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The present theme concerns the forces of nature, and what
investigations of these forces can tell us about the world we see
about us. The story of these forces is long and complex, and
contains many episodes that are not atypical of the bulk of
scientific research, which could have achieved greater acclaim 'if
only...'.The intention of this book is to introduce ideas of how
the visible world, and those parts of it that we cannot observe,
either because they are too small or too large for our scale of
perception, can be understood by consideration of only a few
fundamental forces. The subject in these pages will be the
authority of the commonly termed, laws of physics, which arise from
the forces of nature, and the corresponding constants of nature
(for example, the speed of light, c, the charge of the electron, e,
or the mass of the electron, me).
Measurements and experiments are made each and every day, in fields
as disparate as particle physics, chemistry, economics and
medicine, but have you ever wondered why it is that a particular
experiment has been designed to be the way it is. Indeed, how do
you design an experiment to measure something whose value is
unknown, and what should your considerations be on deciding whether
an experiment has yielded the sought after, or indeed any useful
result? These are old questions, and they are the reason behind
this volume. We will explore the origins of the methods of data
analysis that are today routinely applied to all measurements, but
which were unknown before the mid-19th Century. Anyone who is
interested in the relationship between the precision and accuracy
of measurements will find this volume useful. Whether you are a
physicist, a chemist, a social scientist, or a student studying one
of these subjects, you will discover that the basis of measurement
is the struggle to identify the needle of useful data hidden in the
haystack of obscuring background noise.
There are more than 20 million chemicals in the literature, with
new materials being synthesized each week. Most of these molecules
are stable, and the 3-dimensional arrangement of the atoms in the
molecules, in the various solids may be determined by routine x-ray
crystallography. When this is done, it is found that this vast
range of molecules, with varying sizes and shapes can be
accommodated by only a handful of solid structures. This limited
number of architectures for the packing of molecules of all shapes
and sizes, to maximize attractive intermolecular forces and
minimizing repulsive intermolecular forces, allows us to develop
simple models of what holds the molecules together in the solid. In
this volume we look at the origin of the molecular architecture of
crystals; a topic that is becoming increasingly important and is
often termed, crystal engineering. Such studies are a means of
predicting crystal structures, and of designing crystals with
particular properties by manipulating the structure and interaction
of large molecules. That is, creating new crystal architectures
with desired physical characteristics in which the molecules pack
together in particular architectures; a subject of particular
interest to the pharmaceutical industry.
History and archaeology tell us that when our far ancestors began
to settle in localized groups, they codified their lives and
experiences, and formed a collective for mutual support. This
proto-civilization would have arisen from each individual's
questions about the world, and their attempt to understand
themselves and their place in the world. These groups, or tribes,
evolved rules of conduct to facilitate communal living, and made a
calendar for the group's celebration of harvests, and other events
upon which the group was utterly dependent. This process of social
evolution is the origin of religion, and of a magical way of
looking at Nature. Eventually, this developing worldview was also
the origin of science, which is our investigation of Nature to
understand something of what is happening around us, and to use
this knowledge to ensure our survival in a violent, indifferent
Universe. After all, science and religion seek to answer the same
question: Why and how is the natural world the way it is? This book
seeks to show how science evolved from religion and magic, in
response to a need to understand Nature.
Measurements and experiments are made each and every day, in fields
as disparate as particle physics, chemistry, economics and
medicine, but have you ever wondered why it is that a particular
experiment has been designed to be the way it is. Indeed, how do
you design an experiment to measure something whose value is
unknown, and what should your considerations be on deciding whether
an experiment has yielded the sought after, or indeed any useful
result? These are old questions, and they are the reason behind
this volume. We will explore the origins of the methods of data
analysis that are today routinely applied to all measurements, but
which were unknown before the mid-19th Century. Anyone who is
interested in the relationship between the precision and accuracy
of measurements will find this volume useful. Whether you are a
physicist, a chemist, a social scientist, or a student studying one
of these subjects, you will discover that the basis of measurement
is the struggle to identify the needle of useful data hidden in the
haystack of obscuring background noise.
There are more than 20 million chemicals in the literature, with
new materials being synthesized each week. Most of these molecules
are stable, and the 3-dimensional arrangement of the atoms in the
molecules, in the various solids may be determined by routine x-ray
crystallography. When this is done, it is found that this vast
range of molecules, with varying sizes and shapes can be
accommodated by only a handful of solid structures. This limited
number of architectures for the packing of molecules of all shapes
and sizes, to maximize attractive intermolecular forces and
minimizing repulsive intermolecular forces, allows us to develop
simple models of what holds the molecules together in the solid. In
this volume we look at the origin of the molecular architecture of
crystals; a topic that is becoming increasingly important and is
often termed, crystal engineering. Such studies are a means of
predicting crystal structures, and of designing crystals with
particular properties by manipulating the structure and interaction
of large molecules. That is, creating new crystal architectures
with desired physical characteristics in which the molecules pack
together in particular architectures; a subject of particular
interest to the pharmaceutical industry.
The present theme concerns the forces of nature, and what
investigations of these forces can tell us about the world we see
about us. The story of these forces is long and complex, and
contains many episodes that are not atypical of the bulk of
scientific research, which could have achieved greater acclaim 'if
only...'.The intention of this book is to introduce ideas of how
the visible world, and those parts of it that we cannot observe,
either because they are too small or too large for our scale of
perception, can be understood by consideration of only a few
fundamental forces. The subject in these pages will be the
authority of the commonly termed, laws of physics, which arise from
the forces of nature, and the corresponding constants of nature
(for example, the speed of light, c, the charge of the electron, e,
or the mass of the electron, me).
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