Energy and Matter

When Isaac Newton outlined his laws of motion in the 17th century he probably did not realize what a dramatic effect they would have on our understanding of the world around us. The main topic of this volume is study of matter: what it is, what its properties are, and how it relates to the forms of energy encountered in nature, namely heat, light, electricity, magnetism, and sound. Among other topics explored are the basic structure of atoms and quantum physics, itself based on the understanding that at a very small or very large scale, matter and energy are equivalent and interchangeable.