Physics for Scientists and Engineers combines outstanding pedagogy with a clear and direct narrative and applications that draw the reader into the physics. The new edition features an unrivaled suite of media and on-line resources that enhance the understanding of physics. Many new topics have been incorporated such as: the Otto cycle, lens combinations, three-phase alternating current, and many more. New developments and discoveries in physics have been added including the Hubble space telescope, age and inflation of the universe, and distant planets. Modern physics topics are often discussed within the framework of classical physics where appropriate. For scientists and engineers who are interested in learning physics.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
A comprehensive, rigorous introduction to physics -- with careful and detailed development of physics principles and a strong emphasis on problem solving.
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
From the Inside Flap
PREFACE A Brand New Third Edition
It has been more than ten years since the second edition of this calculus-based introductory physics textbook was published. A lot has changed since then, not only in physics itself, but also in how physics is presented. Research in how students learn has provided textbook authors new opportunities to help students learn physics and learn it well.
This third edition comes in two versions. The standard version covers all of classical physics plus a chapter on special relativity and one on the early quantum theory. The extended version, with modern physics, contains a total of nine detailed chapters on modern physics, ending with astrophysics and cosmology. This book retains the original approach: in-depth physics, concrete and nondogmatic, readable.
This new third edition has many improvements in the physics and its applications. Before discussing those changes in detail, here is a list of some of the overall changes that will catch the eye immediately.
Full color throughout is not just cosmetic, although fine color photographs do help to attract the student readers. More important, full color diagrams allow the physics to be displayed with much greater clarity. We have not stopped at a 4-color process; this book has actually been printed in 5 pure colors (5 passes through the presses) to provide better variety and definition for illustrating vectors and other physics concepts such as rays and fields. I want to emphasize that color is used pedagogically to bring out the physics. For example, different types of vectors are given different colors—see the chart on page xxxi.
Many more diagrams, almost double the number in the previous edition, have all been done or redone carefully using full color; there are many more graphs and many more photographs throughout. See for example in optics where new photographs show lenses and the images they make.
Marginal notes have been added as an aid to students to (i) point out what is truly important, (ii) serve as a sort of outline, and (iii) help students find details about something referred to later that they may not remember so well. Besides such "normal" marginal notes, there are also marginal notes that point out brief problem solving hints, and others that point out interesting applications.
The great laws of physics are emphasized by giving them a marginal note all in capital letters and enclosed in a rectangle. The most important equations, especially those expressing the great laws, are further emphasized by a tan-colored screen behind them.
Chapter opening photographs have been chosen to illustrate aspects of each chapter. Each was chosen with an eye to writing a caption which could serve as a kind of summary of what is in that chapter, and sometimes offer a challenge. Some chapter-opening photos have vectors or other analysis superimposed on them.
Page layout: complete derivations. Serious attention has been paid to how each page was formatted, especially for page turns. Great effort has been made to keep important derivations and arguments on facing pages. Students then don't have to turn back to check. More important, readers repeatedly see before them, on two facing pages, an important slice of physics.
Two kinds of Examples: Conceptual Examples and Estimates. New Physics
The whole idea of a new edition is to improve, to bring in new material, and to delete material that is verbose and only makes the book longer or is perhaps too advanced and not so useful. Here is a brief summary of a few of the changes involving the physics itself. These lists are selections, not complete lists.
New discoveries:
planets revolving around distant stars Hubble Space Telescope updates in particle physics and cosmology, such as inflation and the age of the universe
New physics topics added:
new treatment of how to make estimates (Chapter 1), including new Estimating Examples throughout (in Chapter 1, estimating the volume of a lake, and the radius of the Earth) symmetry used much more, including for solving problems new Tables illustrating the great range of lengths, time intervals, masses, voltages gravitation as curvature of space, and black holes (Chapter 6) engine efficiency (Chapter 8 as well as Chapter 20) rolling with and without slipping, and other useful details of rotational motion (Chapter 10) forces in structures including trusses, bridges, arches, and domes (Chapter 12) square wave (Chapter 15) using the Maxwell distribution (Chapter 18) Otto cycle (Chapter 20) statistical calculation of entropy change in free expansion (Chapter 20) effects of dielectrics on capacitor connected and not (Chapter 24) grounding to avoid electric hazards (Chapter 25) three phase ac (Chapter 31) equal energy in E and B of EM wave (Chapter 32) radiation pressure, EM wave (Chapter 32) photos of lenses and mirrors with their images (Chapter 33) detailed outlines for ray tracing with mirrors and lenses (Chapters 33, 34) lens combinations (Chapter 34) new radiation standards (Chapter 43) Higgs boson, supersymmetry (Chapter 44)
Modern physics. A number of modern physics topics are discussed in the framework of classical physics. Here are some highlights:
gravitation as curvature of space, and black holes (Chapter 6) planets revolving around distant stars (Chapter 6) kinetic energy at relativistic speeds (Chapter 7) nuclear collisions (Chapter 9) star collapse (Chapter 10) galaxy red shift, Doppler (Chapter 16) atoms, theory of (Chapters 17,18, 21) atomic theory of thermal expansion (Chapter 17) mass of hydrogen atom (Chapter 17) atoms and molecules in gases (Chapters 17,18) molecular speeds (Chapter 18) equipartition of energy; molar specific heats (Chapter 19) star size (Chapter 19) molecular dipoles (Chapters 21, 23) cathode ray tube (Chapters 23, 27) electrons in a wire (Chapter 25) superconductivity (Chapter 25) discovery and properties of the electron, e/m, oil drop experiment (Chapter 27) Hall effect (Chapter 27) magnetic moment of electrons (Chapter 27) mass spectrometer (Chapter 27) velocity selector (Chapter 27) electron spin in magnetic materials (Chapter 28) light and EM wave emission (Chapter 32) spectroscopy (Chapter 36)
Many other examples of modern physics are found as Problems, even in early chapters. Chapters 37 and 38 contain the modern physics topics of Special Relativity, and an introduction to Quantum Theory and Models of the Atom. The longer version of this text, "with Modern Physics," contains an additional seven chapters (for a total of nine) which present a detailed and extremely up-to-date treatment of modern physics: Quantum Mechanics of Atoms (Chapters 38 to 40); Molecules and Condensed Matter (Chapter 41); Nuclear Physics (Chapter 42 and 43); Elementary Particles (Chapter 44); and finally Astrophysics, General Relativity, and Cosmology (Chapter 45).
Revised physics and reorganizations. First of all, a major effort has been made to not throw everything at the students in the first few chapters. The basics have to be learned first; many aspects can come later, when the students are more prepared. Secondly, a great part of this book has been rewritten to make it clearer and more understandable to students. Clearer does not always mean simpler or easier. Sometimes making it "easier" actually makes it harder to understand. Often a little more detail, without being verbose, can make an explanation clearer. Here are a few of the changes, big and small:
new graphs and diagrams to clarify velocity and acceleration; deceleration carefully treated. unit conversion now a new Section in Chapter 1, instead of interrupting kinematics. circular motion: Chapter 3 now gives only the basics, with more complicated treatment coming later: non-uniform circular motion in Chapter 5, angular variables in Chapter 10. Newton's second law now written throughout as ma = ΣF, to emphasize inclusion of all forces acting on a body. Newton's third law follows the second directly, with inertial reference frames placed earlier. New careful discussions to head off confusion when using Newton's third law. careful rewriting of chapters on Work and Energy, especially potential energy, conservative and nonconservative forces, and the conservation of energy. renewed emphasis that ΣΤ = Iα is not always valid: only for an axis fixed in an inertial frame or if axis is through the cm (Chapters 10 and 11). rolling motion introduced early in Chapter 10, with more details later, including rolling with and without slipping. rotating frames of reference and Coriolis, moved later, to Chapter 11, shortened, optional, but still including why an object does not fall straight down on Earth. fluids reduced to a single chapter (13); some topics and details dropped or greatly shortened. clearer details on how an object floats (Chapter 13). distinction between wave interference in space, and in time (beats) (Chapter 16). thermodynamics reduced to four chapters; the old chapters on Heat and on the First Law of Thermodynamics have been combined into one (19), with some topics shortened an
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
my favorite of 3 introductory books,
By
This review is from: Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics (3rd Edition) (Hardcover)
I have used 3 seperate introductory textbooks for physics -
(1) "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Giancoli (2) "Essentials of Universtiy Physics" by Wolfson and Ayars (3) "Fundementals of Physics" by Halliday, Resnick, and Walker I used Giancoli for two semesters of AP Physics, Wolfson for my first semester of college physics, and Halliday for my second semester of college physics. I am also currently working through the "modern physics" section of Giancoli in preparation for a course in modern physics. I can tell you that all the books are about the same, with subtle differences. So ignore the morons who say things like "this is the worst book ever it doesn't explain anything blah blah I'm dumb." Giancoli(1) seems to take the most mathematical approach, reaching physical conclusions from derived equation, whereas Halliday(3) tends to take a more physical approach, explaining the physics and then deriving the equations. Wolfson(2) seems to be somewhere inbetween these approaches. Which is better is a matter of preference and surprise. As primarly a math student, I was suprised to find I enjoyed Halliday's physical approach more. There seem to be more problems in Giancoli than in the other two. And Giancoli offers some more difficult problems than the other two. Giancolli and Wolfson also offer a large number of "general problems" at the end of the problems section, which help to tie together the different sections. I should note here for students planning to use any of these books that the calculationless questions at the end of the chapter are a very useful step toward the more difficult problems. Don't ignore them, they sort of train you to think more critically rather than paging through your book for an equation to plug numbers into. One advantage of Halliday is the "checkpoint" questions placed at the end of each section. These checkpoints ought to be particularly useful to beginning students who either have trouble monitoring their level of concentration or gauging their level of understanding. This way you won't get to the end of the chapter and say "What the h*** did I just read!" Wolfson is nice because it comes in three seperate volumes, so you don't have to carry around 1000+ pages of back pain every MWF. All 3 of these books offer a section in modern physics in recent editions, so that should not be an issue. If you are planning on doing the two semesters of physics, and then a semester on modern physics, it's probably not a bad idea to shell out the extra cash for the modern physics chapters so that you can get a head start over the summer. All in all I'd say get whatever book your department requires and don't complain because all introductory physics books are about the same. If you have a choice get Giancoli if you like solving difficult problems, get Halliday if you think you will enjoy more physical explainations or have trouble monitoring your concentration or understanding. And get Wolfson if you'd like something inbetween or are concerned about the health of your back. If you are taking AP physics and will need to retake physics in college, maybe try learning from different texts if you can afford it. My final word is to go with the best bargain, and if money is not an option, you might as well flip a coin or throw darts or something.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding,
By
This review is from: Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics (3rd Edition) (Hardcover)
I had to use this book during my two semesters of non-calculus college physics, and my first reaction to this 1000+ page monster was mathematical FEAR. However, as I kept reading the book I realized that it explained the majority of concepts clearly even for a person with limited calculus knowledge. The book does an excellent job early on with Newton's three laws, but it gets a little confusing on statics.
The last half of the book was covered in my second semester, and it was also excellent in explaining the topics of thermodynamics, DC and RC circuits, Magnetism and Optics among others. Nevertheless, there were times when the explanation and examples of the book were not enough to answer some of the problems at the end of each chapter. Furthermore, my only complain about the book is that sometimes it uses what my instructor called "Shortcuts" in the sample problems without explaining how the author arrived to a given equation or derivation of a formula. Physics is by no means an easy subject and to do well at it you will need a great instructor and a great book - I was lucky enough to have both. There are very few books that I keep after I take a class, but I have to say that this book is an invaluable reference that will be in my professional bookshelf for many years.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A decent intro to Physics.,
By
This review is from: Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics (3rd Edition) (Hardcover)
I am currently taking a calculus-based physics course in my freshman year using Serway's text (Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Sixth Edition). I purchased Giancoli's text because it has the same type of material and a solutions manual to accompany it. I am now in my third term and, having used both books for the first two terms, I can say that Serway's book is probably a better choice for those majoring in physics such as myself. The reason I make this claim is that Serway's derivations are a little more riggerous in most cases and in the exercises Serway FORCES you to develop and derive equations for the perticular problem at hand (precicely what a physicist in the "real world" must be able to do to be successful), whereas Giancoli rarely gives problems that cannot be solved directly by substituting values into given equations. This discrepency can sometimes be troubling though to those not used to having to decide what assumptions to make for themselves.However, neither book can give a student a complete insight into the complicated subject of physics. Each is a pretty good text for a first course in physics and the level of calculus used in each is very basic (a study of basic differential and integral calculus will do fine).
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