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Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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University Physics I: Classical Mechanics
Julio Gea-Banacloche · University of Arkansas · 2019
This is a “minimalist” textbook for a first semester of university, calculus-based physics, covering classical mechanics (including one chapter on mechanical waves, but excluding fluids), plus a brief introduction to thermodynamics. The presentation owes much to Mazur’s The Principles and Practice of Physics: conservation laws, momentum and energy, are introduced before forces, and one-dimensional setups are thoroughly explored before two-dimensional systems are considered. It contains both problems and worked-out examples.
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Principles of Mechanics: Fundamental University Physics
Salma Alrasheed · Springer · 2019
This open access textbook takes the reader step-by-step through the concepts of mechanics in a clear and detailed manner. Mechanics is considered to be the core of physics, where a deep understanding of the concepts is essential in understanding all branches of physics. Many proofs and examples are included to help the reader grasp the fundamentals fully, paving the way to deal with more advanced topics. After solving all of the examples, the reader will have gained a solid foundation in mechanics and the skills to apply the concepts in a variety of situations. The book is useful for undergraduate students majoring in physics and other science and engineering disciplines. It can also be used as a reference for more advanced levels.
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University Physics
Jeff Sanny; Samuel Ling · OpenStax · 2016
University Physics is a three-volume collection that meets the scope and sequence requirements for two- and three-semester calculus-based physics courses. Volume 1 covers mechanics, sound, oscillations, and waves. This textbook emphasizes connections between between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigor inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result.
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Applications of Maxwell's Equations
John Cochran; Bretislav Heinrich · John F. Cochran, Bretislav Heinrich · 2004
This book was developed at Simon Fraser University for an upper-level physics course. Along with a careful exposition of electricity and magnetism, it devotes a chapter to ferromagnets. According to the course description, the topics covered were “electromagnetics, magnetostatics, waves, transmission lines, wave guides,antennas, and radiating systems.”
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Threshold Concepts in Biochemistry
Julian Pakay; Hendrika Duivenvoorden; Thomas Shafee; Kaitlin Clarke · La Trobe University · 2023
Biochemistry (and Molecular Biology) represent one of the fastest-growing fields of scientific research and technical innovation and the resulting biotechnology is increasingly applied to other fields of study. So, an understanding of Biochemistry is increasingly important for students in all biological disciplines. However, at the same time, the content is inherently complex, highly abstract, and often deeply rooted in the pure sciences – mathematics, chemistry, and physics. This makes it difficult to both learn and to teach. This book is designed as a succinct and focused resource, specifically aimed to help students grasp key threshold concepts in Biochemistry. Due to their troublesome nature, understanding threshold concepts is a cognitively demanding task. By using a series of thematically linked case studies that accompany theory, the cognitive load will be reduced. This will free up students to focus on learning concepts rather than distracting them with unnecessary specifics.
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Part SM: Statistical Mechanics
Konstantitn Likharev · Stony Brook University · 2013
Essential Graduate Physics, Lecture Notes and Problems This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Academic Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Essential Graduate Physics by an authorized administrator of Academic Commons. For more information, please contact mona.ramonetti@stonybrook.edu, hu.wang.2@stonybrook.edu.
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Part QM: Quantum Mechanics
Konstantin Likharev · Stony Brook University · 2013
Essential Graduate Physics, Lecture Notes and Problems This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Academic Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Essential Graduate Physics by an authorized administrator of Academic Commons. For more information, please contact mona.ramonetti@stonybrook.edu, hu.wang.2@stonybrook.edu.
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Part EM: Classical Electrodynamics
Konstantitn Likharev · Stony Brook University · 2013
Essential Graduate Physics, Lecture Notes and Problems This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Academic Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Essential Graduate Physics by an authorized administrator of Academic Commons. For more information, please contact mona.ramonetti@stonybrook.edu, hu.wang.2@stonybrook.edu.
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Part CM: Classical Mechanics
Konstantin Likharev · Stony Brook University · 2013
Essential Graduate Physics, Lecture Notes and Problems This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Academic Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Essential Graduate Physics by an authorized administrator of Academic Commons. For more information, please contact mona.ramonetti@stonybrook.edu, hu.wang.2@stonybrook.edu.
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Future Energy: Opportunities & Challenges
Thomas Kerlin · The University of Tennessee Libraries · 2013
How can we produce enough sustainable energy while avoiding unacceptable environmental consequences? To evaluate the various energy options, we must understand the science of each potential energy source and energy use technology. This book presents the science in an easy-to-understand way to enable readers to make informed decisions about what is possible and practical, and to choose lifestyle options to implement in their personal lives. America and the world face daunting questions about how we produce energy and how we use it. Conservation and improved energy efficiency can help reduce energy requirements, but cannot halt the steady increase in energy consumption. An increasing world population and increasing energy appetites in emerging economies will create competition for energy resources for all nations. The possibilities for future energy production include fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal, oil sands, and oil shale), biofuels, solar, wind, hydro-energy, geothermal, and nuclear (probably fission and possibly fusion). Each of these sources has relative advantages and disadvantages. The problem is to produce enough sustainable energy while avoiding unacceptable environmental consequences, especially climate change. In order to evaluate the potential of the various energy options, one must understand the basic science that underlies each potential energy source and energy use technology. This knowledge will enable us to determine what is possible and practical and, maybe more importantly, what is impossible or impractical. Fortunately most of the pertinent science is old, well established and, for the most part, quite simple. This science provides a framework into which one can insert real data and draw conclusions. Without such quantitative assessments, claims about capabilities of the various energy options must be viewed as unverified assumptions rather than hard facts. This book presents the essential science in an easy-to-understand, yet comprehensive
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All Things Flow: Fluid Mechanics for the Natural Sciences
William Smyth · Oregon State University · 2019
This book began as lecture notes for an Oregon State University course in fluid mechanics, designed for beginning graduate students in physical oceanography. Because of its fundamental nature, this course is often taken by students outside physical oceanography, e.g., atmospheric science, civil engineering, physics and mathematics. In later courses, the student will discover esoteric fluid phenomena such as internal waves that propagate through the sky, water phase changes that govern clouds, and planetary rotation effects that control large-scale winds and ocean currents. In contrast, this course concerns phenomena that we have all been familiar with since childhood: flows you see in sinks and bathtubs, in rivers, and at the beach. In this context, we develop the mathematical techniques and scientific reasoning skills needed for higher-level courses and professional research.
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Relativity Lite: A Pictorial Translation of Einstein’s Theories of Motion and Gravity
Jack Straton · Portland State University Library · 2020
Relativity Lite is designed for courses like my 100-student General Astronomy sequence. Relativity Lite translates the mathematical equations conventional relativity texts rely upon into pictures that are readily understood and contain within them the mathematical essentials. This new book would provide the comprehensive coverage needed to understand, in sufficient depth, these three linked areas of our reality.
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Variational Principles in Classical Mechanics
Douglas Cline · University of Rochester River Campus Libraries · 2018
Two dramatically different philosophical approaches to classical mechanics were proposed during the 17th – 18th centuries. Newton developed his vectorial formulation that uses time-dependent differential equations of motion to relate vector observables like force and rate of change of momentum. Euler, Lagrange, Hamilton, and Jacobi, developed powerful alternative variational formulations based on the assumption that nature follows the principle of least action. These variational formulations now play a pivotal role in science and engineering. This book introduces variational principles and their application to classical mechanics. The relative merits of the intuitive Newtonian vectorial formulation, and the more powerful variational formulations are compared. Applications to a wide variety of topics illustrate the intellectual beauty, remarkable power, and broad scope provided by use of variational principles in physics. This second edition adds discussion of the use of variational principles applied to the following topics: Systems subject to initial boundary conditions The hierarchy of the related formulations based on action, Lagrangian, Hamiltonian, and equations of motion, to systems that involve symmetries Non-conservative systems. Variable-mass systems. The General Theory of Relativity. The first edition of this book can be downloaded at the publisher link.
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Mathematics for Biomedical Physics
Jogindra Wadehra · Wayne State University Library System · 2022
Mathematics for Biomedical Physics is an open access peer-reviewed textbook geared to introduce several mathematical topics at the rudimentary level so that students can appreciate the applications of mathematics to the interdisciplinary field of biomedical physics. Most of the topics are presented in their simplest but rigorous form so that students can easily understand the advanced form of these topics when the need arises. Several end-of-chapter problems and chapter examples relate the applications of mathematics to biomedical physics. After mastering the topics of this book, students would be ready to embark on quantitative thinking in various topics of biology and medicine
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COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS: A Practical Introduction to Computational Physics and Scientific Computing (using C++)
Konstantinosn Anagnostopoulos · National Technical University of Athens · 2016
This book is an introduction to the computational methods used in physics, but also in other scientific fields. It is addressed to an audience that has already been exposed to the introductory level of college physics, usually taught during the first two years of an undergraduate program in science and engineering. It assumes no prior knowledge of numerical analysis, programming or computers and teaches whatever is necessary for the solution of the problems addressed in the text. It can be used as a textbook in introductory computational physics or scientific computing classes. The book starts with very simple problems in particle motion and ends with an in-depth discussion of advanced techniques used in Monte Carlo simulations in statistical mechanics. The level of instruction rises slowly, while discussing problems like the diffusion equation, electrostatics on the plane, quantum mechanics and random walks. All the material can be taught in two semesters, but a selection of topics can form the material of a one semester course. The book aims to provide the students with the background and the experience needed in order to advance to high performance computing projects in science and engineering. It puts emphasis on hands--on programming of numerical code but also on the production, analysis and interpretation of data. But it also tries to keep the students motivated by considering interesting applications in physics, like chaos, quantum mechanics, special relativity and the physics of phase transitions. There is a C++ and a Fortran edition for the core programming. Data analysis is performed using the powerful tools of the GNU/Linux environment. All the necessary software is open source and freely available. The book and the accompanying software are given under a Creative Commons License/GNU public License as a service to the community. It can be used freely as a whole, or any part of it, in any form, by anyone. There is no official distribution of hard copies, b
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Calculus for the Life Sciences: A Modeling Approach
James Cornette; Ralph Ackerman · A.T. Still University · 2013
Our writing is based on three premises. First, life sciences students are motivated by and respond well to actual data related to real life sciences problems. Second, the ultimate goal of calculus in the life sciences primarily involves modeling living systems with difference and differential equations. Understanding the concepts of derivative and integral are crucial, but the ability to compute a large array of derivatives and integrals is of secondary importance. Third, the depth of calculus for life sciences students should be comparable to that of the traditional physics and engineering calculus course; else life sciences students will be short changed and their faculty will advise them to take the 'best' (engineering) course. In our text, mathematical modeling and difference and differential equations lead, closely follow, and extend the elements of calculus. Chapter one introduces mathematical modeling in which students write descriptions of some observed processes and from these descriptions derive first order linear difference equations whose solutions can be compared with the observed data. In chapters in which the derivatives of algebraic, exponential, or trigonometric functions are defined, biologically motivated differential equations and their solutions are included. The chapter on partial derivatives includes a section on the diffusion partial differential equation. There are two chapters on non-linear difference equations and on systems of two difference equations and two chapters on differential equations and on systems of differential equation.
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Calculus for the Life Sciences: A Modeling Approach
James Cornette; Ralph Ackerman · A.T. Still University · 2011
Our writing is based on three premises. First, life sciences students are motivated by and respond well to actual data related to real life sciences problems. Second, the ultimate goal of calculus in the life sciences primarily involves modeling living systems with difference and differential equations. Understanding the concepts of derivative and integral are crucial, but the ability to compute a large array of derivatives and integrals is of secondary importance. Third, the depth of calculus for life sciences students should be comparable to that of the traditional physics and engineering calculus course; else life sciences students will be short changed and their faculty will advise them to take the 'best' (engineering) course. In our text, mathematical modeling and difference and differential equations lead, closely follow, and extend the elements of calculus. Chapter one introduces mathematical modeling in which students write descriptions of some observed processes and from these descriptions derive first order linear difference equations whose solutions can be compared with the observed data. In chapters in which the derivatives of algebraic, exponential, or trigonometric functions are defined, biologically motivated differential equations and their solutions are included. The chapter on partial derivatives includes a section on the diffusion partial differential equation. There are two chapters on non-linear difference equations and on systems of two difference equations and two chapters on differential equations and on systems of differential equation.
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Understanding Music: Past and Present
Alan Clark; Thomas Heflin; Jeffery Kluball; Elizabeth Kramer · University of North Georgia Press · 2015
Understanding Music: Past and Present is an open Music Appreciation textbook co-authored by music faculty across Georgia. The text covers the fundamentals of music and the physics of sound, an exploration of music from the Middle Ages to the present day, and a final chapter on popular music in the United States.
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Fundamentals of Math, Physics, and Statistics for Future Transportation Professionals
Anurag Pande; Peyton Ratto; Ahmed Farid · Mavs Open Press · 2024
This textbook and OER material cover tools and basic knowledge required to master the prerequisite essentials of physics, mathematics, and statistics applied in transportation engineering. To our knowledge, no such textbook currently exists to build the KSTs (Knowledge, Skills, Tools) for college freshmen’ remedial courses required by most transportation engineering graduate programs that admit non-engineers (e.g., PHYS 141, MATH 142, STAT 321 at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo). The textbook modules are intended for students with undergraduate degrees in planning and other less technical fields who are interested in pursuing transportation careers where background engineering knowledge is required. This textbook is a product of the grant OERTransport: Enabling Transportation Planning Professional Advancement awarded to the University of Texas-Arlington (UTA) in consortium with California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) and the University of South Florida (USF). It was developed under an Open Textbooks Pilot grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education. However, its contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and no endorsement by the Federal Government should be assumed
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Aerodynamics and Aircraft Performance
James Marchman III · Virginia Tech Libraries · 2004
Aerodynamics and Aircraft Performance, 3rd edition is a college undergraduate-level introduction to aircraft aerodynamics and performance. This text is designed for a course in Aircraft Performance that is taught before the students have had any course in fluid mechanics, fluid dynamics, or aerodynamics. The text is meant to provide the essential information from these types of courses that is needed for teaching basic subsonic aircraft performance, and it is assumed that the students will learn the full story of aerodynamics in other, later courses. The text assumes that the students will have had a university level Physics sequence in which they will have been introduced to the most fundamental concepts of statics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, and basic conservation laws that are needed to understand the coverage that follows. It is also assumed that students will have completed first year university level calculus sequence plus a course in multi-variable calculus. Separate courses in engineering statics and dynamics are helpful but not necessary. Any student who takes a course using this text after completing courses in aerodynamics or fluid dynamics should find the chapters of this book covering those subjects an interesting review of the material. The 236-page text was created specifically for use by undergraduate students in Aerospace Engineering and was based on Professor Marchman’s many years of experience teaching related subject matter as well as his numerous wind tunnel research projects related to aircraft aerodynamics and his personal experience as the owner and pilot of a general aviation airplane. It has been used at Virginia Tech and other universities. Instructors reviewing, adopting, or adapting parts or the whole of the text are requested to register their interest at: https://bit.ly/aerodynamics_interest.