Prediction techniques in classical physics. The role of dimensional analysis - 9788825537833

Prediction techniques in classical physics. The role of dimensional analysis: The book has a character partly preliminary and partly complementary to a systematic study of some fundamental aspects of Classical Physics, as proposed by manuals. Its aim is to guide the reader in the recognition of logical reasons, of facts, of knowledge of common sense and of experiences, as being bases of many scientific achievements. The idea is that these aspects of learning must always be recovered, if we do not want to impoverish the study of Science with the reduction of the discourse in a rigid frame, as simple acquisition of occurred successes. The final hope is to succeed to help the reader to take advantage of working ex post, to develop an, even partial, activity of prediction of results and theories. Among the elements that have an essential role in the book there are: a whole series of simplification techniques for the prediction of laws and theories (in short: prediction techniques); the use, in an original way, of dimensional analysis for the immediate construction, in exact form, of equations and laws; the search of singularities, especially in finding minima and maxima. The volume consists of an introduction, nine chapters and an appendix. Almost all chapters contain a paragraph of predictions and one of developments. The discourse flows from the theory of scalar and vector fields to main topics of Classical Physics, to some short notes of Modern Physics, to issues of Structural Mechanics, to the use of singularities, up to the search of orders of magnitude. The aim of the book is extensively explained in the introduction.