Modern Physics [Hardcover]

Raymond A. Serway (Author), Clement J. Moses (Author), Curt A. Moyer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0534493394 | ISBN-13: 978-0534493394 | Publication Date: April 15, 2004 | Edition: 3

Accessible and flexible, MODERN PHYSICS, Third Edition has been specifically designed to provide simple, clear, and mathematically uncomplicated explanations of physical concepts and theories of modern physics. The authors clarify and show support for these theories through a broad range of current applications and examples-attempting to answer questions such as: What holds molecules together? How do electrons tunnel through barriers? How do electrons move through solids? How can currents persist indefinitely in superconductors? To pique student interest, brief sketches of the historical development of twentieth-century physics such as anecdotes and quotations from key figures as well as interesting photographs of noted scientists and original apparatus are integrated throughout. The Third Edition has been extensively revised to clarify difficult concepts and thoroughly updated to include rapidly developing technical applications in quantum physics. To complement the analytical solutions in the text and to help students visualize abstract concepts, the new edition also features free online access to QMTools, new platform-independent simulation software created by co-author, Curt Moyer, and developed with support from the National Science Foundation. Icons in the text indicate the problems designed for use with the software.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The text is readable and has a nice slightly informal tone to it that I think the students will respond well to. It covers the basic ideas well with a good range of applications in the later chapters."

On the inclusion of the new applications, "Absolutely!!! We have an Engineering Physics program here and this is exactly the sort of thing we are looking for in our books and classes."

About the Author

Raymond A. Serway received his doctorate at Illinois Institute of Technology and is Professor Emeritus at James Madison University. In 1990, he received the Madison Scholar Award at James Madison University, where he taught for 17 years. Dr. Serway began his teaching career at Clarkson University, where he conducted research and taught from 1967 to 1980. His second academic appointment was at James Madison University as Professor of Physics and Head of the Physics Department from 1980 to 1986. He remained at James Madison University until his retirement in 1997. He was the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award at Clarkson University in 1977 and of the Alumni Achievement Award from Utica College in 1985. As Guest Scientist at the IBM Research Laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland, he worked with K. Alex Müller, 1987 Nobel Prize recipient. Dr. Serway also held research appointments at Rome Air Development center from 1961 to 1963, at IIT Research Institute from 1963 to 1967, and as a visiting scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, where he collaborated with his mentor and friend, Sam Marshall. Dr. Serway is also the co-author of PHYSICS FOR SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS, 6th edition, PRINCIPLES OF PHYSICS, 3rd edition, COLLEGE PHYSICS, 6th edition, MODERN PHYSICS, 2nd edition, and the high-school textbook PHYSICS, published by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. In addition, Dr. Serway has published more than 40 research papers in the field of condensed matter physics and has given more than 60 presentations at professional meetings. Dr. Serway and his wife Elizabeth enjoy traveling, golfing, fishing, and spending quality time with their four children and five grandchildren.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 744 pages
• Publisher: Brooks Cole; 3 edition (April 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534493394
• ISBN-13: 978-0534493394
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Frustrating most times,and a few times OK, December 8, 1999

By 

"carinosa" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Physics (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series) (Hardcover)

Over all I have to say I was rather displeased with this book. During the first few chapters the material is explained rather well, however the authors do not show a lot of derivations for the formulas. I felt the reading material in the later chapters often times did not prepare the reader for the homework problems assigned at the end of the chapters. Too many times there were variables introduced in equations with the assumption that the reader will be able to derive them in order to compute the answers without any explanation from the authors on how to do so. Every now and then I was pleasantly surprised with a thorough and approachable overview of some of the theories. However, most times the authors simply left out a great deal of theory and taught the reader how to "plug and chug" for an EXREMELY simple problem,then gave no examples for problems similar to the complicated ones at the end of the chapter. Though there were some good qualities in the book, I found those qualities to be inconsistent. I would instead recommend Tipler's Modern Physics. His "Introductory to Modern Physics" is a VERY GOOD basic introduction to this subject. He also has a text book for Modern Physics on the same collegiate level as this one that I personally prefer.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars modern physics serway, November 12, 2006

By 

David Tieri (boulder colorado) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Modern Physics (Hardcover)

this book is ok, but it assumes alot of prior knowledge. i found that i could only understand the material presented in the book after i read an easier text on the subject. this book also had alot of errors in it. i spent 2 hours trying to derive something, only to discover that the book had a plus sign in a formula where it should have had a minus sign. i recomend modern physics by tippler or concepts of modern physics by beiser. beiser's book is easier, and tipplers book is more indepth, but both books assume no prior knowledge of the subject.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Has room for improvement, but a good book, January 31, 2002

By 

Nathan C. Heston (gainesville,fl United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Modern Physics (Hardcover)

I used this text for two semesters. I am an A student and learn most of the material for my classes from my books, so their qualitiy is important to me. I found that overall that book did a solid job of covering special relativity and introducing quantum mechanics/wave particle theory(I have to admit I did not read all of the material on quantum mechanics.) I dislike several things about the text. First, it is a text intended for early stage physics majors, and in being so, I thought that it all too often skipped mathematical derivations, saying"it is left to the reader to confirm," or similar. I feel that such methods severely hinder the flow of the text. They cause readers to either skip ahead or stop and plug through the math. Secondly, the chapter introducing the basic ideas behind statistical mechanics is horribly written. I have since taken a senior level stat mech course and understood the material fairly well. However, I still don't think that Serway's chapter on stat mech is an easy read. To reiterate, the two stat mech chapters are horrible, but the rest of the book is fairly good.