Customer Reviews

Beginning Physics II: Waves, Electromagnetism, Optics and Modern Physics

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Physics 212 (Modern Physics) is a required course for Aerospace Engineering Students at KFUPM University in Saudi Arabia. I bought this book instead of Schaum's Outline of Modern Physics (ISBN 0070248303) as it was out of print when I needed to buy it. Only 107 out of 527 pages of this book, which I bought, covers the chapters related to modern physics. Therefore, it does not, to my way of thinking, worth to buy it if Schaum's Outline of Modern Physics (ISBN 0070248303) is on stock. However, if this book, which I did not buy, is out of print. Then I have got another talk.

Schaum's outline Beginning physics II: waves, electromagnetism, optics, and modern physics explains modern physics concepts very well indeed. More importantly, it solves problems clearly. Moreover, it helped me a lot in doing my homeworks problems quickly. Finally, it has a lot of solved problems of different ideas that I did not find in the textbook I used for this course, which was Modern Physics (ISBN 0030015472).

I strongly believe that you can make use of this book not only in your modern physics, but also in freshman physics courses as it covers topics such as waves and electromagnetism, which I had already studied in my freshman year physics courses. So, this book could be helpful for you in more than two physics courses and, in that case, you will hit two birds with one stone if you buy this book. In addition, it is possible that you find Schaum's Outline of Modern Physics (ISBN 0070248303) to be not good. Then, in that event, you know the alternative: Make a beeline to this book.

(Dear readers: Please note that I have rated only the modern physics chapters of this book).

I looked all over the internet for a TABLE OF CONTENTS for this book, to no avail!!! Well I figured, 'what the heck, it's fairly cheap- i'll just buy it' and so I bought it. (I've only given it 3 stars because I have not actually read the book yet!) It covers a lot of useful topics for any studying EM, waves and vibrations, or modern physics. I'd like to share the table of contents with you in order for you to know what is actually covered in the book:

WAVE MOTION
-propagation of disturbance in a medium
-continuous traveling waves
-reflection and transmission at a boundary
-superposition and interference

SOUND
-mathematical addendum, exponential and log equations
-propagation of sound, velocity, wave fronts, reflection, diffraction, interference
-human perception of sound
-other sound wave phenomena

COULOMB'S LAW AND ELECTRIC FIELDS
-introduction
-electric charges
-coulomb's law
-the electric field, effect
-the electric field, source
-the electric field, gauss' law

ELECTRIC POTENTIAL AND CAPACITANCE
-potential energy and potential
-potential of charge distributions
-the electric field, potential relationship
-equipotentials
-energy conservation
-capacitance
-combination of capacitors
-energy of capacitors
-dielectrics

SIMPLE ELECTRIC CIRCUITS
-current, resistance, ohm's law
-resistors in combination
-EMF and electrochemical systems
-electric measurement
-electric power

MAGNETISM- EFFECT OF THE FIELD
-introduction
-force on a moving charge
-applications
-magnetic force on a current in a wire
-magnetic torque on a current in a loop

MAGNETISM- SOURCE OF THE FIELD
-introduction
-field produced by a moving charge
-field produced by currents
-ampere's law

MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF MATTER
-introduction
-ferromagnetism
-magnetism
-superconductors

INDUCED EMF
-introduction
-motional EMF
-induced EMF
-generators
-induced electric fields

INDUCTANCE
-introduction
-self inductance
-mutual inductance
-energy in an inductor
-transformers

TIME VARYING ELECTRIC FIELD
-introduction
-transient response in DC circuits
-steady state phenomena in AC circuits

ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES
-introduction
-displacement current
-maxwell's equations
-electromagnets waves
-mathematical description of EM waves
-energy and momentum flux of EM wavs

LIGHT AND OPTICAL PHENOMENA
-introduction
-reflection and refraction
-dispersion and color

MIRRORS, LENSES, AND OPTICAL INTRUMENTS
-introduction
-mirrors
-thin lenses
-lens maker's equation
-composite lens systems
-optical instruments

INTERFERENCE, DIFFRACTION AND POLARIZATION
-introduction
-interference of light
-diffraction and the diffraction grating
-polarization of light

SPECIAL RELATIVITY
-introduction
-simultaneity
-time dilation
-length contraction
-lorentz transformation
-addition of velocities
-relativistic dynamics

PARTICLES OF LIGHT AND WAVES OF MATTER [Intro to quantum mechanics]
-introduction
-light as a wave
-light as a particle
-matter waves
-probability and uncertainty

MODERN PHYSICS [atomic, nuclear, and solid-state phyics]
-introduction
-atomic physics
-nuclei and radioactivity
-solid-state physics

I had a very uninspired professor that was mad at life and refused to explain concepts clearly. He would yell at us alot. Anyway I bought this book to prepare myself for exams and engineering certifications that require you to know Modern Physics and related concepts. BIG HELP!

This book is pretty much the best textbook purchase I have ever made. It does exactly what it says: it helps you understand basic concepts and helps you study more efficiently. I used this book to brush up on the introductory physics sequence and am planning to use it in my optics class.

There are only two concerns that I have for this book. One of these concerns is that I have found quite a few small errors in the book's answers. These errors include minor things like the decimal place is one spot over where it should be or the exponent is one more than it should be, but other than that the answers are very easy to understand and are written systematically. My second concern is that there aren't enough math proofs in this book for my liking, but this isn't really a math book so, in all fairness, it's not like I could have expected it.

Other than that, buy this book, it is so great in conjunction with a physics class or if you're just trying to brush up on some physics.