This book follows the historical trail by which humanity has determined the shape and internal structure of the Earth. It is a story that bears on aspects of the history of science, the history of philosophy and the history of mathematics. At the heart of the narrative is the important philosophical practice of performing thought experiments — that is, the art of considering an idealized experiment in the mind. This powerful technique has been used by all the great historical practitioners of science and mathematics, and this book looks specifically at the long history of considering what would happen if an object could be dropped into a tunnel that cuts all the way through the Earth's interior. Indeed, the story begins with a historical whodunit, tracing back through the historical literature the origins of what is now a classic, textbook problem in simple harmonic motion.
Contents: IntroductionA Long DistractionWishing WellCymro's ProblemThe Heat of AgesTerricola's QuestionsFlamsteed's WellAiry UndergroundA Mind's Eye ViewTik-Tok's TumbleEratosthenes's WellAristotle's Stop and the Merton CalculatorsGalileo's Constant CannonballHooke's Bullet and Newton's CannonNewton's CanalsHalley's Hollow EarthDr Akakia's Diatribe and Euler's MiracleCollignon's SlantFastest DescentThe Kola Pin-Prick and the Iron BlobA Black Hole FallingThe Elephant in the RoomFirst and Last ThoughtsAppendix: Mathematical DetailsNotes and Selected ReferencesIndex
Readership: Science enthusiasts as well as people who are interested in history of science.Earth Tunnel;History of Dynamics;Shape of the Earth;Earth's Interior;Gravity Train;Thought Experiment;Newtonian Mechanics0Key Features:This book has been specifically written to be accessible to the non-specialists. Additionally, detailed historical development of the scientific background is presented, which may be of interest to the more specialist readerInclusion of an appendix which develops the solutions relating to both historical and modern-day problems associated with tunneling through the Earth, which may be of use to teachers who provide classes in introductory calculus, introductory dynamics, and astronomyInclusion of many literary anecdotes, and a detailed discussion of how the exploration of Earth's interior has been used as a literary back-drop in numerous science fiction and adventure stories, as well as by many film writers
