The famous book titled “Five equations that changed the world: The power and poetry of mathematics” is written by Michael Guillen, a journalist in 1995. The book tires to provide a simplified view of the five fundamental equations, which made the progress of mankind possible.
The equations are:
1) Newton’s law of universal gravitation:
This equation is used for finding gravitational force of attraction between two masses, particularly planets and other heavenly bodies. This has opened up the understanding of astronomy.
2) Bernoulli’s equation for hydrodynamics
The equation states that the sum of velocity, potential and pressure heads is constant. The above equation is for incompressible fluid flow only, but compressible fluid flow is also derived from the Bernoulli’s theorem. The theorem is the basis of various hydrodynamics and aerodynamics equations, understanding and designing of fluid flow, pipe sizing and pressure drop calculations, etc.
3) Faraday’s law for electromagnetic induction
The equation relates emf (volts) with magnetic flux (webers). This principle is used for design of electric motors, generators, transformers and other electric machines.
4) Clausius’ Second law of thermodynamics
The entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium.
The second law of thermodynamics is an expression of the universal law of increasing entropy. Its understanding has helped us design internal combustion engines, control chemical process and heat transfer equipment.
5) Einstein’s theory of relativity
E=mc2
This most famous equation states the relation between the amount of mass destroyed and energy produced. Its most notable use is in the design of nuclear reactors and bombs.
The author tries to portray the above equations as poetry of the nature. However, it tries to over-simplify the equations and their origins. For example, it states that Einstein derived his equation from the kinetic energy equation KE = 1/2 mV2 which is simply not true.
Still the book is interesting to read. Some parts of it can be read free either on amazon.com or on book.goggle.com. The links are provided below. However, browser is disabled, i.e. you can read, but can not copy or print the pages. For Google, one can read different pages by logging in at different times.
Reference:
1) Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Equations_That_Changed_the_World:_The_Power_and_Poetry_of_Mathematics
2) Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Five-Equations-That-Changed-World/dp/0786881879
3) Book.google.com
http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0786881879&id=v2Qs3k5wYjAC&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1&ots=kirzlxPfdB&dq=five+equations+that+changed+the+world&sig=F3fu88KX9DXozHcoP-5dbwYFgJ4