Customer Reviews

Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I used Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers for a sophomore-level modern physics course in an engineering curriculum. I liked the textbook. The authors' approach seemed to stress the experimental bases for modern theories of relativity and of atomic theory/quantum mechanics. I really preferred this approach to that of other textbooks -- postulating the governing laws of each and then proceeding to derive their consequences -- because it made the subjects less abstract.

While another reviewer has criticized the book's figures and its end-of-chapter exercises, I found the figures that present experimental data very helpful, and I thought the exercises were just fine -- many prompted the reader to work through derivations rather than to perform "plug-and-chug" computations. In addition, I enjoyed reading the biographical vignettes about historically important scientists that dot the book's chapters, although some readers might find these a bit corny, or a bit distracting.

While other textbooks treat relativity and quantum mechanics in a more detailed and sophisticated way, I think this book covers those topics adequately, with a level of depth and with mathematics (i.e. vector calculus and differential equations) appropriate for an undergraduate in engineering or the physical sciences.

This book has a nice layout, is very well written, and covers all the important material in a course on modern physics. It also has nice biography sections on the important contributors to modern physics. I liked it so much I kept it as a reference after the course was over.

If you're looking for a complete introduction to quantum mechanics for physics students, this is not what you're looking for. This book only provides a basic background in modern physics that would be helpful for later studies in chemistry, engineering, materials science, etc. However, what it does, it does well.

This textbook was used in the modern physics class I took during college. It is excellent because it doesn't just derive the fundamental equations and move on leaving the student to find their significance elsewhere. There is just as much text as mathematical steps to ensure the student has a good understanding. The problems are tough, but really well worded.

This book is a great physics book to add to your library. Sometimes it is difficult to navigate to the right formula or example, but otherwise the examples are complete and the explanations are full.

This book is good if you want to know the general concepts of modern physics without going through all of the work to get there. Results are presented, but the way in which they are reached is far from rigorous. Also, the exercises in the book are entirely unchallenging. While this book is good for the layman, if you want to actually understand modern physics look elsewhere.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who already owns an introductory physics text such as Halliday and Resnick or the Feynman Lectures...the quantity of material beyond the scope of those books is very disappointing. The authors seem more interested in pretty pictures and impressive graphs than content. The only chapter I found useful was the chapter on nuclear physics. If you can find this book used for a bargain, it might be worth the money, but at the full price, purchase at your own risk.

Mostly you need at least a good understanding of physics and almost all the laws and rules that go along in Physics. Though if you understand the language used it is extremely useful and helpful for any Physics Major or Engineering Major.

I am using this book right now for a one semester sophomore modern physics course. The things I hate about this book are:

1. Lack of Examples

I mean, there is a decent amount of examples in the first two chapters on special relativity, but after that it's like the authors got lazy in writing the book. I mean the very next chapter there are 13 sections but a mere 5 examples. Chapter 4, 3 examples for 7 sections. Chapter 5, 10 sections, 5 examples. Chapter 6, 10 sections only 6 examples. Chapter 10, 9 sections, 2 examples, TWO EXAMPLES FOR ONE CHAPTER CONTAINING 9 SECTIONS!

2. No text explaining end of chapter problems

The authors consistently have sprinkled throughout the text "We could explain this topic and show you how and why it works here, but instead we leave it as a problem." Those problems invariably have a one or two sentence incomplete explanation and then give you some arbitrary equation to prove which requires some clever mathematical trick.

3. End of the Chapter Exercises

The end of the chapter exercises are either simple plug and chug computations, or very difficult derivations and proofs which require a knowledge of a bunch of mathematical tricks than they do a knowledge of modern physics. There are very few actual challenging physics problems in this book. Either very easy physics problems, or very challenging straight-up math problems which require no physics knowledge.

I honestly hate this book and don't recommend it to anyone who actually wants to learn modern physics and be able to solve problems involving the topics discussed. I definitley won't be keeping this one at the end of the semester.

This book is a really good product. I liked when it arrived in my house and saw this excellect conservation state.
I'm happy with the product.
The book looks a new product.

Product was much cheeper than college bookstore and the codition was very nice. It came fast and in good packaging. Seller responded to concerns very fast.