The Swings of Science : From Complexity to Simplicity and Back / Len Pismen.

Intro; Preface; Contents; Chapter 1; Swings Through the Ages; 1.1 Complex or Simple?; 1.2 Swings of Religions; 1.3 Swings of Elements; 1.4 Swings of Cosmology; 1.5 The Unreasonable Efficiency of Mathematics; 1.6 Science, Revolutionary and Normal; Chapter 2; Continuum Mechanics; 2.1 The Dry Water of the Age of Enlightenment; 2.2 Hydrodynamics Airborne; 2.3 Viscosity and Boundary Layers; 2.4 Elasticity; 2.5 Waves; Chapter 3; Continuum Beyond Mechanics; 3.1 Striking a Balance; 3.2 Transport Processes; 3.3 Chemical Reactions; 3.4 Charges and Currents; 3.5 Porous and Granular Media

3.6 The Continuum Breaks DownChapter 4; From Continuum to Atoms; 4.1 Just a Hypothesis?; 4.2 Molecular Kinetics; 4.3 Entropy and the Arrow of Time; 4.4 Chemical Bonds; 4.5 Chemical Kinetics; Chapter 5; Condensed Matter; 5.1 Crystals; 5.2 Phase Transitions; 5.3 Surfaces; 5.4 Three-Phase Lines; 5.5 Liquid Crystals; 5.6 Polymers; Chapter 6; Quantum Matter; 6.1 The Need for Quanta; 6.2 QuantumWeirdness; 6.3 Objections and Bypasses; 6.4 Chemistry Explained; 6.5 Everyday Quantum Devices; 6.6 Quantum Collective Effects; Chapter 7; Broken symmetry; 7.1 Convective Patterns; 7.2 Chemical Patterns

7.3 Unity in Variety7.4 Instabilities That Never Saturate; Chapter 8; Complexity Simplified; 8.1 From Order to Chaos; 8.2 Toy Models; 8.3 Turbulence Made Simple; 8.4 Complexity in Model Equations; Chapter 9; Complexity Strikes Back; 9.1 Turbulence; 9.2 Mechanics and the Chemistry of Life; 9.3 Heredity and Evolution; 9.4 Development; 9.5 Consciousness of Electrochemical Machines; 9.6 Environment; Chapter 10; Quo Vadis?; 10.1 Where We Have Got to; 10.2 Science Contemplates Society; 10.3 Society Shapes Science; 10.4 The End of Science?; References; Illustration Credits