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The evolution of physics from the Renaissance until today could be the subject of a book thousands of pages long. But if a book is intended to help the readers in the “organization” of physics they already know into a “logical” structure, it should be limited to the major branches of this discipline. Furthermore, if this knowledge is of high school level, then necessarily the selection of these important branches should start with “classical” physics, namely that which was known until the late 19th century. As such we have included in this book the mechanics of particles and solids, optics, electromagnetism, heat, thermodynamics, and the theory of perfect gases, because these branches constitute the backbone of classical physics. If some readers are further interested, they can use this knowledge as a “frame” to integrate easily the remaining branches of classical physics, such as acoustics, elasticity, and fluid mechanics. Finally, for completeness, we briefly present the three branches of physics, developed in the 20th century, that constitute the so called “modern” physics, i.e., the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and the theory of chaos. |
