The Forces of Matter
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1860
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 100 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Approachable1 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Forces of MatterPrometheus Books, 1993A standalone reprint; the lectures also appear in Harvard Classics volume 30 with the Candle lectures.
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Six Christmas lectures Faraday gave at the Royal Institution over the winter of 1859 to 1860, printed from shorthand notes. He treats in turn gravitation, cohesion, chemical affinity, heat, magnetism and electricity, showing by experiment how each force acts and how they are related and convertible one into another. The lectures are a plain introduction to the idea of the conservation and correlation of forces that dominated mid-Victorian physics.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Forces of Matter are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.

