Understanding Physics and Physical Chemistry Using Formal Graphs

by Eric Vieil

Overview

The subject of this book is truly original. By encoding of algebraic equations into graphs-originally a purely pedagogical technique-the exploration of physics and physical chemistry reveals common pictures through all disciplines. The hidden structure of the scientific formalism that appears is a source of astonishment and provides efficient simpl

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781040209462
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	02/23/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	815
File size:	45 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Dr. Eric Vieil is a researcher in physical chemistry at the French Atomic Energy Agency (CEA) in Grenoble, France. He is a specialist with more than 80 publications in theoretical and experimental studies on the electrochemical mechanisms of conducting materials.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Nodes of Graphs. Links and Organization. Poles. Space Distributed Poles. Dipoles. Influence between Poles. Multipoles. Dipole Assemblies. Transfers. Assemblies and Dissipation. Coupling between Energy Varieties. Multiple Couplings. Conclusion and Perspectives. Appendices. References. Index.

Editorial Reviews

Vieil presents a universal toolkit—Formal Graphs—for understanding a wide range of scientific domains. … mainly for graduate students, researchers and specialists, and engineers; the process itself would even be accessible to undergraduate students … . The disk contains all the graphs, in color bitmap files, and software for building simple electric circuits and translating them into Formal Graphs.
—SciTech News, Vol. 66, September 2012

Vieil (French Atomic Energy Agency) discusses the use of formal graphs in physics and chemistry to facilitate an understanding of these subjects. This method has four primary purposes. First, pedagogically, students can benefit from considering theoretical systems in a non-algebraic way. With pictorial representations, students can more easily see relationships between elements of a theory and the similarities of formal graph structures among theories. Second, since formal graphs are neural networks, it is much easier to translate the science into algorithms if one starts with the graphs. Third, scientists already familiar with one area can more easily learn and gain insight into a new area that is using the same formal graph. Finally, researchers can benefit by examining the work of researchers in other disciplines that are considering the same formal graphs. This is an intriguing way to represent the science. The author provides more than 80 case studies to illustrate this method. A companion CD-ROM includes all of the book's formal graphs as well as software for translating simple examples into formal graphs. The related website contains a variety of supplementary materials. Recommended.
—E. Kincanon, Gonzaga University, CHOICE, August 2012

From the Publisher