Energy and the Unexpected

Only in the early 19th century did scientists recognize that energy is a distinct physical quantity. Since then, however, it has played a pivotal role in the advancement and the understanding of science and in technology. From the steam engine to the equation e=mc2 and beyond, the concept of energy offers an essential key to our understanding of the Universe. In this entertaining and highly readable book, Professor Laidler explains the concept of energy and its characteristics as they were discovered over the past two centuries. He describes how energy transformations, as interpreted by the second law of thermodynamics, are not absolute but can only be understood in terms of chance and probability. After looking at energy on a small scale and then at the scale of the Universe itself, he shows how these topics are linked with chaos theory according to which the unexpected is inevitable. Written for the general reader with an interest in science, the development and interrelationship of the concepts of energy, chance and chaos are set in their historical context, and illuminated by accounts of the key scientists involved and of some of their investigations.