Energy is the consequence of the action through interactions or exchanges of the four types of fundamental forces of nature: gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear. The only universal bargaining chip is energy.
Without energy transformation there is nothing. Even human beings are complex energy flow transformers.
A trend that has been modeled by the law of maximum energy of the mathematician and chemist Alfred Lotka: “As long as there is matter and energy available (if used), natural selection will operate at all times to increase the total mass of the organic system, the rate of circulation of matter through the system, and the total energy flow that circulates through of the same”.
Energy and the human being
In turn, the history of the human being, and especially that of civilization, is a story of energy search. From the calories that fed our ancestors and shaped their food appetites, to imprinting them on their DNA, to the electron volts (eV) of nuclear physics. And even today, given our voracity and our multiplication throughout the planet, the chances of success in the search for a new energy system that allows us to survive remain uncertain.
History of Energy (Scientific Disclosure)
Energy, then, has many focuses, results, objectives, easements. It is part of everything we do. It’s a kaleidoscope to explain the world. This same review of the last book of the prolific Alexander navarro It is the result, in essence, of energetic processes, both those that take place in my brain and my muscles and in the entrails of the computer where I type.
The book is, in all its expository clarity, History of energy. A simple and direct title like Navarro’s prose, which is capable of making even the most abstruse digestible. And so, chapter by chapter, capriciously pecking at different historical moments and scientific milestones, will reveal all facets of energy and how it has shaped our history:
The heart of the atom or the transmutation of matter; the perpetual mobile, the Cox watch, and the conservation of energy; the big bang; the dark universe; the power of Electro; the “death by heat” of the cosmos; the light of the gods; Newton’s apple and the secret of Star Trek; Thomas Alva Edison and led bulbs; the ghosts and the fuel from the flying saucers! … In this book Alejandro Navarro masterfully addresses the history of energy and the multiple forms in which it appears. We will meet celebrities like Galileo, Newton, Franklin, Marie Curie or Einstein; but also with forgotten geniuses who contributed, with their curiosity and tenacity, to the clarification of some of the most important laws of nature.
In short, another book for the Alejandro Navarro collection, which, in addition to the excellent Guadalmazán edition, is presented in a hardcover. To savor in short drinks.