
dress, can be ordered at www.lulu.com/spotlight/motionmountain. But above all, enjoy
the reading!
 Contents
14 1 Minimum action – quantum theory for poets
The effects of the quantum of action on rest 17 • The consequences of the quantum
of action for objects 18 • Why ‘quantum’? 20 • The effect of the quantum of action
on motion 22 • The surprises of the quantum of action 24 • Transformation, life
and Democritus 26 • Randomness – a consequence of the quantum of action 29 •
Waves – a consequence of the quantum of action 30 • Particles – a consequence of
the quantum of action 32 • Quantum information 33 • Curiosities and fun chal-
lenges about the quantum of action 34 • The dangers of buying a can of beans 35
• A summary: quantum physics, the law and indoctrination 36
38 2 L ight – the strange consequences of the quantum of action
How do faint lamps behave? 38 • Photons 42 • What is light? 44 • The size
of photons 45 • Are photons countable? – Squeezed light 45 • The positions

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
of photons 47 • Are photons necessary? 50 • Interference: how can a wave be
made up of particles? 52 • Interference of a single photon 54 • Reflection
and diffraction deduced from photon arrows 55 • Refraction and partial reflection
from photon arrows 57 • From photons to waves 57 • Can light move faster than
light? – Virtual photons 58 • Indeterminacy of electric fields 59 • Curiosities and
fun challenges about photons 60 • A summary on light: particle and wave 62
64 3 Motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics
Wine glasses, pencils and atoms – no rest 64 • No infinite precision 65 • Cool
gas 65 • Flows and the quantization of matter 66 • Fluid flows and quan-
tons 66 • Knocking tables and quantized conductivity 66 • Matter quantons and
their motion – matter waves 69 • Mass and acceleration of quantons 70 • Why
are atoms not flat? Why do shapes exist? 71 • Rotation, quantization of angular
momentum, and the lack of north poles 72 • Rotation of quantons 74 • Silver,
Stern and Gerlach – polarization of quantons 75 • Curiosities and fun challenges
about quantum matter 76 • First summary on the motion of quantum particles 77
78 4 The quantum description of mat ter and its motion
States and measurements 78 • Visualizing the wave function: rotating arrows and
probability clouds 80 • The state evolution – the Schrödinger equation 81 • Self-
interference of quantons 83 • The speed of quantons 83 • Dispersion of quan-
tons 84 • Tunnelling and limits on memory – damping of quantons 85 • The
quantum phase 87 • Can two photons interfere? 90 • Can two electron beams in-
terfere? Are there coherent electron beams? 91 • The least action principle in quan-
tum physics 92 • The motion of quantons with spin 94 • Relativistic wave equa-
tions 95 • Composite vs. elementary quantons 97 • Curiosities and fun challenges
about quantum motion of matter 98 • A summary on motion of quantons 100
101 5 Permu tation of particles – are particles like gloves?
Distinguishing macroscopic objects 101 • Distinguishing atoms 102 • Why
does indistinguishability appear in nature? 103 • Can quantum particles be
counted? 104 • What is permutation symmetry? 105 • Indistinguishability and
wave function symmetry 106 • The behaviour of photons 107 • Bunching and
antibunching 107 • The energy dependence of permutation symmetry 108 • In-
distinguishability in quantum field theory 109 • How accurately is permutation
symmetry verified? 110 • Copies, clones and gloves 111 • Summary 112
contents 11

113 6 Rotations and statistics – visualizing spin

Quantum particles and symmetry 113 • Types of quantum particles 116 • Spin
1/2 118 • The belt trick and its extension 118 • Angels, Pauli’s exclusion principle
and the hardness of matter 122 • Is spin a rotation about an axis? 123 • Rotation re-
quires antiparticles 124 • Why is fencing with laser beams impossible? 126 • Spin,
statistics and composition 126 • A summary on spin and indistinguishability 127
• Limits and open questions of quantum statistics 127
129 7 Superpositions and probabilities – quantum theory withou t ide-
olo gy
Why are people either dead or alive? 129 • Macroscopic superpositions, coherence
and incoherence 130 • Decoherence is due to baths 131 • How baths lead to de-
coherence – scattering 132 • How baths lead to decoherence – relaxation 134 •
Summary on decoherence, life and death 136 • What is a system? What is an ob-
ject? 136 • Is quantum theory non-local? A bit about the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
paradox 138 • Curiosities and fun challenges about superpositions 140 • Why do
probabilities and wave function collapse appear in measurements? 142 • Why is ħ
necessary for probabilities? 148 • Hidden variables 148 • Summary on probabili-
ties and determinism 150 • What is the difference between space and time? 152
• Are we good observers? 153 • What relates information theory, cryptology and
quantum theory? 153 • Is the universe a computer? 154 • Does the universe have
a wave function? And initial conditions? 154
156 8 Colours and other interactions bet ween light and mat ter
The causes of colour 156 • Using the rainbow to determine what stars are made
of 165 • What determines the colours of atoms? 166 • The size of atoms 169 •
Relativistic hydrogen 171 • Relativistic wave equations – again 172 • Getting a
first feeling for the Dirac equation 174 • Antimatter 175 • Virtual particles 176 •
Curiosities and fun challenges about colour 177 • Material properties 178 • The
strength of electromagnetism 178 • A summary on colours and materials 180
181 9 Q uantum physics in a nu tshell
Physical results of quantum theory 181 • Results on motion of quantum par-
ticles 182 • Achievements in accuracy and precision 184 • Is quantum theory
magic? 185 • Quantum theory is exact, but can do more 186
187 a Units, measurements and constants
SI units 187 • The meaning of measurement 190 • Planck’s natural units 190 •
Other unit systems 192 • Curiosities and fun challenges about units 193 • Pre-
cision and accuracy of measurements 194 • Limits to precision 195 • Physical
constants 196 • Useful numbers 202
204 b Numbers and vector spaces
Numbers as mathematical structures 204 • Complex numbers 206 • Quater-
nions 207 • Octonions 213 • Other types of numbers 214 • Vector spaces 215 •
Mathematical curiosities and fun challenges 217
219 Challenge hints and solu tions
225 Biblio graphy
241 Credits
Film credits 242 • Image credits 242
 Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
contents
12
The Quantum of Change

In our quest to understand how things move,

we discover that there is a smallest change value in nature,
implying that motion is fuzzy,
that boxes are never tight,
that matter is composed of elementary units,
and that light and interactions are streams of particles.
The smallest change value explains why antimatter exists,
why particles are unlike gloves,
why copying machines do not exist,
why probabilities are reasonable,
and how all colours in nature are formed.
 Chapter 1

MINIMUM ACTION – QUANTUM

THEORY FOR POET S

“ ”
Natura [in operationibus suis] non facit saltus.*
15th century

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
limbing Motion Mountain up to this point, we completed three legs. We
ame across Galileo’s mechanics (the description of motion for kids), then
ontinued with Einstein’s relativity (the description of motion for science-fiction
enthusiasts), and finally explored Maxwell’s electrodynamics (the description of motion
for business people). These three classical descriptions of motion are impressive, beauti-
ful and useful. However, they have a small problem: they are wrong. The reason is simple:
none of them describes life.
Whenever we observe a flower or a butterfly, such as those of Figure 2, we enjoy the
bright colours, the motion, the wild smell, the soft and delicate shape or the fine details
of their symmetries. None of the three classical descriptions of nature can explain any
of these properties; neither do they explain the impression that the flower makes on our
senses. Classical physics can describe certain aspects of the impression, but it cannot
explain their origins. For such an explanation, we need quantum theory. In fact, we will
discover that life and every type of pleasure are examples of quantum motion. Take any
example of a pleasant situation,** such as a beautiful evening sky, a waterfall, a caress
Challenge 2 s or a happy child. Classical physics is not able to explain it: the colours, shapes and sizes
involved remain mysterious.
In the early days of physics, the impossibility to describe life and pleasure was not
seen as a shortcoming, because neither senses nor material properties were thought to
be related to motion – and pleasure was not considered a serious subject of investigation
Vol. I, page 344 for a respectable researcher anyway. However, we have since learned that our senses of
touch, smell and sight are primarily detectors of motion. Without motion, there would be
no senses. Furthermore, all detectors are made of matter. During the exploration on elec-
tromagnetism we began to understand that all properties of matter are due to motions
of charged constituents. Density, stiffness, colour and all other material properties result
Vol. III, page 179 from the electromagnetic behaviour of the Lego bricks of matter: namely, the molecules,
the atoms and the electrons. Thus, the properties of matter are also consequences of mo-
Vol. III, page 193 tion. Moreover, we saw that these tiny constituents are not correctly described by classical
Vol. III, page 125 electrodynamics. We even found that light itself does not behave classically. Therefore the
Ref. 1 * ‘Nature [in its workings] makes no jumps.’
** The photograph on page 13 shows a female glow worm, Lampyris noctiluca, as commonly found in the
United Kingdom (© John Tyler, www.johntyler.co.uk/gwfacts.htm).
 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets 15

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
F I G U R E 2 Examples of quantum machines (© Linda de Volder).

inability of classical physics to describe matter, light and the senses is indeed due to its
intrinsic limitations.
In fact, every failure of classical physics can be traced back to a single, fundamental
Ref. 2 discovery made in 1899 by Max Planck:*

⊳ In nature, action values smaller than ħ = 1.06 ⋅ 10−34 Js are not observed.

All attempts to observe physical actions values smaller than this fail.** In other words,
in nature – as in a good cinema film – there is always some action. The existence of

* Max Planck (1858–1947), professor of physics in Berlin, was a central figure in thermostatics. He discov-
ered and named the Boltzmann constant k and the quantum of action h, often called Planck’s constant. His
introduction of the quantum hypothesis gave birth to quantum theory. He also made the works of Einstein
known in the physical community, and later organized a job for him in Berlin. He received the Nobel Prize
for physics in 1918. He was an important figure in the German scientific establishment; he also was one of
the very few who had the courage to tell Adolf Hitler face to face that it was a bad idea to fire Jewish pro-
fessors. (He got an outburst of anger as answer.) Famously modest, with many tragedies in his personal life,
he was esteemed by everybody who knew him.
** In fact, this story is a slight simplification: the constant originally introduced by Planck was the (unre-
duced) constant h = 2πħ. The factor 2π leading to the final quantum principle was found somewhat later,
by other researchers.
This somewhat unconventional, but didactically useful, approach to quantum theory is due to Niels Bohr.
 16 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets

F I G U R E 3 Max Planck (1858–1947) F I G U R E 4 Niels Bohr

(1885–1962)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
a smallest action value – the so-called quantum principle – is in complete contrast with
Challenge 3 s classical physics. (Why?) Despite this contrast, the quantum principle has passed an enor-
mous number of experimental tests, many of which we will encounter in this part of our
mountain ascent. Above all, the quantum principle has never failed even a single test.
The fundamental constant ħ, which is pronounced ‘aitch-bar’, is called the quantum of
action, or alternatively Planck’s constant. Planck discovered the quantum principle when
Vol. III, page 125 studying the properties of incandescent light, i.e., of light emanating from hot bodies.
But the quantum principle also applies to motion of matter, and even, as we will see later,
to motion of space-time.
The quantum principle states that no experiment can measure an action smaller than
ħ. For a long time, Einstein tried to devise experiments to overcome this limit. But he
failed in all his attempts: nature does not allow it, as Bohr showed again and again. We
recall that in physics – as in the theatre – action is a measure for the change occurring in
Vol. I, page 213 a system. The quantum principle can thus rephrased as

⊳ In nature, a change smaller than ħ = 1.06 ⋅ 10−34 Js cannot be observed.

Therefore, a minimum action implies that there is a smallest change value in nature. If we
compare two observations, there will always be change between them. Thus the quantum
of action would perhaps be better named the quantum of change.
Can a minimum change really exist in nature? To accept the idea, we need to explore
three points, detailed in Table 1. We need to show that no smaller change is observed in
nature, that no smaller change can ever be observed, and show that all consequences of
this smallest change, however weird they may be, apply to nature. In fact, this exploration

Ref. 3, Ref. 4 Nowadays, it is hardly ever encountered in the literature, despite its simplicity.
Niels Bohr (b. 1885 Copenhagen, d. 1962 Copenhagen) was one of the great figures of modern physics.
A daring thinker and a polite man, he made Copenhagen University into the new centre of development of
quantum theory, overshadowing Göttingen. He developed the description of the atom in terms of quantum
theory, for which he received the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics. He had to flee Denmark in 1943 after the
German invasion, because of his Jewish background, but returned there after the war, continuing to attract
the best physicists across the world.
 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets 17

TA B L E 1 How to convince yourself and others that there is a minimum

action, or minimum change ħ in nature. Compare this table with the two
tables in volume II, that about maximum speed on page 23, and that
about maximum force on page 99.

Issue Method

The action value ħ is check all observations

observer-invariant
Local change or action values < ħ check all observations
are not observed
Change or action values < ħ are check all observations
either non-local or not due to
energy transport
Local change or action values < ħ check all attempts
cannot be produced

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Local change or action values < ħ solve all paradoxes
cannot be imagined
A smallest local change or action 1 – show that all
value ħ is consistent consequences, however
weird, are confirmed by
observation
2 – deduce quantum theory
from it and check it

constitutes all of quantum physics. Therefore, these checks are all we do in the remaining
of this part of our adventure. But before we explore some of the experiments that con-
firm the existence of a smallest change, we directly present some of its more surprising
consequences.

The effects of the quantum of action on rest

Since action is a measure of change, a minimum observable action means that two suc-
cessive observations of the same system always differ by at least ħ. In every system, there
is always something happening. As a consequence we find:

⊳ In nature there is no rest.

Page 14 Everything moves, all the time, at least a little bit. Natura facit saltus.* True, these jumps
are tiny, as ħ is too small to be observable by any of our senses. Nevertheless, rest can be
observed only macroscopically, and only as a long-time or many-particle average.
The quantum of action implies that in a mountain – an archetypal ‘system at rest’ – all
the atoms and electrons are continually buzzing around. In short, there is motion inside
matter.
Since there is a minimum action for all observers, and since there is no rest, we de-
duce:
* ‘Nature makes jumps.’
 18 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets

⊳ In nature there is no perfectly straight or perfectly uniform motion.

Forget all you have learnt so far: Inertial motion is an approximation! An object can
move in straight, uniform motion only approximately, and only when observed over long
distances or long times. We will see later that the more massive the object is, the better
Challenge 4 s the approximation is. (Can you confirm this?) So macroscopic observers can still talk
about space-time symmetries; and special relativity can thus be reconciled with quantum
theory.
Also free fall, or motion along a geodesic, exists only as a long-time average. So gen-
eral relativity, which is based on the existence of freely-falling observers, cannot be cor-
rect when actions of the order of ħ are involved. Indeed, the reconciliation of the quan-
tum principle with general relativity – and thus with curved space – is a big challenge.
(The solution is simple only for weak, everyday fields.) The issues involved are so mind-
shattering that they form a separate, final, part of this mountain ascent. We thus explore

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
situations without gravity first.

The consequences of the quantum of action for objects

Have you ever wondered why leaves are green? You probably know that they are green
because they absorb blue (short-wavelength) and red (long-wavelength) light, while al-
lowing green (medium-wavelength) light to be reflected. How can a system filter out the
small and the large, and let the middle pass through? To do so, leaves must somehow
measure the frequency. But we have seen that classical physics does not allow measure-
ment of time (or length) intervals, as any measurement requires a measurement unit,
Vol. I, page 370 and classical physics does not allow such units to be defined. On the other hand, it takes
only a few lines to confirm that with the help of the quantum of action ħ (and the Boltz-
mann constant k, both of which Planck discovered), fundamental units for all measur-
able quantities can be defined, including time and therefore frequency. (Can you find
a combination of the speed of light c, the gravitational constant G and the quantum of
Challenge 5 s action ħ that gives a time? It will only take a few minutes.)
Measurements are only possible at all because of the existence of the quantum of ac-
tion.

⊳ Measurements are quantum effects.

When Planck saw that the quantum of action allowed defining all units in nature, he was
as happy as a child; he knew straight away that he had made a fundamental discovery,
even though (in 1899) quantum theory did not yet exist. He even told his seven-year-old
Ref. 5 son Erwin about it, while walking with him through the woods around Berlin. Planck
explained to his son that he had made a discovery as important as universal gravity. In-
deed, Planck knew that he had found the key to understanding many of the effects that
were then unexplained.

⊳ In nature, all times and all frequencies are due to the quantum of action.

All processes that take time are quantum processes. If you prefer, waiting is a quantum
 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets 19

effect! In particular, without the quantum of action, oscillations and waves could not
exist:

⊳ Every colour is a quantum effect.

But this* is not all.

Planck also realized that the quantum of action allows us to understand the size of all
things.

⊳ Every size is a quantum effect.

Challenge 7 e Can you find the combination of c, G and ħ that yields a length? With the quantum of
action, it was finally possible to determine the maximum size of mountains, of trees and
Vol. I, page 287 of humans. Planck knew that the quantum of action confirmed what Galileo had already

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
deduced long before him: that sizes are due to fundamental, smallest scales in nature.
The size of objects is related to the size of atoms. In turn, the size of atoms is a direct
consequence of the quantum of action. Can you derive an approximation for the size
of atoms, knowing that it is given by the motion of electrons of mass me and charge e,
Challenge 8 s constrained by the quantum of action? This connection, a simple formula, was discovered
in 1910 by Arthur Erich Haas, 15 years before quantum theory was formulated.

⊳ Atom sizes are quantum effects.

At the time, Haas was widely ridiculed. Nowadays, his formula is found in all textbooks,
Page 169 including this one.**
In determining the size of atoms, the quantum of action has another important con-
sequence:

⊳ Gulliver’s travels are impossible.

There are no tiny people and no giant ones. Classically, nothing speaks against the idea;
Challenge 9 s but the quantum of action prevents it. Can you supply the detailed argument?
But if rest does not exist, how can shapes exist? Any shape of everyday life, includ-
ing that of a flower, is the result of body parts remaining at rest with respect to each
other. Now, all shapes result from interactions between the constituents of matter, as
shown most clearly in the shapes of molecules. But how can a molecule, such as the wa-
ter molecule H2 O, shown in Figure 5, have a shape? In fact, a molecule does not have a
fixed shape, but its shape fluctuates, as would be expected from the quantum of action.
Despite the fluctuations, every molecule does have an average shape, because different
angles and distances correspond to different energies. Again, these average length and

* In fact, it is also possible to define all measurement units in terms of the speed of light c, the gravitational
Challenge 6 s constant G and the electron charge e. Why is this not fully satisfactory?
** Before the discovery of ħ, the only simple length scale for the electron was the combination
e 2 /(4πε0 me c 2 ) ≈ 3 fm; this is ten thousand times smaller than an atom. We also note that any length scale
containing e is a quantum effect, and not a classical length scale, because e is the quantum of electric charge.
20 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets

F I G U R E 5 An artist’s impression of a water molecule.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
F I G U R E 6 Max Born (1882–1970)

angle values only exist because the quantum of action yields fundamental length scales
in nature. Without the quantum of action, there would be no shapes in nature.

⊳ All shapes are quantum effects.

All shapes in everyday life are due to molecular shapes, or to their generalizations.
The mass of an object is also a consequence of the quantum of action, as we will see
later on. Since all material properties – such as density, colour, stiffness or polarizability
– are defined as combinations of length, time and mass units, we find:

⊳ All material properties arise from the quantum of action.

In short, the quantum of action determines the size, shape, colour, mass, and all other
properties of objects, from stones to whipped cream.

Why ‘quantum’?
Quantum effects surround us on all sides. However, since the quantum of action is so
small, its effects on motion appear mostly, but not exclusively, in microscopic systems.
The study of such systems was called quantum mechanics by Max Born, one of the major
1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets 21

TA B L E 2 Some small systems in motion and the observed action values for their changes.

System and change Action Motion

Light
Smallest amount of light absorbed by a coloured surface 1ħ quantum
Smallest impact when light reflects from mirror 2ħ quantum
Smallest consciously visible amount of light c. 5 ħ quantum
Smallest amount of light absorbed in flower petal 1ħ quantum
Blackening of photographic film c. 3 ħ quantum
Photographic flash c. 1017 ħ classical
Electricity
Electron ejected from atom or molecule c. 1–2 ħ quantum
Electron extracted from metal c. 1–2 ħ quantum

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Electron motion inside microprocessor c. 2–6 ħ quantum
Signal transport in nerves, from one molecule to the next c. 5 ħ quantum
Current flow in lightning bolt c. 1038 ħ classical
Materials
Tearing apart two neighbouring iron atoms c. 1–2 ħ quantum
Breaking a steel bar c. 1035 ħ classical
Basic process in superconductivity 1ħ quantum
Basic process in transistors 1ħ quantum
Basic magnetization process 1ħ quantum
Chemistry
Atom collision in liquid at room temperature 1ħ quantum
Shape oscillation of water molecule c. 1 − 5 ħ quantum
Shape change of molecule, e.g. in chemical reaction c. 1 − 5 ħ quantum
Single chemical reaction curling a hair c. 2 − 6 ħ quantum
Tearing apart two mozzarella molecules c. 300 ħ quantum
Smelling one molecule c. 10 ħ quantum
Burning fuel in a cylinder in an average car engine explosion c. 1037 ħ classical
Life
Air molecule hitting eardrum c. 2 ħ quantum
Smallest sound signal detectable by the ear Challenge 10 ny
Single DNA duplication step during cell division c. 100 ħ quantum
Ovule fertilization c. 1014 ħ classical
Smallest step in molecular motor c. 5 ħ quantum
Sperm motion by one cell length c. 1015 ħ classical
Cell division c. 1019 ħ classical
Fruit fly’s wing beat c. 1024 ħ classical
Person walking one body length c. 2 ⋅ 1036 ħ classical
Nuclei and stars
Nuclear fusion reaction in star c. 1 − 5 ħ quantum
Explosion of gamma-ray burster c. 1080 ħ classical
 22 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets

contributors to the field.* Later, the term quantum theory became more popular.
Quantum theory arises from the existence of smallest measurable values in nature,
generalizing the idea that Galileo had in the seventeenth century. As discussed in detail
Vol. I, page 285 earlier on, it was Galileo’s insistence on ‘piccolissimi quanti’ – smallest quanta – of matter
that got him into trouble. We will soon discover that the idea of a smallest change is nec-
essary for a precise and accurate description of matter and of nature as a whole. Therefore
Born adopted Galileo’s term for the new branch of physics and called it ‘Quantentheorie’
or ‘theory of quanta’. The English language adopted the Latin singular ‘quantum’ instead
of the plural used in most other languages.
Note that the term ‘quantum’ does not imply that all measurement values are multiples
of a smallest one: this is so only in a few cases.
Quantum theory is the description of microscopic motion. Quantum theory is neces-
sary whenever a process produces an action value of the order of the quantum of action.
Table 2 shows that all processes on atomic and molecular scales, including biological

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
and chemical processes, are quantum processes. So do processes of light emission and
absorption. These phenomena can only be described with quantum theory.
Table 2 also shows that the term ‘microscopic’ has a different meaning for a physicist
and for a biologist. For a biologist, a system is ‘microscopic’ if it requires a microscope
for its observation. For a physicist, a system is microscopic if its characteristic action is of
the order of the quantum of action. In other words, for a physicist a system is usually mi-
croscopic if it is not even visible in a (light) microscope. To increase the confusion, some
quantum physicists nowadays call their own class of microscopic systems ‘mesoscopic’,
while others call their systems ‘nanoscopic’. Both terms were introduced only to attract
attention and funding: they are useless.

The effect of the quantum of action on motion

There is another way to characterize the difference between a microscopic, or quantum,
system and a macroscopic, or classical, one. A smallest action implies that the difference
between the action values S of two successive observations of the same system, a time Δt
apart, cannot vanish. We have

ħ
S(t + Δt) − S(t) = (E + ΔE)(t + Δt) − Et = EΔt + tΔE + ΔEΔt ⩾ . (1)
2

* Max Born (b. 1882 Breslau, d. 1970 Göttingen) first studied mathematics, then turned to physics. A profes-
sor at Göttingen University, he made the city one of the world centres of physics. He developed quantum
mechanics with his assistants Werner Heisenberg and Pascual Jordan, and then applied it to scattering, solid-
state physics, optics and liquids. He was the first to understand that the state function describes a probability
Ref. 6 amplitude. Born and Wolf together wrote what is still the main textbook on optics.
Born attracted to Göttingen the most brilliant talents of the time, receiving as visitors Hund, Pauli, Nord-
heim, Oppenheimer, Goeppert-Mayer, Condon, Pauling, Fock, Frenkel, Tamm, Dirac, Mott, Klein, Heitler,
London, von Neumann, Teller, Wigner, and dozens of others. Being Jewish, Born lost his job in 1933, when
criminals took over the German government. He emigrated, and became professor in Edinburgh, where he
stayed for 20 years. Physics at Göttingen never recovered from this loss. For his elucidation of the meaning
of the wave function he received the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics.
 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets 23

F I G U R E 7 Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976)

The factor 1/2 arises from averaging. Now the values of the energy E and time t – but not

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
of ΔE or Δt – can be set to zero if we choose a suitable observer. Thus, the existence of a
quantum of action implies that in any system the evolution is constrained by

ħ
ΔEΔt ⩾ , (2)
2
where E is the energy of the system and t is its age, so that ΔE is the change of energy
and Δt is the time between two successive observations.
Challenge 11 e By a similar reasoning, we find that for any physical system the position and momen-
tum are constrained by
ħ
ΔxΔp ⩾ , (3)
2
where Δx is the indeterminacy in position and Δp is the indeterminacy in momen-
tum. These two famous relations were called indeterminacy relations by their discoverer,
Werner Heisenberg.* In English they are often called ‘uncertainty relations’; however,
this term is incorrect. The quantities are not uncertain, but undetermined. Because of the
quantum of action, system observables have no definite value. There is no way to ascribe
a precise value to momentum, position, or any other observable of a quantum system.

* It is often said that the indeterminacy relation for energy and time has a different weight from that for
momentum and position. This is a wrong idea, propagated by the older generation of physicists, which has
survived through many textbooks for over 70 years. Just forget it. It is essential to remember that all four
quantities appearing in the inequalities describe the internal properties of the system. In particular, t is a
time variable deduced from changes observed inside the system, and not the time coordinate measured by
an outside clock; similarly, the position x is not the external space coordinate, but the position characteriz-
Ref. 7 ing the system.
Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976) was an important German theoretical physicist and an excellent table-
tennis and tennis player. In 1925, as a young man, he developed, with some help from Max Born and Pas-
cual Jordan, the first version of quantum theory; from it he deduced the indeterminacy relations. For these
achievements he received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1932. He also worked on nuclear physics and on
turbulence. During the Second World War, he worked on the German nuclear-fission programme. After the
war, he published several successful books on philosophical questions in physics, slowly turned into a crank,
and tried unsuccessfully – with some half-hearted help from Wolfgang Pauli – to find a unified description
of nature based on quantum theory, the ‘world formula’.
 24 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets

Any system whose indeterminacy is of the order of ħ is a quantum system; if the

indeterminacy product is much larger, the system is classical, and classical physics is
sufficient for its description. So even though classical physics assumes that there are no
measurement indeterminacies in nature, a system is classical only if its indeterminacies
are large compared to the minimum possible ones!
In short, quantum theory is necessary whenever we try to measure some quantity as
precisely as possible. In fact, every measurement is itself a quantum process. And the
indeterminacy relation implies that measurement precision is limited. The quantum of
action shows that motion cannot be observed to infinite precision. In other words, the mi-
croscopic world is fuzzy. This fact has many important consequences and many strange
ones. For example, if motion cannot be observed with infinite precision, the very con-
cept of motion needs to be handled with great care, as it cannot be applied in certain
situations. In a sense, the rest of our quest is just an exploration of the implications of
this result.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
In fact, as long as space-time is flat, it turns out that we can retain the concept of
motion to describe observations, provided we remain aware of the limitations implied
by the quantum principle.

The surprises of the quantum of action

The quantum of action ħ implies a fuzziness of all motion. This fuzziness also implies
the existence of short-time deviations from energy, momentum and angular-momentum
conservation in microscopic systems. For general assurance it must be stressed that for
long observation times – surely for all times longer than a microsecond – conservation
Vol. I, page 204 holds. But in the first part of our mountain ascent, we realized that any type of non-
conservation implies the existence of surprises in nature. Well, here are some of them.
Since precisely uniform motion does not exist, a system moving in one dimension
only – such as the hand of a clock – always has the possibility of moving a bit in the
opposite direction, thus leading to incorrect readings. Indeed, quantum theory predicts
that clocks have essential limitations:

⊳ Perfect clocks do not exist.

The deep implications of this statement will become clear step by step.
It is also impossible to avoid that an object makes small displacement sideways. In
fact, quantum theory implies that, strictly speaking,

⊳ Neither uniform nor one-dimensional motion exists.

Also this statement harbours many additional surprises.

Quantum limitations apply also to metre rules. It is impossible to ensure that the rule
is completely at rest with respect to the object being measured. Thus the quantum of
action implies again, on the one hand, that measurements are possible, and on the other
hand:

⊳ Measurement accuracy is limited.

 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets 25

It also follows from the quantum of action that any inertial or freely-falling observer
must be large, as only large systems approximate inertial motion.

⊳ An observer cannot be microscopic.

If humans were not macroscopic, they could neither observe nor study motion.
Because of the finite accuracy with which microscopic motion can be observed, faster-
than-light motion is possible in the microscopic domain! Quantum theory thus predicts
tachyons, at least over short time intervals. For the same reason,

⊳ Motion backwards in time is possible over microscopic times and distances.

In short, a quantum of action implies the existence of microscopic time travel. However,
this remains impossible in the macroscopic domain, such as everyday life.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
But there is more. Imagine a moving car suddenly disappearing for good. In such
a situation, neither momentum nor energy would be conserved. The action change for
such a disappearance is large compared to ħ, so that its observation would contradict
Challenge 12 s even classical physics – as you may wish to check. However, the quantum of action al-
lows a microscopic particle, such as an electron, to disappear for a short time, provided it
reappears afterwards.

⊳ The quantum of action implies that there is no permanence in nature.

The quantum of action also implies:

⊳ The vacuum is not empty.

If one looks at empty space twice, the two observations being separated by a tiny time in-
terval, some energy will be observed the second time. If the time interval is short enough,
then because of the quantum of action, matter particles will be observed. Indeed, parti-
cles can appear anywhere from nowhere, and disappear just afterwards: the action limit
requires it. In summary, nature exhibits short-term appearance and disappearance of
matter. In other words, the classical idea of an empty vacuum is correct only when the
vacuum is observed over a long time.
The quantum of action implies that compass needles cannot work. If we look twice in
quick succession at a compass needle, or even at a house, we usually observe that it stays
oriented in the same direction. But since physical action has the same dimensions as
Challenge 13 e angular momentum, a minimum value for action implies a minimum value for angular
momentum. Even a macroscopic object has a minimum value for its rotation. In other
words, quantum theory predicts

⊳ Everything rotates.

An object can be non-rotating only approximately, when observations are separated by

long time intervals.
For microscopic systems, the quantum limits on rotation have specific effects. If the ro-
 26 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets

E
m p

0 Δx F I G U R E 8 Hills are never high

enough.

tation angle can be observed – as for molecules – the system behaves like a macroscopic
object: its position and orientation are fuzzy. But for a system whose rotation angle can-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
not be observed, the quantum of action limits the angular momentum to multiples of
ħ/2. In particular, all microscopic bound systems – such as molecules, atoms, or nuclei
– contain rotational motion and rotating components.

Transformation, life and Democritus

At the beginning of our adventure, we mentioned that the Greeks distinguished three
Vol. I, page 20 types of changes: transport, growth, and transformation. We also mentioned that Dem-
ocritus had deduced that all these types of changes – including life and death – were in
fact the same, and due to the motion of atoms. The quantum of action makes exactly this
point.
First of all, a minimum action implies that cages in zoos are dangerous and banks are
not safe. A cage is a feature that needs a lot of energy to overcome. Physically speaking,
the wall of a cage is an energy hill, resembling the real hill shown in Figure 8. Imagine
that a particle with momentum p approaches one side of the hill, which is assumed to
have width Δx.
In everyday life – and thus in classical physics – the particle will never be observed
on the other side of the hill if its kinetic energy p2 /2m is less than the height E of the
hill. But imagine that the missing momentum to overcome the hill, Δp = 󵀂2mE − p,
satisfies ΔxΔp ⩽ ħ/2. The particle will have the possibility to overcome the hill, despite
its insufficient energy. The quantum of action thus implies that a hill of width

ħ/2
Δx ⩽ (4)
󵀂2mE − p

is not an obstacle to a particle of mass m. But this is not all. Since the value of the particle
momentum p is itself uncertain, a particle can overcome the hill even if the hill is wider
than the value (4) – although the broader it is, the lower the probability will be. So any
particle can overcome any obstacle. This is called the tunnelling effect, for obvious reasons.
Classically, tunnelling is impossible. In quantum theory, the feat is possible, because the
wave function does not vanish at the location of the hill; sloppily speaking, the wave
function is non-zero inside the hill. It thus will be also non-zero behind the hill. As a
result, quantum systems can penetrate or ‘tunnel’ through hills.
 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets 27

E1

m E2

F I G U R E 9 Leaving enclosures.

In short, the minimum-action principle implies that there are no tight boxes in nature.
Thanks to the tunnelling effect,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
⊳ Matter is not impenetrable.

The penetrability of all matter is in contrast to everyday, classical observation. Can you
Challenge 14 s explain why lion cages work despite the quantum of action?
By the way, the quantum of action also implies that a particle with a kinetic energy
greater than the energy height of a hill can be reflected by the hill. Also this effect is
impossible in classical physics.
The minimum-action principle also implies that bookshelves are dangerous. Why?
Shelves are obstacles to motion. A book on a shelf is in the same situation as the mass in
Figure 9: the mass is surrounded by energy hills hindering its escape to the outer, lower-
energy world. But thanks to the tunnelling effect, escape is always possible. The same
picture applies to a branch of a tree, a nail in a wall, or anything attached to anything else.
Things can never be permanently fixed together. In particular, we will discover that every
example of light emission – even radioactivity – results from this effect. The quantum of
action thus implies that

⊳ Decay is part of nature.

Note that decay often appears in everyday life, under a different name: breaking. In fact,
Ref. 8 all breakages require the quantum of action for their description. Obviously, the cause
of breaking is often classical, but the mechanism of breaking is always quantum. Only
objects that obey quantum theory can break. In short, there are no stable excited systems
in nature. For the same reason, by the way, no memory can be perfect. (Can you confirm
Challenge 15 s this?)
Taking a more general view, ageing and death also result from the quantum of action.
Death, like ageing, is a composition of breaking processes. When dying, the mechanisms
in a living being break. Breaking is a form of decay, and is due to tunnelling. Death is
thus a quantum process. Classically, death does not exist. Might this be the reason why
Challenge 16 s so many people believe in immortality or eternal youth?
We will also discover that the quantum of action is the reason for the importance of
the action observable in classical physics. In fact, the existence of a smallest action is the
reason for the least-action principle of classical physics.
 28 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets

m
F I G U R E 10 Identical objects with
crossing paths.

A minimum action also implies that matter cannot be continuous, but must be com-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
posed of smallest entities. Indeed, any flow of a truly continuous material would contra-
Challenge 17 s dict the quantum principle. Can you give the precise argument? Of course, at this point
in our adventure, the non-continuity of matter is no longer a surprise. But the quantum
of action implies that even radiation cannot be continuous. As Albert Einstein was the
first to state clearly, light is made of quantum particles.
Even more generally, the quantum of action implies that in nature

⊳ All flows and all waves are made of microscopic particles.

The term ‘microscopic’ (or ‘quantum’) is essential, as such particles do not behave like
little stones. We have already encountered several differences, and we will encounter oth-
ers shortly. For these reasons, there should be a special name for microscopic particles;
but so far all proposals, of which quanton is the most popular, have failed to catch on.
The quantum of action has several strange consequences for microscopic particles.
Take two such particles with the same mass and composition. Imagine that their paths
cross, and that at the crossing they approach each other very closely, as shown in
Figure 10. A minimum action implies that in such a situation, if the distance becomes
small enough, the two particles can switch roles, without anybody being able to avoid, or
notice, it. Thus, in a volume of gas it is impossible – thanks to the quantum of action – to
follow particles moving around and to say which particle is which. Can you confirm this
Challenge 18 s deduction, and specify the conditions, using the indeterminacy relations? In summary

⊳ In nature it is impossible to distinguish between identical particles.

Challenge 19 s Can you guess what happens in the case of light?

But matter deserves still more attention. Imagine again two particles – even two dif-
ferent ones – approaching each other very closely, as shown in Figure 11. We know that if
the approach distance gets small, things get fuzzy. Now, the minimum-action principle
makes it possible for something to happen in that small domain as long as resulting out-
going products have the same total linear momentum, angular momentum and energy as
the incoming ones. Indeed, ruling out such processes would imply that arbitrarily small
actions could be observed, thus eliminating nature’s fuzziness, as you may wish to check
 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets 29

M
m1

m2

m
m3
F I G U R E 11 Transformation through
reaction.

Challenge 20 e for yourself. In short,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
⊳ The quantum of action allows transformation of matter.

One also says that the quantum of action allows particle reactions. In fact, we will dis-
cover that all kinds of reactions in nature, including breathing, digestion, and all other
chemical and nuclear reactions, are due just to the existence of the quantum of action.
One type of process that is especially dear to us is growth. The quantum of action
implies that all growth happens in small steps. Indeed,

⊳ All growth processes in nature are quantum processes.

Above all, as mentioned already, the quantum of action explains life. Only the quantum
of action makes reproduction and heredity possible. Birth, sexuality and death are con-
sequences of the quantum of action.
So Democritus was both right and wrong. He was right in deducing fundamental
constituents for matter and radiation. He was right in unifying all change in nature –
from transport to transformation and growth – as motion of particles. But he was wrong
in assuming that the small particles behave like stones. The smallest particles behave like
quantons: they behave randomly, and they behave partly as waves and partly as particles.

Randomness – a consequence of the quantum of action

What happens if we try to measure a change smaller than the quantum of action? Nature
has a simple answer: we get random results. If we build an experiment that tries to pro-
duce a change or action of the size of a quarter of the quantum of action, the experiment
will produce a change of one quantum of action in a quarter of the cases, and no change
in three quarters of the cases, thus giving an average of one quarter of ħ.
The quantum of action leads to randomness at microscopic level. This can be seen also
in the following way. Because of the indeterminacy relations, it is impossible to obtain
definite values for both the momentum and the position of a particle. Obviously, this is
also impossible for the individual components of an experimental set-up or an observer.
Therefore, initial conditions – both for a system and for an experimental set-up – cannot
30 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets

F I G U R E 12 A famous quantum effect: how do train windows manage to show two superimposed
images? (photo © Greta Mansour).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
be exactly duplicated. A minimum action thus implies that whenever an experiment on
a microscopic system is performed twice, the outcomes will (usually) be different. The
outcomes could only be the same if both the system and the observer were in exactly the
same configuration each time. However, because of the second principle of thermody-
namics and because of the quantum of action, this is impossible. Therefore,

⊳ Microscopic systems behave randomly.

Obviously, there will be some average outcome; but in all cases, microscopic observations
are probabilistic. Many find this conclusion of quantum theory the most difficult to swal-
low. The quantum of action implies that the behaviour of quantum systems is strikingly
different from that of classical systems. But the conclusion is unavoidable: nature behaves
randomly.
Can we observe randomness in everyday life? Yes. Every window proves that nature
behaves randomly on a microscopic scale. Everybody knows that one can use a train
window either to look at the outside landscape or, by concentrating on the reflected im-
age, to observe some interesting person inside the carriage. In other words, observations
like that of Figure 12 show that glass reflects some of the light particles and lets some
others pass through. More precisely, glass reflects a random selection of light particles;
yet the average proportion is constant. Partial reflection is thus similar to the tunnelling
effect. Indeed, the partial reflection of photons in glass is a result of the quantum of ac-
tion. Again, the situation can be described by classical physics, but the precise amount of
reflection cannot be explained without quantum theory.

⊳ Quantons move randomly.

Without the quantum of action, train journeys would be much more boring.

Waves – a consequence of the quantum of action

The quantum of action implies an important result about the paths of particles. If a par-
ticle travels from one point to another, there is no way to say which path it has taken
 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets 31

F I G U R E 13 A particle and a screen with two nearby slits.

in between. Indeed, in order to distinguish between two possible, but slightly different,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
paths, actions smaller than ħ would have to be measured reliably. In particular, if a par-
ticle is sent through a screen with two sufficiently close slits, as illustrated in Figure 13,
it is impossible to say which slit the particle passed through. This impossibility is funda-
mental.
We already know phenomena of motion for which it is not possible to say with preci-
sion how something moves or which path is taken behind two slits: waves behave in this
Vol. I, page 267 way. All waves are subject to the indeterminacy relations

1 1
ΔωΔt ⩾ and ΔkΔx ⩾ . (5)
2 2
A wave is a type of motion described by a phase that changes over space and time. This
turns out to hold for all motion. In particular, this holds for matter.
We saw above that quantum systems are subject to

ħ ħ
ΔEΔt ⩾ and ΔpΔx ⩾ . (6)
2 2
We are thus led to ascribe a frequency and a wavelength to a quantum system:

2π
E = ħω and p = ħk = ħ . (7)
λ
The energy–frequency relation for light and the equivalent momentum–wavelength rela-
tion were deduced by Max Planck in 1899. In the years from 1905 onwards, Albert Ein-
stein confirmed that the relations are valid for all examples of emission and absorption
of light. In 1923 and 1924, Louis de Broglie* predicted that the relation should hold also
for all quantum matter particles. The experimental confirmation came a few years later.
* Louis de Broglie (b. 1892 Dieppe, d. 1987 Paris), French physicist and professor at the Sorbonne. The
energy–frequency relation for light had earned Max Planck and Albert Einstein the Nobel Prize for Physics,
in 1918 and 1921. De Broglie expanded the relation to predict the wave nature of the electron (and of all other
quantum matter particles): this was the essence of his doctoral thesis. The prediction was first confirmed
experimentally a few years later, in 1927. For the prediction of the wave nature of matter, de Broglie received
 32 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets

Page 67 (This is thus another example of a discovery that was made about 20 years too late.) In
short, the quantum of action implies:

⊳ Matter particles behave like waves.

In particular, the quantum of action implies the existence of interference for streams of
matter.

Particles – a consequence of the quantum of action

The quantum of action, the smallest change, implies that flows cannot be arbitrary weak.
Vol. I, page 316 This applies to all flows: in particular, it applies to rivers, solid matter flows, gas flows,
light beams, energy flows, entropy flows, momentum flows, angular momentum flows,
probability flows, signals of all kind, electrical charge flows, colour charge flows and weak

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
charge flows.
Water flows in rivers, like any other matter flow, cannot be arbitrary small: the quan-
tum of action implies that there is a smallest matter flow in nature. Depending on the
situation, the smallest matter flow is a molecule, an atom or a smaller particle. Indeed,
the quantum of action is also at the origin of the observation of a smallest charge in
electric current. Since all matter can flow, the quantum of action implies:

⊳ All matter has particle aspects.

In the same way, the quantum of action, the smallest change, implies that light cannot
be arbitrarily faint. There is a smallest illumination in nature; it is called a photon or a
light quantum. Now, light is a wave, and the argument can be made for any other wave
as well. In short, the quantum of action thus implies:

⊳ All waves have particle aspects.

This has been proved for light waves, water waves, X rays, sound waves, plasma waves,
fluid whirls and any other wave type that has ever been observed. (Gravitational waves
have not yet been observed; it is expected that their particle-like aspects, the gravitons,
exist also in this case.)
In summary, the quantum of action states:

⊳ If something moves, it is made of quantum particles, or quantons.

Later on we will explore and specify the exact differences between a quantum particle and
a small stone or a grain of sand. We will discover that matter quantons move differently,
behave differently under rotation, and behave differently under exchange.

the Nobel Prize for physics in 1929. Being an aristocrat, he did no more research after that. For example, it
was Schrödinger who then wrote down the wave equation, even though de Broglie could equally have done
so.
 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets 33

Quantum information
In computer science, the smallest unit of change is called a ‘bit change’. The existence of a
smallest change in nature implies that computer science – or information science – can
be used to describe nature, and in particular quantum theory. This analogy has attracted
much research in the past decades, and explored many interesting questions: Is unlimited
information storage possible? Can information be read out and copied completely? Can
information be transmitted while keeping it secret? Can information transmission and
storage be performed independently of noise? Can quantum physics be used to make
new types of computers? So far, the answer to all these questions is negative; but the
hope to change the situation is not dead yet.
The analogy between quantum theory and information science is limited: information
science can describe only the ‘software’ side of devices. For a physicist, the ‘hardware’ side
of nature is central. The hardware of nature enters the description whenever the actual

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
value ħ of the quantum of action must be introduced.
As we explore the similarities and differences between nature and information science,
we will discover that the quantum of action implies that macroscopic physical systems
cannot be copied – or ‘cloned’, as quantum theorists like to say. Nature does not allow
copies of macroscopic objects. In other words:

⊳ Perfect copying machines do not exist.

The quantum of action makes it impossible to gather and use all information in a way
that allows production of a perfect copy.
The exploration of copying machines will remind us again that the precise order in
which measurements are performed in an experiment matters. When the order of mea-
surements can be reversed without affecting the net result, physicists speak of ‘commu-
tation’. The quantum of action implies:

⊳ Physical observables do not commute.

We will also find that the quantum of action implies that systems are not always in-
Page 137 dependent, but can be entangled. This term, introduced by Erwin Schrödinger, describes
one of the most absurd consequences of quantum theory. Entanglement makes every-
thing in nature connected to everything else. Entanglement produces effects that seem
(but are not) faster than light.

⊳ Entanglement produces a (fake) form of non-locality.

Ref. 9 Entanglement implies that trustworthy communication cannot exist.

We will also discover that decoherence is an ubiquitous process in nature that influ-
ences all quantum systems; it allows measurements on the one hand and makes quantum
Page 142 computers impossible on the other.
 34 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets

Curiosities and fun challenges about the quantum of action

Even if we accept that no experiment performed so far contradicts the minimum action,
we still have to check that the minimum action does not contradict reason. In particular,
the minimum action must also be consistent with all imagined experiments. This is not
self-evident.
∗∗
When electromagnetic fields come into play, the value of the action (usually) depends on
the choice of the vector potential, and thus on the choice of gauge. We saw in the part
Vol. III, page 76 on electrodynamics that a suitable choice of gauge can change the value of the action
by adding or subtracting any desired amount. Nevertheless, there is a smallest action in
nature. This is possible, because in quantum theory, physical gauge changes cannot add
or subtract any amount, but only multiples of twice the minimum value. Thus they do

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
not allow us to go below the minimum action.
∗∗
Adult plants stop growing in the dark. Without light, the reactions necessary for growth
Challenge 21 s cease. Can you show that this is a quantum effect, not explainable by classical physics?
∗∗
Most quantum processes in everyday life are electromagnetic. Can you show that the
quantum of action must also hold for nuclear processes, i.e., for processes that are not
Challenge 22 s electromagnetic?
∗∗
Challenge 23 s Is the quantum of action independent of the observer, even near the speed of light? This
question was the reason why Planck contacted the young Einstein, inviting him to Berlin,
thus introducing him to the international physics community.
∗∗
The quantum of action implies that tiny people, such as Tom Thumb, cannot exist. The
quantum of action implies that fractals cannot exist in nature. The quantum of action
implies that ‘Moore’s law’ of semiconductor electronics, which states that the number of
Challenge 24 s transistors on a chip doubles every two years, cannot be correct. Why not?
∗∗
Take a horseshoe. The distance between the two ends is not fixed, since otherwise their
position and velocity would be known at the same time, contradicting the indeterminacy
relation. Of course, this reasoning is also valid for any other solid object. In short, both
quantum mechanics and special relativity show that rigid bodies do not exist, albeit for
different reasons.
∗∗
Angular momentum has the same dimensions as action. A smallest action implies that
there is a smallest angular momentum in nature. How can this be, given that some par-
 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets 35

Challenge 25 s ticles have spin zero, i.e., have no angular momentum?

∗∗
Could we have started the whole discussion of quantum theory by stating that there is a
Challenge 26 s minimum angular momentum instead of a minimum action?
∗∗
Niels Bohr, besides propagating the idea of a minimum action, was also an enthusiast of
the so-called complementarity principle. This is the idea that certain pairs of observables
of a system – such as position and momentum – have linked precision: if one of the pair
is known to high precision, the other is necessarily known with low precision. Can you
Challenge 27 s deduce this principle from the minimum action?

The dangers of buying a can of beans

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Another way to show the absurd consequences of quantum theory is given by the ul-
timate product warning, which according to certain well-informed lawyers should be
Ref. 10 printed on every can of beans and on every product package. It shows in detail how
deeply our human condition fools us.

Warning: care should be taken when looking at this product:

It emits heat radiation.
Bright light has the effect to compress this product.
Warning: care should be taken when touching this product:
Part of it could heat up while another part cools down, causing severe burns.
Warning: care should be taken when handling this product:
This product consists of at least 99.999 999 999 999 % empty space.
This product contains particles moving with speeds higher than one million kilo-
metres per hour.
Every kilogram of this product contains the same amount of energy as liberated by
about one hundred nuclear bombs.*
In case this product is brought in contact with antimatter, a catastrophic explosion
will occur.
In case this product is rotated, it will emit gravitational radiation.
Warning: care should be taken when transporting this product:
The force needed depends on its velocity, as does its weight.
This product will emit additional radiation when accelerated.

* A standard nuclear warhead has an explosive yield of about 0.2 megatons (implied is the standard explosive
Ref. 11 trinitrotoluene or TNT), about thirteen times the yield of the Hiroshima bomb, which was 15 kilotonne. A
megatonne is defined as 1 Pcal=4.2 PJ, even though TNT delivers about 5 % slightly less energy than this
value. In other words, a megaton is the energy content of about 47 g of matter. That is less than a handful
for most solids or liquids.
 36 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets

This product attracts, with a force that increases with decreasing distance, every
other object around, including its purchaser’s kids.
Warning: care should be taken when storing this product:
It is impossible to keep this product in a specific place and at rest at the same time.
Except when stored underground at a depth of several kilometres, over time cosmic
radiation will render this product radioactive.
This product may disintegrate in the next 1035 years.
It could cool down and lift itself into the air.
This product warps space and time in its vicinity, including the storage container.
Even if stored in a closed container, this product is influenced and influences all
other objects in the universe, including your parents in law.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
This product can disappear from its present location and reappear at any random
place in the universe, including your neighbour’s garage.
Warning: care should be taken when travelling away from this product:
It will arrive at the expiration date before the purchaser does so.
Warning: care should be taken when using this product:
Any use whatsoever will increase the entropy of the universe.
The constituents of this product are exactly the same as those of any other object
in the universe, including those of rotten fish.

All these statements are correct. The impression of a certain paranoid side to quantum
physics is purely coincidental.

A summary: quantum physics, the law and indoctrination

Don’t all the deductions from the quantum of action presented so far look wrong, or
at least crazy? In fact, if you or your lawyer made some of the statements on quantum
physics in court, maybe even under oath, you might end up in prison! However, all the
above statements are correct: they are all confirmed by experiment. And there are many
more surprises to come. You may have noticed that, in the preceding examples, we have
made no explicit reference to electricity, to the nuclear interactions or to gravity. In these
domains the surprises are even more astonishing. Observation of antimatter, electric cur-
rent without resistance, the motion inside muscles, vacuum energy, nuclear reactions in
stars, and – maybe soon – the boiling of empty space, will fascinate you as much as they
have fascinated, and still fascinate, thousands of researchers.
In particular, the consequences of the quantum of action for the early universe
are mind-boggling. Just try to explore for yourself its consequences for the big bang.
Challenge 28 d Together, all these topics will lead us a long way towards the top of Motion Mountain. The
consequences of the quantum of action are so strange, so incredible, and so numerous,
that quantum physics can rightly be called the description of motion for crazy scientists.
In a sense, this generalizes our previous definition of quantum physics as the description
of motion related to pleasure.
 1 minimum action – quantum theory for poets 37

Page 152 Unfortunately, it is sometimes said that ‘nobody understands quantum theory’. This is
wrong. In fact, it is worse than wrong: it is indoctrination and disinformation. Indoctri-
nation and disinformation are methods that prevent people from making up their own
mind and from enjoying life. In reality, the consequences of the quantum of action can
be understood and enjoyed by everybody. In order to do so, our first task on our way
towards the top of Motion Mountain will be to use the quantum of action to study of our
classical standard of motion: the motion of light.

“
Nie und nirgends hat es Materie ohne

”
Bewegung gegeben, oder kann es sie geben.
Friedrich Engels, Anti-Dühring.*

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012

Ref. 12 * ‘Never and nowhere has matter existed, nor can it exist, without motion.’ Friedrich Engels (1820–1895)
was one of the theoreticians of Marxism.
 Chapter 2

LIGHT – THE STR ANGE

CONSEQUENC ES OF THE QUANTUM
OF AC TION

“
Alle Wesen leben vom Lichte,

”
jedes glückliche Geschöpfe.
Friedrich Schiller, Wilhelm Tell.*

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Ref. 13
S ince all the colours of materials are quantum effects, it becomes mandatory to
tudy the properties of light itself. If a smallest change really exists, then there
hould also be a smallest illumination in nature. This conclusion was already drawn
in ancient Greece, for example by Epicurus (341–271 bce), who stated that light is a
stream of little particles. The smallest possible illumination would then be that due to
a single light particle. Today, the particles are called light quanta or photons. Incredibly,
Epicurus himself could have checked his prediction with an experiment.

How do faint lamps behave?

Ref. 14 Around 1930, Brumberg and Vavilov found a beautiful way to check the existence of
photons using the naked eye and a lamp. Our eyes do not allow us to consciously detect
single photons, but Brumberg and Vavilov found a way to circumvent this limitation.
In fact, the experiment is so simple that it could have been performed many centuries
earlier; but nobody had had a sufficiently daring imagination to try it.
Brumberg and Vavilov constructed a mechanical shutter that could be opened for
time intervals of 0.1 s. From the other side, in a completely dark room, they illumi-
nated the opening with extremely weak green light: about 200 aW at 505 nm, as shown
in Figure 14. At that intensity, whenever the shutter opens, on average about 50 photons
can pass. This is just the sensitivity threshold of the eye. To perform the experiment, they
repeatedly looked into the open shutter. The result was simple but surprising. Sometimes
they observed light, and sometimes they did not. Whether they did or did not was com-
pletely random. Brumberg and Vavilov gave the simple explanation that at low lamp pow-
ers, because of fluctuations, the number of photons is above the eye threshold half the
time, and below it the other half. The fluctuations are random, and so the conscious de-
tection of light is as well. This would not happen if light were a continuous stream: in that
case, the eye would detect light at each and every opening of the shutter. (At higher light
intensities, the percentage of non-observations quickly decreases, in accordance with the
explanation given.)
In short, a simple experiment proves:
* ‘From light all beings live, each fair-created thing.’ Friedrich Schiller (b. 1759 Marbach, d. 1805 Weimar),
German poet, playwright and historian.
2 light – and the quantum of action 39

lamp strong shutter head, after

filter 45 minutes
in complete
darkness F I G U R E 14 How to experience single
photon effects (see text).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
photographic
glass film
F I G U R E 15 How does a
white-light spectrum appear at
white red
extremely long screen distances?
green
(The short-screen-distance
violet
spectrum shown, © Andrew
Young, is optimized for CRT
display, not for colour printing, as
explained on mintaka.sdsu.edu/
GF/explain/optics/rendering.
html.)

⊳ Light is made of photons.

Nobody knows how the theory of light would have developed if this simple experiment
had been performed 100 or even 2000 years earlier.
The detection of photons becomes more evident if we use devices to help us. A sim-
ple way is to start with a screen behind a prism illuminated with white light, as shown
in Figure 15. The light is split into colours. As the screen is placed further and further
away, the illumination intensity cannot become arbitrarily small, as that would contra-
dict the quantum of action. To check this prediction, we only need some black-and-white
photographic film. Film is blackened by daylight of any colour; it becomes dark grey at
medium intensities and light grey at lower intensities. Looking at an extremely light grey
film under the microscope, we discover that, even under uniform illumination, the grey
shade is actually composed of black spots, arranged more or less densely. All these spots
have the same size, as shown in Figure 16. This regular size suggests that a photographic
film reacts to single photons. Detailed research confirms this conjecture; in the twentieth
century, the producers of photographic films have elucidated the underlying mechanism
in all its details.
40 2 light – and the quantum of action

F I G U R E 16 Exposed photographic film at increasing magnification (© Rich Evans).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
F I G U R E 17 Detectors that allow photon counting: photomultiplier tubes (left), an avalanche
photodiode (top right, c. 1 cm) and a multichannel plate (bottom right, c. 10 cm) (© Hamamatsu
Photonics).

Single photons can be detected most elegantly with electronic devices. Such devices
can be photomultipliers, photodiodes, multichannel plates or rod cells in the eye; a se-
lection is shown in Figure 17. Also these detectors show that low-intensity light does not
produce a homogeneous colour: on the contrary, low-intensity produces a random pat-
tern of equal spots, even when observing typical wave phenomena such as interference
patterns, as shown in Figure 18. Today, recording and counting individual photons is a
standard experimental procedure. Photon counters are part of many spectroscopy set-
ups, such as those used to measure tiny concentrations of materials. For example, they
are used to detect drugs in human hair.
All experiments thus show the same result: whenever sensitive light detectors are con-
structed with the aim of ‘seeing’ as accurately as possible – and thus in environments as
2 light – and the quantum of action 41

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
F I G U R E 18 Light waves are made of particles: observation of photons – black spots in these negatives
– in a low intensity double slit experiment, with exposure times of 1, 2 and 5 s, using an image
intensifier (© Delft University of Technology).

light detectors

radiating
atom

F I G U R E 19 An atom radiating one

photon triggers only one detector and
recoils in only one direction.

dark as possible – one finds that light manifests as a stream of light quanta. Nowadays
they are usually called photons, a term that appeared in 1926. Light of low or high inten-
sity corresponds to a stream with a small or large number of photons.
A particularly interesting example of a low-intensity source of light is a single atom.
Atoms are tiny spheres. When atoms radiate light or X-rays, the radiation should be emit-
ted as a spherical wave. But in all experiments – see Figure 19 for a typical set-up – the
light emitted by an atom is never found to form a spherical wave, in contrast to what we
might expect from everyday physics. Whenever a radiating atom is surrounded by many
detectors, only a single detector is triggered. Only the average over many emissions and
detections yields a spherical shape. The experiments shows clearly that partial photons
cannot be detected.
All experiments in dim light thus show that the continuum description of light is
 42 2 light – and the quantum of action

incorrect. All such experiments thus directly that light is a stream of particles, as Epicurus
had proposed in ancient Greece. More precise measurements confirm the role of the
quantum of action: every photon leads to the same amount of change. All photons of
the same frequency blacken a film or trigger a scintillation screen in the same way. The
amount of change induced by a single photon is indeed the smallest amount of change
that light can produce.
If there were no smallest action value, light could be packaged into arbitrarily small
amounts. But nature is different. In simple terms: the classical description of light by a
Vol. III, page 78 continuous vector potential A(t, x), or electromagnetic field F(t, x), whose evolution is
described by a principle of least action, is wrong. Continuous functions do not describe
the observed particle effects. A modified description is required. The modification has to
be significant only at low light intensities, since at high, everyday intensities the classical
Lagrangian describes all experimental observations with sufficient accuracy .*
At which intensities does light cease to behave as a continuous wave? Human eyesight

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
does not allow us to consciously distinguish single photons, although experiments show
Ref. 15 that the hardware of the eye is in principle able to do so. The faintest stars that can be
seen at night produce a light intensity of about 0.6 nW/m2 . Since the pupil of the eye is
small, and we are not able to see individual photons, photons must have energies smaller
than 100 aJ. Brumberg and Vavilov’s experiment yields an upper limit of around 20 aJ.
An exact value for the quantum of action found in light must be deduced from labo-
ratory experiment. Some examples are given in the following.

Photons
In general, all experiments show that a beam of light of frequency f or angular frequency
ω, which determines its colour, is accurately described as a stream of photons, each with
the same energy E given by
E = ħ 2π f = ħ ω . (8)

This relation was first deduced by Max Planck in 1899. He showed that for light, the
smallest measurable action is given by the quantum of action ħ. In summary, colour is a
property of photons. A coloured light beam is a hailstorm of corresponding photons.
Vol. III, page 125 The value of Planck’s constant can be determined from measurements of black bodies
Page 196 or other light sources. All such measurements coincide and yield

ħ = 1.054 571 726(47) ⋅ 10−34 Js , (9)

a value so small that we can understand why photons go unnoticed by humans. For ex-
Challenge 29 e ample, a green photon with a wavelength of 555 nm has an energy of 0.37 aJ. Indeed, in
normal light conditions the photons are so numerous that the continuum approximation
for the electromagnetic field is highly accurate. In the dark, the insensitivity of the signal
processing of the human eye – in particular the slowness of the light receptors – makes
Ref. 15 photon counting impossible. However, the eye is not far from the maximum possible

* The transition from the classical case to the quantum case used to be called quantization. This concept,
and the ideas behind it, are only of historical interest today.
 2 light – and the quantum of action 43

Challenge 30 ny sensitivity. From the numbers given above about dim stars, we can estimate that humans
are able to see consciously, under ideal conditions, flashes of about half a dozen photons;
in normal conditions, the numbers are about ten times higher.
Let us explore the other properties of photons. Above all, photons have no measurable
Challenge 31 s (rest) mass and no measurable electric charge. Can you confirm this? In fact, experiments
can only give an upper limit for both quantities. The present experimental upper limit
Ref. 16 for the (rest) mass of a photon is 10−52 kg, and for the charge is 5⋅10−30 times the electron
charge. These limits are so small that we can safely say that both the mass and the charge
of the photon vanish.
We know that intense light can push objects. Since the energy, the lack of mass and
Challenge 32 e the speed of photons are known, we deduce that the photon momentum is given by

E 2π
p= =ħ or p = ħk . (10)
c λ

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
In other words, if light is made of particles, we should be able to play billiard with them.
Ref. 17 This is indeed possible, as Arthur Compton showed in a famous experiment in 1923.
He directed X-rays, which are high-energy photons, onto graphite, a material in which
electrons move almost freely. He found that whenever the electrons in the material are
hit by the X-ray photons, the deflected X-rays change colour. His experiment is shown
in Figure 20. As expected, the strength of the hit is related to the deflection angle of the
photon. From the colour change and the reflection angle, Compton confirmed that the
photon momentum indeed satisfies the expression p = ħ k.
All other experiments agree that photons have momentum. For example, when an
atom emits light, the atom feels a recoil. The momentum again turns out to be given by
the expression p = ħ k. In short, the quantum of action determines the momentum of
the photon.
The value of a photon’s momentum respects the indeterminacy principle. Just as it is
impossible to measure exactly both the wavelength of a wave and the position of its crest,
so it is impossible to measure both the momentum and the position of a photon. Can you
Challenge 33 s confirm this? In other words, the value of the photon momentum is a direct consequence
of the quantum of action.
From our study of classical physics, we know that light has a property beyond its
colour: light can be polarized. That is only a complicated way to say that light can turn
Vol. III, page 108 the objects that it shines on. In other words, light has an angular momentum oriented
(mainly) along the axis of propagation. What about photons? Measurements consistently
find that each light quantum carries an angular momentum given by L = ħ. It is called
its helicity. The quantity is similar to one found for massive particles: one therefore also
speaks of the spin of a photon. In short, photons somehow ‘turn’ – in a direction either
parallel or antiparallel to their direction of motion. Again, the magnitude of the photon
helicity, or spin, is no surprise; it confirms the classical relation L = E/ω between energy
Vol. III, page 108 and angular momentum that we found in the section on classical electrodynamics. Note
that, counterintuitively, the angular momentum of a single photon is fixed, and thus in-
dependent of its energy. Even the most energetic photons have L = ħ. Of course, the
value of the helicity also respects the limit given by the quantum of action. The many
consequences of the helicity (spin) value ħ will become clear in the following.
44 2 light – and the quantum of action

X-ray
detector
deflected
photon with photon after
wavelength λ deflection
the collision,
angle
with wave-
length λ+Δλ
X-ray collision
source in
X-ray sample X-ray electron
sample
source detector after the
collision
F I G U R E 20 A modern version of Compton’s experiment fits on a table. The experiment shows that
photons have momentum: X-rays – and thus the photons they consist of – change frequency when
they hit the electrons in matter in exactly the same way as predicted from colliding particles (© Helene
Hoffmann).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
What is light?

“
La lumière est un mouvement luminaire de

”
corps lumineux.
Blaise Pascal*

In the seventeenth century, Blaise Pascal used the above statement about light to make
fun of certain physicists, ridiculing the blatant use of a circular definition. Of course, he
was right: in his time, the definition was indeed circular, as no meaning could be given to
any of the terms. But whenever physicists study an observation with care, philosophers
lose out. All those originally undefined terms now have a definite meaning and the cir-
cular definition is resolved. Light is indeed a type of motion; this motion can rightly be
called ‘luminary’ because, in contrast to the motion of material bodies, it has the unique
property 󰑣 = c; the luminous bodies, called light quanta or photons, are characterized,
and differentiated from all other particles, by their dispersion relation E = cp, their en-
ergy E = ħω, their spin L = ħ, the vanishing of all other quantum numbers, and the
property of being the quanta of the electromagnetic field.
In short, light is a stream of photons. It is indeed a ‘luminary movement of luminous
bodies’. Photons provide our first example of a general property of the world on small
scales: all waves and all flows in nature are made of quantum particles. Large numbers
of (coherent) quantum particles – or quantons – behave and form as waves. We will see
shortly that this is the case even for matter. Quantons are the fundamental constituents of
all waves and all flows, without exception. Thus, the everyday continuum description of
light is similar in many respects to the description of water as a continuous fluid: photons
are the atoms of light, and continuity is an approximation valid for large numbers of
particles. Single quantons often behave like classical particles.
Physics books used to discuss at length a so-called wave–particle duality. Let us be
clear from the start: quantons, or quantum particles, are neither classical waves nor clas-

* ‘Light is the luminary movement of luminous bodies.’ Blaise Pascal (b. 1623 Clermont, d. 1662 Paris), im-
portant French mathematician and physicist up to the age of 26, after which he became a theologian and
philosopher.
 2 light – and the quantum of action 45

sical particles. In the microscopic world, quantons are the fundamental objects.
However, there is much that is still unclear. Where, inside matter, do these monochro-
matic photons come from? Even more interestingly, if light is made of quantons, all elec-
tromagnetic fields, even static ones, must be made of photons as well. However, in static
fields nothing is flowing. How is this apparent contradiction resolved? And what implica-
tions does the particle aspect have for these static fields? What is the difference between
quantons and classical particles? The properties of photons require more careful study.

The size of photons

First of all, we might ask: what are these photons made of? All experiments so far, per-
formed down to the present limit of about 10−20 m, give the same answer: ‘we can’t find
anything’. This is consistent with both a vanishing mass and a vanishing size of photons.
Indeed, we would intuitively expect a body with a finite size to have a finite mass. Thus,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
although experiments can give only an upper limit, it is consistent to claim that a photon
has zero size.
A particle with zero size cannot have any constituents. Thus a photon cannot be di-
vided into smaller entities: photons are not composite. For this reason, they are called ele-
mentary particles. We will soon give some further strong arguments for this result. (Can
Challenge 34 s you find one?) Nevertheless, the conclusion is strange. How can a photon have vanishing
size, have no constituents, and still be something? This is a hard question; the answer will
appear only in the last volume of our adventure. At the moment we simply have to accept
the situation as it is. We therefore turn to an easier question.

Are photons countable? – Squeezed light

“ ”
Also gibt es sie doch.
Max Planck*

We saw above that the simplest way to count photons is to distribute them across a large
screen and then to absorb them. But this method is not entirely satisfactory, as it destroys
the photons. How can we count photons without destroying them?
One way is to reflect photons in a mirror and measure the recoil of the mirror. It
seems almost unbelievable, but nowadays this effect is becoming measurable even for
small numbers of photons. For example, it has to be taken into account in relation to the
Vol. II, page 160 laser mirrors used in gravitational wave detectors, whose position has to be measured
with high precision.
Another way of counting photons without destroying them involves the use of special
high-quality laser cavities. It is possible to count photons by the effect they have on atoms
cleverly placed inside such a cavity.
In other words, light intensity can indeed be measured without absorption. These
measurement show an important issue: even the best light beams, from the most sophis-
ticated lasers, fluctuate in intensity. There are no steady beams. This comes as no surprise:

* ‘Thus they do exist after all.’ Max Planck, in his later years, said this after standing silently, for a long time,
in front of an apparatus that counted single photons by producing a click for each photon it detected. For
a large part of his life, Planck was sceptical of the photon concept, even though his own experiments and
conclusions were the starting point for its introduction.
46 2 light – and the quantum of action

if a light beam did not fluctuate, observing it twice would yield a vanishing value for the
action. However, there is a minimum action in nature, namely ħ. Thus any beam and any
flow in nature must fluctuate. But there is more.
A light beam is described by its intensity and its phase. The change – or action – that
occurs while a beam moves is given by the variation in the product of intensity and phase.
Experiments confirm the obvious deduction: the intensity and phase of a beam behave
like the momentum and position of a particle, in that they obey an indeterminacy rela-
tion. You can deduce it yourself, in the same way as we deduced Heisenberg’s relations.
Using as characteristic intensity I = E/ω, the energy divided by the angular frequency,
and calling the phase φ, we get*
ħ
ΔI Δφ ⩾ . (12)
2
For light emitted from an ordinary lamp, the product on the left-hand side of the above

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
inequality is much larger than the quantum of action. On the other hand, laser beams
can (almost) reach the limit. Laser light in which the two indeterminacies differ greatly
from each other is called non-classical light or squeezed light; it is used in many mod-
ern research applications. Such light beams have to be treated carefully, as the smallest
disturbances transform them back into ordinary laser beams, in which the two indeter-
minacies have the same value. Extreme examples of non-classical light are beams with a
given, fixed, photon number, and thus with an extremely high phase indeterminacy.
The observation of non-classical light highlights a strange fact, valid even for classical
light: the number of photons in a light beam is not a well-defined quantity. In general, it
is undetermined, and it fluctuates. The number of photons at the beginning of a beam is
not necessarily the same as the number at the end of the beam. Photons, unlike stones,
cannot be counted precisely – as long as they are moving and not absorbed. In flight, it
is only possible to determine an approximate photon number, within the limits set by
indeterminacy.
One extreme example, shown in the middle column of Figure 21, is a light beam with
an (almost) fixed phase. In such a beam, the photon number fluctuates from zero to
infinity. In other words, in order to produce coherent light, such as a laser beam, that
approximates a pure sine wave as perfectly as possible, we must build a source in which
the photon number is as undetermined as possible.
At the other extreme is a beam with a fixed number of photons: in such a beam of
non-classical light, the phase fluctuates erratically. In contrast, the thermal light that we
encounter in most everyday situations – such as the light from an incandescent lamps
– lies somewhere in between, the phase and intensity indeterminacies being of similar
magnitude.

* A large photon number is assumed in the expression. This is obvious, as Δφ cannot grow beyond all
bounds. The exact relations are
ħ
ΔI Δ cos φ ⩾ |⟨sin φ⟩|
2
ħ
ΔI Δ sin φ ⩾ |⟨cos φ⟩| (11)
2
where ⟨x⟩ denotes the expectation value of the observable x.
 2 light – and the quantum of action 47

Thermal light Coherent, or laser light Non-classical, or squeezed light

Photon sequence: bunching Little or no bunching Anti-bunching

time
Intensity I(t)

time
Probability P(I)

Sub-
Bose-Einstein

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Poisson Poisson

intensity
Intensity correlation

2 2 2
1 1 1

coherence time
time
Amplitude–
phase
diagram

F I G U R E 21 Three types of light: thermal light, laser light and squeezed light.

As an aside, it turns out that even in deep, dark intergalactic space, far from any star,
there are about 400 photons per cubic centimetre. This number, like the number of pho-
Challenge 35 ny tons in a light beam, also has a measurement indeterminacy. Can you estimate it?
In summary, unlike pebbles, photons are countable, but their number is not fixed. And
this it not the only difference between photons and pebbles.

The positions of photons

Where is a photon when it moves in a beam of light? Quantum theory gives a simple
answer: nowhere in particular. This is proved most spectacularly by experiments with
interferometers, such as the basic interferometer shown in Figure 22. Interferometers
show that even a beam made of a single photon can be split, led along two different paths,
and then recombined. The resulting interference shows that the single photon cannot be
said to have taken either of the two paths. If one of the two paths is blocked, the pattern
 48 2 light – and the quantum of action

The Mach-Zehnder interferometer

source detectors
mirrors
beam beam
splitter splitter
possible
two identical light
photons paths

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
F I G U R E 22 The Mach–Zehnder interferometer and a practical realization, about 0.5 m in size (© Félix
Dieu and Gaël Osowiecki).

on the screen changes. In other words, somehow the photon must have taken both paths
at the same time. Photons cannot be localized: they have no position.*
This impossibility of localizing photons can be quantified. It is impossible to localize
photons in the direction transverse to the motion. It is less difficult to localize photons
along the direction of motion. In the latter case, the quantum of action implies that the
indeterminacy in the longitudinal position is given by the wavelength of the light. Can
Challenge 36 ny you confirm this?

* One cannot avoid this conclusion by saying that photons are split at the beam splitter: if a detector is
placed in each arm, one finds that they never detect a photon at the same time. Photons cannot be divided.
 2 light – and the quantum of action 49

The Hanbury Brown–Twiss experiment

incoming light detector

light D1
F I G U R E 23 How
beam to measure
photon statistics
with an
adjustable coincidence electronic
position counter coincidence
counter, the
variation being
measured by
light detector varying the
D2 position of a

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
detector.

In particular, this means that photons cannot be simply visualized as short wave trains.
Photons are truly unlocalizable entities, specific to the quantum world.
Now, if photons can almost be localized along their direction of motion, we can ask
how photons are lined up in a light beam. Of course, we have just seen that it does not
make sense to speak of their precise position. But do photons in a perfect beam arrive at
almost-regular intervals?
To the shame of physicists, the study of this question was initiated by two astronomers,
Ref. 18 Robert Hanbury Brown and Richard Twiss, in 1956. They used a simple method to mea-
sure the probability that the second photon in a light beam arrives at a given time after
the first one. They simply split the beam, put one detector in the first branch, and varied
the position of a second detector in the other branch.
Hanbury Brown and Twiss found that, for coherent light, the clicks in the two counters
– and thus the photons themselves – are correlated. This result is completely contrary to
classical electrodynamics. The result is one of the many that show that photons are indeed
necessary to describe light. To be more precise, their experiment showed that whenever
the first photon hits, the second one is most likely to hit just afterwards. Thus, photons
Page 58 in beams are bunched. (As we will see below, this also implies that photons are bosons.)
Every light beam has an upper time limit for bunching, called the coherence time. For
times longer than the coherence time, the probability for bunching is low, and indepen-
dent of the time interval, as shown in Figure 23. The coherence time characterizes every
light beam, or rather every light source. In fact, it is often easier to think in terms of the
coherence length of a light beam. For thermal lamps, the coherence length is only a few
micrometres: a small multiple of the wavelength. The largest coherence lengths, of over
100 000 km, are obtained with research lasers. Interestingly, coherent light is even found
Ref. 19 in nature: several special stars have been found to emit it.
Although the intensity of a good laser beam is almost constant, the photons do not
arrive at regular intervals. Even the best laser light shows bunching, though with differ-
ent statistics and to a lesser degree than lamp light. Light whose photons arrive regularly,
thus exhibiting so-called (photon) anti-bunching, is obviously non-classical in the sense
 50 2 light – and the quantum of action

Ekin kinetic energy of

emitted electrons
lamp
electrons

Ekin=h (ω−ωt)

threshold

metal plate F I G U R E 24 The kinetic

frequency of lamp light ω energy of electrons emitted in
in vacuum
the photoelectric effect.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
defined above; such light can be produced only by special experimental arrangements.
Extreme examples of this phenomenon are being investigated at present by several re-
search groups aiming to construct light sources that emit one photon at a time, at regular
time intervals, as reliably as possible.
In summary, experiments force us to conclude that light is made of photons, but also
that photons cannot be localized in light beams. It makes no sense to talk about the
position of a photon in general; the idea makes sense only in some special situations,
and then only approximately and as a statistical average.

Are photons necessary?

In light of the results uncovered so far, the answer to the above question is obvious. But
the issue is tricky. In textbooks, the photoelectric effect is usually cited as the first and
most obvious experimental proof of the existence of photons. In 1887, Heinrich Hertz
observed that for certain metals, such as lithium or caesium, incident ultraviolet light
leads to charging of the metal. Later studies of the effect showed that the light causes
emission of electrons, and that the energy of the ejected electrons does not depend on
the intensity of the light, but only on the difference between ħ times its frequency and
a material-dependent threshold energy. Figure 24 summarizes the experiment and the
measurements.
In classical physics, the photoelectric effect is difficult to explain. But in 1905, Albert
Ref. 20 Einstein deduced the measurements from the assumption that light is made of photons
of energy E = ħω. He imagined that this energy is used partly to take the electron over
the threshold, and partly to give it kinetic energy. More photons only lead to more elec-
trons, not to faster ones. In 1921, Einstein received the Nobel Prize for the explanation
of the photoelectric effect. But Einstein was a genius: he deduced the correct result by a
somewhat incorrect reasoning. The (small) mistake was the assumption that a classical,
continuous light beam would produce a different effect. In fact, it is easy to see that a
classical, continuous electromagnetic field interacting with discrete matter, made of dis-
crete atoms containing discrete electrons, would lead to exactly the same result, as long as
the motion of electrons is described by quantum theory. Several researchers confirmed
Ref. 21 this early in the twentieth century. The photoelectric effect by itself does not imply the
 2 light – and the quantum of action 51

existence of photons.
Indeed, many researchers in the past were unconvinced that the photoelectric effect
shows the existence of photons. Historically, the most important argument for the neces-
sity of light quanta was given by Henri Poincaré. In 1911 and 1912, aged 57 and only a few
months before his death, he published two influential papers proving that the radiation
law of black bodies – in which the quantum of action had been discovered by Max Planck
Ref. 22 – requires the existence of photons. He also showed that the amount of radiation emitted
by a hot body is finite only because of the quantum nature of the processes leading to light
emission. A description of these processes in terms of classical electrodynamics would
lead to (almost) infinite amounts of radiated energy. Poincaré’s two influential papers
convinced most physicists that it was worthwhile to study quantum phenomena in more
detail. Poincaré did not know about the action limit S ⩾ ħ; yet his argument is based on
the observation that light of a given frequency has a minimum intensity, namely a single
photon. Such a one-photon beam may be split into two beams, for example by using a

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
half-silvered mirror. However, taken together, those two beams never contain more than
a single photon.
Another interesting experiment that requires photons is the observation of ‘molecules
Ref. 23 of photons’. In 1995, Jacobson et al. predicted that the de Broglie wavelength of a packet of
photons could be observed. According to quantum theory, the packet wavelength is given
by the wavelength of a single photon divided by the number of photons in the packet. The
team argued that the packet wavelength could be observable if such a packet could be
split and recombined without destroying the cohesion within it. In 1999, this effect was
indeed observed by de Pádua and his research group in Brazil. They used a careful set-up
with a nonlinear crystal to create what they call a biphoton, and observed its interference
properties, finding a reduction in the effective wavelength by the predicted factor of two.
Ref. 24 Since then, packages with three and even four entangled photons have been created and
observed.
Yet another argument for the necessity of photons is the above-mentioned recoil felt
Page 41 by atoms emitting light. The recoil measured in these cases is best explained by the emis-
sion of a photon in a particular direction. In contrast, classical electrodynamics predicts
the emission of a spherical wave, with no preferred direction.
Page 47 Obviously, the observation of non-classical light, also called squeezed light, also argues
for the existence of photons, as squeezed light proves that photons are indeed an intrinsic
Ref. 25 aspect of light, necessary even when interactions with matter play no role. The same is
true for the Hanbury Brown–Twiss effect.
Finally, the spontaneous decay of excited atomic states also requires the existence of
photons. This cannot be explained by a continuum description of light.
In summary, the concept of a photon is indeed necessary for a precise description
of light; but the details are often subtle, as the properties of photons are unusual and
require a change in our habits of thought. To avoid these issues, most textbooks stop
discussing photons after coming to the photoelectric effect. This is a pity, as it is only then
that things get interesting. Ponder the following. Obviously, all electromagnetic fields are
made of photons. At present, photons can be counted for gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet
light, visible light and infrared light. However, for lower frequencies, such as radio waves,
photons have not yet been detected. Can you imagine what would be necessary to count
Challenge 37 ny the photons emitted from a radio station? This issue leads directly to the most important
52 2 light – and the quantum of action

lasers or other F I G U R E 25 Light

pocket lamps coherent light source
crossing light.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
F I G U R E 26 Observed interference patterns.

question of all:

Interference: how can a wave be made up of particles?

“
Fünfzig Jahre intensiven Nachdenkens haben
mich der Antwort auf die Frage ‘Was sind
Lichtquanten?’ nicht näher gebracht. Natürlich
bildet sich heute jeder Wicht ein, er wisse die

”
Antwort. Doch da täuscht er sich.
Albert Einstein, 1951 *

If a light wave is made of particles, one must be able to explain each and every wave
property in terms of photons. The experiments mentioned above already hint that this is
possible only because photons are quantum particles. Let us take a more detailed look at
this argument.
Light can cross other light undisturbed. This observation is not hard to explain with
photons; since photons do not interact with each other, and are point-like, they ‘never’ hit

* ‘Fifty years of intense reflection have not brought me nearer to the answer to the question ‘What are light
quanta?’ Of course nowadays every little mind thinks he knows the answer. But he is wrong.’ Einstein said
this a few years before his death.
 2 light – and the quantum of action 53

two lasers or screen

point sources

S1

s
d

S2

the arrow model:

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
t1

t2

t3
F I G U R E 27 Interference and the description of
light with arrows (at three instants of time).

each other. In fact, there is an extremely small positive probability for their interaction,
Vol. V, page 87 as will be found below, but this effect is not observable in everyday life.
But a problem remains. If two light beams of identical frequency and fixed phase rela-
Vol. III, page 94 tion cross, we observe alternating bright and dark regions: so-called interference fringes.*
How do these interference fringes appear? How can it be that photons are not detected
in the dark regions? We already know the only possible answer: the brightness at a given
place corresponds to the probability that a photon will arrive there. The fringes imply:

⊳ Photons behave like moving little arrows..

Some further thought leads to the following description:

— The arrow is always perpendicular to the direction of motion.
— The arrow’s direction stays fixed in space when the photons move.
— The length of an arrow shrinks with the square of the distance travelled.
— The probability of a photon arriving somewhere is given by the square of an arrow.
— The final arrow is the sum of all the arrows arriving there by all possible paths.
— Photons emitted by single-coloured sources are emitted with arrows of constant
length pointing in the direction ωt; in other words, such sources spit out photons
with a rotating mouth.

* This experiment is only possible if both beams are derived from a single beam by splitting, or if two
Challenge 38 s expensive high-precision lasers are used. (Why?)
 54 2 light – and the quantum of action

— Photons emitted by thermal sources, such as pocket lamps, are emitted with arrows
of constant length pointing in random directions.

With this simple model* we can explain the wave behaviour of light. In particular, we can
describe the interference stripes seen in laser experiments which are shown schematically
in Figure 25 and Figure 27. You can check that in some regions the two arrows travelling
through the two slits add up to zero for all times. No photons are detected there: those
regions are black. In other regions, the arrows always add up to the maximal value. These
regions are always bright. Regions in between have intermediate shades. Obviously, in the
case of usual pocket lamps, shown in the left-hand diagram of Figure 25, the brightness
in the common region also behaves as expected: the averages simply add up.
You may wish to calculate the distance between the lines, given the source distance s,
Challenge 39 ny the colour and the distance d to the screen.
Obviously, the photon model implies that an interference pattern is built up as the sum

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
of a large number of single-photon hits. Using low-intensity beams, we should therefore
be able to see how these little spots slowly build up an interference pattern by accumu-
lating in the bright regions and never hitting the dark regions. This is indeed the case, as
Page 41 we have seen earlier on. All experiments confirm this description.
In summary, photons are quantum particles. Quantum particles can produce interfer-
ence patterns and wave behaviour, because they are described by an arrow whose length
squared gives the probability for its detection.

Interference of a single photon

It is important to note that interference between two light beams is not the result of two
different photons cancelling each other out or being added together. Such cancellation
would contradict conservation of energy and momentum. Interference is an effect appli-
cable to each photon separately, because each photon is spread out over the whole set-up:
each photon takes all possible paths. As Paul Dirac stressed:

Ref. 26 ⊳ Each photon interferes only with itself.

Interference only works because photons are quantons, and not classical particles.
Dirac’s oft-quoted statement leads to a famous paradox: if a photon can interfere only
with itself, how can two laser beams from two different lasers interfere with each other?
The answer given by quantum physics is simple but strange: in the region where the
beams interfere, it is impossible to say from which source a photon has come. The pho-
tons in the crossing region cannot be said to come from a specific source. Photons in
the interference region are quantons, which indeed interfere only with themselves. In
that region, one cannot truly say that light is a flow of photons. Despite regular claims to
the contrary, Dirac’s statement is correct. It is a strange consequence of the quantum of
action.

* The model gives a correct description of light except that it neglects polarization. To add it, it is necessary
to combine arrows that rotate in both senses around the direction of motion.
2 light – and the quantum of action 55

screen

source image

mirror

F I G U R E 28 Light reflected by a

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
arrow sum mirror, and the corresponding
arrows (at an instant of time).

Reflection and diffraction deduced from photon arrows

Waves also show diffraction. Diffraction is the change of propagation direction of light
or any other wave near edges. To understand this phenomenon with photons, let us start
with a simple mirror, and study reflection first. Photons (like all quantum particles) move
from source to detector by all possible paths. As Richard Feynman,* who discovered this
explanation, liked to stress, the term ‘all’ has to be taken literally. This is not a big deal in
the explanation of interference. But in order to understand a mirror, we have to include
all possibilities, however crazy they seem, as shown in Figure 28.
As stated above, a light source emits rotating arrows. To determine the probability
that light arrives at a certain location within the image, we have to add up all the arrows
arriving at the same time at that location. For each path, the arrow orientation at the
image is shown – for convenience only – below the corresponding segment of the mirror.
The angle and length of the arriving arrow depends on the path. Note that the sum of all
the arrows does not vanish: light does indeed arrive at the image. Moreover, the largest
contribution comes from the paths near to the middle. If we were to perform the same
calculation for another image location, (almost) no light would get there.

* Richard (‘Dick’) Phillips Feynman (b. 1918 New York City, d. 1988), US-American physicist. One of the
founders of quantum electrodynamics, he also discovered the ‘sum-over-histories’ reformulation of quan-
tum theory, made important contributions to the theory of the weak interaction and to quantum gravity,
and co-authored a famous textbook, the Feynman Lectures on Physics. He is one of those theoretical physi-
cists who made his career mainly by performing complex calculations – but he backtracked with age, most
successfully in his teachings and physics books, which are all worth reading. He was deeply dedicated to
physics and to enlarging knowledge, and was a collector of surprising physical explanations. He helped
building the nuclear bomb, wrote papers in topless bars, avoided to take any professional responsibility,
and was famously arrogant and disrespectful of authority. He wrote several popular books on the events
of his life. Though he tried to surpass the genius of Wolfgang Pauli throughout his life, he failed in this
endeavour. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum electrodynamics.
 56 2 light – and the quantum of action

source point

arrow sum
at point
usual vanishes
mirror

screen
source image

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
arrow sum
at image
striped
mirror
F I G U R E 29 The light reflected
by a badly-placed mirror and by
a grating.

In short, the rule that reflection occurs with the incoming angle equal to the outgoing
angle is an approximation, following from the arrow model of light. In fact, a detailed
calculation, with more arrows, shows that the approximation is quite precise: the errors
are much smaller than the wavelength of the light.
The proof that light does indeed take all these strange paths is given by a more spe-
cialized mirror. As show in Figure 29, we can repeat the experiment with a mirror that
reflects only along certain stripes. In this case, the stripes have been carefully chosen so
that the corresponding path lengths lead to arrows with a bias in one direction, namely
to the left. The arrow addition now shows that such a specialized mirror – usually called
a grating – allows light to be reflected in unusual directions. Indeed, this behaviour is
standard for waves: it is called diffraction. In short, the arrow model for photons allows
us to describe this wave property of light, provided that photons follow the ‘crazy’ prob-
ability scheme. Do not get upset! As was said above, quantum theory is the theory for
crazy people.
You may wish to check that the arrow model, with the approximations it generates
by summing over all possible paths, automatically ensures that the quantum of action is
Challenge 40 ny indeed the smallest action that can be observed.
 2 light – and the quantum of action 57

light beam

air
water

F I G U R E 30 If light were made of little stones, they would

move faster in water.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Refraction and partial reflection from photon arrows
All waves have a signal velocity. The signal velocity also depends on the medium in which
they propagate. As a consequence, waves show refraction when they move from one
medium into another with different signal velocity. Interestingly, the naive particle pic-
ture of photons as little stones would imply that light is faster in materials with high
refractive indices: the so-called dense materials. (See Figure 30.) Can you confirm this?
Challenge 41 ny However, experiments show that light in dense materials moves slowly. The wave picture
Challenge 42 ny has no difficulty explaining this observation. (Can you confirm this?) Historically, this
was one of the arguments against the particle theory of light. In contrast, the arrow model
Challenge 43 ny of light presented above is able to explain refraction properly. It is not difficult: try it.
Waves also reflect partially from materials such as glass. This is one of the most diffi-
cult wave properties to explain with photons. But it is one of the few effects that is not
explained by a classical wave theory of light. However, it is explained by the arrow model,
as we will find shortly. Partial reflection confirms the first two rules of the arrow model.
Page 53 Partial reflection shows that photons indeed behave randomly: some are reflected and
other are not, without any selection criterion. The distinction is purely statistical. More
about this issue shortly.

From photons to waves

In waves, the fields oscillate in time and space. One way to show how waves can be made
of particles is to show how to build up a sine wave using a large number of photons. A
Ref. 27 sine wave is a coherent state of light. The way to build them up was explained by Roy
Glauber. In fact, to build a pure sine wave, we need a superposition of a beam with one
photon, a beam with two photons, a beam with three photons, and so on. Together, they
give a perfect sine wave. As expected, its photon number fluctuates to the highest possible
degree.
If we repeat the calculation for non-ideal beams, we find that the indeterminacy rela-
tion for energy and time is respected: every emitted beam will possess a certain spectral
width. Purely monochromatic light does not exist. Similarly, no system that emits a wave
at random can produce a monochromatic wave. All experiments confirm these results.
 58 2 light – and the quantum of action

Waves can be polarized. So far, we have disregarded this property. In the photon pic-
ture, polarization is the result of carefully superposing beams of photons spinning clock-
wise and anticlockwise. Indeed, we know that linear polarization can be seen as a result
of superposing circularly-polarized light of both signs, using the proper phase. What
seemed a curiosity in classical optics turns out to be a fundamental justification for quan-
tum theory.
Photons are indistinguishable. When two photons of the same colour cross, there is
no way to say afterwards which of the two is which. The quantum of action makes this
impossible. The indistinguishability of photons has an interesting consequence. It is im-
possible to say which emitted photon corresponds to which arriving photon. In other
words, there is no way to follow the path of a photon, as we are used to following the
Page 49 path of a billiard ball. Photons are indeed indistinguishable. In addition, the experiment
Ref. 28 by Hanbury Brown and Twiss implies that photons are bosons. We will discover more
Page 101 details about the specific indistinguishability of bosons later in.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
In summary, we find that light waves can indeed be built of particles. However, this is
only possible with the proviso that photons

— are not precisely countable,

— are not localizable,
— have no size, no charge and no mass,
— carry an (approximate) phase,
— carry spin,
— are indistinguishable bosons,
— can take any path whatsoever,
— have no definite origin, and
— have an detection probability given by the square of the sum of amplitudes for all
possible paths leading to the point of detection.

In other words, light can be made of particles only if these particles have very special
quantum properties. These quantum properties allow photons to behave like waves when
they are present in large numbers.

Can light move faster than light? – Virtual photons

In a vacuum, light can move faster than c, as well as slower than c. The quantum principle
provides the details. As long as this principle is obeyed, the speed of a short light flash
can differ – though only by a tiny amount – from the ‘official’ value. Can you estimate
Challenge 44 ny the allowable difference in arrival time for a light flash coming from the dawn of time?
The arrow explanation gives the same result. If we take into account the crazy possi-
bility that photons can move with any speed, we find that all speeds very different from
c cancel out. The only variation that remains, translated into distances, is the indetermi-
Challenge 45 ny nacy of about one wavelength in the longitudinal direction, which we mentioned above.
More bizarre consequences of the quantum of action appear when we study static elec-
tric fields, such as the field around a charged metal sphere. Obviously, such a field must
also be made of photons. How do they move? It turns out that static electric fields are
made of virtual photons. Virtual photons are photons that do not appear as free parti-
cles: they only appear for an extremely short time before they disappear again. In the
 2 light – and the quantum of action 59

case of a static electric field, they are longitudinally polarized, and do not carry energy
away. Virtual photons, like other virtual particles, are ‘shadows’ of particles that obey

ΔxΔp ⩽ ħ/2 . (13)

Rather than obeying the usual indeterminacy relation, they obey the opposite relation,
which expresses their very brief appearance. Despite their intrinsically short life, and de-
spite the impossibility of detecting them directly, virtual particles have important effects.
Page 176 We will explore virtual particles in detail shortly.
In fact, the vector potential A allows four polarizations, corresponding to the four
coordinates (t, x, y, z). It turns out that for the photons one usually talks about – the
free or real photons – the polarizations in the t and z directions cancel out, so that one
observes only the x and y polarizations in actual experiments.
For bound or virtual photons, the situation is different. All four polarizations are pos-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
sible. Indeed, the z and t polarizations are the ones that can be said to be the building
blocks of static electric and magnetic fields.
In other words, static electric and magnetic fields are continuous flows of virtual pho-
tons. In contrast to real photons, virtual photons can have mass, can have spin directions
not pointing along the path of motion, and can have momentum opposite to their direc-
tion of motion. Exchange of virtual photons leads to the attraction of bodies of different
charge. In fact, virtual photons necessarily appear in any description of electromagnetic
Vol. V, page 81 interactions. Later on we will discuss their effects further – including the famous attrac-
tion of neutral bodies.
In summary, light can indeed move faster than light, though only by an amount al-
lowed by the quantum of action. For everyday situations, i.e., for high values of the action,
all quantum effects average out, including light velocities different from c.
Ref. 29 Not only the position, but also the energy of a single photon can be undefined. For
example, certain materials split one photon of energy ħω into two photons, whose two
energies add up to the original one. Quantum mechanics implies that the energy parti-
tioning is known only when the energy of one of the two photons is measured. Only at
that very instant is the energy of the second photon known. Before the measurement,
both photons have undefined energies. The process of energy fixing takes place instan-
Page 138 taneously, even if the second photon is far away. We will explain below the background
to this and similar strange effects, which seem to be faster than light. In fact, despite the
appearance, these observations do not involve faster-than-light transmission of energy
Challenge 46 ny or information.

Indeterminacy of electric fields

We have seen that the quantum of action implies an indeterminacy for light intensity.
Since light is an electromagnetic wave, this indeterminacy implies similar, separate limits
for electric and magnetic fields at a given point in space. This conclusion was first drawn
Ref. 30 in 1933 by Bohr and Rosenfeld. They started from the effects of the fields on a test particle
of mass m and charge q, which are described by:

ma = q (E + 󰑣 × b) . (14)
 60 2 light – and the quantum of action

p1
α1 air

water
p2

α2
F I G U R E 31 Refraction and photons.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Since it is impossible to measure both the momentum and the position of a particle, they
Challenge 47 ny deduced an indeterminacy for the electrical field, given by

ħ
ΔE = , (15)
q Δx t

where t is the measurement time and Δx is the position indeterminacy. Thus every value
of an electric field, and similarly of a magnetic field, possesses an indeterminacy. The
state of the electromagnetic field behaves like the state of matter in this respect: both
follow an indeterminacy relation.

Curiosities and fun challenges about photons

Can one explain refraction with photons? Newton was not able to do so, but today we can.
In refraction by a horizontal surface, as shown in Figure 31, the situation is translationally
invariant along the horizontal direction. Therefore, the momentum component along
this direction is conserved: p1 sin α1 = p2 sin α2 . The photon energy E = E1 = E2 is
obviously conserved. The index of refraction n is defined in terms of momentum and
energy as
cp
n= . (16)
E

Challenge 48 e The ‘law’ of refraction follows:

sin α1
=n. (17)
sin α2

The relation is known since the middle ages.

There is an important issue here. In a material, the velocity of a photon 󰑣 = δE/δp
in a light ray differs from the phase velocity u = E/p that enters into the calculation. In
summary, inside matter, the concept of photon must be used with extreme care.
∗∗
 2 light – and the quantum of action 61

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
F I G U R E 32 The blue shades of the sky and the colours
of clouds are due to various degrees of Rayleigh, Mie
and Tyndall scattering (© Giorgio di Iorio).

If en electromagnetic wave has amplitude A, the photon density d is

A2
d= . (18)
ħω

Challenge 49 ny Can you show this?

∗∗
A typical effect of the quantum ‘laws’ is the yellow colour of the lamps used for street
illumination in most cities. They emit pure yellow light of (almost) a single frequency;
that is why no other colours can be distinguished in their light. According to classical
electrodynamics, harmonics of that light frequency should also be emitted. Experiments
show, however, that this is not the case; classical electrodynamics is thus wrong. Is this
Challenge 50 s argument correct?
∗∗
What happens to photons that hit an object but are not absorbed or transmitted? Gener-
ally speaking, they are scattered. Scattering is the name for any process that changes the
motion of light (or that of any other wave). The details of the scattering process depend
on the object; some scattering processes only change the direction of motion, others also
change the frequency. Table 3 gives an overview of processes that scatter light.
All scattering properties depend on the material that produces the deflection of light.
Among others, the study of scattering processes explains many colours of transparent
Page 156 materials, as we will see below.
Challenge 51 e We note that the bending of light due to gravity is not called scattering. Why?
62 2 light – and the quantum of action

TA B L E 3 Types of light scattering.

S c at t e r i n g S c at t e r e r D eta i l s Examples
type
Rayleigh scattering atoms, molecules elastic, intensity blue sky, red evening
changes as 1/λ4 , sky, blue cigarette
scatterers smaller smoke
than λ/10
Mie scattering transparent objects, elastic, intensity blue sky, red
droplets changes as 1/λ0.5 to evenings, blue
1/λ2 , scatterer size distant mountains
around λ
Geometric scattering edges elastic, scatterer sizebetter called
larger than λ diffraction, used in
interference

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Tyndall scattering non-transparent objects elastic, angle weakly smog, white clouds,
or not wavelength- fog, white cigarette
dependent smoke
Smekal–Raman excited atoms, molecules inelastic, light gains used in lidar
scattering energy investigations of the
atmosphere
Inverse Raman atoms, molecules inelastic, light loses used in material
scattering energy research
Thomson scattering electrons elastic used for electron
density
determination
Compton scattering electrons inelastic, X-ray lose proves particle
energy nature of light (see
page 44)
Brillouin scattering acoustic phonons, density inelastic, frequency used to study
variations in solids/fluids shift of a few GHz phonons and to
diagnose optical
fibres
Von Laue or X-ray crystalline solids elastic, due to used to determine
scattering interference at crystal structures;
crystal planes also called Bragg
diffraction

A summary on light: particle and wave

In summary, light is a stream of light quanta or photons. A single photon is the smallest
possible light intensity of a given colour. Photons, like all quantons, are quite different
from everyday particles. In fact, we can argue that the only (classical) particle aspects of
photons are their quantized energy, momentum and spin. In all other respects, photons
are not like little stones. Photons move with the speed of light. Photons cannot be local-
ized in light beams. Photons are indistinguishable. Photons are bosons. Photons have no
mass, no charge and no size. It is more accurate to say that photons are calculating devices
 2 light – and the quantum of action 63

Ref. 31 to precisely describe observations about light.

The strange properties of photons are the reason why earlier attempts to describe light
as a stream of (classical) particles, such as the attempt of Newton, failed miserably, and
were rightly ridiculed by other scientists. Indeed, Newton upheld his theory against all
experimental evidence – especially with regard to light’s wave properties – which is some-
thing that a physicist should never do. Only after people had accepted that light is a wave,
and then discovered and understood that quantum particles are fundamentally different
from classical particles, was the quanton description successful.
The quantum of action implies that all waves are streams of quantons. In fact, all waves
are correlated streams of quantons. This is true for light, for any other form of radiation,
and for all forms of matter waves.
The indeterminacy relations show that even a single quanton can be regarded as a
wave; however, whenever it interacts with the rest of the world, it behaves as a particle. In
fact, it is essential that all waves be made of quantons: if they were not, then interactions

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
would be non-local, and objects could not be localized at all, contrary to experience.
To decide whether the wave or the particle description is more appropriate, we can
use the following criterion. Whenever matter and light interact, it is more appropriate to
describe electromagnetic radiation as a wave if the wavelength λ satisfies

ħc
λ≫ , (19)
kT

where k = 1.4 ⋅ 10−23 J/K is Boltzmann’s constant. If the wavelength is much smaller than
the quantity on the right-hand side, the particle description is most appropriate. If the
two sides are of the same order of magnitude, both descriptions play a role. Can you
Challenge 52 e explain the criterion?
 Chapter 3

MOTION OF MAT TER – BEYOND

C L A S SIC A L PH YSIC S

“ ”
All great things begin as blasphemies.
George Bernard Shaw

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
he existence of a smallest action has numerous important consequences for
he motion of matter. We start with a few experimental results that show
hat the quantum of action is indeed the smallest measurable action, also in the
case of matter. Then we show that the quantum of action implies the existence of a phase
and thus of the wave properties of matter. Finally, from the quantum of action, we deduce
for the motion of matter the same description that we already found for light: matter par-
ticles behave like rotating arrows.

Wine glasses, pencils and atoms – no rest

“ ”
Otium cum dignitate.*
Cicero, De oratore.

If the quantum of action is the smallest observable change in a physical system, then two
observations of the same system must always differ. Thus there cannot be perfect rest in
nature. Is that true? Experiments show that this is indeed the case.
A simple consequence of the lack of perfect rest is the impossibility of completely fill-
ing a glass of wine. If we call a glass at maximum capacity (including surface tension
effects, to make the argument precise) ‘full’, we immediately see that the situation re-
quires the liquid’s surface to be completely at rest. But a completely quiet surface would
admit two successive observations that differ by less than ħ. We could try to reduce all
motions by reducing the temperature of the system. But absolute rest would imply reach-
ing absolute zero temperature. Experiments show that this is impossible. (Indeed, this
impossibility, the so-called third ‘law’ of thermodynamics, is equivalent to the existence
of a minimum action.) There is no rest in nature. In other words, the quantum of action
proves the old truth that a glass of wine is always partially empty and partially full.
The absence of microscopic rest, predicted by the quantum of action, is confirmed
in many experiments. For example, a pencil standing on its tip cannot remain vertical,
as shown in Figure 33, even if it is isolated from all disturbances, such as vibrations, air
molecules and thermal motion. This follows from the indeterminacy relation. In fact, it
Challenge 53 d is even possible to calculate the time after which a pencil must have fallen over.

* ‘Rest with dignity.’

 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics 65

axis F I G U R E 33 A falling pencil.

But the most important consequence of the absence of rest is another. The absence of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
rest for the electrons inside atoms prevents them from falling into the nuclei, despite their
mutual attraction. In short, the existence and the size of atoms, and thus of all matter, is
a direct consequence of the absence of microscopic rest! We will explore this in more
Page 71 detail below. Since we are made of atoms, we can say: we only exist and live because of
the quantum of action.

No infinite precision
The quantum of action prevents the observation of rest in many ways. In order to check
whether an object is at rest, we need to observe its position with high precision. Because
of the wave properties of light, we need a high-energy photon: only a high-energy photon
has a small wavelength and thus allows a precise position measurement. As a result of
this high energy, however, the object is disturbed. Worse, the disturbance itself is not
precisely measurable; so there is no way to determine the original position even by taking
the disturbance into account. In short, perfect rest cannot be observed even in principle.
Indeed, all experiments in which systems have been observed with high precision con-
firm that perfect rest does not exist. The absence of rest has been confirmed for electrons,
neutrons, protons, ions, atoms, molecules, atomic condensates, crystals, and objects with
a mass of up to a tonne, as used in certain gravitational wave detectors. No object is ever
at rest.
The same argument also shows that no measurement, of any observable, can ever be
performed to infinite precision. This is another of the far-reaching consequences of the
quantum of action.

Cool gas
The quantum of action implies that rest is impossible in nature. In fact, even at extremely
low temperatures, all particles inside matter are in motion. This fundamental lack of rest
is said to be due to the so-called zero-point fluctuations. A good example is provided by
the recent measurements of Bose–Einstein condensates. They are trapped gases, with a
small number of atoms (between ten and a few million), cooled to extremely low tem-
peratures (around 1 nK). These cool gases can be observed with high precision. Using
elaborate experimental techniques, Bose–Einstein condensates can be put into states for
 66 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics

which ΔpΔx is almost exactly equal to ħ/2 – though never lower than this value. These
experiments confirm directly that there is no rest, but a fundamental fuzziness in nature.
This leads to an interesting puzzle. In a normal object, the distance between the atoms
Challenge 54 s is much larger than their de Broglie wavelength. (Can you confirm this?) But today it is
possible to cool objects to extremely low temperatures. At sufficiently low temperatures,
Ref. 32 less than 1 nK, the wavelength of the atoms may be larger than their separation. Can you
Challenge 55 s imagine what happens in such cases?

Flows and the quantization of matter

“ ”
Die Bewegung ist die Daseinsform der Materie.
Friedrich Engels, Anti-Dühring.*

Not only does the quantum of action make rest impossible, it also makes impossible any
situation that does not change in time. The most important examples of (apparently) sta-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
tionary situations are flows. The quantum of action implies that no flow can be stationary.
More precisely, a smallest action implies that no flow can be continuous. All flows fluctu-
ate and are made of smallest entities: in nature, all flows are made of quantum particles.
We saw above that this is valid for light. Two simple types of flow from our everyday ex-
perience directly confirm this consequence from the quantum of action: flows of fluids
and flows of electricity.

Fluid flows and quantons

The flow of matter also exhibits smallest units. We mentioned early on in our adventure
Vol. I, page 326 that a consequence of the particulate structure of liquids is that oil or any other smooth
liquid produces noise when it flows through even the smoothest of pipes. We mentioned
that the noise we hear in our ears in situations of absolute silence – for example, in a
snowy and windless landscape in the mountains or in an anechoic chamber – is due
to the granularity of blood flow in the veins. Experiments show that all flows of matter
produce vibrations. This is a consequence of the quantum of action, and of the resulting
granularity of matter.

Knocking tables and quantized conductivity

If electrical current were a continuous flow, it would be possible to observe action values
as small as desired. The simplest counter-example was discovered in 1996, by José Costa-
Ref. 33, Ref. 34 Krämer and his colleagues. They put two metal wires on top of each other on a kitchen
table and attached a battery, a current-voltage converter (or simply a resistor) and a stor-
age oscilloscope to them. Then they measured the electrical current while knocking on
the table. That is all.
Knocking the table breaks the contact between the two wires. In the last millisecond
before the wires detach, the conductivity and thus the electrical current diminished in
regular steps of about 7 μA, as can easily be seen on the oscilloscope (see Figure 34). This
simple experiment could have beaten, if it had been performed a few years earlier, a num-

Ref. 12 * ‘Motion is matter’s way of being.’

 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics 67

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
F I G U R E 34 Steps in the flow of electricity in metal wire crossings: the set-up, the nanowires at the
basis of the effect, and three measurement results (© José Costa-Krämer, AAPT from Ref. 34).

ber of other, enormously expensive experiments which discovered this quantization at

costs of several million euro each, using complex set-ups at extremely low temperatures.
In fact, the quantization of conductivity appears in any electrical contact with a small
cross-section. In such situations the quantum of action implies that the conductivity can
Challenge 56 ny only be a multiple of 2e 2 /ħ ≈ (12 906 Ω)−1 . Can you confirm this result? Note that elec-
trical conductivity can be as small as required; only the quantized electrical conductivity
has the minimum value of 2e 2 /ħ.
Many more elaborate experiments confirm the observation of conductance steps.
They force us to conclude that there is a smallest electric charge in nature. This small-
est charge has the same value as the charge of an electron. Indeed, electrons turn out to
be part of every atom, in a construction to be explained shortly. In metals, a large num-
ber of electrons can move freely: that is why metals conduct electricity so well and work
as mirrors.
In short, matter and electricity flow in smallest units. Depending on the material, the
smallest flowing units of matter may be ‘molecules’, ‘atoms’, ‘ions’, or ‘electrons’. Electrons,
ions, atoms and molecules are quantum particles, or quantons. The quantum of action
implies that matter is made of quantons. Matter quantons share some properties with or-
dinary stones, but also differ from them in many ways. A stone has position and momen-
tum, mass and acceleration, size, shape, structure, orientation and angular momentum,
and colour. We now explore each of these properties for quantons, and see how they are
68 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics

F I G U R E 35 Electrons beams
diffract and interfere at multiple
slits (© Claus Jönsson).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012

F I G U R E 36 Formation over time of the interference pattern of electrons, here in a low-intensity

double-slit experiment: (a) 8 electrons, (b) 270 electrons, (c) 2000 electrons, (d) 6000 electrons, after 20
minutes of exposure. The last image corresponds to the situation shown in the previous figure.
(© Tonomura Akira/Hitachi).

related to the quantum of action.

 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics 69

Matter quantons and their motion – matter waves

Ref. 35 In 1923 and 1924, the French physicist Louis de Broglie pondered the consequences of
the quantum of action for matter particles. He knew that in the case of light, the quan-
tum of action connects wave behaviour to particle behaviour. He reasoned that the same
should apply to matter. It dawned to him that streams of matter particles with the same
momentum should behave as waves, just as streams of light quanta do. He thus predicted
that like for light, coherent matter flows should have a wavelength and angular frequency
given by
2π ħ E
λ= and ω = , (20)
p ħ

where p and E are the momentum and the energy, respectively, of the single particles.
Equivalently, we can write the relations as

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
p = ħk and E = ħω . (21)

These relations state that matter quantons also behave as waves.

Soon after de Broglie’s prediction, experiments began to confirm the statement. It is
indeed observed that matter streams can diffract, refract and interfere; the observations
matched the values predicted by de Broglie. Because of the smallness of the wavelength
of quantons, careful experiments are needed to detect these effects. But one by one, all ex-
perimental confirmations of the wave properties of light were repeated for matter beams.
For example, just as light is diffracted when it passes around an edge or through a slit,
matter is also diffracted in these situations. This is true even for electrons, the simplest
Ref. 36 particles of matter, as shown in Figure 35. The experiment with electrons is quite difficult.
It was first performed by Claus Jönsson in Tübingen in 1961; in the year 2002 it was voted
the most beautiful experiment in all of physics. Many years after Jönsson, the experiment
was repeated with a modified electron microscope, as shown in Figure 36.
Inspired by light interferometers, researchers began to build matter interferometers.
Matter interferometers have been used in many beautiful exeriments, as we will find out.
Vol. V, page
Ref. 99
37 Today, matter interferometers work with beams of electrons, nucleons, nuclei, atoms, or
even large molecules. Just as observations of light interference prove the wave character
Vol. III, page 92 of light, so the interference patterns observed with matter beams prove the wave charac-
ter of matter.
Like light, matter is made of particles; like light, matter behaves as a wave when large
numbers of particles with the same momentum are involved. But although beams of
large molecules behave as waves, everyday objects – such as cars on a motorway – do not.
There are two main reasons for this. First, for cars on a motorway the relevant wavelength
is extremely small. Secondly, the speeds of the cars vary too much: streams of cars with
the same speed cannot be made coherent.
If matter behaves like a wave, we can draw a strange conclusion. For any wave, the
position and the wavelength cannot both be sharply defined simultaneously: the indeter-
minacies of the wave number k = 2π/λ and of the position X obey the relation

1
ΔkΔX ≥ . (22)
2
 70 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics

Similarly, for every wave the angular frequency ω = 2π f and the instant T of its peak
amplitude cannot both be sharply defined. Their indeterminacies are related by

1
ΔωΔT ≥ . (23)
2
Using de Broglie’s wave properties of matter (21), we get

ħ ħ
ΔpΔX ⩾ and ΔEΔT ⩾ . (24)
2 2
These famous relations are called Heisenberg’s indeterminacy relations. They were discov-
ered by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg in 1925. They are valid for all quantum
particles, be they matter or radiation. The indeterminacy relations state that there is no
way to simultaneously ascribe a precise momentum and position to a quantum system,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
nor to simultaneously ascribe a precise energy and age. The more accurately one quan-
tity is known, the less accurately the other is.* As a result, matter quantons – rather like
stones, but unlike photons – can be localized, but always only approximately.
Both indeterminacy relations have been checked experimentally in great detail. All
experiments confirm them. In fact, every experiment proving that matter behaves like a
wave is a confirmation of the indeterminacy relation – and vice versa.
When two variables are linked by indeterminacy relations, one says that they are com-
plementary to each other. Niels Bohr systematically explored all possible such pairs. You
Challenge 57 s can also do that for yourself. Bohr was deeply fascinated by the existence of a complemen-
tarity principle, and he later extended it in philosophical directions. In a famous scene,
somebody asked him what was the quantity complementary to precision. He answered:
‘clarity’.
We remark that the usual, real, matter quantons always move more slowly than light.
Due to the inherent fuzziness of quantum motion, it should not come to a surprise that
there are some exceptions. Indeed, in some extremely special cases, the quantum of ac-
tion allows the existence of particles that move faster than light – so-called virtual parti-
Page 176 cles – which we will meet later on.
In short, the quantum of action means that matter quantons do not behave like point-
like stones, but as waves. In particular, like for waves, the values of position and mo-
mentum cannot both be exactly defined for quantons. The values are fuzzy – position
and momentum are undetermined. The more precisely one of the two is known, the less
precisely the other is known.

Mass and acceleration of quantons

Matter quantons, like stones, have mass. Indeed, hits by single electrons, atoms or
molecules can be detected, if sensitive measurement set-ups are used. Quantons can also
be slowed down or accelerated. We have already explored some of these experiments in
Vol. III, page 27 the section on electrodynamics. However, quantons differ from pebbles. Using the time–

* A policeman stops the car being driven by Werner Heisenberg. ‘Do you know how fast you were driving?’
‘No, but I know exactly where I was!’
 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics 71

F I G U R E 37 Probability clouds: a hydrogen atom in its spherical ground state (left) and in a

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
non-spherical excited state (right) as seen by an observer travelling around it (QuickTime film produced
with Dean Dauger’s software package ‘Atom in a Box’, available at daugerresearch.com).

Challenge 58 s energy indeterminacy relation, you can deduce that

2mc 3
a⩽ . (25)
ħ
Thus there is a maximum acceleration for quantons.* Indeed, no particle has ever been
Ref. 38 observed with a higher acceleration than this value. In fact, no particle has ever been
observed with an acceleration anywhere near this value.

Why are atoms not flat? Why do shapes exist?

The quantum of action determines all sizes in nature. In particular, it determines all
shapes. Let us explore this topic.
Experiments show that all composed quantons, such as atoms or molecules, have struc-
tures of finite size and often with complex shape. The size and the shape of every com-
posed quanton are due to the motion of their constituents. The motion of the constituents
is due to the quantum of action; but how do they move?
In 1901, Jean Perrin, and independently, in 1904, Nagaoka Hantaro, proposed that
Ref. 39 atoms are small ‘solar systems’. In 1913, Niels Bohr used this idea, combining it with the
quantum of action, and found that he could predict the size and the colour of hydrogen
Ref. 40 atoms, two properties that had not until then been understood. We will perform the cal-
Page 166 culations below. Even Bohr knew that the calculations were not completely understood,

* We note that this acceleration limit is different from the acceleration limit due to general relativity:

c4
a⩽ . (26)
4Gm
In particular, the quantum limit (25) applies to microscopic particles, whereas the general-relativistic limit
applies to macroscopic systems. Can you confirm that in each domain the relevant limit is the smaller of
Challenge 59 e the two?
 72 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics

because they seemed to assume that hydrogen atoms were flat. This is observed not to
Challenge 60 e be the case; moreover, it contradicts the quantum of action. Indeed, the quantum of ac-
tion implies that the motion of quantum constituents is fuzzy. Therefore, all composed
quantons, such as atoms or molecules, must be made of clouds of constituents.
In short, the quantum of action predicts:

⊳ Atoms are spherical clouds.

Experiment and theory show that the shape of any atom is due to the cloud, or probability
distribution, of its electrons. The quantum of action thus states that atoms or molecules
are not hard balls, as Democritus or Dalton believed, but that they are clouds. Matter is
made of clouds.
Atomic electron clouds are not infinitely hard, but can to a certain degree interpene-
trate and be deformed. The region where this occurs is called a chemical bond. Bonds

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
lead to molecules, liquids, solids, flowers and people. Molecules, being composed of
atoms, are composed of (deformed) spherical clouds. A detailed exploration shows that
all shapes, from the simplest molecules to the shape of people, are due to the interactions
between electrons and nuclei of the constituent atoms. Nowadays, molecular shapes can
be calculated to high precision. Small molecules, like water, have shapes that are fairly
rigid, though endowed with a certain degree of elasticity. Large molecules, such as poly-
mers or peptides, have flexible shapes. These shape changes are essential for their effects
inside cells and thus for our survival. A large body of biophysical and biochemical re-
search is exploring molecular shape effects.
In summary, the quantum of action implies that shapes exist – and that they fluctuate.
For example, if a long molecule is held fixed at its two ends, it cannot remain at rest in
between. Such experiments are easy to perform nowadays, for example with DNA; they
again confirm that perfect rest does not exist, and that the quantum of action is at the
basis of chemistry and life.
All shapes are due to the quantum of action. Now, every object with a non-spherical
shape is able to rotate. Let us explore what the quantum of action can say about rotation.

Rotation, quantization of angular momentum, and the lack of

north poles

“
Tristo è quel discepolo che non avanza il suo

”
maestro.
Leonardo da Vinci*

In everyday life, rotation is a frequent type of motion. Wheels are all around us. It turns
out that the quantum of action has important consequences for rotational motion. First
of all, we note that action and angular momentum have the same physical dimension:
both are measured in Js or Nms. It only takes a little thought to show that if matter or
radiation has a momentum and wavelength related by the quantum of action, then an-
gular momentum is fixed in multiples of the quantum of action. This famous argument
Ref. 41 is due to Dicke and Wittke.
* ‘Sad is that disciple who does not surpass his master.’ This statement is sculpted in large letters in the
chemistry aula of the University of Rome La Sapienza.
 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics 73

source

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
F I G U R E 38 The quantization of
angular momentum.

Imagine a circular fence, made of N steel bars spaced apart at a distance a = 2πR/N,
as shown in Figure 38. At the centre of the fence, imagine a source of matter or radiation
that can emit particles towards the fence in any chosen direction. The linear momentum
of such a particle is p = ħk = 2πħ/λ. At the fence slits, the wave will interfere. Out-
side the fence, the direction of the motion of the particle is determined by the condition
of positive interference. In other words, the angle θ, describing the direction of motion
outside the fence, is given by a sin θ = Mλ, where M is an integer. Through the deflec-
tion due to the interference process, the fence receives a linear momentum p sin θ, or an
angular momentum L = pR sin θ. Using all these expressions, we find that the angular
momentum transferred to the fence is

L = N Mħ . (27)

In other words, the angular momentum of the fence is an integer multiple of ħ. Fences
can only have integer intrinsic angular momenta (in units of ħ). The generalization of
the argument to all bodies is also correct. (Of course, this is only a hint, not a proof.)

⊳ The measured intrinsic angular momentum of bodies is always a multiple of

ħ.

Quantum theory thus states that every object’s angular momentum increases in steps.
Angular momentum is quantized. This result is confirmed by all experiments.
But rotation has more interesting aspects. Thanks to the quantum of action, just as
linear momentum is usually fuzzy, so is angular momentum. There is an indeterminacy
Ref. 42 relation for angular momentum L. The complementary variable is the phase angle φ of
Ref. 43 the rotation. The indeterminacy relation can be expressed in several ways. The simplest
 74 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics

Page 46 – though not the most precise – is

ħ
ΔL Δφ ⩾ . (28)
2
(This is obviously an approximation: the relation is only valid for large angular momenta.
It cannot be valid for small values, as Δφ by definition cannot grow beyond 2π. In par-
ticular, angular-momentum eigenstates have ΔL = 0.*) The indeterminacy of angular
momentum appears for all macroscopic bodies, or alternatively, for all cases when the
angular phase of the system can be measured.
The quantization and indeterminacy of angular momentum have important conse-
quences. Classically speaking, the poles of the Earth are the places that do not move
when observed by a non-rotating observer. Therefore, at those places matter would have
a defined position and a defined momentum. However, the quantum of action forbids

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
this. There cannot be a North Pole on Earth. More precisely, the idea of a rotational axis
is an approximation, not valid in general.

Rotation of quantons
Even more interesting are the effects of the quantum of action on microscopic particles,
such as atoms, molecules or nuclei. We note again that action and angular momentum
have the same units. The precision with which angular momentum can be measured
depends on the precision of the rotation angle. But if a microscopic particle rotates, this
rotation might be unobservable: a situation in fundamental contrast with the case of
macroscopic objects. Experiments indeed confirm that many microscopic particles have
unobservable rotation angles. For example, in many (but not all) cases, an atomic nucleus
rotated by half a turn cannot be distinguished from the unrotated nucleus.
If a microscopic particle has a smallest unobservable rotation angle, the quantum of
action implies that the angular momentum of that particle cannot be zero. It must always
be rotating. Therefore we need to check, for each particle, what its smallest unobservable
angle of rotation is. Physicists have checked all particles in nature in experiments, and
found smallest unobservable angles (depending on the particle type) of 0, 4π, 2π, 4π/3,
π, 4π/5, 2π/3 etc.
Let us take an example. Certain nuclei have a smallest unobservable rotation angle
of half a turn. This is the case for a prolate nucleus (one that looks like a rugby ball)
turning around its short axis. Both the largest observable rotation and the indeterminacy
are thus a quarter turn. Since the change, or action, produced by a rotation is the number
of turns multiplied by the angular momentum, we find that the angular momentum of
this nucleus is 2 ⋅ ħ.

* An exact formulation of the indeterminacy relation for angular momentum is

ħ
ΔL Δφ ⩾ |1 − 2πP(π)| , (29)
2
where P(π) is the normalized probability that the angular position has the value π. For an angular-
momentum eigenstate, one has Δφ = π/󵀂3 and P(π) = 1/2π. This expression has been tested and con-
Ref. 44 firmed by experiments.
 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics 75

observation
classical
prediction

silver
z beam

N
∂B
∂z

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
S
aperture

silver
oven beam F I G U R E 39 The
Stern–Gerlach
experiment.

As a general result, we deduce from the minimum angle values that the angular mo-
mentum of a microscopic particle can be 0, ħ/2, ħ, 3ħ/2, 2ħ, 5ħ/2, 3ħ etc. In other words,
the intrinsic angular momentum of a particle, usually called its spin, is an integer mul-
tiple of ħ/2. Spin describes how a particle behaves under rotations. (It turns out that all
spin-0 particles are composed of other particles, thus respecting the quantum of action
as the limit for rotational motion in nature.)
How can a particle rotate? At this point, we do not yet know how to picture the rota-
tion. But we can feel it – just as we showed that light is made of rotating entities: all matter,
including electrons, can be polarized. This is shown clearly by the famous Stern–Gerlach
experiment.

Silver, Stern and Gerlach – polarization of quantons

After a year of hard work, in 1922, Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach* completed a beautiful
experiment to investigate the polarization of matter quantons. They knew that inhomoge-
neous magnetic fields act as polarizers for rotating charges. Rotating charges are present
in every atom. Therefore they let a beam of silver atoms, extracted from an oven by evap-
oration, pass an inhomogeneous magnetic field. They found that the beam splits into two
Ref. 45 separate beams, as shown in Figure 39. No atoms leave the magnetic field region in in-
termediate directions. This is in full contrast to what would be expected from classical
physics.

* Otto Stern (1888–1969) and Walther Gerlach (1889–1979), both German physicists, worked together at
the University of Frankfurt. For his subsequent measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the
proton, Stern received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1943, after he had to flee National Socialism.
 76 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics

The splitting into two beams is an intrinsic property of silver atoms; today we know
that it is due to their spin. Silver atoms have spin ħ/2, and depending on their orien-
tation in space, they are deflected either in the direction of the field inhomogeneity or
against it. The splitting of the beam is a pure quantum effect: there are no intermediate
options. Indeed, the Stern–Gerlach experiment provides one of the clearest demonstra-
tions that classical physics does not work well in the microscopic domain. In 1922, the
result seemed so strange that it was studied in great detail all over the world.
When one of the two beams – say the ‘up’ beam – is passed through a second set-up,
all the atoms end up in the ‘up’ beam. The other possible exit, the ‘down’ beam, remains
unused in this case. In other words, the up and down beams, in contrast to the original
beam, cannot be split. This is not surprising.
But if the second set-up is rotated by π/2 with respect to the first, again two beams
– ‘right’ and ‘left’ – are formed, and it does not matter whether the incoming beam is
directly from the oven or from the ‘up’ part of the beam. A partially-rotated set-up yields

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
a partial, uneven split. The proportions depend on the angle.
We note directly that if we split the beam from the oven first vertically and then hori-
Challenge 61 e zontally, we get a different result from splitting the beam in the opposite order. Splitting
processes do not commute. (When the order of two operations makes a difference to
the net result, physicists call them ‘non-commutative’.) Since all measurements are also
physical processes, we deduce that, in general, measurements and processes in quantum
systems are non-commutative.
Beam splitting is direction-dependent. Matter beams behave almost in the same way
as polarized light beams. Indeed, the inhomogeneous magnetic field acts on matter some-
what like a polarizer acts on light. The up and down beams, taken together, define a po-
larization direction. In fact, the polarization direction can be rotated (with the help of
a homogeneous magnetic field). Indeed, a rotated beam in a unrotated magnet behaves
like an unrotated beam in a rotated magnet.

Curiosities and fun challenges about quantum matter

“
It is possible to walk while reading, but not to

”
read while walking.
Serge Pahaut

The quantum of action implies that there are no fractals in nature. Everything is made of
particles. And particles are clouds. Quantum theory requires that all shapes in nature be
‘fuzzy’ clouds.
∗∗
Can atoms rotate? Can an atom that falls on the floor roll under the table? Can atoms be
put into high-speed rotation? The answer is ‘no’ to all these questions, because angular
Ref. 46 momentum is quantized; moreover, atoms are not solid objects, but clouds. The macro-
scopic case of an object turning more and more slowly until it stops does not exist in the
microscopic world. The quantum of action does not allow it.
∗∗
Light is refracted when it enters dense matter. Do matter waves behave similarly? Yes,
 3 motion of mat ter – beyond cl assical physics 77

F I G U R E 40 An idealized graph of
the heat capacity of hydrogen over
temperature (© Peter Eyland).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
they do. In 1995, David Pritchard showed this for sodium waves entering a gas of helium
Ref. 47 and xenon.
∗∗
Many quantum effects yield curves that show steps. An important example is the molar
heat of hydrogen H2 gas, shown in Figure 40. In creasing the temperature from 20 to
8 000 K, the molar heat is shows two steps, first from 3R/2 to 5R/2, and then to 7R/2.
Can you explain the reason?
∗∗
Most examples of quantum motion given so far are due to electromagnetic effects. Can
Challenge 62 ny you argue that the quantum of action must also apply to nuclear motion?

First summary on the motion of quantum particles

In summary, the ‘digital’ beam splitting seen in the Stern–Gerlach experiment and the
wave properties of matter force us to rethink our description of motion. In special relativ-
ity, the existence of a maximum speed forced us to introduce the concept of space-time,
and then to refine our description of motion. In general relativity, the maximum force
obliged us to introduce the concepts of horizon and curvature, and then again to refine
our description of motion. At the present point, the existence of the quantum of action
and the wave behaviour of matter force us to take two similar steps: we first introduce
the concept of a wave function, and then we refine our description of motion.
 Chapter 4

THE QUANTUM DESC R I PTION OF

MAT TER AND I T S MOTION

I
n everyday life and in classical physics, we say that a system has a position, that
t is oriented in a certain direction, that it has an axis of rotation, and that
t is in a state with specific momentum. In classical physics, we can talk in this way

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
because the state – the situation a system ‘is’ in and the properties a system ‘has’ – and the
results of measurement coincide. They coincide because measurements can be imagined
to have a negligible effect on the system.
Because of the existence of a smallest action, the interaction necessary to perform a
measurement on a system cannot be made arbitrarily small. Therefore, the quantum of
action makes it impossible for us to continue saying that a system has momentum, has
position or has an axis of rotation. We are forced to use the idea of the rotating arrow
and to introduce the concept of wave function or state function. Let us see why and how.

States and measurements

Page 75 The Stern–Gerlach experiment shows that the measured values of spin orientation are
not intrinsic, but result from the measurement process itself (in this case, from the inter-
action with the inhomogeneous field). This is in contrast to the spin magnitude, which is
intrinsic and state-independent. In short, the quantum of action forces us to distinguish
three entities:
— the state of the system;
— the operation of measurement;
— the result of the measurement.
In contrast to the classical, everyday case, the state of a quantum system (the properties a
system ‘has’) is not described by the outcomes of measurements. The simplest illustration
of this difference is the system made of a single particle in the Stern–Gerlach experiment.
The experiment shows that a spin measurement on a general (oven) particle state some-
times gives ‘up’ (say +1), and sometimes gives ‘down’ (say −1). So a general atom, in an
oven state, has no intrinsic orientation. Only after the measurement, an atom is either in
an ‘up’ state or in a ‘down’ state. It is also found that feeding ‘up’ states into the measure-
ment apparatus gives ‘up’ states: thus certain special states, called eigenstates, do remain
unaffected by measurement. Finally, the experiment shows that states can be rotated by
applied fields: they have a direction in space.
The experimental observations can be described in a straightforward way. Since mea-
surements are operations that take a state as input and produce an output state and a
 4 the quantum description of mat ter 79

measurement result, we can say:

⊳ States are described by rotating arrows.

⊳ Measurements of observables are operations on the state vectors.
⊳ Measurement results are real numbers; and like in classical physics, they usu-
ally depend on the observer.

Thus we have distinguished three quantities that are not distinguished in classical physics:
states, measurement of observables and measurement results. Given this distinction,
quantum theory follows quite simply, as we shall see.
Because any measurement is an interaction with a system and thus a transformation
of its state, quantum physics describes physical observables as operators, and thus as
transformations in Hilbert space, The Stern–Gerlach experiment shows this clearly: the
interaction with the field influences the atoms: some in one way, and some in another

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
way. Experiments thus show:

⊳ Mathematically, states are complex vectors, or arrows, in an abstract space.

Page 217 This space of all possible states or arrows is a Hilbert space.
⊳ Mathematically, measurements are linear transformations, more precisely,
they are described by self-adjoint, or Hermitean, operators (or matrices).
⊳ Mathematically, changes of viewpoint are described by unitary operators (or
matrices) that act on states, or arrows, and on measurement operators.

Quantum-mechanical experiments also show that a measurement of an observable can

only give a result that is an eigenvalue of the corresponding transformation. The resulting
states, those exceptional states that are not influenced when the corresponding variable
is measured, are the eigenvectors. In short, every expert on motion must know what an
eigenvalue and an eigenvector is.
For any linear transformation T, those special vectors ψ that are transformed into
multiples of themselves,
T ψ = λψ (30)

are called eigenvectors (or eigenstates), and the multiplication factor λ is called the asso-
ciated eigenvalue. Experiments show:

⊳ The state of the system after a measurement is given by the eigenvector cor-
responding to the measured eigenvalue.

In the Stern–Gerlach experiment, the eigenstates are the ‘up’ and the ‘down’ states. In
general, the eigenstates are those states that do not change when the corresponding vari-
able is measured. Eigenvalues of Hermitean operators are always real, so that consistency
is ensured: all measurement results are real numbers.
In summary, the quantum of action obliges us to distinguish between three concepts
that are mixed together in classical physics: the state of a system, a measurement on the
system, and the measurement result. The quantum of action forces us to change the vo-
cabulary with which we describe nature, and obliges to use more differentiated concepts.
80 4 the quantum description of mat ter

F I G U R E 41 The motion of a wave

function, the quantum state, through a
double slit, showing both the particle
and the wave properties of matter. The

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
density of the state is displayed by
brightness, and the local phase is
encoded in the colour. (QuickTime film
© Bernd Thaller).

Now follows the main step: the description of motion with these concepts. This is what
is usually called ‘quantum theory’.

Visualizing the wave function: rotating arrows and probability

clouds
Above, we described the state of a quanton with an arrow. In fact, this is an approxima-
tion; more precisely, the state of a quantum particle is described by a spatial distribution
of arrows, a so-called wave function. To be able to visualize the wave function, we first
imagine a quantum particle that is localized as much as possible. In this case, the wave
function for a free quanton can be described simply by a single rotating arrow.
When a localized quanton travels through space, the attached arrow rotates. If the
particle is non-relativistic and if spin can be neglected, the rotation takes place in a plane
perpendicular to the direction of motion. The end of the arrow then traces a helix around
the direction of motion. In this case, the state at a given time is described by the angle
of the arrow. This angle is the quantum phase. The quantum phase is responsible for the
wave properties of matter, as we will see. The wavelength and the frequency of the helix
are determined by the momentum and the kinetic energy of the particle.
If the particle is not localized – but still non-relativistic and still with negligible spin
effects – the state, or the wave function, defines a rotating arrow at each point in space.
The rotation still takes place in a plane perpendicular to the direction of motion. But now
we have a distribution of arrows that trace helices parallel to the direction of motion. At
each point in space and time, the state has a quantum phase and a length of the arrow.
Figure 41 shows an example of evolution of a wave function. The direction of the ar-
row at each point is shown by the colour at the specific point. The length of the arrow
is shown by the brightness of the colour. The wave function ψ(t, x) for non-relativistic
 4 the quantum description of mat ter 81

particles with negligible spin effects is described by a length and a phase: it is a complex
Page 206 number at each point in space. The phase is essential for interference and many other
wave effects. What measurable property does the amplitude, the length of the local arrow,
describe? The answer was given by the German physicist Max Born: the amplitude of the
wave function is a probability amplitude. The square of the amplitude, i.e., the quantity
|ψ(t, x)|2 , gives the probability to find the particle at the place x at time t.
Note that even though the wave function can be seen as defining an arrow at every
point in space, the wave function as a whole can also be described as one, single vector,
this time in a Hilbert space. For free particles, the Hilbert space is infinite dimensional!
Nevertheless, it is not hard to calculate in such spaces. The scalar product of two wave
functions is the spatial integral of the product of the complex conjugate of the first func-
tion and the (unconjugated) second function. With this definition, all vector concepts
(unit vectors, null vectors, basis vectors, etc.) can be meaningfully applied to wave func-
tions.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
In short, we can imagine the state or wave function of non-relativistic quantum parti-
cles as an arrow at every point in space. The rotation frequency of the arrow is its kinetic
energy; the wavelength of the arrow motion – the period of the helical curve that the tip
of the arrow traces during motion – is the momentum of the quantum particle. An arrow
at each point in space is a field; since the field is concentrated in the region where the
particle is located, and since the amplitude of the field is related to the probability to find
the particle, the wave field can best be called a cloud.
The state or wave function of a quantum particle is a rotating cloud, a wave of rotating
arrows. This aspect of a cloud is unusual; since the cloud is made of little arrows, ev-
ery point of the cloud is described by a local density and a local orientation. This latter
property does not occur in any cloud of everyday life. Therefore, for many decades it
was tacitly assumed that no simple visualization of such a cloud is possible. Only the last
years have shown that there is a simple visualization for such clouds; one visualization is
Vol. VI, page 160 presented in the last volume of this series.

The state evolution – the Schrödinger equation

The description of the state of a non-relativistic quanton with negligible spin effects as
rotating cloud completely determines how the wave function evolves in time. Indeed, for
such quantum particles the evolution follows from the total energy, the sum of kinetic
and potential energy T + V , and the properties of matter waves:

⊳ The local rate of change of the state arrow ψ is produced by the local total
energy, or Hamiltonian, H = T + V :

∂
iħ ψ = Hψ . (31)
∂t
 82 4 the quantum description of mat ter

This famous equation is Schrödinger’s equation of motion.* This evolution equation ap-
plies to all quantum systems and is one of the high points of modern physics.
Ref. 48 In fact, Erwin Schrödinger had found his equation in two different ways. In his first
Ref. 49 paper, he deduced it from a variational principle. In his second paper, he deduced the
evolution equation directly, by asking a simple question: how does the state evolve? He
knew that the state of a quanton behaves both like a wave and like a particle. A wave is
described by a field, which he denoted ψ(t, x). If the state ψ behaves like a wave, then
the corresponding wave function must be an amplitude W multiplied by a phase factor
eikx−ωt . The state can thus be written as

ψ(t, x) = W(t, x)eikx−ωt . (32)

The amplitude W is the length of the local arrow; the phase is the orientation of the local
arrow. Equivalently, the amplitude is the local density of the cloud, and the phase is the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
local orientation of the cloud.
We know that the quantum wave must also behave like a particle of mass m. In par-
ticular, the non-relativistic relation between energy and momentum E = p2 /2m + V (x)
– where V (x) is the potential at position x – must be fulfilled for these waves. The two
Page 67 de Broglie relations (21) for matter wavelength and frequency then imply

∂ψ −ħ2 2
iħ = Hψ = ∇ ψ + V (x)ψ . (33)
∂t 2m
This is the complete form of Schrödinger’s wave equation. It states how the arrow wave,
the wave function ψ, associated to a particle evolves over time. In 1926, this wave equation
for the complex field ψ became instantly famous when Schrödinger used it, by inserting
the potential felt by an electron near a proton, to calculate the energy levels of the hydro-
gen atom. In a hydrogen atom, light is emitted by the single electron inside that atom;
therefore a precise description of the motion of the electron in a hydrogen atom allows
us to describe the light frequencies it can emit. (We will perform the calculation and the
Page 166 comparison with experiment below.) First of all, the Schrödinger equation explained that
only discrete colours are emitted by hydrogen; in addition, the frequencies of the emitted
light were found to be in agreement with the prediction of the equation to five decimal
places. This was an important result, especially if we keep in mind that classical physics
cannot even explain the existence of atoms, let alone their light emission! In contrast,
quantum physics explains all properties of atoms and their colours to high precision. In
other words, the discovery of the quantum of action led the description of the motion of
matter to a new high point.

* Erwin Schrödinger (b. 1887 Vienna, d. 1961 Vienna) was famous for being a physicien bohémien, always
living in a household with two women. In 1925 he discovered the equation that brought him international
fame, and the Nobel Prize for physics in 1933. He was also the first to show that the radiation discovered
by Victor Hess in Vienna was indeed coming from the cosmos. He left Germany, and then again Austria,
out of dislike for National Socialism, and was a professor in Dublin for many years. There he published his
famous and influential book What is life?. In it, he came close to predicting the then-unknown nucleic acid
DNA from theoretical insight alone.
 4 the quantum description of mat ter 83

F I G U R E 42 Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961)

In fact, the exact description of matter quantons is only found when spin and the rela-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Page 171 tivistic energy–momentum relation are taken into account. We do this below. No devia-
tions between relativistic calculations and experiments have ever been found. And even
today, predictions and measurements of atomic spectra remain the most precise and ac-
curate in the whole study of nature: in the cases that experimental precision allows it, the
calculated values agree with experiments to 13 decimal places.

Self-interference of quantons
Waves interfere. We saw above that all experiments confirm that all quantum particles,
also matter quantons, show interference. The film of Figure 41 shows that interference is
a direct consequence of the Schrödinger equation. The film shows the solution of the
Schrödinger equation for a double slit. The film visualizes how a double slit induces
diffraction and interference.
It turns out that the Schrödinger equation completely reproduces and explains the
Page 68 observations of matter interference, including the examples shown in Figure 35 and
Figure 36: the interference of matter quantons is due to the evolution of rotating clouds.
And like in all interference phenomena, the local intensity of the interference pattern
turns out to be proportional to the square |W|2 of the state amplitude.
We note that even though the wave function is spread out over the whole detection
screen just before it hits the screen, it nevertheless yields only a localized spot on the
screen. This effect, the so-called collapse of the wave function, is explored in detail below.
Page 138

The speed of quantons

Let us delve a little into the details of the description given by the Schrödinger equation
(33). The equation expresses a simple connection: the classical speed of a matter particle
is the group velocity of the wave function ψ. Seen from far away, the wave function moves
like a classical particle would.
But we know from classical physics that the group velocity is not always well defined:
in cases where the group dissolves in several peaks, the concept of group velocity is not
of much use. These are the cases in which quantum motion is very different from classi-
Page 138 cal motion, as we will soon discover. But for well-behaved cases, we find that the wave
 84 4 the quantum description of mat ter

F I G U R E 43 The evolution of a wave

function (lowest curve) with zero

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
momentum, and the motion of its
parts with positive and negative
momenta. Local phase is encoded in
the colour. (QuickTime film © Bernd
Thaller).

function moves in the same way as a classical particle does.

The Schrödinger equation makes another point: velocity and position of matter are
not independent variables, and cannot be chosen at will. Indeed, the initial condition of
a system is given by the initial value of the wave function alone. No derivatives have to be
(or can be) specified. Indeed, experiments confirm that quantum systems are described
by a first-order evolution equation, in stark contrast to classical systems.

Dispersion of quantons
For free quantum particles, the evolution equation implies dispersion, as illustrated in
Figure 43. Imagine a wave function that is localized around a given starting position.
Such a wave function describes a quantum system at rest. When time passes, this wave
function will spread out in space. Indeed, Schrödinger’s evolution equation is similar,
mathematically, to a diffusion equation. In the same way that a drop of ink in water
spreads out, also the state of a localized quantum particle will spread out in space. True,
the most probable position stays unchanged, but the probability to find the particle at
large distances from the starting position increases over time. For quantum particles, this
spreading effect is indeed observed by all experiments. The spread is a consequence of
the wave aspect of matter, and thus of the quantum of action ħ. For macroscopic objects,
the spreading effect is not observed, however: cars rarely move away from parking spaces.
Indeed, quantum theory predicts that for macroscopic systems, the effect of spreading is
Challenge 63 ny negligibly small. Can you show why?
In summary, the wave aspect of matter leads to the spreading of wave functions. Wave
functions show dispersion.
4 the quantum description of mat ter 85

F I G U R E 44 The tunnelling of a wave

function through a potential hill (the
rectangular column): most of the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
wave function is reflected, and part of
the wave function passes to the
other side. Local phase is encoded in
the colour. (QuickTime film © Bernd
Thaller).

E
m p

0 Δx
F I G U R E 45 Climbing a hill.

Tunnelling and limits on memory – damping of quantons

‘Common sense’ says that a slow ball cannot roll over a high hill. More precisely, classical
physics says that if the kinetic energy T is smaller than the potential energy V that the
ball would have at the top of the hill, then the ball cannot reach the top of the hill. In
contrast, according to quantum theory, there is a positive probability of passing the hill
for any energy of the ball.
In quantum theory, hills and obstacles are described by potential barriers, and objects
by wave functions. Any initial wave function will spread beyond any potential barrier of
finite height and width. The wave function will also be non-vanishing at the location of
the barrier. In short, any object can overcome any hill or barrier, as shown in Figure 45.
This effect is called the tunnelling effect. It is in complete contrast to everyday experience
– and to classical mechanics.
The tunnelling effect results from a new aspect contained in the quantum description
 86 4 the quantum description of mat ter

of hills: the statement that all obstacles in nature can be overcome with a finite effort. No
obstacle is infinitely difficult to surmount. Indeed, only for a potential of infinite height
would the wave function vanish and fail to spread to the other side. But such potentials
exist only as approximations; in nature potentials are always of finite value.
Challenge 64 ny How large is the tunnelling effect? Calculation shows that the transmission probability
P is given approximately by

2󰑤
16T(V − T) − 󵀄2m(V − T)
P≈ e ħ (34)
V2
where 󰑤 is the width of the hill, 󰑣 its height, and m and T the mass and the kinetic energy
of the particle. For a system of large number of particles, the probability is the product
of the probabilities for the different particles.
Let us take the case of a car in a garage, and assume that the car is made of 1028 atoms

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
at room temperature. A typical garage wall has a thickness of 0.1 m and a potential height
of V = 1 keV = 160 aJ for the passage of an atom. We get that the probability of finding
the car outside the garage is

12 (1028 ) 40
P ≈ 󶀣10−(10 ) 󶀳 ≈ 10−(10 )
. (35)

Challenge 65 e The smallness of this value (just try to write it down, to be convinced) is the reason why
it is never taken into account by the police when a car is reported missing. (Actually, the
probability is even considerably smaller. Can you name at least one effect that has been
Challenge 66 ny forgotten in this simple calculation?)
Obviously, tunnelling can be important only for small systems, made of a few parti-
cles, and for thin barriers, with a thickness of the order of ħ/󵀄2m(V − T) . For example,
tunnelling of single atoms is observed in solids at high temperature, but is not impor-
tant in daily life. For electrons, the effect is larger: the barrier width 󰑤 for an appreciable
tunnelling effect is
0.5 nm 󵀂aJ
󰑤≈ . (36)
󵀂V − T

At room temperature, the kinetic energy T is of the order of 6 zJ; increasing the tempera-
ture obviously increases the tunnelling. As a result, electrons tunnel quite easily through
barriers that are a few atoms in width. Indeed, every TV tube uses tunnelling at high
temperature to generate the electron beam producing the picture. The necessary heating
is the reason why television tubes took some time to switch on.
The tunnelling of electrons also limits the physical size of computer memories. Mem-
ory chips cannot be made arbitrary small. Silicon integrated circuits with one terabyte of
Challenge 67 s random-access memory (RAM) will probably never exist. Can you imagine why? In fact,
tunnelling limits the working of any type of memory, including that of our brain. Indeed,
if we were much hotter than 37°C, we could not remember anything!
Since light is made of particles, it can also tunnel through potential barriers. The best
– or highest – potential barriers for light are mirrors; mirrors have barrier heights of the
 4 the quantum description of mat ter 87

Farady cage
with high screen with
electric intereference
potential pattern that
depends on
potential

beam splitter
F I G U R E 46 A localized electric potential
charged matter beam in an interferometer leads to a shift of the
interference pattern.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
order of one attojoule. Tunnelling implies that light can be detected behind any mirror.
These so-called evanescent waves have indeed been detected; they are used in various
high-precision experiments and devices.

The quantum phase

We saw that the amplitude of the wave function, the probability amplitude, shows the
same effects as any wave: dispersion and damping. Let us now explore the phase of the
wave function in more detail.
Whereas the amplitude of a wave function is easy to picture – just think of the (square
root of the) density of a real cloud – the phase takes more effort. States or wave functions
are clouds with a local phase: they are clouds of objects that rotate and can be rotated. In
case of an everyday water cloud, local rotation of droplets has no effect of the cloud. In
contrast, in quantum theory, the local rotation of the cloud, thus the change of its phase,
does have a measurable effect. Let us explore this point.
Page 52 The phase of matter waves behaves like the phase of photons: it evolves with time, and
thus increases along the path of a moving particle. The phase can be pictured by a small
rotating arrow. The angular velocity with which the phase rotates is given by the famous
relation ω = E/ħ. In short, we can picture the wave function of a free quantum particle as
a moving cloud that rotates with constant frequency but disperses at the same time.
Above all, the phase is that aspect of the wave function that leads to interference effects.
When two partial wave functions are separated and recombined after a relative phase
change, the phase change will determine the interference pattern. This is the origin of
the electron beam interference observations shown in Figure 35. Without the quantum
phase, there would be no extinction and no interference.
The phase of a wave function can be influenced in many ways. The simplest way is
the use of electric fields. If the wave function of a charged particle is split, and one part is
led through a region with an electric field, a phase change will result. The arrangement
is shown in Figure 46. A periodic change of the electric potential yields a periodic shift
of the interference pattern. This is indeed observed.
Another simple case of phase manipulation is shown in Figure 47: also a magnetic
 88 4 the quantum description of mat ter

solenoid
with
current screen with
intereference
pattern that
depends on
magnetic field

beam splitter

neutral matter beam F I G U R E 47 Magnetic fields change the

phase of a spinning particle.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
magnetic field (even screen
if only inside the solenoid)

current

vector
potential

charged matter beam

F I G U R E 48 The Aharonov–Bohm effect: the influence of the magnetic vector potential on interference
(left) and a measurement confirmation (right), using a microscopic sample that transports electrons in
thin metal wires (© Doru Cuturela).

field changes the phase of a spinning charged particle, and thus influences the interfer-
ence behaviour.
A famous experiment shows the importance of the phase in an even more surprising
Ref. 50 way: the Aharonov–Bohm effect. The effect is famous because it is counter-intuitive and
because it was predicted before it was observed. Look at the set-up shown in Figure 48.
A matter wave of charged particles is split into two by a cylinder – positioned at a right
angle to the matter’s path – and the matter wave recombines behind it. Inside the cylinder
there is a magnetic field; outside, there is none. (A simple way to realize such a cylinder is
a long solenoid.) Quantum physics predicts that an interference pattern will be observed,
 4 the quantum description of mat ter 89

F I G U R E 49 The motion of a wave

function around a solenoid showing the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Aharonov–Bohm effect. The density of
the state is displayed by brightness, and
the local phase is encoded in the colour.
(QuickTime film © Bernd Thaller).

electrically
charged
wire
screen with
intereference
pattern that
depends on
wire charge

F I G U R E 50 The Aharonov–Casher effect:

beam splitter
the influence of charge on the phase
polarized neutron beam leads to interference even for interfering
neutrons.

and that the position of the stripes will depend on the value of the magnetic field. This
happens even though the wave never enters the region with the field! The surprising
effect has been observed in countless experiments.
The reason for the Aharonov–Bohm effect is simple: for a charged particle, the phase
of a wave function is determined by the vector potential A, not by the magnetic field B.
The vector potential around a solenoid does not vanish, as we know from the section on
Vol. III, page 74 electrodynamics, but circulates around the solenoid. This circulation distinguishes the
two sides of the solenoid and leads to a phase shift – one that indeed depends on the
magnetic field value – and thus produces interference, even though the particle never
interacts with the magnetic field.
A further example for phase manipulation is the so-called Aharonov–Casher effect,
 90 4 the quantum description of mat ter

which even occurs for neutral particles, as long as they have a magnetic moment, such as
neutrons have. The phase of a polarized neutron will be influenced by an electric field, so
that the arrangement shown in Figure 50 will show an interference pattern that depends
on the applied electric potential.
Another case of phase manipulation will be presented later on: also gravitational fields
can be used to rotate wave functions. In fact, even the acceleration due to rotational
motion can do so. In fact, it has been possible to measure the rotation of the Earth by
Ref. 51 observing the change of neutron beam interference patterns.
Another important class of experiments that manipulate the phase of wave functions
are possible with macroscopic quantum phenomena. In superconductivity and in super-
fluidity, the phase of the wave function is regularly manipulated with magnetic and elec-
tric fields. This possibility has many important technical applications. For example, the
so-called Josephson effect is used to measure electric potential differences by measuring
the frequency of emitted radio waves, and so-called superconducting quantum interfer-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
ence devices, or SQIDs, are used to measure tiny magnetic fields.
We note that all these experiments confirm that the absolute phase of a wave function
cannot be measured. However, relative phases – phase differences or phase changes – can
Challenge 68 e be measured. Can you confirm this?
All the phase shift effects just explained have been observed in numerous experiments.
The phase is an essential aspect of the wave function: the phase leads to interference and
is the main reason for calling it wave function in the first place. Like in any wave, the
phase evolves over time and it can be influenced by various external influences. Above
all, the experiments show that a localized quantum particle – thus when the spread of
the wave function can be neglected – is best imagined as a rotating arrow; if the spread
cannot be neglected, the wave function is best imagined as a wave of arrows rotating at
each point in space.

Can two photons interfere?

Page 54 In 1930, Paul Dirac made a famous statement already mentioned earlier on:

Each photon interferes only with itself. Interference between two different
Ref. 52 photons never occurs.

Often this statement is misinterpreted as implying that two separate photon sources can-
not interfere. It is almost unbelievable how this false interpretation has spread through
Ref. 53 the literature. Everybody can check that this statement is incorrect with a radio: two dis-
tant radio stations transmitting on the same frequency lead to beats in amplitude, i.e.,
to wave interference. (This should not to be confused with the more common radio in-
terference, with usually is simply a superposition of intensities.) Radio transmitters are
coherent sources of photons, and any radio receiver shows that two such sources can
indeed interfere.
In 1949, interference of two different photon sources has been demonstrated with
microwave beams. From the nineteen fifties onwards, numerous experiments with two
lasers and even with two thermal light sources have shown light interference . For exam-
Ref. 54 ple, in 1963, Magyar and Mandel used two ruby lasers emitting light pulses and a rapid
 4 the quantum description of mat ter 91

shutter camera to produce spatial interference fringes. However, all these experimental
results with two sources do not contradict the statement by Dirac. Indeed, two photons
cannot interfere for several reasons.
— Interference is a result of the space-time propagation of waves; photons appear only
when the energy–momentum picture is used, mainly when interaction with matter
takes place. The description of space-time propagation and the particle picture are
mutually exclusive – this is one aspect of the complementary principle. Why does
Dirac seem to mix the two in his statement? Dirac employs the term ‘photon’ in a
very general sense, as quantized state of the electromagnetic field. When two coher-
ent beams are superposed, the quantized entities, the photons, cannot be ascribed to
either of the sources. Interference results from superposition of two coherent states,
not of two particles.
— Interference is only possible if one cannot know where the detected photon comes

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
from. The quantum mechanical description of the field in a situation of interference
never allows ascribing photons of the superposed field to one of the sources. In other
words, if you can say from which source a detected photon comes from, you cannot
observe interference.
— Interference between two beams requires a fixed phase between them, i.e., an un-
certain particle number; in other words, interference is only possible if the photon
number for each of the two beams is unknown.
A better choice of words is to say that interference is always between two (indistin-
guishable) states, or if one prefers, between two possible (indistinguishable) histories,
but never between two particles. In summary we can say: two different electromagnetic
beams can interfere, but two different photons cannot.

Can two electron beams interfere? Are there coherent electron

beams?
Do coherent electron sources exist? The question is tricky.
Ref. 55 Results in the literature, such as the one illustrated in Figure 51, state that is possible
to make holograms with electron beams.* However, when one asks these authors about
the meaning of coherence, they answer that electron coherence is only transversal, not
longitudinal. Transversal coherence is determined by the possible size of wavefronts with
a given phase. The upper limit of this size is given by the interactions such a state has with
its environment. All this behaviour is as expected for actual coherence.
However, the concept of ‘transversal coherence’ is a misnomer. The ability to interfere
with oneself, as implies in the term ‘transversal coherence’ is not the correct definition of
coherence. Transversal coherence, be it for photons or for matter particles, only expresses
the smallness of the particle source. Both small lamps (and lasers) can show interference
when the beam is split and recombined with identical path length; this is not a proof of
coherence of the light field. A similar reasoning shows that monochromaticity is not a
proof for coherence either.
A state is called coherent if it possesses a well-defined phase throughout a given do-
main of space or time. The size of the spatial region or of the time interval defines the
Ref. 56 * In 2002, the first holograms have been produced that made use of neutron beams.
 92 4 the quantum description of mat ter

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
F I G U R E 51 An electron hologram of DNA molecules (© Hans-Werner Fink/Wiley VCH).

degree of coherence. This definition yields coherence lengths of the order of the source
size for small ‘incoherent’ sources. Even for a small coherence length, the size of an in-
terference pattern or the distance d between its maxima can be much larger than the
coherence length l or the source size s. In short, a large size (or a persistent duration in
time) of an interference pattern alone is not a proof of coherence.
A light source is coherent if it produces an approximate sine wave over a certain length
or time. Due to the indeterminacy relation, in any coherent beam of light, the photon
Page 45 number is undetermined. The same requirement applies to coherent electron beams: an
undetermined electron number is needed to see a macroscopic interference pattern. That
is impossible, as electrons (at usual energies) carry a conserved charge. Coherent electron
beams do not exist.
In summary, even though an electron can interfere with itself, and even though it is
possible to produce interference between two light sources, interference between two
electron sources is impossible. Indeed, nobody has every managed to produce interfer-
ence between two electron sources. There is no conventional concept of coherence for
electron beams.

The least action principle in quantum physics

In nature, motion happens in a way that minimizes change. Indeed, in classical physics,
Vol. I, page 217 the principle of least action states that in nature, the motion of a particle happens along
that particular path – out of all possible paths with the same end points – for which the
action is minimal. This principle of cosmic laziness was stated mathematically by saying
that in nature, the variation δS of the action is zero. Change minimization explains all
classical evolution equations. We now transfer this idea to the quantum domain.
For quantum systems, we need to redefine both the concept of action and the concept
 4 the quantum description of mat ter 93

of variation: first of all, we to find a description of action that is based on operators;

secondly, we need to define the action variation without paths, as the concept of ‘path’
does not exist for quantum systems; thirdly, since there is a smallest action in nature, a
vanishing variation is not a clearly defined concept, and we must overcome this hurdle.
There are two main ways to achieve this: to describe the motion of quantum systems as a
superposition of all possible paths, or to describe action with the help of wave functions.
Both approaches are equivalent.
In the first approach, the path integral formulation, the motion of a quantum particle
is described as a democratic superposition of motions along all possible paths. (We called
Page 52 it the ‘arrow model’ above.) For each path, the evolution of the arrow is determined, and
at the end point, the arrows from all paths are added. The action for each path is the
number of turns that the arrow performs along the path. The result from this exercise
is that the path for which the arrow makes the smallest number of turns is usually (but
not always!) the most probable path. A more precise investigation shows that classical,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
macroscopic systems always follow only the path of smallest action, whereas quantum
systems follow all paths.
In the second approach to quantum physics, action is defined with help of wave func-
tions. In classical physics, we defined the action (or change) as the integral of the La-
grangian between the initial and final points in time, and the Lagrangian itself as the
Vol. I, page 213 difference between kinetic and potential energy. In quantum physics, the simplest defi-
nition is the quantum action defined by Julian Schwinger. Let us call the initial and final
states of the system ψi and ψf . The action S between these two states is defined as

S = ⟨ψi | 󵐐 L dt | ψf ⟩ , (37)

where L is the Lagrangian (operator). The angle brackets represent the ‘multiplication’ of
states and operators as defined in quantum theory. (We skip the details of notation and
mathematics here.) In simple words, also in quantum theory, action – i.e., the change
occurring in a system – is the integral of the Lagrangian. The Lagrangian operator L is
defined in the same way as in classical physics: the Lagrangian L = T −V is the difference
between the kinetic energy T and the potential energy V operators. The only difference
is that, in quantum theory, the momentum and position variables of classical physics are
replaced by the corresponding operators of quantum physics.*
To transfer the concept of action variation δS to the quantum domain, Julian
Schwinger introduced the straightforward expression

δS = ⟨ψi | δ󵐐 L dt| ψf ⟩ . (38)

The concept of path is not needed in this expression, as the variation of the action is
based on varying wave functions instead of varying particle paths.
The last classical requirement to be transferred to the quantum domain is that, be-
cause nature is lazy, the variation of the action must vanish. However, in the quantum

* More precisely, there is also a condition governing the ordering of operators in a mixed product, so that
the non-commutativity of operators is taken into account. We do not explore this issue here.
 94 4 the quantum description of mat ter

domain, the variation of the action cannot be zero, as the smallest observable action is
the quantum of action. As Julian Schwinger discovered, there is only one possible way to
express the required minimality of action:

δS = ⟨ψi | δ󵐐 L dt| ψf ⟩ = −iħ δ⟨ψi |ψf ⟩ . (39)

This so-called quantum action principle describes all motion in the quantum domain.
Classically, the right-hand side is zero – since ħ is taken to be zero – and we then recover
the minimum-action principle δS = 0 of classical physics. But in quantum theory, when-
ever we try to achieve small variations, we encounter the quantum of action and changes
of (relative) phase. This is expressed by the right-hand side of the expression. The right
side is the reason that the evolution equations for the wave function – Schrödinger’s equa-
tion for the spinless non-relativistic case, or Dirac’s equation for the spin 1/2 relativistic

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
case – are valid in nature.
In simple words, all quantum motion – i.e., the quantum evolution of a state ψ or |ψ⟩
– happens in such a way that the action variation is the same as −i times the quantum
of action ħ times the variation of the scalar product between initial and final states. In
other words, in the actual motion, the intermediate states are fixed by the requirement
that they must lead from the initial state to the final state with the smallest number of
effective turns of the state phase. The factor −i expresses the dependence of the action
on the rotation of the wave function.
In summary, the least action principle is also valid in quantum physics, provided one
takes into account that action values below ħ cannot be found in experiments. The least
action principle governs the evolution of wave function, and thus explains the colour of
all things, all other material science, all chemistry and all biology, as we will see in the
following.

The motion of quantons with spin

“ ”
Everything turns.
Anonymous

What is the origin of the quantum phase? Classical physics helps to answer the question.
Page 74 Quantons can rotate around an axis: we speak of particle spin. But if quantum particles
can spin, they should possess angular momentum. And indeed, experiments confirm
this deduction.
In particular, electrons have spin. The full details of electron spin were deduced from
Ref. 57 experiments by two Dutch students, George Uhlenbeck and Samuel Goudsmit, in 1925.
They had the guts to publish what Ralph Kronig had also suspected: that electrons rotate
around an axis with a projected component of the angular momentum given by ħ/2. In
fact, this value – often called spin 1/2 for short – is valid for all elementary matter particles.
(In contrast, all elementary radiation particles have spin values of ħ, or spin 1 for short.)
If a spinning particle has angular momentum, it must be possible to rearrange the axis
by applying a torque, to observe precession, to transfer the spin in collisions etc. All this is
Page 75 indeed observed; in fact, the Stern–Gerlach experiment allows all these observations. The
 4 the quantum description of mat ter 95

only difference between particle spin and classical angular momentum is that particle
Page 74 spin is quantized, as we deduced above.
In other words, the spin describes how a particle behaves under rotations. One result
of spin is that charged quantum particles also act as small dipole magnets. The strength
of the dipole magnet is described by the so-called д-value. Uhlenbeck and Goudsmit
Page 97 deduced a д-value of 2 for the electron in order to explain the optical spectra. This value
Ref. 58 was explained by Llewellyn Thomas as a relativistic effect a few months later; today one
often speaks of Thomas precession.
By 2004, experimental techniques had become so sensitive that the magnetic effect
of a single electron spin attached to an impurity (in an otherwise non-magnetic ma-
terial) could be detected. Researchers now hope to improve these so-called ‘magnetic-
resonance-force microscopes’ until they reach atomic resolution.
In 1927, the Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli* discovered how to include spin 1/2 in
a quantum-mechanical description: instead of a state function described by a single com-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
plex number, a state function with two complex components is needed. The reason for
this expansion is simple. In general, the little rotating arrow that describes a quantum
state does not rotate around a fixed plane, as is assumed by the Schrödinger equation;
the plane of rotation has also to be specified at each position in space. This implies that
two additional parameters are required at each space point, bringing the total number
of parameters to four real numbers, or, equivalently, two complex numbers. Nowadays,
Pauli’s equation is mainly of conceptual interest, because – like that of Schrödinger – it
does not comply with special relativity. However, the idea of including the local rotation
plane remains valid. The idea was used by Dirac when he introduced the relativistic de-
scription of the electron, and the idea is also used in all other wave equations for particles
with spin.
In summary, the description of a quanton with spin implies the use of wave functions
that specify two complex numbers at each point in space and time.

Relativistic wave equations

In 1899, Max Planck had discovered the quantum of action. In 1905, Albert Einstein pub-
lished the theory of special relativity, which was based on the idea that the speed of light
c is independent of the speed of the observer. The first question Planck asked himself
was whether the value of the quantum of action would be independent of the speed of
the observer. It was his interest in this question that led him to invite Einstein to Berlin.
With this invitation, he made the patent-office clerk famous in the world of physics.

* Wolfgang Ernst Pauli (b. 1900 Vienna, d. 1958 Zürich), at the age of 21, wrote one of the best texts on special
and general relativity. He was the first to calculate the energy levels of hydrogen using quantum theory,
discovered the exclusion principle, incorporated spin into quantum theory, elucidated the relation between
spin and statistics, proved the CPT theorem, and predicted the neutrino. He was admired for his intelligence,
and feared for his biting criticisms, which led to his nickname, ‘conscience of physics’. Despite this, he helped
many people in their research, such as Heisenberg with quantum theory, without claiming any credit for
Ref. 59 himself. He was seen by many, including Einstein, as the greatest and sharpest mind of twentieth-century
physics. He was also famous for the ‘Pauli effect’, i.e., his ability to trigger disasters in laboratories, machines
and his surroundings by his mere presence. As we will see shortly, one can argue that Pauli actually received
the Nobel Prize for physics in 1945 (officially ‘for the discovery of the exclusion principle’) for finally settling
the question of how many angels can dance on the tip of a pin.
 96 4 the quantum description of mat ter

Experiments show that the quantum of action is indeed independent of the speed of
the observer. All observers find the same minimum value. To include special relativity
into quantum theory, we therefore only need to find the correct quantum Hamiltonian
H.
Given that the classical Hamiltonian of a free particle and antiparticle is given by

H = ±󵀆 c 4 m2 + c 2 p2 with p = γm󰑣 , (40)

one might ask: what is the corresponding Hamilton operator? The simplest answer was
given, in 1949 by T.D. Newton and E.P. Wigner, and in 1950, by L.L. Foldy and S.A.
Ref. 60 Wouthuysen. The operator is almost the same one:

1 0 0 0

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
0 1 0 0
H = β󵀆 c 4 m 2 + c 2 p 2 with β=󶀫 󶀻 . (41)
0 0 −1 0
0 0 0 −1

The signs appearing in the matrix operator β distinguish between particles and antiparti-
cles. The numbers +1 and −1 appear twice, to take care of the two possible spin directions
for each case.
With this relativistic Hamiltonian operator for spin 1/2 particles – and with all others
– the wave function is described by four complex numbers, two for particles and two
for antiparticles. That each type of particles requires two complex components follows
from the requirement to specify, at each point in space, the length of the arrow, its phase,
Vol. II, page 66 and its plane of rotation. Long ago we also found that relativity automatically introduces
Page 175 antimatter, and we will explore the issue in detail below. Both matter and antimatter are
part of any relativistic description of quantum effects. The wave function for a particle
has vanishing antiparticle components, and vice versa. In total, the wave function for
relativistic spin 1/2 systems has thus four complex components.
The Hamilton operator yields the velocity operator 󰑣 through the same relation that
is valid in classical physics:

d p
󰑣= x=β . (42)
dt 󵀆 c 4 m2 + c 2 p2

This velocity operator shows a continuum of eigenvalues, from minus to plus the speed
of light. The velocity 󰑣 is a constant of motion, as are the momentum p and the energy

E = 󵀆 c 4 m2 + c 2 p2 . (43)

Also the orbital angular momentum L is defined as in classical physics, through

L=x×p. (44)
 4 the quantum description of mat ter 97

Ref. 61 The orbital angular momentum L and the spin σ are separate constants of motion. A
particle (or antiparticle) with positive (or negative) angular momentum component has
a wave function with only one non-vanishing component; the other three components
vanish.
But alas, the representation of relativistic motion given by Foldy and Wouthuysen is
not the simplest when it comes to take electromagnetic interactions into account. The
simple identity between the classical and quantum-mechanical descriptions is lost when
electromagnetism is included. We will solve this problem below, when we explore Dirac’s
Page 172 evolution equation for relativistic wave functions.

Composite vs. elementary quantons

When is an object composite, and not elementary? Quantum theory gives several prag-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
matic answers. The first one is somewhat strange: an object is composite when its gyro-
Ref. 62 magnetic ratio is different from the one predicted by QED. The gyromagnetic ratio γ is
defined as the ratio between the magnetic moment M and the angular momentum L:

M = γL . (45)

The gyromagnetic ratio γ is measured in units of s−1 T−1 , i.e., C/kg, and determines the
energy levels of magnetic spinning particles in magnetic fields; it will reappear later in
Vol. V, page 118 the context of magnetic resonance imaging. All candidates for elementary particles have
spin 1/2. The gyromagnetic ratio for spin-1/2 particles of magnetic moment M and mass
m can be written as
M e
γ= =д . (46)
ħ/2 2m

The criterion for being elementary can thus be reduced to a condition on the value of the
dimensionless number д, the so-called д-factor. (The expression eħ/2m is often called
the magneton of the particle. Confusingly, the dimensionless factor д/2 is often called the
gyromagnetic ratio as well.) If the д-factor differs from the value predicted by QED for
point particles – about 2.0 – the object is composite. For example, a 4 He+ helium ion has
Challenge 69 ny spin 1/2 and a д value of 14.7 ⋅ 103 . Indeed, the radius of the helium ion is 3 ⋅ 10−11 m,
obviously a finite value, and the ion is a composite entity. For the proton, one measures
a д-factor of about 5.6. Indeed, experiments yield a finite proton radius of about 0.9 fm
and show that it contains several constituents.
The neutron, which has a magnetic moment despite being electrically neutral, must
therefore be composite. Indeed, its radius is approximately the same as that of the proton.
Similarly, molecules, mountains, stars and people must be composite. According to this
first criterion, the only elementary particles are leptons (i.e., electrons, muons, tauons
and neutrinos), quarks, and intermediate bosons (i.e., photons, W-bosons, Z-bosons and
Vol. V, page 118 gluons). More details on these particles will be revealed in the chapters on the nucleus.
Another simple criterion for compositeness has just been mentioned: any object with
a measurable size is composite. This criterion yields the same list of elementary particles as
the first. Indeed, the two criteria are related. The simplest model for composite structures
 98 4 the quantum description of mat ter

Ref. 63 predicts that the д-factor obeys

R
д−2= (47)
λC

where R is the radius and λC = h/mc is the Compton wavelength of the system. This
expression is surprisingly precise for helium-4 ions, helium-3, tritium ions and protons,
Vol.
Challenge
V, page70
264
e as you may wish to check. The tables in Appendix B in the next volume make the same
point.
A third criterion for compositeness is more general: any object larger than its Compton
length is composite. The argument is simple. An object is composite if one can detect
internal motion, i.e., motion of some components. Now the action of any part with mass
mpart moving inside a composed system of size r obeys

Spart < 2π r mpart c < π r m c (48)

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
where m is the mass of the composite object. On the other hand, following the principle
of quantum theory, this action, to be observable, must be larger than ħ/2. Inserting this
condition, we find that for any composite object*

ħ
r> . (49)
2π m c

The right-hand side differs only by a factor 4π2 from the so-called Compton (wave)length

h
λ= (50)
mc
of an object. Thus any object larger than its own Compton wavelength is composite; and
any object smaller than the right-hand side of expression (49) is elementary. Again, only
leptons, quarks and intermediate bosons pass the test. All other objects are composite.
Challenge 72 ny This third criterion produces the same list as the previous ones. Can you explain why?
A fourth criterion is regularly cited by Steven Weinberg: a particle is elementary if it
appears in the Lagrangian of the standard model of particle physics. Can you show that
Challenge 73 ny this criterion follows from the previous ones?
Interestingly, we are not yet finished with this topic. Even stranger statements about
Vol. VI, page 276 compositeness will appear when gravity is taken into account. Just be patient: it is worth
it.

Curiosities and fun challenges about quantum motion of matter

Take the sharpest knife edge or needle tip you can think of: the quantum of action implies
that they are all fuzzy clouds.
∗∗

Challenge 71 ny * Can you find the missing factor of 2? And is the assumption that the components must always be lighter
than the composite a valid one?
 4 the quantum description of mat ter 99

F I G U R E 52 A special potential well

that does not disturb a wave function.
Colour indicates phase. (QuickTime
film © Bernd Thaller).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Do hydrogen atoms exist? Most types of atom have been imaged with microscopes, pho-
tographed under illumination, levitated one by one, and even moved with needles, one by
one, as the picture on page 293 in volume I shows. Researchers have even moved single
Ref. 64 atoms by using laser beams to push them. However, not a single one of these experi-
ments has measured or imaged hydrogen atoms. Is that a reason to doubt the existence
Challenge 74 s of hydrogen atoms? Taking this not-so-serious discussion seriously can be a lot of fun.
∗∗
Two observables can commute for two different reasons: either they are very similar –
such as the coordinates x and x 2 – or they are very different – such as the coordinate x
Challenge 75 ny and the momentum p y . Can you give an explanation for this?
∗∗
Space and time translations commute. Why then do the momentum operator and the
Challenge 76 ny Hamiltonian not commute in general?
∗∗
There are some potentials that have no influence on a wave function. Figure 52 shows
an example. This potential has reflection coefficient zero for all energies; the scattered
wave has no reflected part. The well has the shape of a soliton of the Korteweg–de Vries
equation, which is related to the Schrödinger equation.
∗∗
For a bound system in a non-relativistic state with no angular momentum, one has the
Ref. 65 relation
9ħ2
⟨r 2 ⟩ ⟨T⟩ ⩾ , (51)
8m
where m is the reduced mass and T the kinetic energy of the components, and r is the
Challenge 77 s size of the system. Can you deduce this result, and check it for hydrogen?
 100 4 the quantum description of mat ter

∗∗
One often reads that the universe might have been born from a quantum fluctuation.
Challenge 78 ny Can you explain why this statement make no sense?

A summary on motion of quantons

In summary, the motion of quantons can be described in two ways:

— Seen from far away, at low magnification, moving quantum particles behave as ad-
vancing, rotating and precessing arrows. The details of the rotation and precession of
the arrow depend on the energy and momentum of the particle. The squared length
of the arrow is the probability to observe a particle. If a particle can get from a starting
point to a final point in several ways, arrows add up.
— At large magnification, quantum particles are described by wave functions that move

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
like advancing, rotating and precessing clouds. The local cloud orientation, the lo-
cal phase, follows a wobbling motion. The square of the probability amplitude, the
density of the cloud, is the probability for finding the particle at a given spot.

Rotating arrows result from cloud averages; they combine particle and wave properties.
A full rotation of the arrow corresponds to the quantum of action. This central feature im-
plies that a non-relativistic particle whose spin can be neglected follows the Schrödinger
equation, and that a relativistic electron follows the Dirac equation. The Dirac equation
agrees with all known experiments. In particular, the Dirac equation describes all of
chemistry and biology, as we will find out.
To continue with the greatest efficiency on our path across quantum physics, we ex-
plore three important topics: the issue of indistinguishability of several particles, the topic
of spin, and the issue of the interpretation of the probabilities.
 Chapter 5

PERMUTATION OF PARTICLES – ARE

PARTIC LES LI K E GLOV ES?

W
hy are we able to distinguish twins from each other? Why can we distinguish
hat looks alike, such as a copy from an original? Most of us are convinced that
henever we compare an original with a copy, we can find a difference. This

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
conviction turns out to be correct, but the conclusion is not straightforward.
The quantum of action has many implications for copies and their differences from
the original. Think about any method that allows you to distinguish objects: you will
Challenge 79 s find that it runs into trouble for point-like particles. Therefore, in the quantum domain
something must change about our ability to distinguish particles and objects.
One could argue that differences between an original object and a copy can always be
made to disappear: it should be sufficient to use the same number and type of atoms. In
fact, the quantum of action shows that this is not sufficient, even though all atoms of the
same type are indeed indistinguishable copies of each other! In the following we explore
the most important consequences on motion of the indistinguishability of atoms and of
the distinguishability of macroscopic objects.

Distinguishing macroscopic objects

A number of important properties of objects are highlighted by studying a combinatorial
puzzle: the glove problem. It asks:

How many surgical gloves (for the right hand) are necessary if m doctors
need to operate 󰑤 patients in a hygienic way, so that nobody gets in contact
with the body fluids of anybody else?

The same problem also appears in other settings. For example, it also applies to comput-
Ref. 66 ers, interfaces and computer viruses or to condoms, men and women – and is then called
the condom problem. To be clear, the optimal number of gloves is not the product m󰑤.
In fact, the problem has three subcases.
Challenge 80 s — The simple case m = 󰑤 = 2 already provides the most important ideas needed. Are
you able to find the optimal solution and procedure?
— In the case 󰑤 = 1 and m odd or the case m = 1 and 󰑤 odd, the solution is (m + 1)/2
Challenge 81 e gloves. This is the optimal solution, as you can easily check yourself.
Ref. 67 — A solution with a simple procedure for all other cases is given by ⌈2󰑤/3+m/2⌉ gloves,
where ⌈x⌉ means the smallest integer greater than or equal to x. For example, for two
doctors and three patients this gives only three gloves. (However, this formula does
 102 5 permu tation of particles

Challenge 82 e not always give the optimal solution; better values exist in certain subcases.)
Enjoy the puzzle.
Two basic properties of gloves determine the solution to the puzzle. First, gloves have
two sides, an interior and an exterior one, that can be distinguished from each other.
Secondly, gloves turned inside out exchange left and right. Thirdly, gloves can also be
distinguished from each other. Do these three properties also apply to quantum particles?
We will discuss the issue of double-sidedness of quantum particles in the last part of
Vol. VI, page 105 the mountain ascent. In fact, the question whether particles can be turned inside out will
be of importance for their description and their motion. We will also discuss the differ-
Vol. V, page 182 ence between right- and left-handed particles in our adventure. In the present chapter
we concentrate on the third issue, namely whether objects and particles can always be
distinguished from copies. In fact, elementary particles do not behave like gloves but in
an even more surprising manner.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
In everyday life, distinction of macroscopic objects can be achieved in two ways. We
are able to distinguish objects – or people – from each other because they differ in their
intrinsic properties, such as their mass, colour, size or shape. In addition, we are also able
to distinguish objects if they have the same intrinsic properties. Any game of billiard
suggests that by following the path of each ball, we can distinguish it from the other balls.
In short, objects with identical properties can also be distinguished using their state.
The state of a billiard ball is given by its position and momenta. In the case of billiard
balls, the state allows distinguishing balls because the measurement error for the position
of each ball is much smaller than the size of the ball itself. However, in the microscopic
domain this is not the case. Let us take single atoms. Atoms of the same type have the
same intrinsic properties. To distinguish them in collisions, we would need to keep track
of their motion. But we have no chance to achieve this. Already in the nineteenth century
it was shown experimentally that even nature itself is not able to do it! This profound
result was discovered studying systems which incorporate a large number of colliding
atoms of the same type: gases.

Distinguishing atoms
Vol. I, page 336 The calculation of the entropy S of a simple gas, made of N simple particles of mass m
moving in a volume V , gives

S V 3 ln α
= ln 󶁤 3 󶁴 + + (52)
kN Λ 2 N

where k is the Boltzmann constant, ln the natural logarithm, T the temperature, and
Λ = is the thermal wavelength (approximately the de Broglie wavelength of the particles
making up the gas). In this formula, the pure number α is equal to 1 if the particles are
distinguishable like billiard balls, and equal to 1/N ! if they are not distinguishable at all.
Measuring the entropy thus allows us to determine α and therefore to test experimentally
whether particles are distinguishable. It turns out that only the second case describes
Challenge 83 e nature. This can easily be checked without even performing the measurement: only in
 5 permu tation of particles 103

F I G U R E 53 Willard Gibbs (1839–1903)

the second case, α = 1/N ! does the entropy of two volumes of identical gas add up.*
The result, often called Gibbs’ paradox,** thus proves that the microscopic components of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Ref. 68 matter are indistinguishable: in a system of quantum particles – be they electrons, protons,
atoms or small molecules – there is no way to say which particle is which.
Indistinguishability is an experimental property of nature.*** Since ħ appears in the
expression for the entropy, indistinguishability is a quantum effect. On the other hand,
indistinguishability plays no role if quantum effects are negligible. But in practice, all
everyday matter – plasma, gases, liquids and solids – shows strong quantum effects.
The properties of matter would be completely different without indistinguishability.
For example, we will discover that without it, knifes and swords would not cut. In addi-
tion, the soil would not carry us; we would fall right through it. To illuminate the issue
in more detail, we explore the following question.

Why does indistinguishability appear in nature?

Take two quantum particles with the same mass, the same composition and the same
shape, such as two atoms. Imagine that their paths cross, and that they approach each
other to small distances at the crossing, as shown in Figure 54. In a gas, both a collision
of atoms or a near miss are examples. Now, all experiments ever performed show that at
small distances it is impossible to say whether the two quantons have switched roles or
not.

* Indeed, the entropy values observed by experiment, for a monoatomic gas, are given by the so-called
Challenge 84 d Sackur–Tetrode formula
S V 5
= ln 󶁤 󶁴+ (53)
kN NΛ 3 2
which follows when α = 1/N ! is inserted above. It was deduced independently by the German physicist Otto
Sackur (1880–1914) and the Dutch physicist Hugo Tetrode (1895–1931). Note that the essential parameter is
the ratio between V /N, the volume per particle, and Λ3 , the de Broglie volume of a particle.
** Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839–1903), US-American physicist who was, with Maxwell and Planck, one of the
three founders of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics; he introduced the concept of ensemble and
the term thermodynamic phase.
*** When radioactivity was discovered, people thought that it contradicted the indistinguishability of atoms,
because decay seems to single out certain atoms compared to others. But quantum theory then showed that
this is not the case and that even atoms and molecules are indistinguishable.
104 5 permu tation of particles

m
F I G U R E 54 Identical objects with
crossing paths.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
⊳ It is impossible in a gas to follow quantum particles moving around and to
determine which one is which.

The impossibility to distinguish nearby particles is a direct consequence of the quantum

of action. For a path that brings two approaching particles very close to each other, a
role switch requires only a small amount of change, i.e., only a small (physical) action.
However, we know that there is a smallest observable action in nature. Keeping track
of each quantum particle at small distances would require action values smaller than
the smallest action observed in nature. The existence of a smallest action thus makes it
impossible to keep track of quantum particles when they come too near to each other.
Any description of systems with several quantons must thus take into account that after
a close encounter, it is impossible to say which quanton is which.
If we remember that quantum theory describes quantons as clouds, the indistinguisha-
bility appears more natural. Whenever two clouds meet and depart again, it is impossible
to say which cloud is which. On the other hand, if two particles are kept distant enough,
one does have an effective distinguishability; indistinguishability thus appears only when
the particles come close.
In short, indistinguishability is a natural, unavoidable consequence of the existence of
a smallest action value in nature. This result leads straight away to the next question:

Can quantum particles be counted?

In everyday life, objects can be counted because they can be distinguished. Since quan-
tum particles cannot always be distinguished, we need some care in determining how
to count them. The first step in counting particles is the definition of what is meant by
a situation without any particle at all. This seems an easy thing to do, but later on we
will encounter situations where already this step runs into difficulties. In any case, the
first step is thus the specification of the vacuum. Any counting method requires that the
situation without particles is clearly separated from situations with particles.
The second step is the specification of an observable useful for determining quantum
particle number. The easiest way is to chose one of those quantum numbers which add up
 5 permu tation of particles 105

under composition, such as electric charge.* Counting is then performed by measuring

the total charge and dividing by the unit charge.
This method has several advantages. First of all, it is not important whether the parti-
cles are distinguishable or not; counting always works. Secondly, virtual particles are not
Vol. V, page 85 counted. This is a welcome state of affairs, as we will see, because for virtual particles, i.e.,
particles for which E 2 ̸= p2 c 2 + m2 c 4 , there is no way to define a particle number anyway.
This is the best particle counting method possible.
The side effect of the counting method is that antiparticles count negatively! Also this
consequence is a result of the quantum of action. We saw above that the quantum of
action implies that even in vacuum, particle–antiparticle pairs are observed at sufficiently
high energies. As a result, an antiparticle must count as minus one particle. In other
words, any way of counting quantum particles can produce an error due to this effect. In
everyday life this limitation plays no role, as there is no antimatter around us. The issue
does play a role at higher energies, however. It turns out that there is no general way to

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
count the exact number of particles and antiparticles separately; only the sum can be
defined. In short, quantum theory shows that particle counting is never perfect.
In summary, nature does provide a way to count quantum particles even if they cannot
be distinguished, though only for everyday, low energy conditions; due to the quantum
of action, antiparticles count negatively. Antiparticles thus provide a limit to the counting
of particles at high energies, when the mass–energy equivalence becomes important.

What is permutation symmetry?

Since quantum particles are countable but indistinguishable, there exists a symmetry of
nature for systems composed of several identical quantons. Permutation symmetry, also
called exchange symmetry, is the property of nature that observations are unchanged un-
der exchange of identical particles. Permutation symmetry forms one of the four pil-
lars of quantum theory, together with space-time symmetry, gauge symmetry and the
not yet encountered renormalization symmetry. Permutation symmetry is a property of
composed systems, i.e., of systems made of many (identical) subsystems. Only for such
systems does indistinguishability play a role.
In other words, ‘indistinguishable’ is not the same as ‘identical’. Two quantum particles
of the same type are not the same; they are more like copies of each other. On the other
hand, everyday life experience shows us that two copies can always be distinguished un-
der close inspection, so that the term ‘copy’ is not fully appropriate either.

⊳ Quantons, quantum particles, are countable and completely indistinguish-

able.** Quantum particles are perfect copies of each other.

Being perfect copies, not even nature can distinguish particles, and permutation symme-
try appears.

* In everyday life, the weight or mass is commonly used as observable. However, it cannot be used in the
quantum domain, except for simple cases. Can you give at least two reasons, one from special relativity and
Challenge 85 s one from general relativity?
** The word ‘indistinguishable’ is so long that many physicists sloppily speak of ‘identical’ particles never-
theless. Take care.
 106 5 permu tation of particles

In the next chapter, we will discover that permutation is partial rotation. Permutation
Challenge 86 e symmetry thus is a symmetry under partial rotations. Can you find out why?

Indistinguishability and wave function symmetry

The indistinguishability of quantum particles leads to important conclusions about the
description of their state of motion. This happens because it is impossible to formulate
a description of motion that includes indistinguishability right from the start. (Are you
Challenge 87 s able to confirm this?) We need to describe a n-particle state with a state Ψ1...i... j...n which
assumes that distinction is possible, as expressed by the ordered indices in the notation,
and we introduce the indistinguishability afterwards.
Indistinguishability, or permutation symmetry, means that the exchange of any two
quantum particles results in the same physical observations.* Now, two quantum states
have the same physical properties if they differ at most by a phase factor; indistinguisha-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
bility thus requires
Ψ1...i... j...n = eiα Ψ1... j...i...n (54)

for some unknown angle α. Applying this expression twice, by exchanging the same cou-
ple of indices again, allows us to conclude that e2iα = 1. This implies that

Ψ1...i... j...n = ± Ψ1... j...i...n , (55)

in other words, a wave function is either symmetric or antisymmetric under exchange of

indices. (One can also say that the eigenvalue for the exchange operator is either +1 or
−1.)

⊳ Quantum theory thus predicts that quantum particles can be indistinguishable

in one of two distinct ways.**
⊳ Particles corresponding to symmetric wave functions – those which trans-
form with a ‘+’ in equation (55) – are called*** bosons.
⊳ Particles corresponding to antisymmetric wave functions – those which
transform with a ‘−’ in equation (55) – are called**** fermions.

* We therefore have the same situation that we encountered already several times: an overspecification of
the mathematical description, here the explicit ordering of the indices, implies a symmetry of this description,
which in our case is a symmetry under exchange of indices, i.e., under exchange of particles.
** This conclusion applies to three-dimensional space only. In two dimensions there are more possibilities.
*** ‘Bosons’ are named after the Indian physicist Satyenra Nath Bose (b. 1894 Calcutta, d. 1974 Calcutta)
Ref. 69 who first described the statistical properties of photons. The work was later expanded by Albert Einstein,
so that one speaks of Bose–Einstein statistics.
**** The term ‘fermion’ is derived from the name of the Italian physicist and Nobel Prize winner Enrico
Fermi (b. 1901 Rome, d. 1954 Chicago) famous for his all-encompassing genius in theoretical and experi-
mental physics. He mainly worked on nuclear and elementary particle physics, on spin and on statistics.
For his experimental work he was called ‘quantum engineer’. He is also famous for his lectures, which are
still published in his own hand-writing, and his brilliant approach to physical problems. Nevertheless, his
highly deserved Nobel Prize was one of the few cases in which the prize was given for a discovery which
turned out to be incorrect.
 5 permu tation of particles 107

detectors
mirrors
beam
source splitter
possible
two identical light
photons F I G U R E 55 Two-photon emission
paths
and interference: both photons are
always found arriving together, at
the same detector.

Experiments show that the exchange behaviour depends on the type of particle. Photons
are found to be bosons. On the other hand, electrons, protons and neutrons are found
to be fermions. Also about half of the atoms are found to behave as bosons (at moderate

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
energies), the other half are fermions. In fact, a composite of an even number of fermions
(at moderate energies) – or of any number of bosons (at any energy) – turns out to be a
boson; a composite of an odd number of fermions is (always) a fermion.
For example, almost all of the known molecules are bosons (electronically speaking).
Fermionic molecules are rather special and even have a special name in chemistry; they
are called radicals and are known for their eagerness to react and to form normal bosonic
molecules. Inside the human body, too many radicals can have adverse effects on health;
it is well known that vitamin C is important because it is effective in reducing the number
of radicals.
To which class of particles do tennis balls, people, trees, mountains and all other
Challenge 88 s macroscopic objects belong?

The behaviour of photons

A simple experiment, shown in Figure 55, allows observing the behaviour of photons
under exchange. Take a source that emits two photons of identical frequency and polar-
ization at the same time. In the laboratory, such a source can be realized with a down-
converter, a material that converts a photon of frequency 2ω into two photons of fre-
quency ω. Both photons, after having travelled exactly the same distance, are made to
enter the two sides of a beam splitter (for example, a half-silvered mirror). At the two
Ref. 70 exits of the beam splitter are two detectors. Experiments show that both photons are al-
ways detected together on the same side, and never separately on opposite sides. This
result shows that photons are bosons. Fermions behave in exactly the opposite way; two
fermions are always detected separately on opposite sides, never together on the same
side.

Bunching and antibunching

Another way to test the exchange character of a particle is the Hanbury Brown–Twiss
Page 49 experiment described earlier on. First of all, this beautiful experiment shows that quan-
tum particles behave differently than classical particles. In addition, compared to classi-
cal particles, fermions show antibunching – because of Pauli’s exclusion principle – and
bosons show bunching. Hanbury Brown and Twiss performed the experiment with pho-
 108 5 permu tation of particles

4He shows bunching

classical
prediction

classical
prediction

3He shows anti-bunching

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
F I G U R E 56 Bunching and antibunching of 3 He and 4 He helium atoms: the measurement result, the
detector and the experiment (from atomoptic.iota.u-psud.fr/research/helium/helium.html, photo
© Denis Boiron, Jerome Chatin).

tons, which are bosons.

Ref. 71 In 2005, a French–Dutch research collaboration performed the experiment with
atoms. By using an extremely cold helium gas at 500 nK and a clever detector princi-
ple, they were able to measure the correlation curves typical for the effect. The results,
shown in Figure 56, confirm that 3 He is a fermion and 4 He is a boson, as predicted from
the composition rule of quantum particles.

The energy dependence of permutation symmetry

If experiments force us to conclude that nobody, not even nature, can distinguish be-
tween two particles of the same type, we deduce that they do not form two separate
entities, but some sort of unity. Our naive, classical sense of particle as a separate entity
from the rest of the world is thus an incorrect description of the phenomenon of ‘parti-
cle’. Indeed, no experiment can track particles with identical intrinsic properties in such
a way that they can be distinguished with certainty. This impossibility has been checked
experimentally with all elementary particles, with nuclei, with atoms and with numerous
molecules.
How does this fit with everyday life, i.e., with classical physics? Photons do not worry
us much here. Let us focus the discussion on matter particles. We know to be able to
distinguish electrons by pointing to the wire in which they flow, and we can distinguish
our fridge from that of our neighbour. While the quantum of action makes distinction
impossible, everyday life allows it.
The simplest explanation for both observations is to imagine a microscopic particle,
 5 permu tation of particles 109

F I G U R E 57 Picturing particles as localized excitations (left) or clouds (right).

especially an elementary one, as a bulge, i.e., as a localized excitation of the vacuum, or

as a tiny cloud. Figure 57 shows two such bulges and two clouds representing particles.
It is evident that if particles are too near to each other, it makes no sense to distinguish
them; we cannot say any more which is which.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
The bulge image shows that either for large distances or for high potential walls sep-
arating them, distinction of identical particles does become possible. In such situations,
measurements allowing to track them independently do exist. In other words, we can
specify a limit energy at which permutation symmetry of objects or particles separated
by a distance d becomes important. It is given by

cħ
E= . (56)
d

Challenge 89 ny Are you able to confirm the expression? For example, at everyday temperatures we can
distinguish atoms inside a solid from each other, since the energy so calculated is much
higher than the thermal energy of atoms. To have fun, you might want to determine at
Challenge 90 e what energy two truly identical human twins become indistinguishable. Estimating at
what energies the statistical character of trees or fridges will become apparent is then
straightforward.
To sum up, in daily life we are able to distinguish objects and thus people for two
reasons: because they are made of many parts, and because we live in a low energy envi-
ronment. The bulge image of particles purveys the idea that distinguishability exists for
objects in everyday life but not for particles in the microscopic domain.
The energy issue immediately adds a new aspect to the discussion. How can we de-
scribe fermions and bosons in the presence of virtual particles and of antiparticles?

Indistinguishability in quantum field theory

Quantum field theory, as we will see shortly, simply puts the cloudy bulge idea of
Figure 57 into mathematical language. A situation with no bulge is called vacuum state.
Quantum field theory describes all particles of a given type as excitations of a single fun-
damental field. Particles are indistinguishable because each particle is an excitation of the
same basic substrate and each excitation has the same properties. A situation with one
particle is then described by a vacuum state acted upon by a creation operator. Adding
a second particle is described by adding a second creation operator, and subtracting a
particle by adding a annihilation operator; the latter turns out to be the adjoint of the
former.
 110 5 permu tation of particles

Quantum field theory studies how creation and annihilation operators must behave
to describe observations.* It arrives at the following conclusions:
— Fields with half-integer spin are fermions and imply (local) anticommutation.
— Fields with integer spin are bosons and imply (local) commutation.
— For all fields at space-like separations, the commutator, respectively anticommutator,
vanishes.
— Antiparticles of fermions are fermions, and antiparticles of bosons are bosons.
— Virtual particles behave under exchange like their real counterparts.
These connections are at the basis of quantum field theory. They describe how particles
are identical, more precisely, how they behave under permutation.
But why are quantum particles identical? Why are all electrons identical? Quantum
field theory describes electrons as identical excitations of the vacuum, and as such as
identical by construction. Of course, this answer is only partially satisfying. We will find

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
a better one only in the final part of our mountain ascent.

How accurately is permutation symmetry verified?

Are electrons perfect fermions? In 1990, a simple but effective experiment testing their
Ref. 72 fermion behaviour was carried out by Ramberg and Snow. They sent an electric current
of 30 A through a copper wire for one month and looked for X-ray emission. They did
not find any. They concluded that electrons are always in an antisymmetric state, with a
symmetric component of less than
2 ⋅ 10−26 (59)

of the total state. In short, electrons are always in an antisymmetric state: they are
fermions.
The reasoning behind this elegant experiment is the following. If electrons would not
always be fermions, every now and then an electron could fall into the lowest energy
level of a copper atom, leading to X-ray emission. The lack of such X-rays implies that
electrons are fermions to a very high accuracy. X-rays could be emitted only if they were
bosons, at least part of the time. Indeed, two electrons, being fermions, cannot be in the
same quantum state: this restriction is called the Pauli exclusion principle. It applies to all
fermions and is the topic of the next chapter.

* Whenever the relation

[b, b† ] = bb† − b† b = 1 (57)

holds between the creation operator b† and the annihilation operator b, the operators describe a boson. The
dagger can thus be seen as describing the operation of adjoining; a double dagger is equivalent to no dagger.
If the operators for particle creation and annihilation anticommute

{d, d † } = d d † + d † d = 1 (58)

they describe a fermion. The so defined bracket is called the anticommutator bracket.
 5 permu tation of particles 111

Copies, clones and gloves

Can classical systems be indistinguishable? They can: large molecules are examples –
provided they are made of exactly the same isotopes. Can large classical systems, made
of a mole or more particles be indistinguishable? This simple question effectively asks
whether a perfect copy, or (physical) clone, of a physical system is possible.
It could be argued that any factory for mass-produced goods, such as one producing
shirt buttons or paper clips, shows that copies are possible. But the appearance is deceiv-
ing. On a microscope there is usually some difference. Is this always the case? In 1982, the
Dutch physicist Dennis Dieks and independently, the US-American physicists Wootters
Ref. 73 and Zurek, published simple proofs that quantum systems cannot be copied. This is the
famous no-cloning theorem.
A copying machine is a machine that takes an original, reads out its properties and
produces a copy, leaving the original unchanged. This definition seems straightforward.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
However, we know that if we extract information from an original, we have to interact
with it. As a result, the system will change at least by the quantum of action. We thus
expect that due to quantum theory, copies and originals can never be identical.*
Quantum theory indeed shows that copying machines are impossible. A copying ma-
chine is described by an operator that maps the state of an original system to the state of
the copy. In other words, a copying machine is linear. This linearity leads to a problem.
Simply stated, if a copying machine were able to copy originals either in state |A⟩ or in
state |B⟩, it could not work if the state of the original were a superposition |A⟩ + |B⟩. Let
us see why.
A copy machine is a device described by an operator U that changes the starting state
|s⟩c of the copy in the following way:
— If the original is in state |A⟩, a copier acts on the copy |s⟩c as

U|A⟩|s⟩c = |A⟩|A⟩c . (60)

— If the original is in state |B⟩, a copier acts on the copy |s⟩c as

U|B⟩|s⟩c = |B⟩|B⟩c . (61)

As a result of these two requirements, an original in the state |A + B⟩ is treated by the

copier as
U|A + B⟩|s⟩c = |A⟩|A⟩c + |B⟩|B⟩c . (62)

This is in contrast to what we want, which would be

Uwanted |A + B⟩|s⟩c = (|A⟩ + |B⟩)(|A⟩c + |B⟩c ) . (63)

In other words, a copy machine cannot copy a state completely.** This is the so-called
* This seems to provide a solution against banknote forgeries. In fact, Steve Wiesner proposed to use quan-
tum theory already in 1970; he imagined to use polarizations of stored single photons as bits of serial num-
Challenge 91 ny bers. Can you explain why this cannot work?
** The no-cloning theorem puts severe limitations on quantum computers, as computations often need
 112 5 permu tation of particles

no-cloning theorem.
The impossibility of copying is implicit in quantum theory. If we were able to clone
systems, we could measure a variable of a system and a second variable on its copy. We
would be thus able to beat the indeterminacy relation in both copies. This is impossible.
In short, copies are always imperfect.
The lack of quantum mechanical copying machines is disappointing. Such science
fiction machines could be fed with two different inputs, such as a lion and a goat, and
produce a superposition: a chimaera. Quantum theory shows that all these imaginary
beings or situations cannot be realized.
Other researchers then explored how near to perfection a copy can be, especially in the
Ref. 74 case of classical systems. To make a long story short, these investigations show that also
the copying or cloning of macroscopic systems is impossible. In simple words, copying
machines do not exist. Copies can always be distinguished from originals if observations
are made with sufficient care. In particular, this is the case for biological clones; biological

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
clones are identical twins born following separate pregnancies. They differ in their finger
prints, iris scans, physical and emotional memories, brain structures, and in many other
Challenge 92 s aspects. (Can you specify a few more?) In short, biological clones, like identical twins,
are not copies of each other.
In summary, everyday life objects such as photocopies, billiard balls or twins are al-
ways distinguishable. There are two reasons: first, quantum effects play no role in every-
day life, so that there is no danger of unobservable exchange; secondly, perfect clones of
classical systems do not exist anyway, so that there always are tiny differences between
any two objects, even if they look identical at first sight. Gloves, being classical systems,
can thus always be distinguished.

Summary
As a consequence of the quantum of action ħ, quantum particles are indistinguishable.
This happens in one of two ways: they are either bosons or fermions. Despite the indis-
tinguishability of quantons, the state of physical systems cannot be copied to a second
system with the same particle content. Therefore, perfect clones do not exist in nature.

copies of intermediate results. The theorem also shows that faster-than-light communication is impossible
in EPR experiments. In compensation, quantum cryptography becomes possible – at least in the laboratory.
Indeed, the no-cloning theorem shows that nobody can copy a quantum message without being noticed.
The specific ways to use this result in cryptography are the 1984 Bennett–Brassard protocol and the 1991
Ekert protocol.
 Chapter 6

ROTATIONS AND STATISTICS

– V I SUALI Z I NG SPI N

S
pin is the observation that matter beams can be polarized: rays can be rotated.
pin thus describes how particles behave under rotations. Particles are thus not
Page 94 imply point-like: quantum particles can rotate around an axis. This proper rota-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
tion is called spin; like macroscopic rotation, it is described by an angular momentum.
In the following, we recall that the spin of quantons is quantized in units of ħ/2. Then
we show a deep result: the value of spin determines whether a quantum particle, and any
general quantum system, is a boson or a fermion.

Quantum particles and symmetry

Ref. 75 The general background for the appearance of spin was clarified by Eugene Wigner in
1939.* He started by recapitulating that any quantum particle, if elementary, must behave
like an irreducible representation of the set of all viewpoint changes. This set of view-
point changes forms the symmetry group of flat space-time, the so-called inhomogeneous
Lorentz group. Why?
Vol. I, page 229 We have seen in the chapter on symmetry in the first volume of this adventure that
the symmetry of any composite system leads to certain requirements for the components
of the system. If the components do not follow these requirements, they cannot build a
symmetric composite.
We know from everyday life and precision experiments that all physical systems are
symmetric under translation in time and space, under rotation in space, under boosts,
and – in many cases – under mirror reflection, matter–antimatter exchange and motion
reversal. We know these symmetries known from everyday life; for example, the useful-
ness of what we call ‘experience’ in everyday life is simply a consequence of time trans-
lation symmetry. The set of all these common symmetries, more precisely, of all these
symmetry transformations, is called the inhomogeneous Lorentz group.
These symmetries, i.e., these changes of viewpoints, lead to certain requirements for
the components of physical systems, i.e., for the elementary quantum particles. In math-
Vol. I, page 229 ematical language, the requirement is expressed by saying that elementary particles must
be irreducible representations of the symmetry group.
Every textbook on quantum theory carries out this reasoning in systematic detail.
Starting with the Lorentz group, one obtains a list of all possible irreducible represen-

* Eugene Wigner (b. 1902 Budapest, d. 1995 Princeton), Hungarian–US-American theoretical physicist, re-
ceived the Nobel Prize for physics in 1963. He wrote over 500 papers, many about various aspects of sym-
metry in nature. He was also famous for being the most polite physicist in the world.
114 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin

tations, in other words, a list of all possible ways that elementary particles can behave.
* Cataloguing the possibilities, one finds first of all that every elementary particle is de-
scribed by four-momentum – no news so far – by an internal angular momentum, the
spin, and by a set of parities.
— Four-momentum results from the translation symmetry of nature. The momentum
value describes how a particle behaves under translation, i.e., under position and time
shift of viewpoints. The magnitude of four-momentum is an invariant property, given
by the mass, whereas its orientation in space-time is free.
— Spin results from the rotation symmetry of nature. The spin value describes how an
object behaves under rotations in three dimensions, i.e., under orientation change
of viewpoints.** The magnitude of spin is an invariant property, and its orientation
has various possibilities with respect to the direction of motion. In particular, the
spin of massive quantum particles behaves differently from that of massless quantum
particles.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
For massive quantum particles, the inhomogeneous Lorentz group implies that the
invariant magnitude of spin is ħ, often written, by oversimplification, as J. It is thus
customary to say and write ‘spin J’ instead of the cumbersome ‘spin ħ’. Since the value
of the quantum number J specifies the magnitude of the angular momentum, it gives
the representation under rotations of a given particle type. The exploration shows
that the spin quantum number J can be any multiple of 1/2, i.e., it can take the values
0, 1/2, 1, 3/2, 2, 5/2, etc. As summarized in Table 4, experiments show that electrons,
protons and neutrons have spin 1/2, the W and Z particles spin 1 and helium atoms
spin 0. In addition, the representation of spin J is 2J +1 dimensional, meaning that the
spatial orientation of the spin has 2J + 1 possible values. For electrons, with J = 1/2,
there are thus two possibilities; they are usually called ‘up’ and ‘down’. Spin thus only
takes discrete values. This is in contrast with linear momentum, whose representa-
tions are infinite dimensional and whose possible values form a continuous range.
Also massless quantum particles are characterized by the value of their spin. It can
take the same values as in the massive case. For example, photons and gluons have
spin 1. For massless particles, the representations are one-dimensional, so that mass-
less particles are completely described by their helicity, defined as the projection of
the spin onto the direction of motion. Massless particles can have positive or nega-
tive helicity, often also called right-handed and left-handed polarization. There is no
other freedom for the orientation of spin in the massless case.
— To complete the list of particle properties, the remaining, discrete symmetries of the
inhomogenous Lorentz group must be included. Since motion inversion, spatial parity
and charge inversion are parities, each elementary particle has to be described by three
additional numbers, called T, P and C, each of which can only take the values +1 or −1.
Being parities, these numbers must be multiplied to yield the value for a composed
system.

* To be of physical relevance for quantum theory, representations have to be unitary. The full list of irre-
ducible and unitary representations of viewpoint changes thus provides the range of possibilities for any
particle that wants to be elementary.
** The group of physical rotations is also called SO(3), since mathematically it is described by the group of
Special Orthogonal 3 by 3 matrices.
6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin 115

F I G U R E 58 An argument showing why

rotations by 4π are equivalent to no rotation
at all.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
TA B L E 4 Particle spin as representation of the rotation group.

Spin System Massive examples Massless examples

[ħ] unchanged after elementary composite elementary
rotation by
0 any angle none a,b mesons, nuclei, none b
atoms
1/2 2 turns e, μ, τ, q, nuclei, atoms, none, as neutrinos have a tiny mass
󰜈e , 󰜈 μ , 󰜈τ molecules,
radicals
1 1 turn W, Z mesons, nuclei, д, γ
atoms, molecules,
toasters
3/2 2/3 turn none b baryons, nuclei, none b
atoms
c
2 1/2 turn none nuclei ‘graviton’
5/2 2/5 turn none nuclei none
d
3 1/3 turn none nuclei none
etc. d etc. d etc. d etc. d etc. d

a. Whether the Higgs boson exists, and whether it is elementary is still unknown.
b. Supersymmetry, a symmetry conjectured in the twentieth century, predicts elementary particles in these
and other boxes.
c. The graviton has not yet been observed.
d. Nuclei exist with spins values up to at least 101/2 and 51 (in units of ħ). Ref. 76

In short, the symmetries nature lead to the classification of all elementary quantum par-
ticles by their mass, their momentum, their spin and their P, C and T parities.
 116 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin

Types of quantum particles

The spin values observed for all quantum particles in nature are given in Table 4. The
parities and all known intrinsic properties of the elementary particles are given in Table 5.
Spin and parities together are called quantum numbers. All other intrinsic properties of
quantons are related to interactions, such as mass, electric charge or isospin. We will
Vol. V, page 118 explore them in the next volume.

TA B L E 5 Elementary particle properties.

Particle Mass m a L ifetime τ Isospin I, Charge, L epton

or energy spin J, c isospin, &
width, b parit y P, strange- baryon e
main decay charge ness, c num-
modes parit y C charm, bers

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
beau t y, d LB
topness:
QISCBT

Elementary radiation (bosons)

photon γ 0 (<10−53 kg) stable I(J PC ) = 000000 0, 0
0, 1(1−− )
W± 80.398(25) GeV/c 2 2.124(41) GeV J = 1 ±100000 0, 0
67.60(27)% hadrons,
32.12(36)% l + 󰜈
Z 91.1876(21) GeV/c 2 2.65(2) ⋅ 10−25 s J = 1 000000 0, 0
or 2.4952(23) GeV/c 2
69.91(6)% hadrons,
10.0974(69)% l + l −
gluon 0 stable I(J P ) = 0(1− ) 000000 0, 0
Elementary matter (fermions): leptons
electron e 9.109 382 15(45) ⋅ > 13 ⋅ 1030 s J = 12 −100 000 1, 0
−31
10 kg = 81.871 0438(41) pJ/c 2

= 0.510 998 910(13) MeV/c 2 = 0.000 548 579 909 43(23) u

gyromagnetic ratio μe /μB = −1.001 159 652 1811(7)
electric dipole moment f d = (0.7 ± 0.7) ⋅ 10−29 e m
muon μ 0.188 353 130(11) yg 2.197 03(4) μs J = 12 −100000 1, 0
−
99 % e 󰜈̄e 󰜈 μ
= 105.658 3668(38) MeV/c 2 = 0.113 428 9256(29) u
gyromagnetic ratio μ μ /(eħ/2m μ ) = −1.001 165 9208(6)
electric dipole moment d = (3.7 ± 3.4) ⋅ 10−21 e m
1
tau τ 1.776 84(17) GeV/c 2 290.6(1.0) fs J= 2
−100000 1, 0
1
el. neutrino < 2 eV/c 2 J= 2
1, 0
󰜈e
 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin 117

TA B L E 5 (Continued) Elementary particle properties.

Particle Mass m a L ifetime τ Isospin I, Charge, L epton

or energy spin J, c isospin, &
width, b parit y P, strange- baryon e
main decay charge ness, c num-
modes parit y C charm, bers
beau t y, d LB
topness:
QISCBT
1
muon < 2 eV/c 2 J= 2
1, 0
neutrino 󰜈 μ
1
tau neutrino < 2 eV/c 2 J= 2
1, 0
󰜈τ

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Elementary matter (fermions): quarks д
+
up u 1.5 to 3.3 MeV/c 2 see proton I(J P ) = 12 ( 12 ) + 23 + 12 0000 0, 1
3
+
down d 3.5 to 6 MeV/c 2 see proton I(J P ) = 12 ( 12 ) − 13 − 12 0000 0, 1
3
+
strange s 70 to 130 MeV/c 2 I(J P ) = 0( 12 ) − 13 0−1000 0, 1
3
+
charm c 1.27(11) GeV/c 2 I(J P ) = 0( 12 ) + 23 00+100 0, 1
3
+
bottom b 4.20(17) GeV/c 2 τ = 1.33(11) ps I(J P ) = 0( 12 ) − 13 000−10 0, 1
3
+
top t 171.2(2.1) GeV/c 2 I(J P ) = 0( 12 ) + 23 0000+1 0, 1
3

Observed elementary boson

Higgs h H > 114 GeV/c 2 J=0

Notes:
a. See also the table of SI prefixes on page 188. About the eV/c 2 mass unit, see page 192.
b. The energy width Γ of a particle is related to its lifetime τ by the indeterminacy relation Γτ = ħ. There
is a difference between the half-life t1/2 and the lifetime τ of a particle: they are related by t1/2 = τ ln 2,
where ln 2 ≈ 0.693 147 18; the half-life is thus shorter than the lifetime. The unified atomic mass unit u is
defined as 1/12 of the mass of a carbon 12 atom at rest and in its ground state. One has 1 u = 121 m(12 C) =
1.660 5402(10) yg.
c. To keep the table short, its header does not explicitly mention colour, the charge of the strong interactions.
This has to be added to the list of basic object properties. Quantum numbers containing the word ‘parity’
are multiplicative; all others are additive. Time parity T (not to be confused with topness T ), better called
motion inversion parity, is equal to CP in all known particles. The isospin I (or IZ ) is defined only for up
and down quarks and their composites, such as the proton and the neutron. In the literature one also sees
references to the so-called G-parity, defined as G = (−1)IC .
. The table header also does not mention the weak charge of the particles. The details on weak charge д,
or, more precisely, on the weak isospin, a quantum number assigned to all left-handed fermions (and right-
handed anti-fermions), but to no right-handed fermion (and no left-handed antifermion), are given in the
Vol. V, page 181 section on the weak interactions.
d. ‘Beauty’ is now commonly called bottomness; similarly, ‘truth’ is now commonly called topness. The signs
of the quantum numbers S, I, C, B, T can be defined in different ways. In the standard assignment shown
here, the sign of each of the non-vanishing quantum numbers is given by the sign of the charge of the
corresponding quark.
e. If supersymmetry existed, R-parity would have to be added to this column. R-parity is a multiplicative
quantum number related to the lepton number L, the baryon number B and the spin J through the defini-
tion R = (−1)3B+L+2J . All particles from the standard model are R-even, whereas their conjectured super-
 118 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin

F I G U R E 59 Two belt buckles

connected by a belt, visualizing
two spin 1/2 particles.

symmetric partner particles would be R-odd.

Ref. 77, Ref. 78 f . The electron radius is less than 10−22 m. It is possible to store single electrons in traps for many months.
д. For the precise definition and meaning of quark masses, see page 172 in volume V.
h. The detailed properties of the boson still need to be confirmed.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Spin 1/2
A central result of quantum theory is that spin 1/2 is a possibility in nature, even though
this value does not appear in everyday life. For a system to have spin 1/2 means that
for such a system only a rotation of 720 degrees is equivalent to one of 0 degrees, while
one of 360 degrees is not. No such systems exist in everyday life, but they do exist in
microscopic systems: electrons, neutrinos, silver atoms and molecular radicals have spin
1/2. Table 4 gives a longer list.
Vol. I, page 48 The mathematician Hermann Weyl used a simple image explaining the connection
between spin 1/2 and invariance under rotation by 4π. Take two cones, touching each
other at their tips as well as along a line, as shown in Figure 58. Hold one cone and roll
the other around it. When the rolling cone, after a full turn around the other cone, has
come back to the original position, it has rotated by some angle. If the cones are wide,
the rotation angle is small. If the cones are very thin, like needles, the moving cone has
rotated by (almost) 720 degrees. A rotation of 720 degrees is thus similar to one by 0
degrees. If we imagine the cone angle to vary continuously, this visualization also shows
that a 720 degree rotation can be continuously deformed into a 0 degree rotation, whereas
a 360 degree rotation cannot.
To sum up, the list of possible representations of the rotation group shows that rota-
tions require the existence of spin, and in particular, of the slightly counter-intuitive spin
1/2 value. But why then do experiments show that all fermions have half-integer spin and
Page 122 that all bosons have integer spin? Why do electrons obey the Pauli exclusion principle?
At first sight, it is not clear what the spin has to do with the statistical properties of a
particle. In fact, there are several ways to show that rotations and statistics are connected.
The first proof, due to Wolfgang Pauli, used the details of quantum field theory and was so
Ref. 79 complicated that its essential ingredients were hidden. It took several decades to convince
everybody that a simple observation about belts was the central part of the proof.

The belt trick and its extension

The well-known belt trick – also called string trick, scissor trick or plate trick – was of-
Ref. 80 ten used by Dirac to explain the features of spin 1/2. Starting from the bulge model of
 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin 119

F I G U R E 60 The belt trick: a double rotation of the belt buckle is equivalent to no rotation (QuickTime
film © Greg Egan).

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
α=0 α = 2π α = 4π

F I G U R E 61 The human arm as spin 1/2 model.

Page 109 quantum particles shown in Figure 57, we can imagine a tube connecting them, similar
to a belt connecting two belt buckles, as shown in Figure 59. The buckles represent the
particles. If one buckle is rotated by 2π along any axis, a twist is inserted into the belt.
Now rotate the same buckle by another 2π, bringing the total to 4π. It turns out that the
ensuing double twist can easily be undone without moving or rotating the buckles. The
animation of Figure 60 shows the details. You may want to do this yourself, using a real
Challenge 93 e belt or a strip of paper, in order to believe it. In short, belt buckles return to their original
state only after rotations by 4π, and not after rotations by 2π.
Now look again at Figure 59. If you take the two buckles and simply swap positions, a
twist is introduced into the belt. Now swap them again: this will undo the twist. In short,
two belt buckles return to their original state only after a double exchange, and not after
a single exchange.
In other words, if we take each buckle to represent a particle and a twist to mean
a factor −1, the belt exactly describes the phase behaviour of spin 1/2 wave functions,
both under rotation and under exchange. In particular, we see that rotation and exchange
behaviour are related.
The human body has such a belt, or connecting tube, built in: the arm. Just take your
hand, put an object on it for clarity, such as a cup, and turn the hand and object by 2π
by twisting the arm. After a second rotation the whole system will be untangled again.
This motion, shown in Figure 61, is sometimes called the plate trick. The trick is even
 120 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin

rotating the buckle

either by 4π
F I G U R E 62 The extended belt trick, modelling
the rotation behaviour of a spin 1/2 particle:
or simply rearranging independently of the number of bands or
the bands gives the tubes or strings attached, the two situations
other situation can be transformed into each other, either by
rotating the central object by 4π or by keeping
the central object fixed and moving the bands
around it.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
F I G U R E 63 Extended
belt models for two
spin 1/2 particles.

more impressive when many arms are used. You can put your two hands (if you chose
Challenge 94 e the correct starting position) under the cup or you can take a friend or two who each
keep a hand attached to the cup together with you. The belt trick can still be performed,
Challenge 95 e and the whole system untangles after two full turns.
This leads us to the most complete way to show the connection between rotation and
exchange. Just glue any number of threads, belts or tubes, say half a metre long, to an
asymmetric object, as shown in Figure 62. (With many such tails, is not appropriate any
more to call it a belt buckle.) Like the arm of a human being, each band is supposed to go
to infinity and be attached there. If the object, which represents the particle, is rotated by
2π, twists appear in its tails. If the object is rotated by an additional turn, to a total of 4π,
all twists and tangles can be made to disappear, without moving or turning the object.
You really have to experience this in order to believe it. And the trick really works with
any number of bands glued to the object. The website www.evl.uic.edu/hypercomplex/
html/dirac.html provides a beautiful animation showing this. Again we find that an ob-
ject attached to belts behaves under rotations like a spin 1/2 particle.
Similarly, the belt trick can be extended to many bands also for the issue of exchange.
 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin 121

Take two buckles that are connected with many bands or threads, like in Figure 63. An
exchange of the two buckles produces quite a tangle, even if one takes paths that go ‘be-
tween’ the bands; in all cases, possibly together with a rearrangement of the belts, a sec-
ond exchange leads back to the original situation.
But this is not all. Take two particles with any number of tails, as shown on the right
side of Figure 63. You can also add belts going from one to the other particle. If you ex-
change the positions of two such spin 1/2 particles, always keeping the ends at infinity
fixed, a tangled mess is created. But incredibly, if you exchange the two objects a second
Challenge 96 e time, everything untangles neatly, independently of the number of attached strings. You
might want to test yourself that the behaviour is also valid if additional particles are in-
volved, as long as you always exchange the same two particles twice. Unfortunately, no
animation or video surprising behaviour showing this is yet available on the internet. In
any case, we conclude that objects attached to belts behave like a spin 1/2 particle also
under exchange.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
All these observations together form the spin–statistics theorem for spin 1/2 particles:
spin and exchange behaviour are related. Indeed, these almost ‘experimental’ arguments
Ref. 81 can be put into exact mathematical language by studying the behaviour of the configura-
tion space of particles. These investigations result in the following statements:

⊳ Objects of spin 1/2 are fermions.*

⊳ Exchange and rotation of spin 1/2 particles are similar processes.

In short, objects that behave like spin 1/2 particles under rotations also behave like spin
1/2 particles under exchange. And vice versa. The exchange behaviour of particles deter-
mines their statistical properties; the rotation behaviour determines their spin. By ex-
tending the belt trick to several buckles, each with several belts, we thus visualized the
spin–statistics theorem for fermions.
Note that all these arguments require three dimensions of space, because there are no
tangles (or knots) in fewer or more dimensions.** And indeed, spin exists only in three
spatial dimensions.
The belt trick leads to interesting puzzles. We saw that a spin 1/2 object can be mod-
elled by imagining that a belt leading to spatial infinity is attached to it. If we want to
model the spin behaviour with attached one-dimensional strings instead of bands, what
Challenge 98 s is the minimum number of strings we need? More difficult is the following puzzle: Can
the belt trick be performed if the buckle is glued into a mattress, thus with the mattress
Challenge 99 d acting like ‘infinitely many’ belts?

* A mathematical observable behaving like a spin 1/2 particle is neither a vector nor a tensor, as you may
Challenge 97 e want to check. An additional concept is necessary; such an observable is called a spinor. We will introduce
Page 172 it in detail later on.
** Of course, knots and tangles do exist in higher dimensions. Instead of considering knotted one-
dimensional lines, one can consider knotted planes or knotted higher-dimensional hyperplanes. For ex-
ample, deformable planes can be knotted in four dimensions and deformable 3-spaces in five dimensions.
However, the effective dimensions that produce the knot are always three.
 122 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin

Angels, Pauli’s exclusion principle and the hardness of matter

Why are we able to knock on a door? Why can stones not fly through tree trunks? How
does the mountain we are walking on carry us? Why can’t we walk across walls? In clas-
sical physics, we avoided this issue, by taking solidity as a defining property of matter.
But we cannot do so any more: we have seen that matter consists mainly of low density
electron clouds. The quantum of action thus forces us to explain the quantum of matter.
The explanation of the impenetrability of matter is so important that it led to a No-
bel prize in physics: interpenetration of bodies is made impossible by Pauli’s exclusion
principle among the electrons inside atoms. Pauli’s exclusion principle states:

⊳ Two fermions cannot occupy the same quantum state.

All experiments known confirm the statement.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Why do electrons and other fermions obey the Pauli exclusion principle? The answer
Ref. 82 can be given with a beautifully simple argument. We know that exchanging two fermions
produces a minus sign in the total wave function. Imagine these two fermions being, as
a classical physicist would say, located at the same spot, or as a quantum physicist would
say, in the same state. If that could be possible, an exchange would change nothing in the
system. But an exchange of fermions must produce a minus sign for the total state. Both
possibilities – no change at all as well as a minus sign – cannot be realized at the same
time. There is only one way out: two fermions must avoid to ever be in the same state.
This is Pauli’s exclusion principle.
The exclusion principle is the reason that two pieces of matter in everyday life cannot
penetrate each other, but have to repel each other. For example, take a bell. A bell would
not work if the colliding pieces that produce the sound would interpenetrate. But in any
example of two interpenetrating pieces, the electrons from different atoms would have
to be at the same spot: they would have to be in the same states. This is forbidden. Pauli’s
exclusion principle forbids interpenetration of matter. Bells only work because of the
exclusion principle.
Why don’t we fall through the floor, even though gravity pulls us down, but remain
standing on its surface? Again, the reason is Pauli’s exclusion principle. Why does the
floor itself not fall? It does not fall, because the matter of the Earth cannot interpenetrate
and cannot be compressed further. Pauli’s exclusion principle does not allow atoms to
be compressed. In other words, the exclusion principle implies that matter cannot be
compressed indefinitely, as at a certain stage an effective Pauli pressure appears, so that
a compression limit ensues. For this reason for example, planets or neutron stars do not
collapse under their own gravity.
The exclusion principle is the reason that atoms are extended electron clouds. In fact,
the exclusion principle forces the electrons in atoms to form shells. When electrons are
added to a nucleus and when one shell is filled, a next one is started. This is the origin of
the periodic systems of the elements.
The size of any atom is the size of its last shell. Without the exclusion principle, atoms
would be as small as a hydrogen atom. The same applies to nuclei: their size is given
by the last nucleon shell. Without the exclusion principle, nuclei would be as small as a
single proton.
 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin 123

The exclusion principle also answers an old question: How many angels can dance
on the top of a pin? (Note that angels, if at all, must be made of fermions, as you might
Challenge 100 s want to deduce from the information known about them.) Both theory and experiment
confirm the answer already given by Thomas Aquinas in the Middle Ages: Only one
Ref. 83 angel! The fermion exclusion principle could also be called ‘angel exclusion principle’. To
stay in the topic, the principle also shows that ghosts cannot be objects, as ghosts are
supposed to be able to traverse walls.
Exaggerating a bit, the exclusion principle keeps things in shape; without it, there
would be no three-dimensional objects. Only the exclusion principle keeps the cloudy
atoms of nature from merging, holding them apart. This repulsion keeps the size of soap,
planets and neutron stars to a finite value. All shapes of solids and fluids are a direct
consequence of the exclusion principle. In other words, when we knock on a table or on
a door, we prove experimentally that both objects are made of fermions.
So far, we have only considered spin 1/2 particles. We will not talk much about sys-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
tems with odd spin of higher value, such as 3/2 or 5/2. Such systems can all be seen as
Challenge 101 ny being composed of spin 1/2 entities. Can you confirm this?
We did not talk about lower spins than 1/2 either. A famous theorem states that a spin
value between 0 and 1/2 is impossible, because the largest angle that can be measured
in three dimensions is 4π. There is no way to measure a larger angle;* the quantum of
action makes this impossible. Thus there cannot be any spin value between 0 and 1/2 in
nature.

Is spin a rotation about an axis?

The spin of a particle behaves experimentally like an intrinsic angular momentum, adds
up like angular momentum, is conserved as part of angular momentum, is described like
angular momentum and has a name synonymous with angular momentum. Despite all
this, for many decades a strange and false myth was spread in many physics courses and
textbooks around the world: “Spin 1/2, despite its name, is not a rotation about an axis.”
It is time to finish with this example of incorrect thinking.
Electrons do have spin 1/2 and are charged. Electrons and all other charged particles
with spin 1/2 do have a magnetic moment.** A magnetic moment is expected for any
rotating charge. In other words, spin 1/2 does behave like rotation. However, assuming
that a particle consists of a continuous charge distribution in rotational motion gives the
wrong value for the magnetic moment. In the early days of the twentieth century, when
physicists were still thinking in classical terms, they concluded that charged spin 1/2
particles thus cannot be rotating. This myth has survived through many textbooks. The
correct deduction, however, is that the assumption of continuous charge distribution is
wrong. Indeed, charge is quantized; nobody expects that elementary charge is continu-
ously spread over space, as that would contradict its quantization.
The other reason for the false myth is rotation itself. The myth is based on classical
thinking and maintains that any rotating object must have integer spin. Since half integer

* This statement, like all statements about spin 1/2, is tied to the three-dimensionality of space. In two
dimensions, other largest angles and other ‘spin’ values are possible.
** This magnetic moment can easily be measured in an experiment; however, not one of the Stern–Gerlach
Challenge 102 ny type. Why not?
 124 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin

spin is not possible in classical physics, it is argued that such spin is not due to rotation.
But let us recall what rotation is. Both the belt trick for spin 1/2 as well as the integer
spin case remind us: a rotation of one body around another is a fraction or a multiple
of an exchange. What we call a rotating body in everyday life is a body continuously
exchanging the positions of its parts. Rotation and exchange are the same.
Now, we just found that spin is exchange behaviour. Since rotation is exchange and
spin is exchange, it follows that

⊳ Spin is rotation.

Since we deduced spin, like Wigner, from rotation invariance, this conclusion is not a
surprise. In addition, the belt model of a spin 1/2 particle tells us that such a particle
Page 119 can rotate continuously without any hindrance. Also the magnetic moment then gets its
correct value. In short, we are allowed to maintain that spin is rotation about an axis,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
without any contradiction to observations, even for spin 1/2.
In summary, the belt model shows that also spin 1/2 is rotation, as long as we assume
Ref. 84 that only the buckle can be observed, not the belt(s), and that elementary charge is not
continuously distributed in space.*
Since permutation properties and spin properties of fermions are so well described
by the belt model, we could be led to the conclusion that these properties might really
be consequence of such belt-like connections between particles and the outside world.
Maybe for some reason we only observe the belt buckles, not the belts themselves. In the
final part of this walk we will discover whether this idea is correct.

Rotation requires antiparticles

The connection between rotation and antiparticles may be the most astonishing conclu-
sion from the experiments showing the existence of spin. So far, we have seen that rota-
tion requires the existence of spin, that spin appears when relativity is introduced into
Vol. II, page 66 quantum theory, and that relativity requires antimatter. Taking these three statements to-
gether, the conclusion of the title is not surprising any more: rotation requires antiparti-
cles. Interestingly, there is a simple argument making the same point with the belt model,
if it is extended from space alone to full space-time.
To learn how to think in space-time, let us take a particle spin 1, i.e., a particle look-
ing like a detached belt buckle in three dimensions. When moving in a 2+1 dimensional
Challenge 103 ny space-time, it is described by a ribbon. Playing around with ribbons in space-time, in-
stead of belts in space, provides many interesting conclusions. For example, Figure 64
shows that wrapping a rubber ribbon around the fingers can show, again, that a rotation
of a body by 2π in presence of a second one is the same as exchanging the positions of
the two bodies.** Both sides of the hand transform the same initial condition, at one

* Obviously, the exact structure of the electron still remains unclear at this point. Any angular momentum
S is given classically by S = Θω; however, neither the moment of inertia Θ, connected to the rotation radius
and electron mass, nor the angular velocity ω are known at this point. We have to wait quite a while, until
the final part of our adventure, to find out more.
** Obviously, the full argument would need to check the full spin 1/2 model of Figure 62 in four-dimensional
Challenge 104 ny space-time. But doing this is not an easy task; there is no good visualization yet.
6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin 125

F I G U R E 64 Equivalence of exchange and rotation

in space-time.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
t t t t t

x x x x x

F I G U R E 65 Belts in space-time: rotation and antiparticles.

edge of the hand, to the same final condition at the other edge. We have thus successfully
extended a known result from space to space-time: rotation and exchange are equivalent.
If you think that Figure 64 is not a satisfying explanation, you are right. A more sat-
isfying explanation must include a smooth sequence of steps realizing the equivalence
between rotation and exchange. This is shown in Figure 65. We assume that each parti-
cle is described by a segment; in the figure, the two segments lie horizontally. The leftmost
diagram shows two particles: one at rest and one being rotated by 2π. The deformation
of the ribbons shows that this process is equivalent to the exchange in position of two
particles, which is shown in the rightmost diagram.
But the essential point is made by the intermediate diagrams. We note that the se-
quence showing the equivalence between rotation and exchange requires the use of a
loop. But such a loop in space-time describes the appearance of a particle–antiparticle
pair! In other words, without antiparticles, the equivalence of rotation and exchange
would not hold. In short, rotation in space-time requires the existence of antiparticles.
 126 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin

J=0 J = 1/2 J=1

F I G U R E 66 Some visualizations of
spin representations.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Why is fencing with laser beams impossible?
When a sword is approaching dangerously, we can stop it with a second sword. Many old
films use such scenes. When a laser beam is approaching, it is impossible to fend it off
with a second beam, despite all science fiction films showing so. Banging two laser beams
against each other is impossible. The above explanation of the spin–statistics theorem
shows why.
The electrons in the swords are fermions and obey the Pauli exclusion principle.
Fermions make matter impenetrable. On the other hand, the photons in laser beams
are bosons. Two bosons can be in the same state; bosons allow interpenetration. Matter
is impenetrable because at the fundamental level it is composed of fermions. Radiation is
composed of bosons; light beams can cross each other. The distinction between fermions
and bosons thus explains why objects can be touched while images cannot. In the first
Vol. I, page 90 part of our mountain ascent we started by noting this difference; now we know its origin.

Spin, statistics and composition

Under rotations, integer spin particles behave differently from half-integer particles. In-
teger spin particles do not show the strange sign changes under rotations by 2π. In the
belt imagery, integer spin particles need no attached strings. In particular, a spin 0 parti-
cle obviously corresponds to a sphere. Models for other important spin values are shown
in Figure 66. Exploring their properties in the same way as above, we arrive at the full
spin–statistics theorem:

⊳ Exchange and rotation of objects are similar processes.

⊳ Objects of half-integer spin are fermions. They obey the Pauli exclusion prin-
ciple.
⊳ Objects of integer spin are bosons.

Challenge 105 ny You might prove by yourself that this suffices to show the following rule:
 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin 127

⊳ Composites of bosons, as well as composites of an even number of fermions

(at low energy), are bosons; composites of an uneven number of fermions are
fermions.*

These connections express basic characteristics of the three-dimensional world in which

we live.

A summary on spin and indistinguishability

The quantum of action implies that physical systems are made of two types of indistin-
guishable quantum particles: bosons and fermions. The two possible exchange behaviours
are related to the particle spin value, because exchange is related to rotation. The connec-
tion between spin and rotation implies that antiparticles exist. It also implies that spin is
intrinsically a three-dimensional phenomenon.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Experiments show that radiation is made of elementary particles that behave as
bosons. Bosons have integer spin. Two or more bosons, such as two photons, can share
the same state. This sharing makes laser light possible.
Experiments show that matter is made of elementary particles that behave as fermions.
Fermions have half-integer spin. They obey Pauli’s exclusion principle: two fermions can-
not be in the same state. The exclusion principle between electrons explains the structure
and (partly) the size of atoms, as well as the chemical behaviour of atoms, as we will find
out later on. Together with the electrostatic repulsion of electrons, the exclusion principle
explains the incompressibility of matter and its lack of impenetrability.
Fermions make matter ‘hard’, bosons allow light beams to cross.

Limits and open questions of quantum statistics

The topic of quantum particle statistics remains a research field in theoretical and ex-
perimental physics. In particular, researchers have searched and still are searching for
generalizations of the possible exchange behaviours of particles.
In two spatial dimensions, the result of an exchange of the wave function is not de-
scribed by a sign, but by a continuous phase. Two-dimensional quantum objects are
called anyons because they can have ‘any’ spin. Anyons appear as quasi-particles in
various experiments in solid state physics, because the set-up is often effectively two-
dimensional. The fractional quantum Hall effect, perhaps the most interesting discovery
Vol. V, page 71 of modern experimental physics, has pushed anyons onto the stage of modern research.
Other theorists generalized the concept of fermions in other ways, introducing
Ref. 85 parafermions, parabosons, plektons and other hypothetical concepts. Oscar Greenberg
has spent most of his professional life on this issue. His conclusion is that in 3 + 1 space-
time dimensions, only fermions and bosons exist. (Can you show that this implies that
Challenge 107 s the ghosts appearing in Scottish tales do not exist?)
From a different viewpoint, the belt model of spin 1/2 invites to study the behaviour of
braids, open links and knots. (In mathematics, braids and open links are made of strands

Challenge 106 ny * This rule implies that spin 1 and higher can also be achieved with tails; can you find such a representation?
Note that composite fermions can be bosons only up to that energy at which the composition breaks
down. Otherwise, by packing fermions into bosons, we could have fermions in the same state.
 128 6 rotations and statistics – visualizing spin

extending to infinity.) This fascinating part of mathematical physics has become impor-
tant with in modern unified theories, which all state that particles, especially at high
energies, are not point-like, but extended entities. The quest is to understand what hap-
pens to permutation symmetry in a unified theory of nature. A glimpse of the difficulties
appears already above: how can Figures 57, 62 and 65 be reconciled and combined? We
Vol. VI, page 160 will settle this issue in the final part of our mountain ascent.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
 Chapter 7

SUPERPOSITIONS AND
PROBABILITIES – QUANTUM THEORY
W I THOUT I DEOLO GY

“
The fact that an adequate philosophical
presentation has been so long delayed is no
doubt caused by the fact that Niels Bohr
brainwashed a whole generation of theorists

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
Ref. 86 into thinking that the job was done fifty years

”
ago.
Murray Gell-Mann

W hy is this famous physical issue arousing such strong emotions? In particular,

ho is brainwashed, Gell-Mann, the discoverer of the quarks, or most of the
orld’s physicists working on quantum theory who follow Niels Bohr’s opin-
ion? In the twentieth century, quantum mechanics has thrown many in disarray. Quan-
tum mechanics is unfamiliar for two reasons: it allows superpositions and it leads to prob-
abilities. Let us explore and clarify these two issues.
Superpositions and probabilities appear because the quantum of action radically
changed the two most basic concepts of classical physics: state and system. The state is
not described any more by the specific values taken by position and momentum, but by
the specific wave function ‘taken’ by the position and momentum operators.* In addition,
in classical physics a system was described as a set of permanent aspects of nature; perma-
nence was defined as negligible interaction with the environment. Quantum mechanics
shows that this definition has to be modified as well.
A clarification of the appearance of superpositions, of the origin of probabilities and
of the concepts of state and system, is essential. We want to avoid getting lost on our way
to the top of Motion Mountain, as happened to quite a number of people since quantum
theory appeared, including Gell-Mann.

Why are people either dead or alive?

The evolution equation of quantum mechanics is linear in the wave function; the linearity
reflects the existence of superpositions. Therefore we can imagine and try to construct
systems where the state ψ is a superposition of two radically distinct situations, such as
those of a dead and of a living cat. This famous fictional animal is called Schrödinger’s
cat after the originator of the example. Is it possible to produce it? And how would it

* It is equivalent, but maybe conceptually clearer, to say that the state is described by a complete set of
commuting operators. In fact, the discussion is somewhat simplified in the Heisenberg picture. However,
here we study the issue in the Schrödinger picture, using wave functions.
 130 7 superpositions and probabilities

Every such `artistic impression’ is wrong.

(Why?)
F I G U R E 67 An artist’s
impression of a macroscopic
Challenge 108 s superposition is impossible.

evolve in time? We can ask the same two questions in other situations. For example, can
we produce a superposition of a state where a car is inside a closed garage with a state
where the car is outside? What happens then?
Such strange situations are not usually observed in everyday life. The reason for this

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
rareness is an important aspect of what is often called the ‘interpretation’ of quantum
mechanics. In fact, such strange situations are possible, and the superposition of macro-
scopically distinct states has actually been observed in a few cases, though not for cats,
people or cars. To get an idea of the constraints, let us specify the situation in more de-
tail.*

Macroscopic superpositions, coherence and incoherence

The object of discussion are linear superpositions of the type ψ = aψa +bψb , where ψa and
ψb are macroscopically distinct states of the system under discussion, and where a and b
are some complex coefficients. States are called macroscopically distinct when each state
corresponds to a different macroscopic situation, i.e., when the two states can be distin-
guished using the concepts or measurement methods of classical physics. In particular,
this means that the physical action necessary to transform one state into the other must
be much larger than ħ. For example, two different positions of a body composed of a
large number of molecules are macroscopically distinct.
A ‘strange’ situation is thus a superposition of macroscopically distinct states. Let us
work out the essence of such macroscopic superpositions more clearly. Given two macro-
scopically distinct states ψa and ψb , a superposition of the type ψ = aψa + bψb is called a
pure state. Since the states ψa and ψb can interfere, one also talks about a (phase) coherent
superposition. In the case of a superposition of macroscopically distinct states, the scalar
product ψa† ψb is obviously vanishing. In case of a coherent superposition, the coefficient
product a∗ b is different from zero. This fact can also be expressed with the help of the
density matrix ρ of the system, defined as ρ = ψ ⊗ ψ † . In the present case it is given by

ρpure = ψ ⊗ ψ † = |a|2 ψa ⊗ ψa† + |b|2 ψb ⊗ ψb† + a b∗ ψa ⊗ ψb† + a∗ b ψb ⊗ ψa†

|a|2 a b∗ ψa†
= (ψa , ψb ) 󶀥 ∗ 󶀵 󶀥 †󶀵 . (64)
a b |b|2 ψb

* Most what can be said about this topic has been said by two people: John von Neumann, who in the
Ref. 87 nineteen-thirties stressed the differences between evolution and decoherence, and by Hans Dieter Zeh, who
Ref. 88 in the nineteen-seventies stressed the importance of baths and the environment in the decoherence process.
 7 quantum theory withou t ideolo gy 131

We can then say that whenever the system is in a pure, or coherent state, then its density
matrix, or density functional, contains off-diagonal terms of the same order of magnitude
as the diagonal ones.* Such a density matrix corresponds to the above-mentioned strange
situations that we never observe in daily life.
We now have a look at the opposite situation, a density matrix for macroscopic distinct
states with vanishing off-diagonal elements. For two states, the example

ρmixed = |a|2 ψa ⊗ ψa† + |b|2 ψb ⊗ ψb†

|a|2 0 ψa†
= (ψa , ψb ) 󶀥 󶀵 󶀥 󶀵 (66)
0 |b|2 ψb†

describes a system which possesses no phase coherence at all. (Here, ⊗ denotes the non-
commutative dyadic product or tensor product which produces a tensor or matrix start-

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
ing from two vectors.) Such a diagonal density matrix cannot be that of a pure state;
the density matrix describes a system which is in the state ψa with probability |a|2 and
which is in the state ψb with probability |b|2 . Such a system is said to be in a mixed state,
because its state is not known, or equivalently, to be in a (phase) incoherent superposition,
because interference effects cannot be observed in such a situation. A system described
by a mixed state is always either in the state ψa or in the state ψb . In other words, a diago-
nal density matrix for macroscopically distinct states is not in contrast, but in agreement
with everyday experience. In the picture of density matrices, the non-diagonal elements
contain the difference between normal, i.e., incoherent, and unusual, i.e., coherent, su-
perpositions.
The experimental situation is clear: for macroscopically distinct states, (almost) only
diagonal density matrices are observed in everyday life. Almost all systems in a coherent
macroscopic superposition somehow lose their off-diagonal matrix elements. How does
this process of decoherence** take place? The density matrix itself shows the way.

Decoherence is due to baths

Ref. 89 In thermodynamics, the density matrix for a large system is used for the definition of its
Challenge 109 ny entropy and of all its other thermodynamic quantities. These studies show that

S = −k tr (ρ ln ρ) (67)

where tr denotes the trace, i.e., the sum of all diagonal elements. We also remind ourselves
that a system with a large and constant entropy is called a bath. In simple physical terms,
a bath is a system to which we can ascribe a temperature. More precisely, a (physical) bath,

* Using the density matrix, we can rewrite the evolution equation of a quantum system:
dρ i
ψ̇ = −iHψ becomes = − [H , ρ] . (65)
dt ħ
Both are completely equivalent. (The new expression is sometimes also called the von Neumann equation.)
We won’t actually do any calculations here. The expressions are given so that you recognize them when you
encounter them elsewhere.
** In certain settings, decoherence is called disentanglement, as we will see below.
 132 7 superpositions and probabilities

or (thermodynamic) reservoir, is any large system for which the concept of equilibrium
can be defined. Experiments show that in practice, this is equivalent to the condition
that a bath consists of many interacting subsystems. For this reason, all macroscopic
quantities describing the state of a bath show small, irregular fluctuations, a property
that will be of central importance shortly.
An everyday bath is also a physical bath: indeed, a thermodynamic bath is similar
to an extremely large warm water bath, one for which the temperature does not change
even if one adds some cold or warm water to it. Examples of physical baths are an intense
magnetic field, a large amount of gas, or a large solid. (The meanings of ‘intense’ and
‘large’ of course depend on the system under study.) The physical concept of bath (or
reservoir) is thus an abstraction and a generalization of the everyday concept of bath.
It is easy to see from the definition (67) of entropy that the loss of off-diagonal ele-
Challenge 110 s ments corresponds to an increase in entropy. And it is known that any increase in en-
tropy of a reversible system, such as the quantum mechanical system in question, is due

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
to an interaction with a bath.
In short, decoherence is due to interaction with a bath. We will now show that baths
are everywhere, that decoherence thus takes place everywhere and all the time, and that
therefore, macroscopic superpositions are (almost) never observed.

How baths lead to decoherence – scattering

Where is the bath interacting with a typical system? The bath must be outside the system
one is talking about, i.e., in its environment. Indeed, we know experimentally that a typi-
cal environment is large and characterized by a temperature. Some examples are listed in
Table 6. Any environment therefore a bath. We can even go further: for every experimen-
tal situation, there is a bath interacting with the system under study. Indeed, every system
which can be observed is not isolated, as it obviously interacts at least with the observer;
and every observer by definition contains a bath, as we will show in more detail shortly.
Usually however, the most important baths we have to take into consideration are the
atmosphere around a system, the radiation or electromagnetic fields interacting with the
system, or, if the system itself is large enough to have a temperature, those degrees of
freedom of the system which are not involved in the superposition under investigation.
Since every system is in contact with a bath, every density matrix of a macroscopic
superposition will lose its diagonal elements eventually. At first sight, this direction of
thought is not convincing. The interactions of a system with its environment can be made
extremely small by using clever experimental set-ups; that would imply that the time
for decoherence can be made extremely large. Thus we need to check how much time a
superposition of states needs to decohere. It turns out that there are two standard ways to
estimate the decoherence time: either by modelling the bath as large number of colliding
particles, or by modelling it as a continuous field.
If the bath is described as a set of particles randomly hitting the microscopic system,
it is best characterized by the effective wavelength λeff of the particles and by the average
Challenge 111 ny interval thit between two hits. A straightforward calculation shows that the decoherence
 7 quantum theory withou t ideolo gy 133

TA B L E 6 Common and less common baths with their main properties.

B at h t y p e T e m p e r - Wa v e - P a r - Cross Hit time

at u r e length ticle s e c t i o n 1/σφ f o r
flux ( at o m )
T λeff φ σ a t o ma b a l la

matter baths
solid, liquid 300 K 10 pm 1031 /m2 s 10−19 m2 10−12 s 10−25 s
air 300 K 10 pm 1028 /m2 s 10−19 m2 10−9 s 10−22 s
laboratory vacuum 50 mK 10 μm 1018 /m2 s 10−19 m2 10 s 10−12 s
photon baths
sunlight 5800 K 900 nm 1023 /m2 s 10−4 s 10−17 s
‘darkness’ 300 K 20 μm 1021 /m2 s 10−2 s 10−15 s

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
cosmic microwaves 2.7 K 2 mm 1017 /m2 s 102 s 10−11 s
terrestrial radio waves
Casimir effect very large
Unruh radiation of Earth 40 zK very large
nuclear radiation baths
radioactivity 10 fm 1 /m2 s 10−25 m2 1025 s 1012 s
cosmic radiation >1000 K 10 fm 10−2 /m2 s 10−25 m2 1027 s 1014 s
solar neutrinos ≈ 10 MK 10 fm 1011 /m2 s 10−47 m2 1036 s 1015 s
cosmic neutrinos 2.0 K 3 mm 1017 /m2 s 10−62 m2 1045 s 1024 s
gravitational baths
gravitational radiation 5 ⋅ 1031 K 10−35 m very large

a. Values are rough estimates. The macroscopic ball is assumed to have a 1 mm size.

time t d is in any case smaller than this time interval, so that

1
t d ⩽ thit = , (68)
φσ

where φ is the flux of particles and σ the cross-section for the hit.* Typical values are given
in Table 6. We easily note that for macroscopic objects, decoherence times are extremely

* The decoherence time is derived by studying the evolution of the density matrix ρ(x, x 󳰀 ) of objects local-
󳰀 2
ized at two points x and x 󳰀 . One finds that the off-diagonal elements follow ρ(x, x 󳰀 , t) = ρ(x, x 󳰀 , 0)e−Λt(x−x ) ,
where the localization rate Λ is given by
Λ = k 2 φσeff (69)
where k is the wave number, φ the flux and σeff the cross-section of the collisions, i.e., usually the size of the
Ref. 90 macroscopic object.
One also finds the surprising result that a system hit by a particle of energy Ehit collapses the density
Ref. 91 matrix roughly down to the de Broglie (or thermal de Broglie) wavelength of the hitting particle. Both
results together give the formula above.
134 7 superpositions and probabilities

short. (We also note that nuclear and gravitational effects lead to large decoherence times
and thus can be neglected.) Scattering leads to fast decoherence of macroscopic systems.
However, for atoms or smaller systems, the situation is different, as expected.
We note that the quantum of action ħ appears in the expression for the decoherence
time, as it appears in the area σ. Decoherence is a quantum process.

How baths lead to decoherence – relaxation

A second method to estimate the decoherence time is also common. Any interaction of a
system with a bath is described by a relaxation time tr . The term relaxation designates any
process which leads to the return to the equilibrium state. The terms damping and friction
are also used. In the present case, the relaxation time describes the return to equilibrium
of the combination bath and system. Relaxation is an example of an irreversible evolution.
A process is called irreversible if the reversed process, in which every component moves

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
in opposite direction, is of very low probability.* For example, it is usual that a glass
of wine poured into a bowl of water colours the whole water; it is very rarely observed
that the wine and the water separate again, since the probability of all water and wine
molecules to change directions together at the same time is rather low, a state of affairs
making the happiness of wine producers and the despair of wine consumers.
Now let us simplify the description of the bath. We approximate it by a single, un-
specified, scalar field which interacts with the quantum system. Due to the continuity
of space, such a field has an infinity of degrees of freedom. They are taken to model the
many degrees of freedom of the bath. The field is assumed to be in an initial state where
its degrees of freedom are excited in a way described by a temperature T. The interac-
tion of the system with the bath, which is at the origin of the relaxation process, can be
described by the repeated transfer of small amounts of energy Ehit until the relaxation
process is completed.
The objects of interest in this discussion, like the mentioned cat, person or car, are
described by a mass m. Their main characteristic is the maximum energy Er which can
be transferred from the system to the environment. This energy describes the interac-
tions between system and environment. The superpositions of macroscopic states we are
interested in are solutions of the Hamiltonian evolution of these systems.
The initial coherence of the superposition, so disturbingly in contrast with our every-

* Beware of other definitions which try to make something deeper out of the concept of irreversibility, such
as claims that ‘irreversible’ means that the reversed process is not at all possible. Many so-called ‘contra-
dictions’ between the irreversibility of processes and the reversibility of evolution equations are due to this
mistaken interpretation of the term ‘irreversible’.
 7 quantum theory withou t ideolo gy 135

Ref. 92 day experience, disappears exponentially within a decoherence time t d given by*

Ehit eEhit /kT − 1

t d = tr (72)
Er eEhit /kT + 1

where k is the Boltzmann constant and like above, Er is the maximum energy which can
be transferred from the system to the environment. Note that one always has t d ⩽ tr .
After the decoherence time t d is elapsed, the system has evolved from the coherent to
the incoherent superposition of states, or, in other words, the density matrix has lost its
off-diagonal terms. One also says that the phase coherence of this system has been de-
stroyed. Thus, after a time t d , the system is found either in the state ψa or in the state ψb ,
respectively with the probability |a|2 or |b|2 , and not any more in a coherent superposi-
tion which is so much in contradiction with our daily experience. Which final state is
selected depends on the precise state of the bath, whose details were eliminated from the

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
calculation by taking an average over the states of its microscopic constituents.
The important result is that for all macroscopic objects, the decoherence time t d is
extremely small. In order to see this more clearly, we can study a special simplified case.
A macroscopic object of mass m, like the mentioned cat or car, is assumed to be at the
same time in two locations separated by a distance l, i.e., in a superposition of the two
corresponding states. We further assume that the superposition is due to the object mov-
ing as a quantum mechanical oscillator with frequency ω between the two locations; this
is the simplest possible system that shows superpositions of an object located in two dif-
ferent positions. The energy of the object is then given by Er = mω2 l 2 , and the smallest
transfer energy Ehit = ħω is the difference between the oscillator levels. In a macroscopic
situation, this last energy is much smaller than kT, so that from the preceding expression
Ref. 94 we get
2
Ehit ħ2 λT2
t d = tr = tr = t r 2 (73)
2Er kT 2mkT l 2 l

in which the frequency ω has disappeared. The quantity λT = ħ/󵀂2mkT is called the
thermal de Broglie wavelength of a particle.
We note again that the quantum of action ħ appears in the expression for the deco-
herence time. Decoherence is a quantum process.
It is straightforward to see that for practically all macroscopic objects the typical deco-

* This result is derived as in the above case. A system interacting with a bath always has an evolution given
Ref. 93 by the general form
dρ i 1
= − [H , ρ] − 󵠈[V ρ, V j† ] + [V j , ρV j† ] , (70)
dt ħ 2to j j
where ρ is the density matrix, H the Hamiltonian, V the interaction, and to the characteristic time of the
Challenge 112 ny interaction. Are you able to see why? Solving this equation, one finds for the elements far from the diagonal
ρ(t) = ρ0 e−t/t0 . In other words, they disappear with a characteristic time to . In most situations one has a
relation of the form
E
t0 = tr hit = thit (71)
Er
or some variations of it, as in the example above.
 136 7 superpositions and probabilities

herence time t d is extremely short. For example, setting m = 1 g, l = 1 mm and T = 300 K

we get t d /tr = 1.3⋅10−39 . Even if the interaction between the system and the environment
would be so weak that the system would have as relaxation time the age of the universe,
which is about 4 ⋅ 1017 s, the time t d would still be shorter than 5 ⋅ 10−22 s, which is over
a million times faster than the oscillation time of a beam of light (about 2 fs for green
light). For Schrödinger’s cat, the decoherence time would be even shorter. These times
are so short that we cannot even hope to prepare the initial coherent superposition, let
alone to observe its decay or to measure its lifetime.
For microscopic systems however, the situation is different. For example, for an elec-
tron in a solid cooled to liquid helium temperature we have m = 9.1 ⋅ 10−31 kg, and typ-
ically l = 1 nm and T = 4 K; we then get t d ≈ tr and therefore the system can stay in
a coherent superposition until it is relaxed, which confirms that for this case coherent
effects can indeed be observed if the system is kept isolated. A typical example is the be-
Ref. 95 haviour of electrons in superconducting materials. We will mention a few more below.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
In 1996 the first actual measurement of decoherence times was published by the Paris
Ref. 96 team led by Serge Haroche. It confirmed the relation between the decoherence time and
the relaxation time, thus showing that the two processes have to be distinguished at mi-
croscopic scale. In the meantime, other experiments confirmed the decoherence process
Ref. 97 with its evolution equation, both for small and large values of t d /tr . A particularly beau-
Ref. 98 tiful experiment has been performed in 2004, where the disappearance of two-slit inter-
ference for C70 molecules was observed when a bath interacts with them.

Summary on decoherence, life and death

Our exploration showed that decoherence results from coupling to a bath in the envi-
ronment. Decoherence is a statistical, thermodynamic effect. Decoherence follows from
quantum theory and has been confirmed by experiment.
The estimates of decoherence times in everyday life told us that both the preparation
and the survival of superpositions of macroscopically different states is made impossible
by the interaction with any bath found in the environment. This is the case even if the
usual measure of this interaction, given by the friction of the motion of the system, is very
small. Even if a macroscopic system is subject to an extremely low friction, leading to a
very long relaxation time, its decoherence time is still vanishingly short. Only carefully
designed and expensive laboratory systems can reach substantial decoherence times.
Our everyday environment is full of baths. Therefore, coherent superpositions of macro-
scopically distinct states never appear in everyday life. Cars cannot be in and out of a garage
at the same time. And we cannot be dead and alive at the same time. In agreement with
Page 141 the explanation, coherent superpositions of macroscopic states appear in some special
laboratory situations.

What is a system? What is an object?

In classical physics, a system is a part of nature that can be isolated from its environment.
However, quantum mechanics tells us that isolated systems do not exist, since interac-
tions cannot be made vanishingly small. The contradiction can be solved with the results
above: they allow us to define the concept of system with more accuracy.
 7 quantum theory withou t ideolo gy 137

⊳ A system is any part of nature that interacts incoherently with its environ-
ment.

In other words:

⊳ An object is a part of nature interacting with its environment only through

baths.

In particular, we get

⊳ a system is called microscopic or quantum mechanical and can described by

a wave function ψ whenever
— it is almost isolated, with tevol = ħ/ΔE < tr , and
Ref. 99 — it is in incoherent interaction with its environment.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
In short, a microscopic or quantum mechanical system can be described by a wave func-
tion only if it interacts incoherently and weakly with its environment. (For such a system,
the energy indeterminacy ΔE is larger than the relaxation energy.) In contrast, a bath is
never isolated in the sense just given, because the evolution time of a bath is always much
larger than its relaxation time. Since all macroscopic bodies are in contact with baths –
or even contain one – they cannot be described by a wave function. In particular, it is
impossible to describe any measuring apparatus with the help of a wave function.
We thus conclude:

⊳ A macroscopic system is a system with a decoherence time much shorter than

any other evolution time of its constituents.

Obviously, macroscopic systems also interact incoherently with their environment. Thus
cats, cars and television news speakers are all macroscopic systems.
One possibility is left over by the two definitions: what happens in the situation in
which the interactions with the environment are coherent? We will encounter some ex-
amples shortly. Following the definition, they are neither microscopic nor macroscopic
systems.

⊳ A ‘system’ in which the interaction with its environment is coherent is called

entangled.

Such ‘systems’ are not described by a wave function, and strictly speaking, they are not
systems. In these situations, when the interaction is coherent, one speaks of entanglement.
For example, one says that a particle or set of particles is said to be entangled with its
environment.
Entangled, coherently interacting systems can be divided, but must be disentangled
when doing so. The act of division leads to detached entities; detached entities interact in-
coherently. Quantum theory shows that nature is not made of detached entities, but that
it is made of detachable entities. In quantum theory, the criterion of detachment is the
incoherence of interaction. Coherent superpositions imply the surprising consequence
 138 7 superpositions and probabilities

space
collapse

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
t1 t2 t3 t4

F I G U R E 68 Quantum mechanical
slit screen
space
motion: an electron wave function
(actually its module squared) from the
moment it passes a slit until it hits a
screen.

that there are systems which, even though they look being made of detached parts, are
not. Entanglement poses a limit to detachment. All surprising properties of quantum
mechanics, such as Schrödinger’s cat, are consequences of the classical prejudice that a
system made of two or more parts can obviously be detached into two subsystems with-
out disturbance. But coherent superpositions, or entangled systems, do not allow detach-
ment without disturbance. Whenever we assume to be able to detach entangled systems,
we get strange or incorrect conclusions, such as apparent faster-than-light propagation,
or, as one says today, non-local behaviour. Let us have a look at a few typical examples.

Is quantum theory non-local? A bit about the

Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox

“
[Mr. Duffy] lived a little distance away from his

”
body ...
James Joyce, A Painful Case

It is often suggested, incorrectly, that wave function collapse or quantum theory are non-
local.* The issue needs clarification.
We start by imagining an electron hitting a screen after passing a slit. Following the
description just deduced, the process proceeds schematically as depicted in Figure 68. A
film of the same process can be seen in the lower left corners on these pages, starting at
page 103. The process has a surprising aspect: due to the short decoherence time, during
* This continues a topic that we know already: we have explored a different type of non-locality, in general
Vol. II, page 261 relativity, earlier on.
 7 quantum theory withou t ideolo gy 139

this (and any other) wave function collapse the maximum of the wave function changes
position faster than light. Is this reasonable?
A situation is called acausal or non-local if energy is transported faster than light. Us-
Challenge 113 s ing Figure 68 you can determine the energy velocity involved, using the results on signal
Vol. III, page 114 propagation. The result is a value smaller than c. A wave function maximum moving
faster than light does not imply energy moving faster than light.
In other words, quantum theory contains speeds greater than light, but no energy
Ref. 100 speeds greater than light. In classical electrodynamics, the same happens with the scalar
and the vector potentials if the Coulomb gauge is used. We have also encountered speeds
Vol. II, page 53 faster than that of light in the motion of shadows and in many other observations. Any
physicist now has two choices: he can be straight, and say that there is no non-locality
in nature; or he can be less straight, and claim there is. In the latter case, he has to claim
that even classical physics is non-local. However, this never happens. On the other hand,
there is a danger in this more provoking usage of the term: a small percentage of those

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
who say that the world is non-local after a while start to believe that there really are faster-
than-light effects in nature. These people become prisoners of their muddled thinking;
on the other hands, muddled thinking helps to get more easily into newspapers. In short,
even though the definition of non-locality is not unanimous, here we stick to the stricter
one, and define non-locality as energy transport faster than light.
An often cited thought experiment that shows the pitfalls of non-locality was pro-
posed by Bohm* in the discussion around the so-called Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen
Ref. 101, Ref. 102 paradox. In the famous EPR paper the three authors try to find a contradiction between
quantum mechanics and common sense. Bohm translated their rather confused paper
into a clear thought experiment. It is shown schematically in Figure 69. When two par-
ticles in a spin 0 state move apart, measuring one particle’s spin orientation implies an
immediate collapse also of the other particle’s spin, namely in the exactly opposite direc-
tion. This happens instantaneously over the whole separation distance; no speed limit is
obeyed. In other words, entanglement seems to lead to faster-than-light communication.
However, in Bohm’s experiment, no energy is transported faster than light. No non-
locality is present, despite numerous claims of the contrary by certain authors. The two
entangled electrons belong to one system: assuming that they are separate only because
the wave function has two distant maxima is a conceptual mistake. In fact, no signal can
be transmitted with this method; the decoherence is a case of prediction which looks
like a signal without being one. Bohm’s experiment, like any other EPR-like experiment,
does not allow communication faster than light. We already discussed such cases in the
Vol. III, page 117 section on electrodynamics.
Bohm’s experiment has actually been performed. The first and most famous realiza-
Ref. 103 tion was due, in 1982, by Alain Aspect; he used photons instead of electrons. Like all latter
tests, it has fully confirmed quantum mechanics.
In fact, experiments such as the one by Aspect confirm that it is impossible to treat
either of the two particles as a system by itself; it is impossible to ascribe any physical
property, such as a spin orientation, to either of them alone. (The Heisenberg picture
would express this restriction even more clearly.)

* David Joseph Bohm (1917–1992) American–British physicist. He codiscovered the Aharonov–Bohm effect;
he spent a large part of his later life investigating the connections between quantum physics and philosophy.
 140 7 superpositions and probabilities

space

detector 2

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
detector 1

collapse

time
F I G U R E 69 Bohm’s thought
experiment.

The mentioned two examples of apparent non-locality can be dismissed with the re-
mark that since obviously no energy flux faster than light is involved, no problems with
causality appear. Therefore the following example is more interesting. Take two identical
atoms, one in an excited state, one in the ground state, and call l the distance that sepa-
rates them. Common sense tells that if the first atom returns to its ground state emitting
a photon, the second atom can be excited only after a time t = l/c has been elapsed, i.e.,
after the photon has travelled to the second atom.
Surprisingly, this conclusion is wrong. The atom in its ground state has a non-zero
probability to be excited at the same moment in which the first is de-excited. This has
Ref. 104 been shown most simply by Gerhard Hegerfeldt. This result has also been confirmed
experimentally.
More careful studies show that the result depends on the type of superposition of the
two atoms at the beginning: coherent or incoherent. For incoherent superpositions, the
intuitive result is correct; the counter-intuitive result appears only for coherent superpo-
sitions. Again, a careful discussion shows that no real non-locality of energy is involved.
In summary, faster-than-light speeds in wave function collapse do not contradict the
limit on energy speed of special relativity. Collapse speeds are phase velocities. In nature,
phase velocities are unlimited; unlimited phase velocities never imply energy transport
faster than light.

Curiosities and fun challenges about superpositions

Challenge 114 s Can a photograph show an object at two different places at the same time?
 7 quantum theory withou t ideolo gy 141

∗∗
In a few cases, the superposition of different macroscopic states can actually be observed
by lowering the temperature to sufficiently small values and by carefully choosing suit-
ably small masses or distances. Two well-known examples of coherent superpositions
are those observed in gravitational wave detectors and in Josephson junctions. In the
Ref. 94 first case, one observes a mass as heavy as 1000 kg in a superposition of states located
at different points in space: the distance between them is of the order of 10−17 m. In
the second case, in superconducting rings, superpositions of a state in which a macro-
scopic current of the order of 1 pA flows in clockwise direction with one where it flows
Ref. 105 in counter-clockwise direction have been produced.
∗∗
Ref. 106 Superpositions of magnetization in up and down direction at the same time have also be
observed for several materials.

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
∗∗
Some people wrongly state that an atom that is in a superposition of states centred at
different positions has been photographed. (This lie is even used by some sects to attract
Challenge 115 s believers.) Why is this not true?
∗∗
Since the 1990s, the sport of finding and playing with new systems in coherent macro-
Ref. 107 scopic superpositions has taken off across the world. The challenges lie in the clean exper-
iments necessary. Experiments with single atoms in superpositions of states are among
Ref. 108 the most popular ones.
∗∗
Ref. 109 In 1997, coherent atom waves were extracted from a cloud of sodium atoms.
∗∗
Macroscopic objects usually are in incoherent states. This is the same situation as for
light. The world is full of ‘macroscopic’, i.e., incoherent light: daylight, and all light from
lamps, from fire and from glow-worms is incoherent. Only very special and carefully
constructed sources, such as lasers or small point sources, emit coherent light. Only these
sources allow studying interference effects. In fact, the terms ‘coherent’ and ‘incoherent’
originated in optics, since for light the difference between the two, namely the capacity
to interfere, had been observed centuries before the case of matter.
Coherence and incoherence of light and of matter manifest themselves differently, be-
cause matter can stay at rest but light cannot and because matter is made of fermions,
Page 126 but light is made of bosons. Coherence can be observed easily in systems composed of
bosons, such as light, sound in solids, or electron pairs in superconductors. Coherence
is less easily observed in systems of fermions, such as systems of atoms with their elec-
tron clouds. However, in both cases a decoherence time can be defined. In both cases
coherence in many particle systems is best observed if all particles are in the same state
(superconductivity, laser light) and in both cases the transition from coherent to incoher-
ent is due to the interaction with a bath. A beam is thus incoherent if its particles arrive
 142 7 superpositions and probabilities

randomly in time and in frequency. In everyday life, the rarity of observation of coherent
matter superpositions has the same origin as the rarity of observation of coherent light.
∗∗
We will discuss the relation between the environment and the decay of unstable systems
Vol. V, page 36 later on. The phenomenon is completely described by the concepts given here.
∗∗
Challenge 116 ny Can you find a method to measure the degree of entanglement? Can you do so for a
system made of many particles?
∗∗
The study of entanglement leads to a simple conclusion: teleportation contradicts correla-
Challenge 117 ny tion. Can you confirm the statement?

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
∗∗
Are ghost images in TV sets, often due to spurious reflections, examples of interference?
Challenge 118 s

∗∗
Challenge 119 d What happens when two monochromatic electrons overlap?
∗∗
Some people say that quantum theory could be used for quantum computing, by using
Ref. 110 coherent superpositions of wave functions. Can you give a general reason that makes
this aim very difficult – even though not impossible – even without knowing how such
Challenge 120 s a quantum computer might work, or what the so-called qubits might be?

Why do probabilities and wave function collapse appear in

measurements?
Measurements in quantum mechanics are puzzling also because they lead to statements
in which probabilities appear. For example, we speak about the probability of finding
an electron at a certain distance from the nucleus of an atom. Statements like this be-
long to the general type ‘when the observable A is measured, the probability to find the
outcome a is p.’ In the following we will show that the probabilities in such statements
are inevitable for any measurement, because, as we will show, (1) any measurement and
any observation is a special case of decoherence or disentanglement process and (2) all
decoherence processes imply the quantum of action. (Historically, the process of mea-
surement was studied before the more general process of decoherence. That explains in
part why the topic is so confused in many peoples’ minds.)
Vol. III, page 210 What is a measurement? As already mentioned earlier on, a measurement is any in-
teraction which produces a record or a memory. (Any effect of everyday life is a record;
but this is not true in general. Can you give some examples of effects that are records and
Challenge 121 s some effects which are not?) Measurements can be performed by machines; when they
are performed by people, they are called observations. In quantum theory, the process of
 7 quantum theory withou t ideolo gy 143

measurement is not as straightforward as in classical physics. This is seen most strikingly

when a quantum system, such as a single electron, is first made to pass a diffraction slit,
or better – in order to make its wave aspect become apparent – a double slit and then
is made to hit a photographic plate, in order to make also its particle aspect appear. Ex-
periment shows that the blackened dot, the spot where the electron has hit the screen,
cannot be determined in advance. (The same is true for photons or any other particle.)
However, for large numbers of electrons, the spatial distribution of the black dots, the
so-called diffraction pattern, can be calculated in advance with high precision.
The outcome of experiments on microscopic systems thus forces us to use probabil-
ities for the description of microsystems. We find that the probability distribution p(x)
of the spots on the photographic plate can be calculated from the wave function ψ of the
electron at the screen surface and is given by p(x) = |ψ † (x)ψ(x)|2 . This is in fact a special
case of the general first property of quantum measurements:

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
⊳ The measurement of an observable A for a system in a state ψ gives as result
one of the eigenvalues an , and the probability Pn to get the result an is given
by
Pn = |φ†n ψ|2 , (74)

where φn is the eigenfunction of the operator A corresponding to the eigen-

value an .*

Experiments also show a second property of quantum measurements:

⊳ After a measurement, the observed quantum system is in the state φn cor-

responding to the measured eigenvalue an . One also says that during the
Ref. 111 measurement, the wave function has collapsed from ψ to φn .

These two experimental properties can also be generalized to the more general cases with
degenerate and continuous eigenvalues.
Obviously, these experimental results require an explanation. At first sight, the sort of
probabilities encountered in quantum theory are different from the probabilities we en-
counter in everyday life. Take roulette, dice, the system shown in Figure 70, pachinko
machines or the direction in which a pencil on its tip falls: all have been measured exper-
imentally to be random (assuming no cheating by the designer or operators) to a high
degree of accuracy. These everyday systems do not puzzle us. We unconsciously assume
that the random outcome is due to the small, but uncontrollable variations of the starting
conditions or the environment every time the experiment is repeated.**

* All linear transformations transform some special vectors, called eigenvectors (from the German word
eigen meaning ‘self ’) into multiples of themselves. In other words, if T is a transformation, e a vector, and

T(e) = λe (75)

where λ is a scalar, then the vector e is called an eigenvector of T, and λ is associated eigenvalue. The set of
all eigenvalues of a transformation T is called the spectrum of T.
** To get a feeling for the limitations of these unconscious assumptions, you may want to read the already
 144 7 superpositions and probabilities

ball
gravity

pegs

F I G U R E 70 A system showing probabilistic behaviour: ball

falling through an array of pegs.

But microscopic systems seem to be different. The two properties of quantum mea-
surements just mentioned express what physicists observe in every experiment, even if

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
the initial conditions are taken to be exactly the same every time. But why then is the
position for a single electron, or most other observables of quantum systems, not pre-
dictable? In other words, what happens during the collapse of the wave function? How
long does the collapse take? In the beginning of quantum theory, there was the percep-
tion that the observed unpredictability is due to the lack of information about the state of
the particle. This lead many to search for so-called ‘hidden variables’. All these attempts
were doomed to fail, however. It took some time for the scientific community to real-
ize that the unpredictability is not due to the lack of information about the state of the
particle, which is indeed described completely by the state vector ψ.
In order to uncover the origin of probabilities, let us recall the nature of a measure-
ment, or better, of a general observation. Any observation is the production of a record.
The record can be a visual or auditive memory in our brain, or a written record on paper,
Vol. III, page 208 or a tape recording, or any such type of object. As explained in the previous volume, an
object is a record if it cannot have arisen or disappeared by chance. To avoid the influ-
ence of chance, all records have to be protected as much as possible from the external
world; e.g. one typically puts archives in earthquake safe buildings with fire protection,
keeps documents in a safe, avoids brain injury as much as possible, etc.
On top of this, records have to be protected from their internal fluctuations. These
internal fluctuations are due to the many components any recording device is made of.
If the fluctuations were too large, they would make it impossible to distinguish between
the possible contents of a memory. Now, fluctuations decrease with increasing size of a
system, typically with the square root of the size. For example, if a hand writing is too
small, it is difficult to read if the paper gets brittle; if the magnetic tracks on tapes are
too small, they demagnetize and lose the stored information. In other words, a record is
rendered stable against internal fluctuations by making it of sufficient size. Every record
thus consists of many components and shows small fluctuations.
The importance of size can be expressed in another way: every system with memory,
i.e., every system capable of producing a record, contains a bath. In summary, the state-
ment that any observation is the production of a record can be expressed more precisely

mentioned story of those physicists who built a machine that could predict the outcome of a roulette ball
Vol. I, page 115 from the initial velocity imparted by the croupier.
 7 quantum theory withou t ideolo gy 145

the quantum apparatus, e.g. eye, ear,

mechanical or machine, with memory,
system i.e. coupled to a bath

H H int tr

describes is determined describes its

its possible by the type friction, e.g.
states of measurement due to heat flow
F I G U R E 71 The concepts used
in the description of

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012
measurements.

as: Any observation of a system is the result of an interaction between that system and a
bath in the recording apparatus.*
In addition, any observation measuring a physical quantity uses an interaction de-
pending on that same quantity. With these seemingly trivial remarks, we can describe in
more detail the process of observation, or, as it is usually called in the quantum theory,
the measurement process.
Any measurement apparatus, or detector, is characterized by two main aspects, shown
in Figure 71: the interaction it has with the microscopic system, and the bath it contains to
Ref. 112 produce the record. Any description of the measurement process thus is the description
of the evolution of the microscopic system and the detector; therefore one needs the
Hamiltonian for the particle, the interaction Hamiltonian, and the bath properties (such
as the relaxation time tr ). The interaction specifies what is measured and the bath realizes
the memory.
We know that only classical thermodynamic systems can be irreversible; quantum
systems are not. We therefore conclude: a measurement system must be described clas-
sically: otherwise it would have no memory and would not be a measurement system: it
would not produce a record! Memory is a classical effect. (More precisely, memory is an
effect that only appears in the classical limit.) Nevertheless, let us see what happens if we
describe the measurement system quantum mechanically.
Let us call A the observable which is measured in the experiment and its eigenfunc-
tions φn . We describe the quantum mechanical system under observation – often a par-
ticle – by a state ψ. The full state of the system can always be written as

ψ = ψ p ψother = 󵠈 cn φn ψother . (76)

n

Here, ψ p is the aspect of the (particle or system) state that we want to measure, and ψother

* Since baths imply friction, we can also say: memory needs friction.
 146 7 superpositions and probabilities

represents all other degrees of freedom, i.e., those not described – spanned, in mathemat-
ical language – by the operator A corresponding to the observable we want to measure.
The numbers cn = |φ†n ψ p | give the expansion of the state ψ p , which is taken to be nor-
malized, in terms of the basis φn . For example, in a typical position measurement, the
functions φn would be the position eigenfunctions and ψother would contain the informa-
tion about the momentum, the spin and all other properties of the particle.
How does the system–detector interaction look like? Let us call the state of the appa-
ratus before the measurement χstart . The measurement apparatus itself, by definition, is
a device which, when it is hit by a particle in the state φn ψother , changes from the state
χstart to the state χn . One then says that the apparatus has measured the eigenvalue an
corresponding to the eigenfunction φn of the operator A. The index n is thus the record
of the measurement; it is called the pointer index or variable. This index tells us in which
state the microscopic system was before the interaction. The important point, taken from
our previous discussion, is that the states χn , being records, are macroscopically distinct,

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics pdf file available free of charge at www.motionmountain.net Copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–August 2012