Understanding physics /
Michael M. Mansfield and Colm O'Sullivan.
- Third edition.
- xvii, 636 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Understanding the physical universe -- Using mathematical tools in physics -- The causes of motion: dynamics -- Motion in two and three dimensions -- Force fields -- Many-body interactions -- Rigid body dynamics -- Relative motion -- Special relativity -- Continuum mechanics: mechanical properties of materials: microscopic models of matter -- Thermal physics -- Microscopic models of thermal systems: kinetic theory of matter -- Wave motion -- Introduction to quantum mechanics -- Electric currents -- Electric fields -- Electric fields in materials; the capacitor -- Magnetic fields -- Interactions between magnetic fields and electric currents; magnetic materials -- Electromagnetic induction: time-varying emfs -- Maxwell's equations: electromagnetic radiation -- Wave optics -- Geometrical optics -- Atomic physics -- Electrons in solids: quantum statistics -- Semiconductors -- Nuclear and particle physics.
"To show how matter can be described in terms of a series of models (mental pictures of the structures and workings of systems) of increasing scale, starting with only a few basic building blocks To describe how, despite the great complexity of the material world, interactions between its building blocks can be reduced to no more than four distinct interactions To describe how natural phenomena can be studied methodically through observation, measurement, analysis, hypothesis and testing (the scientific method)"--