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Cosmochemistry is a rapidly evolving field of planetary science and the second edition of this classic text reflects the exciting discoveries made over the past decade from new spacecraft missions. Topics covered include the synthesis of elements in stars, behaviour of elements and isotopes in the early solar nebula and planetary bodies, and compositions of extra-terrestrial materials. Radioisotope chronology of the early Solar System is also discussed, as well as geochemical exploration of planets by spacecraft, and cosmochemical constraints on the formation of solar systems. Thoroughly updated throughout, this new edition features significantly expanded coverage of chemical fractionation and isotopic analyses; focus boxes covering basic definitions and essential background material on mineralogy, organic chemistry and quantitative topics; and a comprehensive glossary. An appendix of analytical techniques and end-of-chapter review questions, with solutions available at www.cambridge.org/cosmochemistry2e, also contribute to making this the ideal teaching resource for courses on the Solar System's composition as well as a valuable reference for early career researchers.
As an appendix, we can look briefly at the central ideas of General Relativity (though we are limited, since much of the maths is beyond our scope). We prepare the ground with a number of thought experiments, and then discuss, in outline, the geometrical ideas we have to use. We can get a sense of what Einstein's equation is doing, and we look at some solutions of Einstein's equation (including the Schwarzschild metric), describing possible spacetimes.
Introducing the Minkowski diagram and Minkowski space; how do we represent motion? And how can we represent the phenomena of length contraction and time dilation graphically?
In this chapter we will examine some immediate consequences of the axioms of , and develop some qualitative understanding of these before we mathematise things in the .
In the , we have learned how to describe motion; we now want to explain it. In newtonian mechanics, we do this by defining quantities such as momentum, energy, force and so on. To what extent can we do this in the context of relativity, with our new 4-vector tools?